My COVID teacher – pedagogy and technology: Frontiers of online teaching in the creative writing classroom

Abstract

This article is an international collaboration of three creative writing tutors detailing our responses and practices in shifting from in-class to online instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are three scholars working at three different institutions (University of British Columbia, RMIT University, and the University of Technology Sydney) across two countries (Canada and Australia). We present collective autoethnographic responses and offer a menu of pedagogical practices for designing courses and teaching creative writing online. While one tutor had sound pedagogical practice in blended teaching, making the transition to online course delivery seamless, two of the tutors had little experience with online teaching and course design so their shift to online teaching was seismic, which led to unexpected creative solutions. Our insights are reflected in our narratives and the personal experiences that we bring into this article. The result, as discussed in this article, demonstrates how sound creative writing pedagogy can be designed for the digital classroom, and perhaps offer a post-pandemic glimpse into the future of creative writing pedagogy. Our article is largely anecdotal – neither comprehensive nor does it collate data beyond our small pool – our aim is to contribute and continue a conversation that has supported us during the pandemic. We have written to one another, with one another, and against one another, trying to articulate how we teach creative writing now, in an effort that others can continue the discussion of what they think and feel, will happen – what is happening – to creative writing teaching at other universities, states and countries, in the transition (temporary and permanent) to considering online teaching and learning as a vital part of our pedagogy going forward.