Arts in education approaches at University College Cork (UCC) have been used in both real and virtual settings for a number of years as a way of exploring elements of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL); the exhibitions and gallery space at The Glucksman Gallery at UCC being the physical space explored on campus, and virtual galleries have been explored through Google Arts and Culture. Participants working within an arts education lens engage in a process of ‘slow looking’ which requires “patient, immersive attention” to artworks, providing “scope and space for meaning-making and critical thinking that may not be possible through high-speed means of information delivery…addressing multi-disciplinary applications…” (Tishman, 2017, p. 24).
The exposure to artworks in these formats have 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). Engaging with virtual artworks has also provided an interesting platform from which to explore questions around digital literacies and the consideration of what is lost and what is gained by transitioning from art in the ‘real world’ to the ‘virtual world’.
References:
Kornhaber, M. L., Fierros, E. G., & Veenema, S. A. (2004). Multiple intelligences: Best ideas from research and practice. New York: Allyn & Bacon.
McCarthy, M. (2010). The arts in education as an integrative learning approach. In Higgs, Kilcommins and Ryan (eds) Making Connections: Intentional Teaching for Integrative Learning, pp. 115 – 127. Published by NAIRTL. Retrieved from http://www.nairtl.ie
Tishman, S. (2017). Slow Looking: The Art and Practice of Learning Through Observation. Routledge.