Membership Dissemination Event: Inclusive Learning, Digital Futures
“There are … a larger number of art and design students studying within higher education who have disclosed disabilities. The overall number is 9.5% of the entire student population and it is around 16.7% of students who study creative subjects”.[1]
The pandemic has brought the challenges of creating equal access to higher education into sharp focus. Experiences of the digital divide vary widely, and acknowledging these differences is essential to informing interventions and support for both faculty and students. Armed with this experience and lessons learned, universities have a shared responsibility to apply what they have learnt amid the pivot to online learning, to address inequalities and advance access and inclusion wherever possible.[2]
The key publication Inclusive Practices, Inclusive Pedagogies: Learning from Widening Participation Research in Art and Design Higher Education, edited by Bhagat and O’Neil, argued that genuine widening participation in Art and Design required a radical change in culture in which all participants in HE will need to participate and show a lead. Are we reaching that point yet in HE? Can the sectors experience through the COVID-19 pandemic, with rapid advances in digital technology, be exploited to optimise improvements? Can we expect to see the culture of creative education change in response to the innovations as a result of the rapid shift to digital learning? What can we learn from CHEAD members responding to the inclusive and digital challenge?
Join us to hear from members with examples of inclusive learning and digital practice, developed in response to recent challenges. This will be an opportunity for members to share innovations and insights into inclusive learning and digital practice.
[1] (Equality Challenge Unit 2014b, p. 70, p. 90). Equality in Higher Education: Statistical Report 2014: Part 1: Staff. Equality Challenge Unit.
[2] How can we use digital technology to address inequalities in higher education? July 2021, The Association of Commonwealth Universities.
Session outlines
Contributors
Louise O’Boyle (session 1)
Head of School, Belfast School of Art
She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy; Secretary and Executive Committee Member of GLADHE (Group for Learning in Art and Design in Higher Education); a Fellow of CHERP (Centre of Higher Education and Research Practice) at Ulster University; and an Associate Member of RIAD (Research Institute for Art and Design) at Ulster University.
Her arts practice focuses on the interdependent relationship between emotional and physical wellbeing and the role of the artist as social commentator. Current work includes challenging attitudes towards mental ill health and the promotion of emotional wellbeing through socially engaged research and an eclectic practice of videos, performance, and sculpture. Her pedagogical research focuses on the construction of value-based praxis in Higher Education learning and teaching.
Louise has exhibited work and presented her research both nationally and internationally. She has been commissioned by both private and public bodies to create several public artworks, complete research, feasibility studies, education, training and manage arts projects. She has received several awards both for her arts practice and pedagogic research.
For more information visit http://louiseoboyle.com
Siân Lund (session 2)
English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Coordinator, Royal College of Art
Siân Lund has taught in Europe and China and worked in HE language and communication teaching for over 20 years. She is currently EAP Coordinator at the Royal College of Art, running academic skills support across the college for all students and collaborating with the teaching and learning committee. She is experienced in designing fully online and blended courses for academic support skills. Her research interests include discourse analysis, acculturative processes in communication and inclusive pedagogies in communication and literacies.
Dr Sarah Blair
Royal College of Art
Dr Sarah Blair teaches writing and communication skills across a range of educational contexts, including the Royal College of Art in London and Hertford College’s International Programme at Oxford University. She was formerly programme leader for MA Drawing for Fine Art Practice at Swindon College, and has a PhD on the languages of visual narrative, applying concepts from linguistics to the realm and detail of drawing. She is currently working on a book exploring English grammar visually.
Dr Julie King (Session 3)
Deputy Dean, University of South Wales
Dr. King has worked in academia over 25 years, in 1994 she joined Nottingham Trent University establishing a pioneering online trend sourcing website, creating the first CD catalogue of designer catwalk collections for Drapers in 1998.
At the Hong Kong Polytechnic University she established the first MA in Fashion and Textiles in the Asia Pacific region, and was Head of Department of Fashion and Textiles at De Montfort University between 2003-2014, becoming Director of the Fashion and Design Institute in Mauritius on sabbatical from DMU. In 2014 she became Head of Fashion at the University of Northampton, and in 2019 moved to The University of South Wales to become Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Creative Industries. She is a Senior Fellow of the HEA, an academic consultant the University of Hull, works with the Open University and has been a visiting professor, guest judge and academic consultant at numerous global institutions.
