Part of my plans for life after my Degree is to teach art to groups at conferences, camps, community centres and from my home. Originally my plan was to do this in person and as I have twenty years experience teaching in a variety of venues I felt fairly confident about that. However, 2020 taught me how important online lessons are, especially for people that are isolated or unable to travel. So I decided to try out some art classes online, so that I could gain experience from a variety of teachers and then be in a better position to judge how to go about making learning enjoyable for my own students.
An online whimsical animal lesson with Tamara Laporte.
During the summer I did a few online art courses, partly for the fun of it and partly to see how other people tackled teaching a practical subject online. I tried out a course on perspective, another on whimsical art and course to help me learn some new encaustic skills. I also tried out a few one off youtube tutorials that appealed to me, it was relaxing.
An online lesson in encaustic art techniques with Donna Martin.
One thing that impressed me was how very well prepared these teachers were, with everything planned out in advance including all the materials they would need for each session. Paperwork for enrolment, health and safety, instructions for joining the virtual classrooms and materials required were all sent out in advance. Clearly preparation was key!
When researching possible teaching opportunities I discovered 'Lancashire Adult Learners' an organisation that teaches a variety of subjects to residents based in Lancashire online for free. I joined a papercutting class and discovered the subject was much harder than I expected. However the teaching was excellent and I enjoyed the class. I learned from this experience that the teacher should (ideally) work in pen because pencil can't be seen, also that viewing the work 'upside down' was pretty frustrating for the student. (This is not meant as a negative comment about the teacher, she was learning to teach online whilst actually doing the job and was coping really well). Just some minor changes I would make in the future. It got me thinking about what equipment I might need.
My zebra, papercutting experiment. Apart from decapitating him, it was a success!
Meanwhile, I was teaching workshops and hosting astrology meetings on zoom from home and learning with each session. I decided to try out using my phone to give another view during a tarot class and this worked quite well, but it would have been better to have something secure to attach the phone to.
Tarot on zoom - Me, top middle and the view from my phone - top left.
Whilst researching how to tackle the problem I found an art teachers website (Marcia Beckett) in which she gave her recommendations for a good phone holder to help with teaching art online. She said her set up wasn't ideal, but it worked quite well. It looked good to me.
https://www.artisbasic.com/2020/09/my-camera-set-up-for-distance-learning.html
So I have ordered a similar phone stand and hopefully this will enable me to show my sketchbook or desktop clearly and upright to my students. I look forward to trying it out during the next couple of months.
I have also enrolled with Swarthmore Education Centre in Leeds for two 10 week art courses. This is a place I identified last year, as the sort of place I would love to teach. (I was there with my stall and doing a crafts workshop November 2019). It's a community arts centre with a café and community hall, all in the same building. It reminded me of Battersea Arts Centre, happy memories from my teens. When I found Swarthmore there was no chance of me being able to physically attend any classes or teach there, as it was too far away. However, now that so many things are online it has become much more accessible! I am going to attend the online classes to learn more about what level is appropriate for a community arts workshop for adults and also to learn how much to teach in a lesson. (I know that I have a tendency to try and cram too much in)!
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