Are you one of thousands of individual creatives who are facing a strange future; struggling and apprehensive as the gig economy has collapsed and recovery seems a way off? Has COVID-19 meant your anticipated income has disappeared, almost overnight, with the cancellation of gigs, teaching sessions and contracted projects? As a sole trader, are you considering how you can diversify your practice and generate other potential revenue streams, such as teaching? Kadenze Virtual Studio can support you in these challenging times.
What is a Kadenze Virtual Studio (KVS)?
A Kadenze Virtual Studio (KVS) will be your very own studio where you can share your creative skills on an online learning platform (LMS). This virtual space, packed with technical wizardry for global reach, will allow you to develop courses and engage with students from across the globe. In the spirit and invention demanded by the COVID-19 emergency, we have repurposed kadenze.com’s learning platform and its technical tools so that a KVS gives you everything you need to easily begin teaching online.
In your KVS you will be able to:
1. Conduct skills-based lessons in the arts; for example: in Music, or the Visual Arts.
2. Extend the reach of your practice by building new networks for studio teaching and online learning design.
What technical features will power my KVS?
In the rush to teach remotely, many have seized on familiar technologies like Zoom and Padlet. But these technologies alone do not make for a coherent and mature online platform. In contrast, a KVS offers people who work in the arts and creative industries a comprehensive and integrated technical suite of capabilities with the means to enhance and scale opportunities as they arise. In your KVS you will be able to:
- Deliver and share full multimedia content. Embed live streams (e.g. from Zoom or Google Hangouts Meet), upload and embed videos for live group viewing, (e.g. from YouTube/Vimeo) or separately, at each person’s convenience.
- Construct multimedia galleries for sharing and discussing works and ideas with your learners and other instructors.
- Hold interactive discussion forums for peer-critique and comment.
- Create instructional activities to guide and keep everyone on track.
- Build or repurpose resources to share and enrich your teaching, including multimedia content, worksheets, and so on. Resources can be shared before, during or after your live session to deepen engagement.
- Set assignments for assessment including forum posts, videos of progress, and check-in quizzes.
- Review assignments or work-in-progress for peer review or to give public or private feedback between yourself and your participant(s).
- Award digital badges to recognize progress and achievement.
- Use Messenger to instantly communicate with students.
- Use your portfolio to build a repository of resources - such as recordings of livestreams, works in- progress documents, and accomplishments, or to showcase finished creative outputs.
- Be fully mobile with your guests so everyone can connect/share/learn on the go.
- Use analytics of online behaviors in your KVS to improve engagement and participation.
What are the benefits of Kadenze KVS, now, and beyond Covid-19?
- As an independent or freelance worker in the arts and creative industries, you can quickly develop your professional digital skills as host of your own KVS.
- You will not be on your KVS journey alone. Our package of resources, FAQs and online technical help will give you all the support you need to set up your studio and power your practice. As you plan your courses for sale you can be guided by our Technology Enabled Creative Learning (TECL) framework for learning design, so you can author, produce, publish and monetize your knowledge in a thoughtful way.
- Your KVS will be yours to run fully and independently. You will control everyone who enters; learners, need to be invited by you.
- Your finances are under your control. All financial arrangements are between you and your learners. Kadenze.Inc will not impose any complex revenue sharing arrangements.
- The KVS platform can quickly provide you with a virtual means to continue working within COVID-19 restrictions, and also equip you to extend the reach of your practice beyond COVID.
How much does it cost?
- After registering with kadenze.com and establishing your KVS, you will have free unlimited use of your studio for 45 days for experimentation and testing, after which time you will pay a fee of $US25.00 per month. A discounted annual fee will also be available.
- As outlined above, all financial transactions between yourself and your learners will be strictly between you and them, and not involve Kadenze in any way.
How can I set up my own KVS?
Are you, or colleagues you know, considering launching online classes? You can do so in your own Kadenze Virtual Studio. For more information please visit The KVS Landing Page.
August 2020