The exhibitions and gallery space at The Glucksman at UCC have been used as a number of years as a way of exploring elements of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) through an arts in education lens for participants in the Certificate and Diploma in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. This has enabled individuals across different disciplines to learn from each other, encouraged higher order thinking, helped participants make connections between previously disparate concepts, and encouraged a diversity of perspectives (McCarthy, 2010). Participants in these programs take part in an activity which focuses on the Entry Points to Learning as a springboard for discussing a chosen artwork. The Entry Points approach: …is a particularly good way for teachers to stretch beyond the obvious in approaching a new topic or beyond what they have already being doing to teach a concept. Multiple entry points provide not only different ways for students to gain access to a concept or topic, but also ways for learners to develop multiple representations of that concept or a topic, thereby building deeper understanding (Kornhaber, Fierros, & Veenema, 2004, p. 79).
In 2015 both the Certificate and Diploma were moved to fully online delivery, and the practice of utilising elements of the arts in education are still used, having been adapted for the virtual environment.
This workshop will demonstrate the arts in education approaches used at UCC from both real and virtual perspectives. Participants will engage with a virtual representation of UCC’s Glucksman Gallery (and/or other galleries) through 360 degree technology, taking part in a ‘virtual tour’ using their own smartphones and Google Cardboard glasses (provided). Working in small groups, participants will work together in answering a series of questions/prompts about the works in the virtual space. Participants will also be invited to attend a ‘real’ session at the Glucksman Gallery to compare the experience of learning in real and virtual environments, and prompted to discuss implications of these experiences on their own teaching and learning in real or virtual spaces.