LAUSR

ABSTRACT In this study, a group of seven teacher educators report on how they embarked on a process of collaborative autoethnography to uncover the problems and possibilities of teaching arts education using digital methodologies. Arising from the pressing need to pivot from in-person, campus-based teaching to online modes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the phenomenon prompted the authors to engage in critical and inquiry-oriented reflection on the experience. While the full group comprised teacher educators from across diverse disciplines, the current study focuses primarily on the idiosyncratic nature of teaching arts subjects such as music, drama and visual arts education to student teachers. Using qualitative analysis, the study identifies key themes and insights gleaned from critical explorations of the data. Although embodied pedagogies are considered no less valuable than before, the study reveals unexpected benefits that arise in the digital context, especially in arts education. In this frame, arts education is recast in a dynamic and unexpected fashion, despite the exigencies of the digital environment. Ultimately, the study points to important teaching and learning experiences, and new ways of framing dimensions of those experiences, that can inform future teaching worlds in the digital space.