New initiative supports faculty who teach making and performing online

As the Concordia community continues its fall term online and prepares for a winter term of remote teaching and learning, the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and the Faculty of Fine Arts have developed an initiative to suit the specific needs of faculty members teaching making and performing.

TEMPO (Teaching, Making and Performing Online) is a CTL initiative run in collaboration with Fine Arts. It was conceived of as a resource for creative pedagogical support for instructors across the university.

“The CTL is always looking for ways to offer discipline-specific support to faculty throughout the university. TEMPO is an experiment at providing support within the context of teaching making and performing, which has very specific online challenges," says Rob Cassidy, director of the CTL. 

The project is led by Kate Jarboe from the CTL. In addition to her role as a faculty support professional, Kate is also an artist with teaching experience in the Fine Arts. She is supported by a team of recent Fine Arts alumni through the Art Volt residency program.

Concrete tools to help instructors translate their work to online environments

Two key services TEMPO offers to support faculty in adapting their courses to the online environment are their Resource Library and Critique Gallery.

The Resource Library provides a collection of examples of creative approaches to using online platforms for teaching, performing, and artmaking, though many professors will find these resources relevant to many other disciplines, explains Cassidy.

The TEMPO Critique Gallery is a virtual gallery space that faculty can use to host class critiques by reserving dates ahead of time. TEMPO is currently taking reservations for any professors who want to take advantage of their virtual gallery for class critiques.

Other services offered by TEMPO include half-hour “pre-flight” meetings with instructors where they can run through any planned activities ahead of class with TEMPO, and 5-minute drop-in presentations that provide Zoom tips for students.

“Additionally, we have made a series of guides and video tutorials,” says Jarboe. “All of these tools are aimed at helping instructors translate their courses, critiques, performances and studio activities to the online environment.”

Any faculty needing assistance to prepare their courses for the winter term have a couple more months to reach out to the CTL and TEMPO for assistance.

TEMPO is another example of how the CTL has continually developed its support for faculty transitioning to online teaching since mid-March, says Cassidy.

"TEMPO complements the other CTL offerings. We feel it will appeal to many faculty across the university whose needs are in line with this type of support, both within and beyond the Fine Arts faculty," says Cassidy.

'A very forward-looking and innovative response'

Jarboe says she and the TEMPO team understand the intimidating factors of this transition.

“Teaching online requires one to reimagine everything, and while this moment is incredibly fertile for artists and designers – and responding creatively to new situations is something that we do naturally – it is also a laborious process, and TEMPO is here to offer resources and support.”

“It is a very forward-looking and innovative response that will continue to prove useful to faculty beyond the pandemic,” says Jarboe, who has a background in design and fine arts research, as well as several years of experience supporting online courses at Columbia University.

“I am optimistic about the potential for using online platforms as artistic mediums and finding creative responses to our current moment.”

Visit the TEMPO website for more information or contact the TEMPO Service Desk to submit specific questions about teaching, making, and performing online.