Digitalization of Education in Arts and Humanities

for Sustainable Development

Svetlana Karkina

, Elena Dyganova

and Manuel Carlos Felgueiras

Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication, Kazan Federal University, Kremlevskaya str., Kazan, Russia

School of Engineering (ISEP), Instituto Politécnico do Porto, Porto, Portugal

Keywords: Sustainable development, education, Art and Humanities, digital tools, Online Learning.

Abstract: The paper explains the perspectives of education in Arts and Humanities in the digital age in the aspect of

leading trends such as economic, political and cultural development of the modern world in accordance with

Sustainable Development goals. The literature review lets us state the gap among the number of researches

that cover the issue of sustainable development in the field of Arts and Humanities and others include

engineering and environmental science. Using a sustainable approach as a methodological tool allowed to

shift the point of view from the development of the educational process equipment to the problem of cultural

ecology in order to preserve social and cultural values in the digital age, particularly, in online education. The

research based on methods of the average rating of students` musical performance records and the value

orientations questionnaire. The obtained results demonstrate a high level of creativity criterion in students`

performances prepared during the online lessons and the significance of moral, spiritual, and cultural values

for students – future music teachers. In conclusions were stated the crucial role of subjects in Arts and

Humanities for the cultural ecology as part of the sustainable development movement due to the digitalization

of education.

1 INTRODUCTION

Due to the technological progress the digitalization

covering all educational system components offering

new opportunities for its development. Through the

last decades, computer equipment became a

fundamental tool of a classroom, and libraries were

shifted to the digital format that provides e-sources

for any type of educational activity. Moreover, the

2020th year demonstrated the transformation in

education in a case of emergency, when traditional

face-to-face ways were replaced by online learning.

For this reason, teachers from all over the world were

gathered new methods for delivering knowledge,

organize students` activity and provide assessments

of the educational results.

Capturing all educational subject fields, the

digitalization spread the Arts and Humanities, where

brought new challenges. Despite a wide range of

advantages such as the availability of cultural heritage

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2176-5910

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2875-5109

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4202-5551

by the means of e-books, virtual museums, digital

collections of arts, online courses, necessary to point

to some limits for the educational process

implementation. Considering the pivotal role of

personal interaction in this field we have to highlight

that the discussion in an online environment cannot

exactly mimic face-to-face conversation. Successful

learning languages or philosophical disputes need

another approach for organizing online than in the

traditional classrooms.

Besides human capacity needs to be kept during

the digitalization in performance arts where digital

tools today allow to cover the most part of

professional functions include composing of music,

performing, critics and others (Bauer, 2014). Such

devices as multifunctional working station Korg i3

and BioMuse for reading human`s brain activity,

digital musical instruments synthesizing and

reproducing sounds are able to replace all types of

musician professional activity (Shirieva & Dyganova,

Karkina, S., Dyganova, E. and Felgueiras, M.

Digitalization of Education in Arts and Humanities for Sustainable Development.

DOI: 10.5220/0010672300003223

In Proceedings of the 1st International Scientiﬁc Forum on Sustainable Development of Socio-economic Systems (WFSDS 2021), pages 587-592

ISBN: 978-989-758-597-5

587

2020). In such a context, the crucial role takes the

issue to figure out the place of personality and human

capacity as a significant component of cultural

ecology. By comparison it seems to be appropriate to

cite the known words of Steve Jobs that “Technology

alone is not enough” (Lehrer, 2011) that sound even

more meaningful in relation to such fragile and

vulnerable phenomena as human culture.

The step toward the cultural ecology was included

in the document ‘2030 Agenda” set by the United

Nations General Assembly in 2015 for the purpose to

achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite

there is no goal in this document, dedicated to culture

and integration cultural aspects, there are several

points direct references to culture, include:

 Goal 4.7 refers to the fact that all students

receive knowledge and skills, necessary to

promote sustainable development, in particular

by education, recognition of cultural diversity,

and the contribution of culture to sustainable

development;

 Goal 8.3 aims to promote the development of

policies that support development of creativity

and innovation;

 Goal 8.9 and 12.b refer to the need to develop

and implement strategies development of

sustainable tourism, including through local

culture, and the need to create monitoring tools

in this area;

 Goal 11.4 emphasizes the need for efforts to

protect and protect the world cultural and

natural heritage.

