Not long after TC moved to remote teaching in March, Richard Jochum tried to start class on Zoom one evening by doing an emotional check-in with his students.
鈥淚 said, 鈥楬ow are you, how do you all feel?鈥� And a student burst out: 鈥榃hat are we doing here!鈥� I was surprised because he鈥檇 written to me earlier that he was fine. When I spoke with him about later, I said, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e frustrated,鈥� and he said 鈥斺�榊eah, I don鈥檛 know if I鈥檒l be alive in two weeks.鈥欌��
For Jochum, Associate Professor of Art & Art Education, the moment was a cautionary tale on several levels.
Ultimately, I believe we鈥檒l look back on this time and think: We became better teachers, too.
鈥� Richard Jochum
Jochum and other instructors in his program have literally taken that approach when it comes to teaching the College鈥檚 studio classes in painting and sculpture. Holding these classes online would be challenging under the best of circumstances 鈥� but it鈥檚 even tougher when no one, including the instructor, has access to essential materials and tools.
鈥淚 realized, 鈥極ne needs to cautiously balance these types of explorations in class,鈥欌�� he says. 鈥淏ut also, in general, 鈥楧on鈥檛 try to everything right now. Be generous to yourself and your students, because we鈥檙e still in an emergency mode here. It鈥檚 important to scale up slowly.鈥欌��
Still, Jochum says, 鈥渆ven in sculpture, we鈥檙e doing great stuff. We can鈥檛 do welding or use our workshop, but we can still give assignments that require students to apply and refine core principles 鈥� for example, by using a cardboard box to create an installation, uploading a photo of it, and then playing with the proportions.鈥�
Students are often more at home in the digital medium than instructors, but for Jochum, there are two essentials task in teaching 鈥� regardless of the medium and its constraints: to 鈥渃reate a story line from the get-go鈥� and to provide students with a sense of community.
In his seminar this semester on Creative Technologies, he initially sought to do both by tasking his students with planning a symposium on interconnectivity in the arts. With artists everywhere now self-isolating, the topic has become even more timely, but of course, the staging an actual event isn鈥檛 possible. Nevertheless, working with Flipgrid, the class has gone ahead with creating posters for the symposium with fleshed out topics and potential speakers.
鈥淚鈥檝e organized one or two symposia per year since I came to TC, and I think it鈥檚 a very valuable experience for students to learn to do it,鈥� Jochum says. 鈥淵ou need a strong brief and a strong call that attracts people, and when you鈥檝e got that the rest happens on its own. So again, storyboarding is key.鈥�
More recently, Jochum gave himself an intriguing assignment. At the suggestion of a colleague, and working with technology provided by ODL, he鈥檚 recreated TC鈥檚 Macy Gallery as a three-dimensional online space. ( to visit Jochum鈥檚 online 3D Macy Gallery.) Instructors can use it to post student projects and deliver end-of-semester critiques 鈥� but it can also be used for a full-on exhibition, and in July, the Art & Art Education program will do just that, with a show devoted to student work.
鈥淚 think the trick with technology is to leverage what you know, proceed slowly, and continually stretch yourself just a little bit beyond your comfort zone,鈥� Jochum says. 鈥淭eaching online gives us a new lens for thinking about our teaching in the classroom. Ultimately, I believe we鈥檒l look back on this time and think: We became better teachers, too.鈥