‘This Is an Unprecedented Disaster’: Art Schools Are Scrambling to Develop Contingency Plans for Students as Education Moves Online

As governments around the world
race to catch up with the novel coronavirus and the havoc it is
wreaking on health care systems and the world economy, art schools
throughout the US have their own problem: figuring out how to
educate students while keeping them, faculty, and staff
safe.

“This is an unprecedented
disaster,” says Deborah Obalil, executive director of the
Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design, a membership
organization of 39 schools throughout the US and
Canada. 

“While institutions have many
disaster plans in place for immediate disruptions to the campus,
such as earthquakes, fires, floods, or tornadoes, the constantly
changing directives from local, state, and federal health
authorities mean that institutions are having to quickly adjust for
the safety and well-being of their campus communities.”

None of the five art schools
contacted by Artnet News had reported any COVID-19 cases among
their communities, and Obalil says she has heard of no
cases among AICAD schools. But
schools are cancelling in-person classes, and many—including the
Otis College of Art & Design in Los Angeles, the School of Visual
Arts (SVA) in New York, and the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago—are extending spring break for a week to allow schools to
adapt to fast-changing conditions. 

Going Online

At the moment, schools are
surveying students about their needs and getting faculty up to
speed on remote instruction. 

Many art schools were already
looking to online teaching, but their degrees of preparedness vary
widely, Obalil says. Schools that had active digital platforms will
now see hundreds more students using them.

“Some art and design schools
have been investing in online courses for a number of years,”
Obalil says. “The Otis College of Art & Design has instructional
designers on staff that work with faculty to develop online
courses. The Minneapolis College of Art & Design has multiple fully
online graduate programs that it has been running successfully for
years.”

Brian Smith, who teaches in the
BFA design program at SVA, has found that investment in online
learning is paying off. 

“I’ve used Canvas [SVA’s online
platform] for years to give out my syllabus, assign projects, grade
work, and give feedback,” he says. “I also really like that I can
communicate with all my students in one place. [Monday] was the
first time I taught the course remotely, and it honestly went super
smoothly. I was able to easily show my slides as well as keep an
eye on the chat section of the platform so I could see my students
asking questions.”

An instructor based in New York,
who spoke on the condition of anonymity, wasn’t quite so
sunny. 

“It’s a sad substitute for
teaching in person,” she said.

The Practical Problems of Distance Learning

Schools won’t go entirely
online, especially for students whose practices aren’t easily
transportable, and not all students were able to leave campus for
spring break in the first place. 

The College for Creative Studies
in Detroit is keeping some of its labs open 24 hours a day. The
school will enforce social-distancing measures by spacing out
equipment and restricting labs to 10 students at a time, says Vince
Carducci, dean of undergraduate studies and chief academic officer.
The school is also setting up online classes.

“We’ve had aspirations to have
more content available online but we’ve never been called upon to
react this quickly and this globally,” he says. 

But digital learning has its
limitations, he admits, noting that classes cannot be held in real
time as students leave campus to go home to various parts of the
world. About 80 percent of the school’s graduate students are
international.  

“We may want to do the first
lecture in a synchronous mode, but then record it so it can be
viewed at another time. We have students in China who are 12 hours
apart and we’re still working out some issues raised by the Great
Firewall,” he says, using the nickname for China’s internet
regulations. 

But international students may
stop applying, the New York instructor says—and the effects could
be catastrophic for her school. 

“If we don’t get the virus under
control, we’re going to lose all our international students, which
will cripple the school,” she says, noting that the parents of
currents students are demanding their children return home because
of what they see as a poor response by the US
government. 

Staying Optimistic

“The pandemic is a global
phenomenon, and art school is a global enterprise,” says David
Bogen, vice president for academic affairs and provost at the
Maryland Institute College of Art. The school is using platforms
like Canvas and Zoom for instruction, as well as good old-fashioned
email. 

“There are many ways to document
works and give critiques.” But he admitted he wasn’t sure how
exactly critiques would happen. “We’re building it on the fly,” he
says. 

Meanwhile, Benjamin Cook, an
artist in Covington, Kentucky, and an instructor at the Art Academy
of Cincinnati, has created an
Instagram account to
digitally present now-canceled thesis exhibitions. 

“Students were understandably
disappointed, so I thought I could fill in that space,” he says. “I
created the gallery Friday morning at 11 and had 10,000 followers
in 48 hours, and now we’re up to 15,000.”

What’s he calling the project?
Naturally, it’s the Social Distance
Gallery.

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Are Scrambling to Develop Contingency Plans for Students as
Education Moves Online appeared first on artnet
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