These points demonstrate the valuable role of culture

in the successful realization of the “2030 Agenda”

while all of them in total summarize the aspects of

cultural ecology as an important component of

sustainable development.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

In order to study the relevance of the Sustainable

Development approach in different subject fields, a

literature review was provided. Using the Web of

Science database and sample strategy: The title

includes “Sustainable Development” and the type of

publication “article” the data were collected.

The analysis of the data let us stated that the

importance of Sustainable Development in the field

of Art and Humanities was confirmed by researchers

from all over the world by the number of papers

which number some less than a thousand. While this

number less than in Environmental science or

Engineering – the subject fields normally pay more

attention to a sustainable approach, at the same time

it is higher than in Psychology or Mathematics (see

Figure 1).

Figure 1: Distribution of articles with the words Sustainable

Development in the title indexed in Web of Science

Wide range of aspects in the field of Arts and

Humanities were covered by researchers through all

over the world.

The term “cultural ecology” was coined by

Steward as the way to adapt people culture in the

surrounding environment reflecting the harmony

between people and nature (Steward, 1955). The

definition of cultural ecology was described by

Lichachev as the complexity of architecture, literature

and arts, language, and all human cultural heritage

(Lichachev, 2000). According to his works, the

culture was built by humanity, while different levels

touch together with nature in the existence. The same

topic emphasized by Barkova as an approach in the

process of modern art development were the

fundamental ideas such as unity and person harmony,

nature and culture point the critical strategy towards

humans` return to nature (Barkova, 2012).

Modern researchers covered a vide range of

ecology issues in relation with culture and art

(Karkina et al., 2020). The implementation of the

Forest School model based on the interconnectivity

between art and ecology offers “outdoor curriculum

arts-based environmental education could provide

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588

valuable learning experiences” (Hunter-Doniger,

2020). The inspiration of “Chinese traditional art

forms and architectural thoughts, landscape ecology

or landsenseology emphasizes the integration of

human physical senses, psychological perceptions

and sustainable development concept into the

regional Ecol-environmental research and planning-

construction-management, which is an inheritance

and development to ancient Chinese” promotes

ecological ideas and sustainable development

consciousness (Zhao & Xiao, 2020). Furthermore,

based on the connection between sustainability and

art researchers explain the significant role of artist

and designer in the ecologies issues by taking care of

students` creative skills (Tan, 2019).

The relevance of sustainable approach

implementation as a valuable trend in culture and arts

was found in the field of design due to saving the

environment “by improving the health and well-being

of people and other living beings and ecosystems”

(Yao et al., 2018). Besides, the pivotal role of careful

management in the art festivals and tourism moving

stated by Quinn in order to promote “the socially

sustaining function of festivals and of encouraging

sustainable approaches to tourism development”

(Quinn, 2006).

Some researchers offer an arts-based approach for

promotion sustainability, for instance, as in the

British village project by the means of dialogic

practices and site-specific theatre established the

importance of “context-based meaning finding” that

allows engaging “people in place through processes

in which communities yield their own, context and

time-specific interpretations of sustainable

development” (Eernstman & Wals, 2013).

Towards to overcoming violence and preventing

terrorism other researchers explore the role of Islamic

Museum of Australia and highlight the meaning of

arts-based initiatives “as ‘soft’ and ‘non-threatening’

tools promote sustainable development, facilitate

social inclusion and retain value over time with

important policy implications” (Azmat et al., 2017).

Due to reach sustainability in urban ecology by

the means of live music researcher figure out “three

different dimensions for social value (social capital,

public engagement and identity) and three for cultural

value (musical creativity, cultural vibrancy and talent

development)” (Hoeven & Hitters, 2019).

Some cultural ecology issues demonstrate the

value of musical education for Sustainable

Development. Bogomolov points the opportunity to

transform vibrational characteristics of an

ecological

system into sound form that would allow to convert

them into the “music” of ecological systems as a “new

direction for creative understanding of the state of

nature” (Bogomolov et al., 2020). For the purpose to

improve the musical education system Li provides a

“new theoretical perspectives and practical approach

for the reform of preschool music teaching which is

also another new exploration and attempt on the

theory of ecology in education and curriculum” (Li,

2019).

In the field of piano education “suggest that

teachers can adopt the generative teaching method to

form the piano teaching ecosystem for teaching

objectives”, content, ideas and design (Fan, 2019).

Follow a “Canadian poet Robert Bringhurst found

inspiration for New World Suite No. 3, a complex

poem for three voices in four movements, in the

natural polyphony of the Earth and in the vast world

of polyphonic music” (Serrano, 2019) the researcher

noted that the Suite reminds about mandatory moral

imperative regulate the dwelling humans on Earth.

Due to the digitalization process progression

researchers propose self-training as a basis “to return

a view among both to the ecological/environmental

field and the artistic/aesthetic field” for musical

educators (Gomes & Saheb, 2019). The crucial role

for necessary “to redirect culture away from

economic prescriptions and to focus on ecological

approaches to ‘value’” pointed as an important

strategy for modern reality (Bailey et al., 2019).

The value approach features using the concept of

“art” in Science not less than in Humanities, includes

engineering that contains the explanation of it as a

“kind of mastery that comes from an intimate

familiarity with real circuits, actual devices”

(Horowitz & Hill, 2015). This example demonstrates

the correlation between two huge fields which is

bridged by issues of values carried by arts. In such

context, it seems pivotal to offer the purpose of the

study to characterize the role of aesthetic values

providing by subjects in the Arts and Humanities in

order to bridge the gap between humans and the

digital environment in order to save the uniqueness of

human capacity as a significant component for

Sustainable Development.

3 METHODS

The research work was based on the educational

process at Kazan Federal University. The data were

collected by the means of two methods:

 questionnaire average rating of the students`

musical performance works, prepared in online

interaction with teachers

Digitalization of Education in Arts and Humanities for Sustainable Development

589

 questionnaire on values orientations

implemented by the means of Google form

(Motkov & Ogneva, 2008)

 statistical methods of median and standard

deviation

In the experimental work have taken part 120

students studied in the bachelor program for future

music teachers. During the experiment, they learned

in an online way due to the case of emergency with

COVID19 on the platform Microsoft Teams and

using online courses created by authors of the

research.

4 ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

The experimental work included students learning in

piano class. During the pandemic time, all lessons

were shifted to the online way. Students created the

records of their performance and sent them to the

teacher, after that they received the teacher`s

instructions and recommendations for future

improvements of musical performance. Students`

piano performance works were evaluated on a tenth

point scale according to the next criteria: technical

level, correspondence to the text, artistic

expressiveness, emotionality, creativity. The highest

level of each criterion received 10 marks, while the

lowest could receive 0 mark. The results of average

rating of the students` works presented in the Table 1.

Table 1: Average rating of the students` musical

performance works.

Criteria Number of

students

Median Standard

deviation

Technical level

120

7 0.786630

Correspondence

to the text

0.819235

Artistic

expressiveness

0.995645

Emotionalit

8 1.002178

Creativit

9 0.984232

The analysis was based on statistical methods

such as the median, which allowed to count and

average points without limitation such as kind or

asymmetric of distribution, and standard deviation

was used for counting the level of differences

between the students` test results. Through the

analysis were concluded that the highest level (9

points), students reached in the criterion of creativity.

This result corresponds to the research of Pike, when

students had been studying to play piano by skype and

received any instruction in such a way only (Pike,

2017). During the analysis of this work were

established the highest level of creativeness in the

performances in comparison with the traditional face-

to-face way, because students were free for choosing

their body and hand position near the piano. The

conclusions of Pike were confirmed in our

experimental work, where students felt themselves

more free than near a teacher. So, not only in creative

criterion, but also in artistic expressiveness and

emotionality (8 points). Indeed such criteria as

technical level and correspondence to the text reached

less points (7 and 6 respectivamente), let us to

conclude about necessary, at least, to combine online

and face-to-face way in teaching piano. Using the

standard deviation method demonstrated no

statistically significant differences among obtained

data, and proved their appropriate quality.

Another valuable conclusion from of the analysis

the performance result was the possibility to teach

piano by the means of digital technology, as well as

improve human creative capacity which students

demonstrated much more successfully in comparison

with performance after the face-to-face study process

only.

