Creative Arts learning online: Really?

Description

This paper reports on a small project that explores preservice teachers’ experience of completing a Creative Arts unit online. The project aims to identify effective methods and learning designs for improving practice in the online delivery of Creative Arts. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, teacher educators have had to adjust their practice for online learning. For Creative Arts learning this is challenging, since it relies heavily on practical, embodied and experiential learning. These are aspects that are difficult to facilitate online. For preservice teachers the problem is potentially, even more significant, since they often have very limited experience and confidence in the Creative Arts and then receive limited opportunities in their degree for development.

At the time of writing this abstract, the research is just underway. Participants will be invited to complete an online survey, in which they will be asked questions about the activities they did as part of the unit; self-ratings about skill and confidence before and after the unit; preference for learning mode (e.g. online, face-to-face, blended); and how well, and in what ways, they felt supported by, and connected to, others. Two or three participants will be invited to complete a short, online interview, which will allow them to describe their experience more fully.

The following research question guides the study:

How do pre-service teacher experiences of learning a Creative Arts unit online impact their skill development, confidence, well being and connectedness?

The specific focus of the presentation will be to discuss the responses of participants in terms of the following: what activities they did, enjoyed, felt most comfortable with, or thought were most productive, and why that was the case; it will report on participants’ self-ratings related to confidence and skill attainment in the unit; and it will report on their sense of connectedness and well being, particularly in relation to whether this unit facilitated this and if so, in what ways. This has ongoing significance since COVID-19 impositions have and will continue to impact educational delivery and practice across all spheres.

Period	3 Oct 2020 - 4 Oct 2020
Held at	ANZARME: 42nd Conference 2020 Australia (online)
Event type	Conference
Conference number	42
Location	, Australia
Degree of Recognition	International