Teaching Studios Online: Design & Clay (and why I blog about teaching)

Faceted Bowls, carved from solid, class example

 

This winter I am teaching my Clay 1: Hand-building class entirely online for the second time. In September, I learned I would be teaching the clay class online about 2 weeks before the quarter started, so I scrambled to get ready and pretty much stayed in scramble mode from September to December. This quarter, and over the break, I've been able to revise the class at a more reasonable pace and build on my experience and student feedback from the fall.

 

Shelf, carved from solid, class example

What I Learned in Fall

I learned a lot during the quarter about how I teach studio classes, mostly I (repeatedly) learned that when students are in the room with me, there is a lot of informal teaching that I don't necessarily think a lot about and which doesn't get written down anywhere. I know what techniques I teach and even which parts of which techniques are taught on which days, but there is a daily repetition of certain terms and concepts, as well as daily interaction with students that are impacted by what they're making, how far along they are, and what complications are impacting their current build. Besides that, many of my daily interactions with students are heard by their classmates and apply to more than one student, so that my recommendation to one student might result in another student making a correction without my direct involvement.

For this quarter, I made bisque texture rollers and stamps to put in the students' studio kits so they'd have a bit more variety in their tools and texture options.

I think the advantages of the modality obscured some of the costs, at least early on in the process of moving the class online. I've had some great success with flipping my classes so that students are preparing at home and working together in the studio. I have a lot of video demos online and students watch these videos online, then come to class ready to work. In fact, I've had students in the past who missed entire weeks of in-class meetings and were still able to catch up. 

This stuffed elephant sculpture by Margarita Cruz (Winter 2018) was built almost entirely in one day. Circumstances beyond her control prevented her from attending class, but she watched all the videos, then came in and just worked really hard for hours one day to get it done.

In an online class, technique demonstrations are about as good as in an in-person class, especially since most of my main demos have been moving online over the past several years anyway. The written assignment directions are probably improved quite a bit from when the class meets in person and students have ready access to rubrics right away (rather than whenever I get around to sharing them). I've actually improved my specificity in communicating to students things like how thick the wall should be, and I've added demonstrations to show them how to do many of the "little" things that sometimes get demonstrated in class, like how to measure wall thickness, flip a wide scupture, and substitute tools.

a video from a playlist on carving solid, this one captures some of the "little" things that might otherwise be demonstrated in class

But I can't peek over the students' shoulders and casually let them know that they have more carving to do. I can give them this feedback when they meet with me or once they have submitted their assignments, but once they've submitted something for grading, this kind of feedback seems like criticism rather than support. Importantly, I can't catch them and stop them in the moment before the piece is going to collapse and help them brace it and understand what happened. This I do on-campus both during and between classes when students are working in the studio. 

Segmented bowls, carved from one solid log (see video above), class example

Also, vitally, they've lost some significant amount of their in-class interactions with classmates. They still can interact with classmates in critiques and other discussions, but there isn't the kind of automatic time spent working together. For several years, as I've been working to flip my classes, I've discovered that the flipped modality, especially in the Hand-building and Intro to Clay classes has allowed students to take on some leadership and peer support roles in the classroom. For the past several years, I've had students work on different proejcts in the same space, meaning that one group of students is working on the 3D printer, while another group is using the extruder. This means that students learn the tools and techniques in different order from their classmates, then are able to support their classmates who are getting to those tools and techniques later.

Notan Cut Paper, Jordy Marquez, 2D Design, Fall 2020

Obviously the working on different tools part doesn't translate well when students don't have access to many of those tools, but I think there's some level of discussion between classmates that happens in a live class but is difficult to replicate online. So in my online studio classes I haven't really figured out how to look over students' shoulders and I haven't figured out how to get students to support their classmates. My classes are asynchronous, and thus don't have a designated meeting or work time where I can see them working. Some online classes meet synchronously, and maybe that's what I should be doing, but that's now how I've set up these classes. 

Line Project, Marvin Mendoza-Rosas, 2D Design, Fall 2020

Design Class Online

Last quarter, my other new online studio class was Two-Dimensional Design. I hadn't taught the Design class in years and never had any elements of it online, so I designed that class from scratch, including projects, check-ins, and timing that were planned for online first, rather than modified from a face-to-face class. In the Design class, I had weekly projects, with 1 or 2 "planning assignments" that directly related to the projec, as well as a set of interactive content lessons and sketchbook assignments designed to help students learn each week's composition or formal element of art terminology. 

Notan Project, Kyle Win, 2D Design, Fall 2020

In the clay class, on the other hand, I kept the project timing basically the same, with 2-3 week projects, demonstrations and interactive lessons. My changes were mostly to do with techniques and with creating new demos and information about projects to put online. Since students didn't have access to the same equipment as they do on campus, I couldn't reuse the projects, and since we couldn't learn basic technniques, clay processes, recycling, and kiln loading in the studio, I had to move all that online as well. I reduced the size of projects a bit, to try to account for traveling with clay for firings, and added to the section on taking quality photographs because photos (and video) are the only ways students can show me their work.

