Online Arts Education

We need to pause, take a collective breath, and give ourselves the recognition we so often overlook. Over the past few years, educators and students alike have leapt into a world many of us approached with hesitation, uncertainty, and even fear. And yet, we have done what many inside and outside education once thought impossible.

Before COVID, we could have leaned on familiar excuses: not having the ideal classroom, the right materials, or enough time. But the last few years demanded that we call on the most essential and often undervalued skills: creativity, the creative process, and creative problem-solving. These are the abilities children bring naturally into the world—the same ones our education systems so often overlook. During this time, we’ve been called to reconnect with that part of ourselves that sees possibility first, that thrives on invention, and that persists when the path forward is unclear.

Imagine trying to navigate the last few years without these critical skills. It would be like going to a bank without understanding numbers, currency, or math—it would be impossible to ask for what we need. Instead, we’ve been transported back into the role of learners ourselves, opening to co-creation, play, and wonder. Online arts education evolved rapidly: virtual studios, collaborative digital platforms, interactive galleries, hybrid performance spaces, and immersive digital tools became our classrooms. We learned to translate hands-on, tactile experiences into screens and shared online spaces. We adapted our pedagogy to meet students where they were—sometimes in kitchens, bedrooms, or backyards—and discovered new ways to engage, inspire, and create together.

This journey has reminded us that true education is not about perfect materials or polished lesson plans. It’s about listening deeply to students, understanding their needs, and cultivating environments where they can experiment, imagine, and flourish. I recently encountered a short film that captured this spirit so beautifully: it reminded me that when we embrace our roles as Creators of Possibility, nothing can stand in the way of meaningful learning.

Please WATCH;

CONSIDER:

Redefining the Boundaries of Artistic Practice

In The Swim Team, the protagonist transforms her living room into a makeshift swimming pool, using bowls of salt water to teach swimming techniques. This act challenges conventional notions of space and materials in artistic endeavors.

How can arts education encourage students to see beyond traditional mediums and environments, fostering creativity that transcends physical limitations?

The Role of Empathy and Connection in Creative Instruction

The young woman forms meaningful bonds with her elderly students, highlighting the importance of empathy and personal connection in the learning process.

In what ways can arts educators cultivate a classroom environment that prioritizes emotional intelligence and relational dynamics, enhancing both teaching and learning experiences?

Embracing Absurdity as a Catalyst for Innovation

The premise of teaching swimming without water introduces an element of absurdity that propels the narrative forward.

How can embracing unconventional or seemingly impractical ideas in arts education lead to innovative thinking and problem-solving among students?

Online arts education has evolved rapidly: virtual studios, collaborative digital platforms, interactive galleries, hybrid performance spaces, and immersive digital tools have become our classrooms. We’ve learned to translate tactile, hands-on experiences into digital and hybrid environments, engaging students wherever they are—kitchens, bedrooms, backyards—and discovering new ways to inspire, create, and connect.

This transformation has reminded us that true education is not about perfect materials or polished lesson plans. It’s about listening deeply to students, understanding their needs, and cultivating spaces where they can experiment, imagine, and flourish. AI has emerged as a powerful collaborator in this evolution, not replacing the educator but expanding our creative capacity. From generating prompts and ideas to offering new ways to visualize, compose, and explore, AI acts as an active partner in co-creation, helping students and educators push the boundaries of what is possible.

The future of arts education is boundless. The digital innovations we’ve embraced are not temporary fixes—they are tools for co-creation, exploration, and global collaboration. As educators, we hold the vision, strategies, and imagination to help every student achieve their dreams. We have been stretched, challenged, and transformed—and in that transformation, we’ve discovered the power of adaptability, resilience, and inventive thinking. By trusting our creativity, our students’ creativity, and the collaborative potential of AI, we lead the way as open, resilient, and inventive beings—ready to meet challenges and shape the future of arts education in ways that are imaginative, inclusive, and extraordinary.

 

 

 

So why do I share this?

Like many of you, I wondered when asked to move this class online... IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE and HOW?

Here is my answer in short (NOTE *this answer has changed daily and continues to do so. By the time I have this written the world will have shifted again with more information available*).

YES AND NO.

YES, of course- one can teach art online, aren't all good educators adaptable and always wanting to stay current? This is the way of our educational systems have been asked to move: online, remote access, synchronous, aynchronous, whatever the new title is, it's what the world is doing. There are many examples that I have often used in my classroom experiences of YouTube techniques, etc. and it's often that those words fly out of my mouth..."just Google it".

YES, it's completely insane to try to take a circular, fluid way of thinking and try move it into a linear, static box.....yet...here's the beautiful part my learning journey: discovery.....this box has a vast amount of little boxes that contain spaces within their space and the possibility of possibilities that fit within this box are....yes....limitless. With one exception.

Me.

I am not the technology genius I wish I was and the biggest stumble so far (and not an elegant one at that) has been learning the platform and doing my best to work within it's framework. If I could apply the skills and technique I use everyday in my arts practice, this would have been an easy transition...I would simply cut, paste, layer, foreshorten, filter, perform my way through each module, with the grace that 25 years of practice has supplied me with.

YET.....

I stumble, trip and have fallen enough times in the last 3 months to realize that just because I put a heading onto the page with some words of wisdom that follow doesn't mean that my students are learning anything. Just because I put a fancy picture with a link to some amazing content doesn't mean that my students will follow that link and end up down a rabbit hole forgetting the whole point of what they were supposed to be engaged in. Just because I feel like I have somehow connected the dots, doesn't mean those dots will ever make the same picture for each of my students.......

So........

Where does that leave online arts education?

A place for renewal, reinvention and reinterpretation.

This is our chance as a class, to redefine what online arts education can and should look like.

As I have put together each of these modules, I feel that I am only scratching the surface of the available information, what's missing for me in this experience is simply - YOU....

YOU are the part that I look forward to everyday I come into my classroom. I look forward to hearing about what YOU have learnt, what YOU are curious about and most of all I love the dynamic nature that YOUR energy brings to our time together while you are creating something for the first time. As mistakes get made and messiness happens, YOU  become the teacher that shifts the conversation, YOU embody what it means to learn and most of all YOU open yourself to the endless possibilities that exist within yourself and remember what it's like to play. That energy is what creates the most incredible classroom dynamic and builds the relationships that online learning is missing.

Our goal as teachers should be to facilitate the amplification of what we teach so that what students learn resonates more fully in their lives. In this way, the skills that students build will strengthen them not just in building successful careers but also in searching for meaning and connection in their years beyond the university. -Michael S.Roth

Reflecting upon my own teaching experiences as a means of contributing to my professional growth, I am able to comprehend and contemplate these various implications. Firsthand experience lends me the memory of what it was like being the  student to then becoming the actual teacher.  This transition has provided the time every teacher needs to look within themselves and shift the way they HAVE been doing things, shift the WHY they do it that way and now-shift the HOW the information gets translated. We have been granted the space to look at how we are learning IN, ABOUT and THROUGH our experiences.

I am grateful for shift and space COVID has provided, it has moved (perhaps forced ) me into a multi-dimensional  direction. My hope is that by sharing this experience and the nuances, challenges and discoveries that come with it,  each of you (future arts educators) will find the space to breath knowing that we are at the forefront of sense making and meaning creation. Advocating for visual arts programs in all of our schools (be it in person or online), we  the Arts Educators are the leaders that our students and colleagues will look to in distinguishing how excellent teaching is represented. We provide insight into what is possible, through our adaptive, creative and imaginative ways of knowing.