In 2010, current Vice President for Teaching and Learning at University College Cork (UCC) and Director of the Accredited Programs in Teaching and Learning, Dr Marian McCarthy, posed this research question:
How can the arts in education work as a catalyst to facilitate integrative learning and how can engaging in the arts teach us about the process of integrative learning? (McCarthy, 2010, p. 116).
At that time, McCarthy was coordinating and teaching on the Certificate and Diploma in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Participants in these programs are all teaching staff and previously were delivered face-to-face. McCarthy utilised the Glucksman, UCC’s art gallery based on main campus, in her teaching and in exploring the above research question. The results of the research highlighted how engaging in arts-based activities in the Glucksman helped participants to foster strong group collaborations, enabled individuals across different disciplines to learn from each other, encouraged higher order thinking, and helped participants make connections between previously disparate concepts – all of which are important in fostering meaningful integrative learning experiences.
In 2015 both the Certificate and Diploma were moved to fully online delivery, and the practice of utilising elements of the arts in education as per McCarthy’s approaches in 2010 are still used and have been adapted for the virtual environment.
This seminar will demonstrate the arts in education approaches used at UCC from both real and virtual perspectives. Participants will engage with the Glucksman Gallery in a virtual form, and learn techniques for working with artworks which are both physical and in digital form, as a way of thinking about how the arts can facilitate integrative approaches to teaching and learning. Discussion will also focus on working in virtual vs real world settings in experiencing art, and the implications these experiences have for teaching.