CATO Creative Arts Teaching Online
May Lunchtime Symposia 2026
The purpose of these short lunchtime symposia is to share our findings on the potential and challenges of building an online degree course in the visual arts and to open conversations with academics, learning designers, and educators to support further progress in this field. Drawing on our ongoing experience of curriculum development for online courses and the realities of running them day to day, we wish to foster a conversation about how we engage across this new virtual studio environment. How does this relate to traditional studio-based campus learning? How do we teach the visual arts to degree students who prefer to work from their own home environments?
The symposia will feature a range of formats, including presentations, discussions, and workshop activities. These conversations will be relevant to all creative HE subjects, particularly those with an industry connection or a commitment to supporting students in both academic development and professionalisation.
The programme consists of five sessions, which can be booked individually through Eventbrite – links below.
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Tuesday 12 May: Not Just Smileys on a Whiteboard
Session One: 11:00–12:00
Studio culture online: embedding studio culture in online HE education.
Led by Shefali Wardell
Teaching a creative subject online transfers both the delivery and discovery of knowledge to a new interface. The online classroom may well be something that is more accessible, and the internet may have enabled more connections than before, but where does this new terrain leave studio culture in the arts? Is it a concept from the past and unfathomable online, or is it even more important in meeting the economic and social challenges of our time?
Session Two: 13:00–14:00
Online Offline: encouraging offline learning experience in creative online Higher Education
A critical challenge in creating online learning content is enabling students to engage in offline activity without the facilities and materials typical of the studio setting. With the risk of digital cannibalism inherent in the growth of AI influenced learning, it becomes essential for some online learning to take place away from the screen. In this session I will demonstrate some of the strategies for offline learning used with Level 4 students of illustration which can be applied to any creative course.
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Tuesday 19 May: Re-writing Writing for Creative Students
Session Three: 13:00–14:00
Brilliant writing from reluctant writers: encouraging quality critical writing outcomes from a diverse cohort
Led by Dr Jessica Jenkins
Creative students often find writing a challenge and recent years have seen an erosion of the writing and critical research components of degrees, partly due to the “client-led” tendency to respond to perceived student preferences. However, we believe that writing and critical thinking remain essential for the education of the creative student. But writing presents new challenges for the online HE degree which typically sees a much greater diversity of experience and disability related needs than the traditional campus-based course. In this session we will present strategies for sustaining the relevance and pleasure of writing for these cohorts without diminishing the expectation of degree level standards.
Book your place for "Re-writing Writing for Creative Students" here
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Tuesday 26 May: Why Collaboration Works
Session Four: 13:00–14:00
Collaborative working: delivering better education through visible cooperation in lecturer teams
Led by Shefali Wardell
Outdated and irrelevant fantasy or pointless undergrad torture? Partly to embed the tradition of studio culture into online arts degrees, and partly because the creative industries rely so much on collaboration, we continually encourage students to develop shared working practices. Yet online has had implications for how this works for teaching. Collaborative academic teams would seem to be crucial to negotiating the online campus, yet also not part of the intrinsic model. What are the implications of making colleague collaboration visible to online arts students?
Session Five: 14:00–14:30
Consolidation
The final consolidation session will offer the opportunity to draw conclusions and identify future pathways for maintaining a dialogue on the subject areas discussed.
Book your place for "Why Collaboration Works" here
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