Creative Education Online

Lecturer in Teaching and Learning - Aberystwyth University

• Watch Mary's talk on artificial intelligence literacy (opens in new tab)

Tobias Revell

Design Futures Lead at Arup University's Foresight team and former Programme Director, Graphic Design Communication at London College of Communication, UAL

• Watch Tobias' talk on why is online always the future? (opens in new tab)

Barnaby Lickens-Richards and Sara Feio

Unit lead and alumni, Falmouth University

• Watch Barnaby and Sara's talk on running a fully online MA Illustration course (opens in new tab)

Peter Bryant

Associate Dean and Professor of Business Education at The University of Sydney

• Watch Peter's talk on where does this all end? (opens in new tab)

Georgia Steele

Head of Design and Development for UAL Online.

• Watch Georgia's talk on translating art school (opens in new tab)

Daniel Mitelpunkt

Director of Digital Media Lab at Imperial College London.

• Watch Daniel's talk on creativity for education (opens in new tab)

Emma Drye

Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Painting and BA (Hons) Drawing at the Open College of the Arts at the Open University.

• Watch Emma's talk on vulnerability and risk in online education (opens in new tab)

Nic Whitton

Professor of Digital Learning and Play at Northumbria University.

• Watch Nic's talk on play, creativity and online education (opens in new tab)

Kirsty Nevett

Course Leader for MA Fashion Business and MA Fashion Marketing (Online) at London College of Fashion.

• Watch Kirsty's talk on developing fully online LCF courses with UALO (opens in new tab)

Mark Pavey

Programme Leader for MA Illustration Online at Arts University Bournemouth.

• Watch Mark's talk on optimising an induction unit and supporting students throughout an asyncronous online course. (opens in new tab)

Monty King

Learning Design Manager for UAL Online.

• Watch Monty's talk about his research into online learning in the Global South, his work with FutureLearn and his new role at UAL Online. (opens in new tab)

Jonathan Kearney

Course Leader for MA Fine Art Digital at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.

• Watch Jonathan's talk about the online course he has been running since 2004. (opens in new tab)

Peter Ainsworth

Course Leader for MA Photography and Digital Practices Online at London College of Communications, University of the Arts London.

• Watch Peter's talk about shifting notions of photography in the age of AI and how this is influencing the development of his course. (opens in new tab)

Josie Cockram

Course Leader for MA Fine Art Online at Falmouth University.

• Watch Josie's talk about the importance of embodiment, rhythm, and presence over content in online creative learning. (opens in new tab)

Martin Newth

Head of the School of Fine Art at the Glasgow School of Art.

• Watch Martin's talk about post-Covid creative education and how this has affected online-only learning. (opens in new tab)

Dave Cormier

Director of Curriculum Development and Delivery, Open Learning at Thompson Rivers University, Canada.

• Watch Dave's talk about learning in a time of abundance. (opens in new tab)

UALO CEO Seminar series 6 (Online)

The CEO seminars will return.

The CEO seminars will return after Easter for series 6. Details will be posted here as soon as the speakers have been confirmed.

UALO CEO Symposium 2027 (In person)

The next CEO symposium will take place in March 2027.

Details of the CEO Symposium 2027 will be posted here once arrangements have been finalised.

UALO CEO Symposium 2026 – Making Playtime: an offline symposium about creative education online

On Tuesday 24 March 2026, a group of experts in learning congregated at Central Saint Martins in King’s Cross, London, to talk, make and think about online pedagogies, playful learning, and creative education.

In the morning session, Dave White, (Dean of Academic Strategy for UAL Online), facilitated a panel session with Nic Whitton (Professor of Play at Northumbria University), Justin Spooner (Director of Unthinkable), and Martin Newth (Head of the School of Fine Art at the Glasgow School of Art), and attendees created a collaborative wall of text in response to the discussion.

In the afternoon session, Claire Grange, (Commercial Director of UALO), and Debbie Grieve, (Director of Design and Production for UALO), delivered presentations about the work that underpins playful approaches to learning on UALO courses.

Georgia Steele, (Head of Design and Development for UALO), then introduced five playful activities she co-designed with colleagues Monty King (UALO Learning Design Manager), Wajahat Afzal (UALO Learning Designer), Jemima Collins (UALO Learning Designer) and Ian Truelove (Research and Innovation Coordinator for UALO), and delegates engaged in some serious play.

UALO Creative Education Online Micro-conference 2025

On Thursday 1 and Friday 2 May 2025, experts in the field of online creative education gathered at UAL’s High Holborn building and online to explore the intersections between Learning Design, Fully Online Provision and Art School Education.

Keynote conversations were facilitated by Dave White (Dean of Academic Strategy for UAL Online) with:

• Dr Natasha Bonnelame (Programme Director Digital Learning at London College of Fashion)
• Josie Cockram (Course Lead of MA Fine Art Online at Falmouth University)
• Professor Lawrie Phipps (Senior Research Lead at Jisc)
• Amy Sampson (Associate Director of Greenwich Online at University of Greenwich)
• Professor Susan Orr (Deputy Vice Chancellor for Education and Equalities at De Montfort University).

Key themes that emerged from the discussions and activities included:

• the importance of softness, flexibility and care in online spaces
• sources and resources of hope in a challenging world
• role of presence in online learning: showing up, connecting and playing
• dynamics of trust between educators and students
• potential and challenges relating to student agency
• how the notion of a ‘sticky’ curriculum might apply to online learning, and its relevance to student identity
• issues with assessment, including the impact of AI
• lumpiness of scalability
• knotty issues of community and belonging
• online as something other than a ‘place’
• the point where synchronous becomes asynchronous – temporal ponderings
• affordances of online-only learning
• online learning environment as a mechanism to build in-demand remote working skills
• insufficient imagination, not technologies, as a limiting factor
• false dichotomy of Learning Design and flexibility.

Teaching the creative arts online

To investigate how teaching in creative arts subjects could be successfully undertaken online, Rob Clarke and Georgia Steele conducted qualitative interviews with UAL teaching staff to better understand the approaches they took in their teaching practice. The findings reveal that the 'pedagogic motivations' that underpin approaches to residential teaching can be used to bridge these apparent tensions. Here, Rob and Georgia discuss the research and findings in a short podcast, available with a visual poster overview of their findings.

• GLAD 2024 Podcast and poster (opens in new tab). Rob Clarke (Learning Designer, UALO) and Georgia Steele (Head of Education Design and Development, UALO).