UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Anna Divinsky, assistant teaching professor of art in the College of Arts and Architecture in the Office of Digital Learning, is the recipient of the 2024 Teaching and Learning with Technology Impact Award.
The Teaching and Learning with Technology Impact Award celebrates the accomplishments of faculty members whose work transforms education through the use of technology. The award is given in recognition of excellence represented by a single contribution or series of contributions.
For nearly two decades, nominators said, Divinsky has been spearheading innovative uses of technology to increase inclusive access, student engagement and feedback on her teaching practices. She’s most known for developing an art course that’s reached the masses.
In 2013, she created Penn State’s inaugural Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), “Introduction to Art,” which benefited 50,000 virtual learners across the globe. Nominators said her approach demonstrated flexible education without barriers is possible. It brought art to a wide age range of audiences from diverse locations. Divinsky also gathered data and testimonials from students to improve the immersive virtual class experience.
“She challenged what it meant to communicate with students,” a nominator said. “While recorded lectures were a common use of video at the time, Divinsky sought to connect to her remote students through video that was more inviting, personal and intimate, long before it was normalized on platforms like YouTube. Her approach refined the use of video in online learning and has been replicated across countless Penn State web courses.”
Since then, Divinsky continues to break barriers. She’s currently collaboratively exploring with two School of Visual Arts faculty how virtual reality can foster community and student dialog in asynchronous online classes. Through a two-year Faculty Fellows program, she has implemented Spatial.io galleries and synchronous critiques into her courses. That’s resulted in higher quality student projects and dialogue, nominators said.
“The strong classroom dynamic and sense of belonging Divinsky’s students report show evidence of her talent for cultivating community across digital mediums,” a nominator said. “Her defining characteristic is her unwavering commitment to fostering a vibrant and inclusive community within her courses. This community-centered approach, sometimes deemed an insurmountable challenge in the digital realm, has evolved and strengthened under her skillful and attentive teaching.”
Nominators said Divinsky sees cutting edge technology — from interactive art videos to insightful, thoughtfully delivered voice notes — as an essential teaching tool.
She said she is eager to help others do the same.
Divinsky shares her teaching tools with a broader audience through presentations at Penn State’s Teaching & Learning with Technology Symposium and conferences such as the Online Learning Consortium. She’s also involved in initiates such as the Center for Pedagogy in Arts and Design.
“Her leadership advancing technology-enhanced education across disciplines stands as a testament to her commitment to students,” a nominator said. “Divinsky’s unwavering commitment to fostering community, embracing technology for transformative learning and igniting a passion for artistic exploration in learners make her an ideal recipient.”