International Journal of Education & the Arts

Citation: Lee, J., Antonisse, M., Bebbington, A. (2023). Socially engaged pedagogy in the Zoom age. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 24(si1.4). http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea24si1.4

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Education Department was, as were many others, confronted with our audience’s rapidly changing needs in a newly digital landscape. As LAUSD closed down all in- person instruction on March 16, 2020, teachers, educators, and families were faced with new challenges in providing adequate access to online distance learning for every student. And yet, Educators in MOCA’s School Program, Contemporary Art Start, were determined we could adapt. It was through a sustained commitment to DEAI work, months of action research, ongoing critical reflection, and our unique team culture created by a robust community of practice that MOCA Educators found ways to not only respond to the challenges posed by virtual learning, but even found space to joyously innovate and enact our values in new and exciting ways. Contemporary Art Start (CAS), MOCA’s award-winning year-long school partnership program, serves five thousand students and one hundred teachers annually from elementary, middle, and high schools across L.A. Facilitating six tours weekly, CAS Educators use the inquiry-based teaching methodology, Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), to lead learner- centered conversations about contemporary artworks. The teachers in CAS are trained to use VTS in the classroom. In tandem with their two visits to MOCA each year, teachers attend PD workshops, are given a contemporary art curriculum, and receive classroom coaching visits from CAS Educators. Starting in January 2021 under a grant provided by the Leonard Hill Charitable Trust, the CAS program will expand, growing its staff and serving a burgeoning network of teachers and students throughout Los Angeles. In the Summer of 2020, CAS transitioned to online programming. Preparing to lead virtual tours and programs on Zoom in the Fall of 2020, the team of CAS Educators reflected on the pedagogy of VTS and our departmental values of embracing the multiplicity of perspectives, increasing access to contemporary art, and making education more collaborative, inclusive, and learner-centered. We pondered: what would it look like to adapt socially-engaged pedagogy to the Zoom age and could our impact be tangibly measured? In order to center student voices and acknowledge the multiplicity of perspectives, we focused on the new ways students were communicating over Zoom. Striving to facilitate rich VTS discussions with new modes of digital communication, we wondered: As socially-conscious facilitators, what should we privilege when navigating virtual environments? How could the use of online functions, such as chat, align with the goals and values of VTS and CAS? Furthermore, in the endeavor to make education more inclusive and learner-centered, we critically examined our own process of image selection and the possible social implications of artworks. Looking to increase public accessibility to contemporary art, we experimented with digital tools to help reach new audiences. Through these adaptations, we emerged with novel ways to facilitate rich VTS conversations online. Our process of adapting the program continues to this day, as Contemporary Art Start continues to privilege the iterative nature of social praxis and values transformation through reflection.