Brilliant writing from reluctant writers: encouraging quality critical writing from a diverse cohort. Dr Jessica Jenkins.

At our second session of the CATO May Seminars (19.05.2026), I presented Brilliant Writing From Reluctant Writers: Encouraging Quality Critical Writing from a Diverse Cohort. In this talk I note how the writing component or dissertation of many creative arts degrees has been diminished and even completely abolished in recent years. I suggest that efforts by researchers such as those of the Writing PAD network (formed in 2004) to find appropriate ways to address the difficulties that many creative arts students encounter when tackling writing based work are not being well considered if the solution to such difficulties is to ever reduce the writing element of a creative degree. 

I make a case for the continued importance of writing for a number of reasons. For example, the well-established benefits of overcoming writing challenges as a means to operate in future professional scenarios, being able to slowly think through written information, being able to construct a logical argument and identify and assess the veracity or reliability of sources. 

But there are other uses of course for writing as a life skill too – as a reflective medium, as a way of making sense of the world, and as the most precise way of communicating. And in spite of my billing of my talk, not all creative students are reluctant about writing – so why this gradual erosion of the opportunity to write in creative arts curricula? 

None of this means that writing is necessarily easy, but I wonder, why should learning need to be easy? Accessible and easy are not to be confused. I reflected on my own struggles to write, the time it takes and effort it takes me, but that it is ultimately rewarding. When I suggest in the title that we can get “brilliant” writing, this is a view on the outcomes from the Level Six Writing module which I present in the talk. The idea of “brilliant” is that the students, mostly, come to love their research, their subject matter, and become much more confident in writing. 

The module is a 11-week journey into many aspects and different genres of writing, with contributions from visiting lecturers who make the relationship between writing, craft and visual practice, or who explain about the mechanics of academic writing. We present a wealth of thought-provoking and instructional material to the students in this module and ask them to document their progress and ideas week by week, and to collaborate peer to peer on some elements of writing. 

The outcome is a 2000-3000 essay (allowing for a big range in word count with the emphasis on quality not numbers of words), alongside around 30 pages of illustrated process notes. This is very different from the 7000-word dissertations I used to supervise in BA Graphic Design, which were guided primarily through one to one tutorials over a period of many months. These too, I would defend – (they have since been abolished) –, but we are operating in a different educational context in the online degree. 

The writing module on our BA Illustration Online which I created asks students to think about questions around writing whilst they are in the process of researching and gradually putting together their own written research outcome. 

The starting point is always a piece of their own visual work, a "catalyst piece" from which they can start to identify a subject matter. Sometimes the writing remains quite personal and can be a way of working through vulnerabilities or difficult life experiences. It can be analytical of practice, or a particular piece of work. It can often be broader in subject matter; themes that emerged in the most recent run of this module were: 

• Death, Loss, Nostalgia 
• Identity, Politics, Heritage 
• Place, Ecology, Landscape 
• Creative Process, Craft, Materials 

These are addressed through the chosen genre of writing: academic, journalistic, promotional, reflective, educational, or often a hybrid of these. 

As with the module presented in Session One, I use students’ own submission notes to analyse their responses. Whilst these are naturally selective in content, given that these are submissions are for assessment, they give a broad picture which is not inauthentic. I again was able to identify the many types of learning that are taking place: epistemic (new knowledge), metacognitive (understanding the learning process) affective (emotional connection), iterative (drafting, redrafting, choosing words), situated (using place, lived experience). 

What is specific here about online learning? 

There are two main aspects which continue the thread from the first session. One is the range of life situations, generations, educational backgrounds of the online cohort. This brings such an interesting span of topics as students are drawing on very different resources. Secondly, there is the geographical dispersal of the students, and this too brings a really rich and interesting range of localised themes into the written work. These even feed into research methods. For example, a student used their own dna analysis as a means to look into cultural traditions around death; another worked with a local research curator to understand the effect of illustration on the perception of the local natural habitat. They undertook field work in local natural habitats. 

It is remarkable how much the offline research inspires much of the writing – a writer in Patagonia describes a liminal space, living “at the end of the South American continent and the start of the southern ocean, mystery and frozen landscapes.” Another, living by the sea, begins with childhood memories of the seaside and looks at how artists deliberately use nostalgia to connect with viewers. 

My research demonstrated overall increased confidence in writing which is very encouraging to witness. Even more so is the enthusiasm with which students become absorbed in their subject matter.

I would welcome any insights and experiences from others working in this field on writing for creative students online.

Encouraging offline learning experiences in online creative arts degrees. Dr Jessica Jenkins.

At our first session of the CATO May Seminars on 12.05.2026, I presented my talk Encouraging Offline Learning Experiences in Online Creative Arts Degrees. In summary, I made the case that even though an online degree works through the interface of the screen, and is digitally based in terms of exchanging information, creative arts degrees online can and should maximise the potential of offline learning. 

Research generally points to the pros and cons of online versus campus-based (or “residential”) learning with “hybrid” learning sometimes promoted as the ideal compromise. However, if we build in as much offline learning in relay with the online experience this can help mitigate some of the problems of online learning such as “feelings of isolation and disengagement” (Watjatrakul, 2014). 

We know that the online cohorts that are emerging look quite different to the campus cohort in terms of demographics and geographical spread. We have moved on from the covid-enforced version of online learning where it was important to quickly find solutions and imitate the campus as closely as possible. Our cohorts now have a huge range of experience between them and a wide range of localised resources to draw upon.These need to be built into the online curriculum as an opportunity rather than a limitation.

