As we are experience this pandemic in solidarity. As we all choose to stay indoors and protect our loves ones, we can unanimously agree that the disruption of our routine is universal. This has triggered certain questions, 'Why have don't we have a contingency plan?', 'Should we have expected something of this sort?', 'Do you think we will recover from this?'. To stray away from negative thoughts and endless 'what ifs' I decided to look at this in a different light. Working with Modual Catalyst made me explore a solution driven way of thinking rather than adopting a dissentient approach. Having realised that there are only a few things under my control, making the most of this workshop will only help me stay out of a slump. I am sure that I am not the only one afraid of falling off routine and slipping into a sedentary lifestyle! I give credit to Modual for pumping energy into each one of the participants and giving us a great start to the lockdown.
The first time I participated in a Modual workshop, it was in partnership with Kickstarter and Glasgow School of Art. Our challenge was to design a solution to a problem and crowdfund for the idea! It was one of most active and hands-on experience, Modual approaches their workshop as a design sprint whilst simultaneously teaching the participants about design thinking and the double diamond approach. The Modual team was incredibly skilled and moderated the design process, giving the participants enough confidence to put the projects up for crowdfunding on Kickstarter. For Modual Catalyst, the challenge was to reimagine the future of arts education. This workshop was for UAL staff in collaboration with UAL students, the students worked as the moderators as well as participants. Modual is great for networking with industry experts as well as meeting likeminded students from UAL. Modual Catalyst was very adventitious as we collaborated with UAL staff and worked alongside them without any hierarchies being imposed, this helped in breaking the boundaries we abide by when in a traditional student-tutor relationship at university. I will always cherish this experience with Modual, it has given me valuable insight into the education industry and the real impact tutors and educators have. We came up with the concept of an online learning platform that consists of art and design lectures, live streams and educational content available globally. Since UAL is a reputed university, our vision was to bring the arts education to the remotest parts of the world by using technology to our advantage. With special focus on differently abled people and people with access issues, whether that is monetary or geographical. Bringing arts education online can be highly beneficial, especially in our current scenario where organisations are having to pivot and adapt to the circumstances. Yet we believe that there are some challenges that will need more focus, we hope to have an innovation team that will design solutions to tackle certain challenges. During brainstorming, we came up with multiple speculative design solutions that incorporate creative use of existing technology. We explored the use of braille tablets, VR and Speech-Text softwares that would make the digital learning platform truly inclusive. As an international student, I am aware of the struggle and demand for a good arts education. We believe that UAL online learning will break stigmas and stereotypes that exist around arts education. In certain parts of the world, arts eduction is still feared to be an unrewarding career choice. To dismantle this ideology, adapting to the cultural norms in form of language and innovation can truly improve the reach arts education has. As I mentioned earlier, accessibility is at the core of our mission. With the use of AI and other progressive tech, we see the potential to introduce multiple languages which include sign, braille and other forms of language that do not exclude anyone. We believe that UAL is not addressing accessibility issues when they have the right resources to, we have reached a position where if UAL online learning was established prior to the pandemic, the changes would not have to be discordant and problematic. We hope to turn this into a reality as we get ready to apply for funding.
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