Distance learning: Artistic disciplines in expectations and results

Abstract

The long period of distance learning in higher education has set difficult tasks for teachers. The article analyzes the course and results of an experiment that was conducted at the Department of Folk Art Crafts of the Moscow State Regional University in 2020. The experiment involved three groups of students in two fields of study: 54.03.01 Design, specialty Costume Design (CD) and 54.03.02 Decorative and Applied Arts and Crafts (DAAC). Students independently identified problems that could arise during distance learning. These are objective factors, such as: insufficient mastering of skills of working with materials and tools, the inability to correct errors and shortcomings immediately, etc.; and subjective factors: psychological problems, deterioration of health indicators, etc. The authors of the article followed the changes in the problems of teaching and made analytical conclusions about how the students’ attitude to the process of remote learning changed. Despite the positive dynamics in students’ perception of online communication with teachers, some of the problems remain unsolvable. For example, the main problem in teaching creative disciplines, in our opinion, was the lack of direct contact between the master and the student, when the skill of artistic work is transferred “from hand to hand”. The authors conclude that the teaching of creative disciplines cannot be completely taken online.