I presented the Level Four Illustration Module Explore on our BA Illustration Online, and showed how mostly working from home, with limited space and limited uninterrupted time, our students successfully navigate two practice projects which ask them to experiment with two- and three-dimensional media and methods. 

Through innovation and resourcefulness, students in this module are able to use low-cost materials and objects locally available to them to create a wide range of experimental outcomes. In a preliminary exercise to formal thinking the students simply build a topography with household objects which they can light and film in different ways. This allows a kind of free thinking about form without any kind of consumption of materials. Over the course of two projects they will explore printmaking and then extend into their own experiments – we see monoprinting, photo exposure prints, stencil techniques, gelli printing, linocut, model making with clay, cardboard, objects, textile and yarn-based techniques, work with metal, wood, leather and synthetic materials. Therefore, the absence of traditional workshops and facilities encourages resourcefulness and in no way diminishes the quality of the outcomes. To be resourceful with materials and methods is to innovate and thus is inherently creative. To find your materials and create an unknown outcome from what is available to you is a qualitatively different learning process than starting with a set of  materials for an known outcome, as for example in a guided workshop scenario.

The module further encourages offline learning in that students are asked to undertake a “field trip” to think about what is going on locally through public discourse, and to use this as a way in to initiating ideas for the project. Many students base their work on their geographical situatedness. They often live in rural locations and use the project to get closer to the natural environment, becoming more observant through walking and sketching outdoors. Observation of the real world, away from the computer, is continually encouraged. And yet, as illustrators, we want them to develop imaginative and narrative powers too. Therefore, these real-world connections can take them anywhere they wish to go with the work. 

In my talk I noted the variety of highly imaginative and diversified outcomes, which I believe is positively connected to not spending most of the working time in a shared physical space. Through an analysis of students’ comments in their process notes uploaded with final submissions, I was able to analyse the forms of learning that take place through Bloom’s taxonomy of educational goals. Whilst this is now viewed as a somewhat blunt categorisation of domains, – psychomotor, affective and cognitive – it is possible to identify these broad areas and where they overlap through the students’ self analyses of process. In particular the psychomotor and the affective are synchronised when students are experimenting with new materials. These learning types are possible through the range of stimuli and the balance between material, digital and cognitive work. 

I noted how there was a productive relay between online and offline learning, individual and collaborative learning, taught material, and learning through discovery. Much of the learning is self-initiated, where the student becomes motivated to find out more and learn new techniques. Students often know their way around online resources and quickly pick up how to find a resource for a skill they need. 

Finally, I talked about the values we share in the module: A subtext of the whole module is to think critically about environmental and social systems both now and historically and to encourage progressive values. By working with both fictions and real existing environments, a consciousness for values which are of existential importance can be encouraged. 

Through ongoing social, tactile, embodied and material contact with the real world, both physical and social can we achieve better social cohesion and respect for all kinds of real-world environments. There are undoubted mental health benefits in encouraging online students, where social anxiety or limited mobility may well inform the choice to study online, to come into contact with tactile, natural, and social environments in their own locality. There is plenty of evidence for such benefits, as nicely expressed here by Løvoll and Torrissen: 

“Participation in arts  and nature based practices offers the chance to move from equilibrium to disequilibrium through exposure to new environments, new practices, and new social roles. This process fosters a possibility oriented mindset, promoting growth and positive change.”(2) 

I would welcome any other examples from others working in this field of the successful use of offline learning for online creative degrees. 

(1) Watjatrakul, B. (2014). Factors Affecting Students’ Intentions to Study at Universities Adopting The “Student-As-Customer” Concept. International Journal of Educational Management. 2014;28(6):676-693, quoted in International Journal of Research Vol. 11 Issue 08 August 2024 “The Efficacy and Acceptance of Online Learning vs. Offline Learning in Higher Learning Institutions: A Systematic Review” Chanda Chansa Thelma1, Edwin Vinandi Phiri. 

(2) Helga Synnevåg Løvoll and Wenche Torrissen (2025). “Frameworks for creative wellbeing: Arts and nature meet positive psychology”, 31 in Exploring Creative Wellbeing Frameworks in Context Nature, Culture, and Sustainable Futures, Eds. Torrissen and Synnevåg Løvoll

Embedding Studio Culture in Online HE Arts Education. Shefali Wardell.

 

Thank you to everyone who came and contributed to our first sessions today. We kicked off looking at studio culture, with a useful discussion about of the challenges around creating the studio online. Less with regards to the structures and logistics we work within but mainly around fostering the engagement, safety, collaboration and vulnerability this demands. In other words, conversations around passing on the culture itself. 

One of the things that I noted is that nobody challenged my premise that studio culture is still needed in the arts and in arts higher education, despite being invited to. As I noted I have asked myself questions about whether in this modern age, and online, this should still be something we teach.

After much internal questioning I decided that due to what I know about industry and being a creative practitioner, it was of course still essential. However, much of my professional identity is still tied up with my practice work and I wondered if other academics and learning designers think differently. 

From the discussion, we all seem to believe the same, and I think that is because we know our industry and our education sector. We all believe in community and know that we have a lot of external storms to weather, which we cannot do alone. This was heartening, because as I said, I personally feel there is coming a time in the creative arts when we will need to defend our choices and way of professional life. 

From the discussion overall it is clear that we are working within very similar structures, and facing similar challenges in building online HE arts learning, in the way that we want and need it to be for the wellbeing of arts higher education and the creative industries as a whole. 

Cato gives us an opportunity to collaborate and share, which was good to be involved with this morning. I enjoyed getting out of my online institutional bubble today and talking to people involved with online courses in other institutions. 

Shefali Wardell