Barriers and bridges with digital tools in visual arts for students with disabilities: a snapshot of a year challenged by COVID-19

Abstract

Due to the pandemic, teachers across the nation were thrown into a digital educational environment where they had to rely on technology (and the good graces of parents) to convey instruction across the virtual learning landscape. For teachers of the visual arts, the shift to virtual learning created the opportunity and challenge to create engaging, fun, and relevant lessons, especially when teaching students with disabilities. The impetus for accessibility to visual arts learning for all students comes from the importance of visual arts to culture, community, and further life skill engagement. The basis for the need for accessible instruction is in the policies and procedures developed at a county, state, and federal level supporting the access to the educational environment for students with disabilities. In this article, we move from the macro level of policy and procedure to the micro level of real teachers implementing appropriate strategies to engage students directly in their visual arts instruction. We, in collaboration with visual arts instructors, dive into the barriers that came with the shift to a virtual learning environment during the pandemic for students with disabilities, and how they identified strategies to bridge the gaps. Teachers identified how their “teaching toolbox” was stretched and expanded through the use of new digital tools. We also identify supports and strategies lacking in the digital learning environment and how the teachers attempted to overcome them. The teachers also share how they implemented specially designed instructional strategies to meet the students’ needs while engaging the students with the visual arts content. We explore teacher perspectives on the implementation of digital strategies during distance learning and gain insights on lessons learned, strategies to carry forward, and digital divides that continue, even into the varied learning modes following the COVID-19 pandemic.