Network Recovery: Maximising the Educational Experience after Crisis Mode

Dr Nerina Dunt (Adelaide Central School of Art, Department of Art History and Theory)
2021 Conference

In a recent research seminar, Professor Faye McCallum discussed the findings of a broad enquiry into wellbeing and resilience education during times of change and disruption (White & McCallum, 2021). Quantitative data obtained through global networks during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic revealed what worked well for teachers and what didn’t. However, in terms of local delivery of education, many institutions had to figure this out for themselves.

 

Adelaide Central School of Art (ACSA) is an independent, not-for-profit art school offering three accredited visual art programs. Despite the pandemic, ACSA was identified as the best art school in Australia in terms of overall student educational experience for undergraduates studying creative arts in 2020. For one complete term ACSA’s programs were delivered solely online, forcing educators and students into a state of potential hyper-individualism. In 2021, the online resources that were established during crisis response were reimagined as essential learning tools contributing to a blended learning model that embedded resilience in its students and care in its staff.

 

This paper considers how reconnecting individual and community wellbeing has been successfully achieved by ACSA as part of its recovery process. Crisis response has morphed into an alternative course delivery that prioritises the wellbeing of students and educators through a combination of intelligent software and proficient pedagogy.

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About the author

Dr Nerina Dunt is Acting Head of Department & Lecturer, Art History and Theory at Adelaide Central School of Art. She is a recent PhD graduate of the University of Adelaide, completing an Art History thesis entitled ‘Investigating the Aesthetic Character of Australian Urban Indigenous Art: A Socio-Political Fusion’. Her area of research is contemporary Australian art, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and perspectives and how these decolonise art, history, and the broader Australian socio-political milieu, which also guides her approach to teaching and learning.

Nerina holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) (2000), from the South Australian School of Art, University of South Australia, a Master of Arts (Art History) (2005), from the University of Adelaide in conjunction with the Art Gallery of South Australia, and is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide.