Expanding Creative Communities in the Visual Arts: Using Padlet to Support Student Engagement and Belonging in Stressful Contexts

33 In the wake of this “overnight” shock to the education sector, it is essential to acknowledge that the sudden shift to online learning differs significantly from the gradual introduction of online education in the form of distance courses, hybrid programs, and blended offerings (Ploj-Virtič et al., 2021). The rapid transition to emergency remote learning has placed enormous stress on learning support systems, with the scale of change often surpassing the capacity of available resources and technologies (Hodges et al., 2020). As more university students now study remotely, online collaborative tools are more important than ever for optimizing the student experience and generating meaningful engagement (Frison & Tino, 2019, p. 228). As Lockee (2021) explained, “Though rethinking of instructional approaches was forced and hurried, the [COVID-19] experience has served as a rare chance to reconsider strategies that best facilitate learning within the affordances and constraints of the online context” (p. 6).