Best Practices for Teaching Arts & Crafts Online Recap

Wednesday, July 19th 2023

If you missed our recent TeacherFest session on Best Practices for Teaching Arts & Crafts Online, don’t worry, we took some notes! Lessonface & John C. Campbell Folk School instructors Terry Hale and Marjorie Langston invited participants to contribute their insights and experiences from teaching online. Below are some bullet points of what was covered.

Getting started

Terry and Marjorie thought they’d try virtual classes during the pandemic and pretty soon they learned it was a hit. “About an hour into our first class, Marjorie and I realized that this is something new and different, something the people were responding well to”.
For their craft, Glass Beadmaking, it is intermediate focused because most beginners may not have the equipment.
Their class structure is 4-5 consecutive days, 10-12:30pm demo in the morning and reconvene in the evening from 5-6pm to talk about what they worked on. This structure has helped foster the Folk School feeling, because they’re able to reconnect at the end of the day.
They start their class with chit-chat to get it out of the way before the demo.
When there are new students, Terry and Marjorie give them an opportunity to speak and shine so they feel comfortable in the group.

Equipment recommendations:

They started by purchasing 4K cameras and lights. They got a Hue camera, which was a great tool for virtual craft teaching. After a while, they found success with the laptop camera as well. They found a $29 webcam to show their workspace, and a small LED light to help show their workspace. Through trial and error they found the best gear to show exactly what they are working on. Below are links to their gear recommendations.
- 4k video camera: https://a.co/d/17sh9er
- Green screen and lights: https://a.co/d/60ynch6
- On camera light (similar to what they use; the original is now unavailable): https://a.co/d/9Uma98k
- Hue document camera: https://a.co/d/9DomGl1

Benefits of Online Teaching

One benefit of online teaching for Glass Beadmaking is that they can zoom in and get a very close up view of the beads and work. It opened up to showing them new techniques that they could not show in person.
- They got creative and used a ping pong paddle with white paper affixed to one side and black paper on the other to easily showcase small glass beads they were working on.
Marjorie and Terry find it to be quite powerful to connect at the end of the day to talk about lessons learned and connecting with each other. It is always positive and people give each other constructive feedback. A nice way to end the day.
You have to be flexible, listen to the students and be able to adapt depending on the students interests.

Best Practice Tips

Make sure the students have a materials list and enough time to get everything.
It’s helpful to leave time for questions and a chance to redo the demo if needed.
Establish expectations at the beginning of the session.
Let them know how you want them to ask questions during the session.
It can be helpful to show students the finished project at the top of the class so that they have an example of what they’re going to make.
It is always helpful if students understand the terminology of the class so when it’s used during the session it does not slow the class down.