the challenge of elearning in art and design

The challenge of elearning in Art and Design education

A narrative about the research journey

From little things, big things grow…

2003: You will have a VLE!Specialist Art and Design Institution

Panic > What is a VLE? > Will it replace us?

Anecdotal evidence became a trigger…


Elearning in art and design: Perceptions and practices of lecturers in undergraduate studio-based disciplines and the rhetoric of innovative practices


A phenomenographic study

• To unpack the variation of what is there (Referential aspect)

• …and how it manifests(Structural aspect)

From little things, big things grow…• 19 specialist institutions• Over 40 participants


• Significant incongruence <> rhetoric of elearning and competencies for the knowledge economy

• Due to instructional methods widely practised in art and design disciplines - didactic approaches

• Misconceptions and resistance to affordances possible with elearning


• In Art and Design we do not promote information management, 21st century skills

• A significant number of graduates do not acquire skills and competencies for knowledge economy

Why do we teach the way we teach in Art and Design…

Souleles, N. (2013). The evolution of art and design pedagogies in England: Influences of the past, challenges for the future. International Journal of Art & Design Education, 32(2), 243-255.


• The primacy of the artefact

• Subjectivist epistemologies

• Practitioners as teachers…

“This ‘incestuous loop’ must be broken…”as stated by MuratovskiResearch for Designers, 2016

Disciplinary differences

Critical assumptions we make about technology-enhanced learning:

• Most research is top-down• We rarely consider disciplinary differences

Disciplines have their distinctive cultural characteristics, tribes…This consideration tends to be largely overlooked in research…


Drew, L. (2002)

Gruba, P. (2001)

Grove-White, A., Johal, D. (2004)

“…At the University there was an historical reluctance in the

School of Art and Design to engage with the VLE because of the

importance of studio-based, student teacher interactions…” The Social Informatics Research Unit et al., 2003


Gaebel, M., Kupriyanova, V., Morais, R. & Colucci, E. (2014). E-learning in European Higher Education Institutions, November 2014: Results of a mapping survey. Brussels: European University Association.

What about the tools?

• Phenomenography

• Action Research

• Phenomenology

• Inductive Content Analysis

• Grounded Theory

• Ethnography

What about the tools?

Souleles, N. (2012, April). Phenomenography and elearning in art and design. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Networked Learning, Maastricht School of Management, Netherlands.

“…The combination of structural and referential aspects revealed through phenomenography allows for further studies based on different and varied research paradigms that can focus on narrower aspects of elearning implementation in art and design…”

Making a start…

Souleles, N. (2012). Perceptions of undergraduate Graphic Design students on the educational potential of Facebook. Research in Learning Technology, 20.

• Popularity of Facebook among university students• Conflicting conclusions in the literature• Perceptions of undergraduate Graphic Design students• Context: The signature pedagogies

Making a start…• Traditional function of design studio physical

space - learning through social interactions

• Increasingly, diminishing resources, institutions difficult to sustain vibrant design studio

• Teaching and learning extend beyond physical design studio to an online virtual space distributed across space and time

Making a start…

Looked at:• Frequency of use• Form and pattern of use• Perceived effect on studies• Facebook versus physical studio

Research informing teaching and learning…

• Make it an integral part of curriculum, but…consider main points from previous study

• Technical action research• Pre-defined challenge:

To investigate how Facebook can be embedded

in a study unit on typography

Souleles, N. (2012). An action research project on the use of Facebook in an undergraduate visual communication study unit. Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, 11(2), 127-141.


• 40 students in two classes• Set up closed Facebook group• 10% of overall grade• Useful and relevant contribution

was deliberately defined in broad terms• Discreet involvement of facilitator


• Posts to the group > content analysis - open coding

• Online survey consisting of open and multiple-choice questions

• Focus group consisting of five students• Triangulation


1. Seeking formative feedback2. Seeking clarifications on assignments3. Requesting administrative information 4. Sharing Internet-based information5. Describing/communicating their actions 6. Making humour 7. Peer to peer communication 8. Peer to peer feedback


How much did you use the Facebook group?


How useful?


The weight of the assignment (10%)?

Research informing teaching and learning…A growing source of informal learning… (30-40 each year)My PhD student: Develop a taxonomy of informal learning

Enter the iPad(s)…

Enter the iPad(s)…Two major considerations:- Wide / diverse sample within art and design - Both perspectives, learners and teachers

Prosser and Trigwell (2000) - Understanding Learning and Teaching• Teaching and learning closely related• Required alignment is between the student’s and the lecturer’s perception of teaching and learning.


Souleles, N., Savva, S., Watters, H., Annesley, A., & Bull, B. (2015). A phenomenographic investigation on the use of iPads among undergraduate art and design students. British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(1), 131-141.

