Pre-service Visual Art Teachers’ Perceptions of Assessment in Online Learning

“How can the creative arts possibly be taught online?” Perspectives and experiences of online educators in Australian higher education

“…Given the repeated emphasis in research literature about the importance of practical learning for pre-service teachers (Alter et al, 2009;Cutcher & Cook, 2016) it is therefore identified that authentic and praxis-focused assessment in the arts should be considered in order to provide students with a practical foundation for future classroom learning. This is supported by previous research showing that creative learning has found to be effectively promoted in online contexts when mandated through productive and flexible constraints in assessment (Allen et al, 2014;Davis, 2018). Importantly, a number of pedagogical innovations were revealed through this study; in particular, engaging students in arts praxis through creative live tutorial activities or ubiquitous technologies that permitted sharing and collaboration.…”

“…(Leighton) Arts educators have long needed to advocate for recognition and inclusion of the arts in education (Ewing, 2010), and the perceptions for some was that the move online was symptomatic of attitudes that did not value the arts or the unique pedagogies they necessitated. Nonetheless, similar to the findings of Allen et al (2014) the recognition that the choice to offer arts learning online or "fall into obsolescence" could not be overlooked as a "best case" scenario for some arts courses.…”

“…[AITSL], 2016). However, a range of concerns equally exist, particularly around implications and requirements of the integration of theory, practice and workplace readiness for online ITE students (Allen, Wright, & Innes, 2014). Particularly, studies indicate that student retention is often significantly lower than traditional on-campus courses (AITSL, 2016).…”

“…Particularly, studies indicate that student retention is often significantly lower than traditional on-campus courses (AITSL, 2016). Further, concerns are raised that the swift transformation of the HE sector into online learning is motivated by economic benefit, rather than due consideration of learning quality (Allen et al, 2014;Baker et al, 2016). Thus, while online learning has a new reach that permits greater diversity and accessibility, the potential for diminished outcomes remains a concern (Bettinger & Loeb, 2017).…”

Teaching and teacher education in the time of COVID-19

“…The final paper in this issue could not be timelier, given the impact that COVID-19 is having on delivery modes and methods of learning and teaching: Australians Janet Dyment and Jillian Downing provide a systematic literature review (SLR) of online learning in initial teacher education (ITE). Once quite a controversial topic, particularly in some areas such as the Arts (see, e.g., Allen, Wright, & Innes, 2014), online learning is now commonplace in teacher education. Using a robust SLR protocol based primarily on the 2012 work of Gough, Oliver and Thomas (2017), as well as that of Cooper (2017), Dyment and Downing generated five themes from across the 492 refereed articles included in the review.…”