An expert in colour forecasting, the subject of her PhD, she worked as a forecaster with Global Colour Research, has published in books, journals, delivered conference papers, guest lectures and keynote speeches.
Huw Swayne
Head of Learning, Teaching and Student Experience, University of South Wales
An experienced manager and lecturer Huw is currently Head of Learning, Teaching and Student Experience in the Faculty of Creative Industries at University of South Wales. A Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Fellow of the RSA, he is a director of qualification awarding body Agored Cymru, and board member of the National Society for Education in Art & Design. A former Trustee of CHEAD, Huw works extensively with awarding bodies, regional and national governments advising on policy formation and implementation, as well as a QA role with subjects as diverse as law, policing, nursing and midwifery.
Roshni Bhagotra (Session 4)
Digital Learning Coordinator, Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges of Arts, UAL
Roshni works closely with course teams to support the development of digital learning and advise on best practice for digital pedagogies in arts education. Roshni has experience working within a variety of student and staff facing technical and academic job families in further and higher education. She is passionate about equality, diversity, access and inclusion within arts education and explores these themes within her creative practice and work as an artist and practitioner. Her ongoing research and investigation into online, physical and digital creative spaces stemmed from Rounded Radio, which is an online listening platform Roshni created in 2016. The radio station exists as an extension of her practice as well as a standalone radio station whose aim is to act as a platform focused on challenging and exploring listening experiences through live radio shows sharing a variety of discussion, music and performance-based content.
Katie Gardner
Digital Learning Producer, Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges of Arts, UAL
Katie leads on and contributes to the research, development and evaluation of digital learning and teaching practices. Katie’s research into inclusive arts pedagogies developed from her creative practice as a voice artist, and her musicological research investigating the intersections of circus arts and opera performance. She is an active member of the Research Subgroup of the Anti-Racism & Learning Technology Community of Practice, and recently presented with her cross-institutional colleagues on how learning technologists can use action research methods to drive anti-racist change at the local and institutional levels at the 2021 ALT Conference. Previously, she held the posts of Lecturer in Digital Pedagogy at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (RCSSD) and Ashmolean Junior Teaching Fellow at the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. She is a final-year doctoral candidate in Music at The Queen’s College, University of Oxford, and she earned her MFA in VoiceArts from California Institute of the Arts.
Ania Udalowska
Digital Learning Coordinators, Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges of Arts, UAL
In her role, she often acts as the first point of contact for students and staff in resolving technical queries and seeking recommendations on best practices in digital learning design. Ania is a new addition to the team, she has previously worked as Online Learning Specialist and Associate Lecturer in Psychology at Aberystwyth University where she ran several projects focusing on student direct engagement in shaping digital learning and teaching provision in line with the students as partners approach. She has recently graduated with MSc in Applied Positive Psychology which is reflected in her interest in well-being supportive design to digital learning and teaching, and the impact of technologies on wellbeing, engagement and motivation.
Richard Ward
Senior Digital Learning Coordinator, Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges of Arts, UAL
Richard leads on and contributes to the support and development of digital learning and staff development across Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges of Arts (part of UAL). Richard has many years experience in digital learning, working in both further and higher education. He has a passion for inclusive teaching practices, helping and supporting inclusive and accessible teaching through digital systems. During the pandemic, Richard worked hard enabling staff to work online and helped move the university into an online delivery. Richard is now focused on working with the innovative work that has been done during the pandemic to enable students to get the most out of their time at the university.
Dr Dave Webster
Associate Dean of Learning and Teaching, Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges of Arts, UAL
Dave has over 20 years experience within Higher and Further Education sectors at both a national and international level. In 2020 he completed a PhD in Educational Research from Lancaster University which focused on the Arts curriculum. He is passionate about Art and Design pedagogy and has led and developed many curriculum innovations within post-graduate, undergraduate and further education. During the pandemic he worked closely with Richard Ward to support all courses into fully online mode. He subsequently, working with UAL colleagues, developed the Camberwell, Chelsea, Wimbledon Digital Learning team. Equality, diversity and inclusivity have always been central to his work and whilst recognising new challenges and barriers exist in online environments, he sees that new digital learning practices have offered critical opportunities for greater inclusivity in arts pedagogic practices and curriculum.
Register