Educational Insights
Creativity and Self in the Art and Design Studio Classroom: The Struggle Between AI, the Digital, and the Handmade View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Carole Woodlock, Peter Byrne
During the past 20 years, art and design programs in higher education have adapted to prepare graduates to be digital professionals. One outcome of this change is that creating within studio classrooms has evolved to center on acquiring proficiency with digital tools and output. Based on our research, we advocate reframing digital and analog practices to foster a more haptic visual literacy and creative process across disciplines, creating a potential for innovation in art and design practices and a more student-centered environment. AI tools have become dominant in the everyday work of designers and many disciplines in the arts; we have broadened our investigation into how AI impacts ways of knowing and creative processes. We will share our inquiry into the studio classroom and our discoveries of creative practices where the digital and analog intersect. Our research into innovative methods and the role of the digital/AI and analog in that process has practical implications for artists and designers, providing a rich and robust terrain for reflection and consideration. The audience will gain an understanding of methods for reframing pedagogical instruction in higher education to advance a student-centered curriculum where the digital/AI and analog interconnect. We present a visual account of how educators across disciplines can nurture new strategies where AI processes specifically tangle and inspire analog-based practices. Of significance are how educators respond to future changes in tools, media, and output through artistic research, openly addressing identity, authorship, equity, and ways of knowing through creative processes.
Digital Storytelling as a Virtual Learning Exchange Project on Climate Change View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Isidore Udoh, Margaret Workman
As countries grapple with the impacts of climate change and related ecological challenges, educational institutions have come under pressure to create innovative curricula that prepare students to understand and address increasingly globalized and complex environmental challenges, such as climate change – through developing critical thinking and creativity skills, socio-cultural diversity competency, empathy, and a sense of global stewardship and citizenship. In this collaborative online international learning project, we utilized a service-learning approach, combined with a participatory video strategy to encourage students from DePaul University in Chicago and the University of Calabar in Nigeria to build interpretative knowledge from their lived experiences, using film. We selected service-learning because it is more responsive to the technologically driven communication culture of students, who tend to demonstrate a growing interest in activist forms of civic participation and organizing through online mediums. Our project aimed to mobilize individual action against climate change by building a movement of climate champions. The use of service-learning contextualized the student experience by targeting real problems. Students participated in climate storytelling and interviewing workshops prior to and during the virtual exchange project. Guided by community organizations and the instructors, they identified and interviewed, on video, individuals who were experiencing significant climate change impacts; then they collaboratively analyzed and presented on the data they collected, seeking to understand the underlying sources, hidden meanings, and costs of climate change. Students contributed insights and perspectives that can positively influence and advance the climate debate and the efforts to find effective solutions.
Addressing Food Insecurity in College: A Case Study View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Laura Racovita, Mioara Diaconu
According to Feeding America (2025), more than 47 million people in the United States experience food insecurity, defined by the USDA as the lack of access to healthy, nutritious food. College students are particularly vulnerable, with studies estimating that between 12% and 70% face mild to severe hunger during their college years. Those at highest risk include first-generation students, minorities, upperclassmen, and graduate students, who often navigate these challenges alone. The effects of food insecurity on college students can lead to lasting physical and mental health consequences, as well as social stigma, isolation, and shame. Educational impacts may include reduced concentration, lower grades, and the difficult choice between attending classes and working to afford essentials. This situation can often result in students dropping out, burdened with student loans that still need to be repaid. This paper focuses on how one faith-based institution addresses food insecurity through a client-choice pantry open exclusively to students and staff. It discusses the pantry's operations within a changing financial and support landscape, and will emphasize partnerships with community organizations and networks, particularly through food rescue programs. Every year, stores, farms, and other entities must throw away surplus food; eligible items marked as safe to eat are donated to local pantries and food banks through food rescue programs, thus reducing food waste. The study includes recommendations on how other university or community pantries can partner with local networks to support food rescue and reduce food waste, while addressing food insecurity in their community.
