Digital expansions of physical learning spaces in practice-based subjects - blended learning in Art and Craft & Design in teacher education

Highlights

• Descriptions and analyses of learning designs for the subjects of Art and Craft and Design.

• Experiments with Virtual Reality and workshop webinar designs.

• Integration of authentic learning spaces through the use of digital technology.

• Design-based research conducted in collaboration between researchers and educators.

• Mixed methods data.

Abstract

Experimentation with learning designs in practical subjects has been given little attention in extant research literature on online and blended learning in teacher education. To meet this scarcity, the present paper presents findings from two learning design experiments in the subjects of Art and Craft & Design in teacher education in Denmark. The purpose of the experiments is to investigate how subject-specific, physical learning spaces can be expanded digitally in blended learning courses in practical subjects in which students must train their craftsman-like skills. The learning design experiment carried out in the subject of Art integrates art museums as physical spaces through the use of virtual reality (VR), whereas the learning design experiment in Craft & Design integrates practical workshops as physical spaces through the use of synchronous online webinars.

The findings presented below show that the learning design experiments help integrate authentic learning spaces into the two subjects through the use of digital technology, albeit in different ways. In Art, the learning design tested is experienced as digitally expanded learning spaces by teacher students because the real world outside of campus (in this case, art museums) is integrated into an educational setting through the use of VR. In Craft & Design, the online webinars are experienced as authentic, digitally expanded learning spaces because they provide an opportunity to think and speak in the practical modes of the subject.

Introduction

Learning design experiments with online teaching and learning in practice-based subjects are given little attention in the research literature today. The reason for this may lie in the belief that practice-based subjects primarily focus on physical and bodily actions and that they therefore usually depend on the students’ opportunities to collaborate physically in workshops and/or in groups on campus. Moreover, online learning, e-learning and related terms are commonly defined in opposition to so-called traditional teaching and learning, i.e. face to face (f2f) learning (c.f. Ryan, Kaufman, Greenhouse, She, & Shi, 2016), which is centered around the physical classroom. For this reason, it is often assumed that students will achieve a greater learning outcome from traditional f2f teaching in practice-based subjects than from online teaching.

Although comparisons between learning formats are difficult due to the many parameters that are always at stake in teaching and learning, many studies have compared trning to online formats in general (Nortvig et al., 2018). Typically, research in e-learning, blended learning or online learning has focused more on the way theoretical subjects have been taught in different educational institutions and much less attention has been paid to the ways in which practice-based skills can be taught in such online formats (Best & MacGregor, 2017). Moreover, it is argued that on-campus and classroom-based curricula and interactions need to be pedagogically translated as teaching in online spaces requires different approaches than do on-campus ones (Emerson & MacKay, 2011).

In a review of research literature on blended and online learning in practice-based subjects (Gundersen et al., 2020), it is found that the well-known opposition between online and physical spaces may be about to alter; blended learning may not only refer to the coupling of online and f2f spaces but also to the coupling of several physical and authentic spaces or coupling/distribution of physical artifacts in different physical or online spaces. However, research still points to and discusses general advantages in coupling f2f and online spaces in blended learning designs in specific relation to practice-based subjects; the flexible use of online spaces for especially theoretical issues may create more time for practice-based learning such as skills acquisition and training in the f2f space in the classroom (Teräs & Kartoğlu, 2018; Lee, 2018; Dolan, Hancock, & Wareing, 2015; Berry, 2019).

According to the same study (Gundersen et al., 2020), several researchers focus on specific advantages and disadvantages of blended or online learning in relation to practice-based subjects (Dredger, Nobles, & Martin, 2017; Ferrone, Kebodeaux, Fitzgerald, & Holle, 2017; Hunma, 2018; Stanley, Serratos, Matthew, Fernandez, & Dang, 2018). S Some find that online teaching, e.g. via Skype or other synchronous technologies, results in comparable or better results among medical students learning clinical examination (Langenau, Kachur, & Horber, 2014), and others (Stanley et al., 2018) find great engagement among nurse students due to the use of virtual simulations and scenarios. Hunma (2018) argues that online learning in general is the best way to teach because the students can watch their educators when they find it convenient, and literature and other relevant information can easily be updated and shared. Moreover, she finds that teaching and learning in online formats create a room for a performative space where students can practice and learn skills and competencies on their own too.

As mentioned, research also points to disadvantages when practice-based skills are to be acquired in online educational settings. Both Erol et al. (2016) and Dolan et al. (2015) find challenges in relation to feedback. Erol (2016) shows that f2f feedback from the teacher/educator is the most important parameter in relation to student retention, and when this is threatened, students are more likely to drop out. But not only is the lack of teacher feedback a challenge in online settings according to Dolan (2015). So is the lack of haptic feedback. When feedback from the body is missing, it constitutes a severe problem in the teaching of practice-based skills and competencies that depend on such bodily experiences.

In this area of many pros and cons, traditions and believed impossibilities of teaching practice-based subjects online, we will present our findings from two learning design cases in Art and Craft & Design in teacher education in Denmark. The purpose of the case experiments is to investigate how the physical learning spaces can be expanded digitally expanded in order to create authentic and engaging learning designs for the students who are preparing to be teachers (henceforth ‘students’), as well as to create learning designs that can also inspire the students in their own future teaching in public schools. Thus, the research question investigated in the article reads:

How can authentic, physical learning spaces be integrated in the subjects Art as well as Craft & Design in blended learning teacher education?

The subjects of the teacher education are often divided into the so-called theoretical subjects and practice-based subjects. This division erroneously implies a hierarchical order with practice-based subjects like Art and Craft & Design placed at the bottom, despite the fact that the contents of the practice-based subjects are just as theoretical as for the so-called theoretical subjects (e.g. Mathematics and English). In addition to this, the practice-based subjects also involve aesthetic forms of practice and specific approaches to teaching and learning, which leads some to conclude that the practice-based subjects are not suited for e-learning.

As the learning design cases presented in the paper show, the practice-based subjects can only be taught as e-learning if the students have the opportunity to train their craftmanlike skills and if they have access - either in their own homes or at a local primary and lower secondary school - to the facilities specifically related to the subject in question. Moreover, both the educator and the students must prepare carefully for lessons in order to make sure that the right materials and tools are available to everybody.

Before we display the two cases, the formats, the goals, the technical setup and the educators’ didactical reflections, we will present the theoretical and methodological sources that are used in the analysis of the cases. Then we will introduce the data that were generated from the two learning design experiments, and finally, we present and discuss the findings and the conclusion to the research question.