Accelerate [website]

Dunseath, J (2023) Accelerate [website]. Accelerate.

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Abstract

‘ACCELERATE: Accessible Immersive Learning for Art and Design’ bought together art and design lecturers, educational researchers, and learning technologists from the UK, Ireland, Poland, and Ukraine to reflect on the impact of COVID-19 on higher education teaching to explore new possibilities for pedagogy and digital innovation. The project focused on the potential transformative role of immersive technologies (augmented, virtual, and extended reality) in the teaching of art and design while recognising that many learners face significant challenges in engaging effectively with XR technologies: disabilities; complex personal circumstances; low quality devices; poor and unreliable internet access. This 2-year Erasmus + ‘Strategic Partnership’ (2021-23) had a simple but ambitious aim: to improve the teaching of art and design at higher education in a post-pandemic Europe through the development of innovative methodologies, tools, platforms, and resources for accessible immersive learning. Drawing on the spirit of practice-led creative innovation, ACCELERATE created a new prototype platform for accessible immersive teaching in art and design that aimed to democratise XR technology. The collaborative development of this immersive ecosystem—open-source, scalable, sustainable—as a gateway for art and design lecturers and students with little or no previous experience of XR technologies was informed by a considered evaluation of the impact of COVID-19 on art and design teaching at the partner universities, the co-drafting of a Methodological guide, and a standalone online training course for lecturers populated with teaching materials, including co-created case studies that draw on the shared expertise and perspectives of all the project partners. By engaging with the layered complexities of XR accessibility and immersive learning, ACCELERATE has the capacity to be genuinely pioneering in its pedagogical and technological outcomes and find new ways of engaging with art and design students from disadvantaged and underrepresented groups.

Item Type:	Other
Note:	Priorities: Innovative Practices in a Digital Era, Building Inclusive Higher Education Systems, Skills Development and Inclusion through Creativity and the Arts. Partners: Bath Spa University (UK), University of Arts London (UK), Institute of Art, Design and Technology (Ireland), SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Poland), Sumy State University & Chernivtsi National University (Ukraine). Website: A suite of new tools and resources designed to support the use of immersive technology in the teaching of art and design, particularly at university-level, was launched by a team of six European universities. These tools and resources include - • A report drawing on responses from hundreds of students and dozens of staff in art and design schools at five universities in four countries candidly exploring the experience of teaching online and in blended form during the academic year 2020/21; • Extensive teaching resources, ranging from basic ‘how to guides’ to longer reflections on teaching practice, that show how immersive technologies can be used effectively and inclusively in the art and design classroom and workshop; • An online course to help art and design lecturers with little or no previous experience learn how immersive technologies could be useful in their teaching; • A Virtual Reality (VR) prototype platform designed to provide an open-source, ethical, and sustainable alternative to existing commercial platforms; • A lightweight and easy-to-use Augmented Reality (AR) smartphone application that supports 3-D modelling, holograms, and live video in response to simple visual triggers; • A series of FrameVR galleries created by art and design staff and students to show some of the possibilities of this new technology. BSU Project Manager Ian Gadd. Academic Lead, Jenny Dunseath, led on the Methodological Guide and Case Studies including work by BSU Dr Matt Freeman, Jonathan Kelham supported by Aimee Lax, Jon Warmington.
UN SDGs:	Goal 4: Quality Education
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General) N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general T Technology > T Technology (General)
Divisions:	Bath School of Art, Film and Media
Research Centres and Groups:	Art Research Centre
Related URLs:	https://www.immersiveartdesign.net/home/ https://www.immersiveartdesign.net/wp-co... https://www.immersiveartdesign.net/onlin... https://www.youtube.com/@accelerate6660 https://accelerate-immersive-framework.w... https://framevr.io/accelerateproject https://ulab.ar/
Date Deposited:	31 Oct 2023 10:50
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2023 10:50
URI / Page ID:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/15800

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