Souleles, N., Savva, S., Watters, H., & Annesley, A. (2016). Perceptions of art and design faculty on the instructional value of iPads. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 1-13.

Collaboration with Falmouth University Leading international specialist creative institution

Stage 1

Stage 2


Stage 1

BA Multimedia and Graphic Arts — CUT BA Fine Arts — FalUBA Drawing — FalUBA Illustration — FalU BA Contemporary Crafts — FalUBA 3D Design — FalUBA Interior Design — FalUBA Textile Design — FalUBA Fashion Design — FalUBA Performance, Sportsware Design — FalUBA Fashion Photography — FalU


Stage 1

UtilitiesCamera, Calculator, Dictionary & Thesaurus, iStock Photo

NetworkingFacebook, Skype, Twitter…

ProductivityAdobeReader, Book Creator Express, Evernote

CreativityArtStudio Lite, ColorSchemer, llustrator Lite, Instagram


Stage 1

Preference for tactile learning experiences

Supported learning preliminary stages of coursework

Communication purposes

Divergent views on value of available apps

Apps in “Creativity” category were used less than those in “Utilities” and “Social Networking”

It cannot be claimed > “breakthrough” for teaching and learning


Stage 2

Need for reliable formula to explain acceptance or rejection of technologies

Early TAMs (Technology Adoption Models)• Motivation of the user, • Perceived ease of use • Perceived usefulness Can influence attitudes towards acceptance and usage of technology


Stage 2

Recent studiesneither perceived ease of usenor perceived usefulness of technologyare significant determinants of intention

Extent to which a technology can enhance instruction, BUTContextual factors function as constraintsand what of self-efficacy?


Stage 2

The innovation > UTAUT + Phenomenography

Four key determinants:a) effort expectancy (use of a technological innovation is perceived as free of effort); b) performance expectancy (extent it is perceived as improving work performance); c) social influence (extent to which peers consider to adopt the technology); d) facilitating conditions (extent to which technological infrastructure exists)

[Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology]


Stage 2

Thirty-two (32) faculty members from both institutions Twenty (20) different design areas

Creative WritingComputer GraphicsDrawingFashion DesignFashion PhotographyFine ArtsGraphic DesignHuman–Computer InteractionIllustrationInformation Design

Interior DesignMultimedia DesignPerformancePrint MakingProduct DesignSemiotic TheorySportswear DesignTextile DesignWeb Design3D Design.


Stage 2

How easy do you consider it is to use the iPad for teaching and learning?(Effort expectancy)

Referential (What) Structural (How)

A) Very easy Effortless completion of certain tasksB) Depends upon the task Some tasks require more effort than othersC) Not easy Time-consuming to properly complete task


Stage 2

Some conclusions:

• Minimal connection to the signature pedagogies

• Primary concern > appropriate pedagogies decisive for the adoption of the tablet

• Inherent and obvious educational affordances not widely evident

Fostering a community

1st International Conference on the use of iPads in Higher Education (ihe2014) – Paphos, Almyra Hotel, 20 – 22 March 2014 (80 delegates)

2nd Biennial International Conference on the use of Pads in Higher Education (ihe2016) - University of San Francisco, 16-18 March 2016 (120 delegates)

ihe2018 - In England…


University of Western Sydney (UWS)

This is what half of 30,000 iPads looks like…

Every department has an appointedinstructional designer

Pioneered internet-enabled open exams with iPads

Sidetracking…Sources of informal learning and undergraduate graphic design students: A grounded theory approach

• Glaser classic model Grounded Theory• One year to get our heads around it…• Had to find an unexplored theme• Informal learning patterns among

graphic design graduates• Deductively develop formal theory

Sidetracking…

But why?

• 70% of learning is informal…• Formal education caters only for

30%…

Significant amount of learning for graphic designers occurs in situ to address varied and mostly small-scale design challenges in constantly changing working environments…

We used to call it ‘lifelong learning’…

Sidetracking…

But why?