The second stage of the experimental work

included ten values that a responded must assess by

five scales: in the aspect of the significance and

implementation of life values and reasons of their

realization, such as external reasons, personal

capacity, personal efforts. Questions were followed

by five-point Likert scale questions (using strongly

agree; agree; neither agree nor disagree; disagree;

strongly disagree) exploring respondents’ value

orientation. For each answer student received a mark

from 1 to 5 points according to the Likert scale. The

total result of each student could be from 1 to 5. The

results of the attitude survey were presented in the

Table 2.

Table 2: Questionnaire on students` values orientations.

Criteria Number of

students

Median Standard

deviation

nificance

120

4.23 1.234151

lementation 3.78 0.925362

Life values and

reasons of their

realization

3.89

0.884545

Personal

acit

4.45

0.902398

Personal efforts 4.48 0.887262

The analysis of the results demonstrated the

significance of different values for students. The

lowest level was reached for Live values and reasons

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for their realization (3.89) and implementation (3.78)

showed less interest of students – future music

teachers to external environment than moral and

spiritual culture. More points than the previous two

were obtained to the next value significance (4.23)

which was in the middle. The highest result was

obtained for the personal capacity (4.45) and personal

efforts (4.48) which demonstrated its pivotal role

among students` value orientations.

Using the method of standard deviation

demonstrated the minimum diversity between all the

students` average results, while all the results were

approximately equal or less than 1.

Based on this analysis were concluded that

students, who learn music as a professional subject,

appreciate social and cultural values more than

substantive what correspondent to regular personal

features not only musicians, but all persons who

studied, teach or doing arts.

5 DISCUSSION

In order to define the role of sustainability in Arts and

Humanities were establish a point of view on it as the

crucial factor of successful economical growth in the

countries where the government supports arts. Hunt

noted in his research the role of arts such as “much

more than money. It suggests a willingness to learn

and a commitment to the long-term. While in

economic terms it means sustained success in

competition, publicly-funded arts define success as

producing something society values” (Hunt & Shaw

2008).

Furthermore, some researchers emphasize social

and cultural values as fundamental part of economical

growing which principles were stated by Australian

Research Institute for Environment and Sustainability

include the movement to balance and harmony

between human and environment (Drew, 2020).

The digitalization of Arts and Humanities

provides modern equipment for fruitful work in some

cases changes the point of view on the humans`

activity. Using this equipment allow to produce

sounds expressing artistic ideas without special skills

or musical education. Digital technologies today

provide the music-making process as a more quicker

and easier, while a person not needs to know the

elements working process, but has an opportunity to

correct mistakes at any time (Humberstone, 2014). As

a matter of this fact using digital musical technologies

provides the easiest way to create a musical

background for movies, TV shows for which

electronic sound is quite enough.

In strict contrast, the implementation through arts

the most important function of human capabilities

such as creativity needs is shifting its role from

applied mean to self-valuable. For this purpose, a

person who uses digital devices needs to keep an open

mind and critical thinking for using them following

the inspiration and inner feeling of harmony (Price,

2013). This way allows to use digital tools for taking

care of cultural ecology as a valuable part of

sustainable development.

6 CONCLUSIONS

The digital development brings new opportunities to

human life challenging some fundamental issues such

as creative capacity and its role in the future. In order

to establish the proper way to implement new digital

equipment in such fields as Arts and Humanities they

are needed to be study as a part of global purpose as

cultural ecology. This concept points the necessary to

reach harmony in human existence in close contact

with nature and the urban environment. Study the

cultural ecology include figure out the ways for

taking care of cultural heritage as well as point its

critical role in economy and politics which

understand the necessity to keep balance among all

parts of the human society include culture.

The sustainable approach to Arts and Humanities

as an educational field means to change focus from

the applied tasks to the core of the professional

activity such as providing social and cultural values

in order to translate it to the young generation. The

digitalization of this field required the improvement

of the ability to keep an open mind and critical

thinking about computer technologies and follow the

inspiration in using them as a guarantee to keep

unique human capacity as the main value for

sustainable development.

7 LIMITATIONS

The paper has a limitation such as a comparative data

analysis among value orientations among students,

who enrolled the bachelor programs in the field of

Arts and Humanities and students who studied on any

Science program. In order to eliminate this gap, we

have a plan to establish in the future experiment,

which will combine students, learning different

subject fields.

Digitalization of Education in Arts and Humanities for Sustainable Development

591

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The work is performed according to the Russian

Government Program of Competitive Growth of Kazan

Federal University.

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