Art and Design Education in Times of COVID-19: Distance Learning and the Importance of Interaction and Empathy

At the period of worldwide public health emergency of COVID-19, the majority of educational institutions in the world have faced the forced emergency lockdown and migration into the digital, online or virtual learning and teaching environments. Basically, it must be stated up front that digital media and processes have long been part of art instruction, and the maker movement has introduced 3-D printing, especially in design classes. But distance learning presents yet another set of challenges for these subjects.            This article examines how this change has affected the teaching of art and design, looks at two case studies (secondary school and university) and refers to discussions at art education conferences and papers on the post-pandemic challenges of digitization in the arts.