Notan Cut Paper, anonymous student example, 2D Design, Fall 2020

In both fall classes, I required students to check in with me roughly every other week. This was a quick ~10 minute check-in via Zoom (or phone or email if their schedules and/or internet connections couldn't accomodate Zoom) for me to check that students have started working, answer questions, and help make sure they were moving in the right direction. I knew I wanted to make up for the lack of face-to-face interactions, but a 10-15 minute check-in each week with each student would be ~9 hours of my week spent doing check ins. As I write this, it occurs to me that some sort of group check-in might work (and I could maybe give the students a chance to check in with their classmates, too).  

Color Collage by Jordy Marquez, 2D Design, Fall 2020

I've been particularly concerned with scheduling in flexibility, not just because the class is asynchronous, but because so many students seem to have such complicated schedules. From what I've seen, during the pandemic it appears more of my students are working full- or part-time and taking at least a full load, while also helping the family or raising kids. It's really alarming, actually, and I both see where it comes from (they've got bills and responsibilities, and they think they can make it work), but know it is unsustainable. I worry that students are going to burn out, but I'm really saddened that students are not getting as much out of their college education and experience because they are exhausted from trying to do it all at once.

Color Collage by Kyle win, 2D Design, Fall 2020

This quarter, several students have informed me that they are taking 4 classes (a normal full time load is 3), while also working. And, of course, we know they are also dealing with the additional stress and uncertainty of living and working during a pandemic. I suspect that the thinking goes something like this: "since my classes are online and don't have a meeting time, I can add them in anytime."  But the thing with a college level class is that you can move the work around, but you still need the time! Students who have taken on too much come to their classes exhausted and unable to function. They can't understand as well when they are tired, and I assume the same thing happens in their job and their families, too.

  

Color Collage, anonymous student example, 2D Design, Fall 2020

In the fall, I noticed that the Design students were more consistent in turning work in on time. I realized that their class had more built-in check-ins than the clay class. Besides the biweekly check-ins with me, they had a number of other opportunities to get feedback and show me that they were working. Their interactive lessons and sketchbook assignments functioned as both an early deadline to get started on the week's work and a check to show us both if they understood the content. My feedback via Zoom and email answered the questions they asked, and the submission feedback answered those they didn't. The Design students also had what amounted to a kind of weekly progress check via their planning assignments. They didn't just submit the project, they did the planning work beforehand and got feedback on that planning work before moving onto the project itself. Not all of the students made the connection that the planning assignments were planning for the project, but the vast majority did and I believe that helped them space their work over the course of a week.

Segmented triangular vessel, carved from solid, class example

I imagined that the clay students would follow along with the building demonstrations early in the week and get started on the project early enough that they could spend time on it every day or every other day for a couple of weeks. In reality, I think this often didn't happen. 

Notan Project, Israel McDonald, 2D Design, Fall 2020

This quarter, in the clay class, I decided to build-in more of the required checks. Students still have two-week building projects, but I have added a mini-building project each week.  Some of these preparation assignments, like the interactive pinch-building demo on day one, would have been done in class normally,  but others were added as a way for me to check that they can do the technique and check that they've started the project. I'm not sure I've hit upon the most elegant solution, but it's an improvement over last quarter.

Line Project, anonymous student example, 2D Design, Fall 2020

Why I Blog

Writing about my classes, like writing about my work often helps me think through the various elements of an issue. When I started writing this morning, I thought I was writing a blog post about the carving project I added this quarter. I've never had students carve from a solid block of clay before. They've hollowed out solid sculpture using carving methods, and I've had at least one student try Ayumi Horie's dry throwing technique, but this quarter's was an entirely new technique designed specfically for students working at home. 

one of a series of demonstrations (new this quarter) I made showing this solid carving technique

Maybe I'll talk about this technique in future, but as I wrote I realized that the bigger issue on my mind was (and is) what is missing from the current online studio that I think is important to capture. I'm not sure if you caught it, while reading, but my "aha" moment (or at least a glimpse at what could be an "aha") came around the 10th paragraph (right above Jordy Marquez's orange and blue collage), when I connected three separate bits that have been floating around in my head: 1) Important stuff happens in casual conversations in groups in the studio 2) I don't have time to meet each student individually each week and 3) I'd like to have a more casual way of peeking over students' shoulders to make sure they are on track.

Line Project, Kyle Win, 2D Design, Fall, 2020

I'll have to think a bit more about how this will work, but right now I'm thinking that instead of just checking in with me, students could have a required check-in with classmates in which they share pictures of their work space, what they're working on, and talk about what's going well or not. It could bring in the quality conversation of a critique, without the tension and expectations of a graded project. It could also help take the sole burden of feedback off of me, while helping empower the students to support each other. Stay tuned, I guess.

Artwork Note: All student examples are used with student permission, anonymous examples are from students who asked to remain anonymous but gave permission for their artwork to be shared here. Clay class examples are my work (since their project is due tomorow).