Reflections on using a VLE to create communities of practice in arts and design teaching and learning in a pandemic context

This commentary examines the potential for VLEs to create and embed communities of practice and to support studentsโ€™ learning experience in art and design, and specifically fashion. A case study approach is employed, using the example of a community focused platform, Aula. The findings indicate that while using conventions from social media can increase communication …

AI in creative education: opportunities and challenges for assessment

This article reviews current academic literature on Artificial Intelligence (AI), and use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in higher education, to investigate its impact on assessment in creative subjects. It looks at secondary research and explores ways that GenAI is proposed, or already incorporated, in current creative education and assessment initiatives. The review examines literature …

Contemplative Pedagogy in Higher Education: Growing Confidence, Creativity and Community

In September 2023, The Contemplative Pedagogy Network (CPN) is hosting a symposium in Devon, UK. This international event reflects the growing interest in the field of Contemplative Pedagogy, and is the latest in a series of conversations hosted by the CPN. The network aims to inspire, inform and connect people interested in developing more contemplative …

Care as choreographed: what is the role of care in higher education teaching?

In this article I offer a small-scale review of literature surrounding the topic of care in higher education, which I undertook as part of my PGCert in Creative Education at University for the Creative Arts. This article seeks to investigate the role of โ€˜careโ€™ in the increasingly marketized university, which has seen further turbulence in …

The medium is the message: Decolonising the curriculum through textiles

Asked to reflect on issues around decolonising the curriculum, PGCert student and lecturer Nicola Truman began to explore her ideas through the creation of a textile piece that recognised the multicultural influences on western textile development and, more immediately, recognised the different cultures in her classroom โ€“ unifying them. She is at once reflecting on …

Communities of bad practice: resisting the ‘toxic’ university

"The language of crisis dominates the literature on the corporate university, urging us to act before it is too late. We are more optimistic, believing that resistance is alive and well" (The Slow Professor, 2016). With this comment in mind, Ray Martin confronts some facts around the breakdown of campus communities and offers suggestions for …

Call for papers: Learning Design in Creative Education

Although teachers in higher education have always designed learning experiences, most would not refer to themselves as โ€˜learning designersโ€™. But while a core aspect of an academicโ€™s role is to design learning experiences for students, the design work that university teachers undertake is poorly understood (Bennett, Agostino & Lockyear, 2017).  Although interest in learning design …

Exploring Education for Sustainable Development in creative disciplines

This article reviews literature to investigate the importance and wide benefits of fully integrating sustainability throughout Higher Education in creative disciplines. It looks at some ways that Education for Sustainable Development is proposed or already incorporated in creative education. It looks at how ESD can be integrated, particularly on Fashion Business courses, supported by Discovery …

Two of us: team-teaching in higher education

In Semester 1 of the academic year 2021/22, having solo-taught the Level 5 Undergraduate module โ€˜Composing Song Lyricsโ€™ for the last decade, Glenn Fosbraey decided to bring in singer/ songwriter Daniel Ash to teach it with him. This article explores their process of co/ team-teaching and reflects on how another voice can bring a different …

How do international students learn critical theory best: through the traditional lecture approach, or through aย โ€œlittle and oftenโ€ approach facilitated through short group discussions on given topics?๏ฟผ

This paper aims to review the effectiveness of a learning intervention I designed for MA Illustration students, the majority international, by which they were introduced to bites sized chucks of critical theory which we would discuss as a group. The purpose was for these, which I called โ€˜the quotation of the dayโ€™, to be part …