Creating Space that Bridges Gaps: can an online environment encourage new learners?

Brief description of session and activities

This presentation (with slides) will be enlightning for those with little experience of, or doubts about e-learning in an art and design context. I will have questions prepared intended to generate audience debate. The discussion should encourage further exploration of the possibilities of working with students.

This year I have been involved in the creation of an online short course, aimed at students new to studying art and design in the UK. Whilst UAL administers several online courses, this was the first to be developed for London Artscom Ltd. and thus for CCW. Being at this stage in the development of an initiative has been challenging on various levels: with no comparable precedents to consider and the potential of world-wide reach, designing a curriculum with minimal conceptual constraint has necessitated an innovative approach.

As a studio tutor more reliant on the physical resources and face-to-face interactions of that environment, a defining aspect of the ethos of the resulting course has been my reflection on how students may be encouraged to interact with one another, in order to further their individual creativity. I have been anxious to retain this key component of art and design courses, despite the obvious differences between traditional and e-learning. Moreover, my continuing research has highlighted that there are possibilities for fostering meaningful interactions through the application of social networking tools, which may afford students greater autonomy in terms of peer learning. I will draw on Woods and Ebersole’s notions of communal scaffolding and LaRose and Whitten’s investigation of immediacy to explore how tutors may work with students to evaluate the best ways for each to proceed with a contemporary education.

Will students be involved in the session? If so how?

Not directly. Student responses to the curriculum will be noted and potentially feedback cited (with relevant ethical agreement).

What will participants take away from the session?

Insight into the development and delivery of an online course: itself a transition from the type of art & design course traditionally delivered in a studio. Understanding of some of the challenges presented by a different learning environment – which can be overcome through creative approaches Appreciation that e-learning offers great potential for approaches to learning and teaching in art and design.