Agile Pedagogies: Cultivating equity and community through remote teaching with art

Milkova and Filipowska (2021) discuss two activities they conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, expanding on the basic principles informing these practices, the steps involved, and how long they take. Digital drawing invites students to draw and trace on paper and on a high resolution picture of an object and to write words and phrases that describe the object in the chat. Breakout (of the box) divides students in breakout rooms, each group receiving different information about an object and its creator. After discussing in groups, students reconvene and share their findings, and reflect on their experience. Milkova and Filipowska also encourage readers to reflect on how useful these activities might be for them. For instance, they ask “Will the ‘digital drawing’ activity contribute or interfere with your larger pedagogical goals?” or “Does the timing and application of the activity reinforce a hierarchy or cannon?”. All this information makes the activities described easy to adapt and implement.

This article is especially interesting because it highlights the opportunities of transitioning to a remote setting, rather than focusing on the disadvantages of such a shift. According to them, online practices have the potential to contribute to equity and belonging and address issues brought up by the pandemic but also larger systemic, institutional and interpersonal racism.