• Use of different combinations of sources and strategies, mediated by limiting factors

• Reliance on online sources substantial

• Obvious implications for teaching and learning - highlights need to embed information literacy and management competencies

We are not good at this…

Back on track…

Elearning in art and design: the elephant in the room

Back on track…THRESHOLD CONCEPTS =

Within each discipline essential and significant body of troublesome knowledge

Difficult - unintuitive to comprehend, once understood has potential transform perceptions

Irreversible, hard to unlearn

Integrative, exposes inter-relationships between concepts and ideas

Souleles, N. (2015, March). Elearning in art and design: the elephant in the room. Conference: INTED2015, Madrid, Spain. DOI: 10.13140/2.1.4686.5440

Back on track… The change >> Focus away from replacing, replicating art and design instructional strategies, physical interaction of studio

Instead, elearning >> Comprehended as essential, complementary component of variety of instructional strategies it can enhance

Requires departure from incorrectly perceived role, conceptual move towards a new direction

Can trigger a transformative awareness of what is possible instead of what is not doable ***

Back on track…Example of what is doable:

How the traditional crit with associated problems (student performance anxiety), can be complemented with blended learning

Combined physical studio and online facilities such as collaborative documents, mind-mapping tools and e-portfolios

The motivation >> to promote a participative community of inquiry among students

Barber, T. C. (2011). The online crit: The community of inquiry meets design education. International Journal of E-Learning & Distance Education, 25(1).

I am keeping this…

elearning in Art and Design is a threshold concept

One more eye-opener…• Continuous debate in art and design

Souleles, N. (2016). iPad versus traditional tools in art and design: A complementary association. British Journal of Educational Technology. DOI: 10.1111/bjet.12446

• Digital versus traditional media

• Empirical literature is limited

• …and debates continue

One more eye-opener…


• Cohort of art and design students undertook instructional task, but instead of using paper and pencil, they used iPads :)

• Two classes/groups, n=32

• Visualization of ideas to address a specific conceptual challenge

• Visualize different ways of weighing an elephant



• Inductive qualitative content analysis (IQCA)

• Saturation was easily achieved

• Categories open-coded and clustered into groups

• My assumption = the WOW factor…



Category 1: Advantages of iPad

Category 2: Disadvantages of iPad

Category 3: Advantages of traditional media

Category 4: Disadvantages of traditional media

But this is not important…



Category 5: Conditional use of either set of

tools

This is important…


“. . .What is indicated for our time. . . is not succession of media and educational

procedures, like a series of boxing champions, but coexistence based on awareness

of the inherent powers and messages of each of these unique configurations.”

McLuhan (2003). Electronic Revolution: Revolutionary Effects of New Media

Looking at the wrong thing…

TraditionalMedia

NewMedia

Innovation is here…

Just as we assumethere are no disciplinary differences…

Looking at the wrong thing…

NewMedia

Innovation is here…

TraditionalMedia

“…coexistence based on awareness of the inherent powers and messages of each of these unique configurations…”

I am keeping these two…elearning in Art and Design is a threshold concept

elearning innovation in Art and Design at the overlap between traditional and new media

A matter of self-efficacy…If the elephant in the room continues to be ignored, then increasingly it will resemble an ostrich…

Meanwhile…

For on-going professional practiceform follows function

Meanwhile…The challenge for Art and Design is to perceive elearning through the same dictum and come up with variety of useful, appropriate uses

…and thus the journey continues…

As long as something has never started, one never has to worry about it ending.It has endless potential…

elearning in Art and Design

Subjectivist epistemologies

Subjectivist epistemologies > Practice is de facto research…

Feast, L. & Melles, G. (2010). Epistemological Positions in Design Research: A Brief Review of the Literature (pp. 1-5). Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Design Education. Sydney, Australia: University of New South Wales.Approximately 300 journal articles

Research for art and design as part of a “cognitive” tradition of art as a form of research with a “small r”…

Benefits of elearning

Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). (2008). Exploring Tangible Benefits of

e-Learning: Does investment yield interest. Northumbria, UK: Northumbria University._ Effect on learning (e.g. context, style, insight and reflective practice)

_ Effect on exam results_ Effect on student personal development (e.g. skills, employability, confidence)_ Student satisfaction with e-learning (e.g. effect on motivation, attendance andenjoyment, as shown in national survey, institutional survey, module evaluation,focus groups, or other)_ Innovation in teaching, learning and assessment (e.g. stimulus to creativeapproaches)



e-Learning: Does investment yield interest. Northumbria, UK: Northumbria University.

_ Influence on educational research_ Staff satisfaction with e-learning_ Effect on staff personal development (e.g. skills, employability, confidence)_ Influence on recruitment (students or staff; e.g. through greater accessibility;opening up new markets)_ Influence on retention (e.g. students or staff)



e-Learning: Does investment yield interest. Northumbria, UK: Northumbria University.

_ Influence on policy (e.g. institutional, faculty/school, departmental, or other extraconstitutional body)_ Effect on resources (e.g. effect on cost of delivery, time, applying full economiccosting to teaching and learning)_ Modifications to learning spaces (e.g. libraries, wireless networks, informallearning spaces)_ Effect on management of learning assets (e.g. institutional IP, repositories)_ Effect on a social justice agenda (e.g. widening participation, provision of spacefor consideration of differing or challenging perspectives)