Teaching the tangible, remotely: Fashion as Material Culture

This paper considers the pragmatics of teaching the usually ‘hands-on’ and tangible aspects of material culture, where students engage with fashioned objects in seminar and workshop sessions, to teaching the content digitally.

The transition of teaching Material Culture digitally raised questions in how the materiality of objects, key to discussion in previous iterations of the teaching delivery, could be delivered in an engaging and inclusive manner. The challenging aspects included translating object-based learning to the digital space, with no physical objects; understanding student engagement and interaction in a digital environment; and how to create a valuable teaching and learning experience.