Art is too important not to share
Romero Britto, Brazilian painter and sculptor.
When it comes to art and education, especially online education, there is one element of artful sharing that is often overlooked. All too often, when teachers and authors of creative courses, the content experts, decide to ‘go online’ they are bemused and then frustrated trying to work within models of learning design that are not fit for purpose; for creative purpose. Fit for developing analytical and linear cognitive capabilities may be, and as we are reminded repeatedly, capabilities that are essential to hold down a successful job and build a powerful economy.
At Kadenze, Inc. (‘Kadenze’), after seven years of working with teachers of the creative arts and design, we have needed to challenge those online learning design approaches which engender the cognitive operations of mind most commonly found in Mathematics, Chemistry, Language, Engineering and Business education. Increasingly we have found they fail to address neither the dynamics which motivate creative engagement nor serve a pedagogy needing to stimulate interpretation and judgment (such as informed disagreement), rather than correct or incorrect answers.
Kadenze has been wrestling with this for years now. Two years ago, to the day, on April 1, 2019, I wrote the first blog post on this concern. Before the pandemic, before education had to go remote, I framed the challenge this way:
But the question arises: do the precepts of arts education hold value for contemporary online pedagogy? Should we wait for virtual reality and the holodeck to become ubiquitous and real enough to replicate the studio before we engage the arts online?
Of course not. Indeed, there is plenty to suggest that many prevailing approaches to online learning design desperately need to be nourished by the arts-led tradition of education.
In the two years since, Kadenze has been undertaking a research and teaching investigation into this proposition. What have we done, what have we learned, and what can we now share?
Firstly, we have designed a mature and comprehensive framework for online creative education which, unsurprisingly, is “nourished by the arts-led tradition of education.” Called “Technology Enabled Creative Learning” (‘TECL’), this framework has grown from the conceptual foundations developed in the four blog posts (and accompanying vodcasts) published to this blog throughout April 2019. While TECL will be reassuring and aligned with the pedagogical heartbeat of arts and design educators, it will have traction with teachers from all disciplines wanting to creatively engage the modern learner.
Secondly, Kadenze will soon be presenting our TECL inspired insights in an online course “Renewing Learning Design through Creativity” and Technology. This course, to be conducted throughout May 2021, not only shares and applies TECL, but does so with an eye to the digitally integrated futures that educators see coming.
When you fully embrace Britto’s idea, that art is too important not to share, and fuse it with design, creative technologies and creative education, then you have the DNA for a company like Kadenze. Sharing is at the heart of everything we do; now sharing our expertise in online learning design for creative education.
Further announcements about how to access Kadenze’s “Technology Enabled Creative Learning” framework and the course “Renewing Learning Design through Creativity and Technology” will be made throughout April. We look forward to sharing our findings and proven practice with you.
You can access the 2019 blog posts which prefigure these developments (Part 1 posted April 1 2019) at: “How The 8 Effects of Arts Education Are Changing Online Pedagogy, Part 1 – Kadenze Blog“
You can register your interest in TECL and “Renewing Learning Design through Creativity and Technology” by contacting us at: tecl@kadenze.com