Lockdown Learning in Art & Design: Managing a School Transition to Online Learning for Creative and Studio-Based Courses

Abstract

At the start of the global covid-19 pandemic, it became immediately apparent that no one individual or institution had mastered all the required skills for a smooth, seamless transition from on-campus teaching to online learning. This article takes an action research approach, drawing upon the lived experience of autoethnography as a methodology to interrogate the approach of the School of Art & Design at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) to managing the challenges in the transition to lockdown learning. This article outlines the important role the School played in supporting this re-visioning for the future of blended learning at an institutional level, outlining the change management approach undertaken at NTU, and highlighting the resulting innovation that emerged as we re-visioned studio-based pedagogies for an online and blended learning landscape.