The Great Editorial Race

Elaine Garcia&

Mel Brown

CONTEXT

• Based within the FD / BA (Hons) Illustration Programme – Year 2

• Optional Module – Illustrative Practices

• Assignment – Competitive Spirit

• Project – Great Editorial Race

• 3 Week project

CONTEXT

Traditional client-led brief within the classroom

Commission for a client and visually interpret a message that needs to be conveyed to a particular audience in a given context

Work in teams and compete against each other to “win” the job

Collective Group Blog is required to be set up by student team

CONTEXT

Minimum of 10 illustrations need to be completed

Judged by the “client”

Deadline set for submission to “client”

Teams can submit more than one entry

CONTEXT

Winner awarded (fictional) Illustration pounds

Second Place wins have the prize amount

Late submission: fined double

Winner is the team who has the most money at end (minus fines)

WHY USE BLOGS?• Flexible, interactive, easy to

use for reflection

• Support peer and social learning communities

• Allow others to read and comment

• Discuss experiences– primary / secondary– Actual, recalled and artificial

• Flexible Media – text, images, videos, links

• Allow students to gain real life experience

• David Kolb– Learning occurs through

the transformation of experience

– Emphasis is on the process not the outcome of learning

– Transformational process – knowledge created, adapted - not transmitted

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

KOLB’S LEARNING CYCLE

BLOGS AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

• Enable learning through – writing, reading, receiving comments and posting comments

• Collective blogs allow collaborative learning

• Sharing, creating, analysing and evaluating knowledge

• Social and Conversational in nature

KOLB’S LEARNING CYCLE WITH BLOG USAGE AND REFLECTION

ACTIVITIES

The Great Editorial Race

The Great Editorial Race

The Great Editorial Race

The Great Editorial Race

The Great Editorial Race

The Great Editorial Race

FINDINGS

• Total posts – 64% in FB, 19% in WWSY, 17% in IN

• Comments – 78% in FB, 15% in WWSY, 7% in IN

However students also stated they kept in contact via:• Facebook • face to face• text (messaging)

• Experiential Learning – 67% in FB, 19% in WWSY, 15% in IN

• Therefore the greater the activity, the greater the learning

FINDINGS

• Higher numbers of images• 70% in FB, 20% in WWSY and 10% in IN

• Comments indicate higher levels of engagement within FB with other teams often posting after submission

• Within FB all members contributed

• Within IN and WWSY at least one team member failed to engage

• Maximum contributions from one individual: FB = 71, WWSY = 16, IN

= 7

• Maximum posts from one individual: FB = 26, WWSY = 7, IN = 8

• Average comments per post: FB = 2.8, WWSY = 1.8, IN = 0.9

• Learning could possibly therefore be attributed to each of

these aspect

DISCUSSION

• Experiential Learning has occurred to varying degrees

• Greater blog use appears to indicate greater learning

• Only within FB is the full cycle complete

• Within IN and WWSY the perception continuum appears to be

less developed – lack of engaged feedback

• Possible lack of reading within WWSY and IN

• FB evidence of reflective learning – respond, seeking feedback,

encourages other to seek feedback

• Assessment not part of task may have resulted in lack of

engagement

• Art and Design context – more visual use of blogs

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

• Collective blogs can be used to support experiential learning

• Evidence of support for reflective learning

• Dependent upon individuals, and active engagement

• Need four key aspects - reading, writing, leaving comments and

receiving comments

• Triggers - self-reflection, reflection triggered by reading, reflective

dialogue

• Appear to be useful in Art and Design for critique of visual

images

• Need to consider assessment – will it inhibit effective reflective

learning

• Future studies could consider engagement with authentic

audiences

TO FIND OUT MORE…..

Garcia, E., Brown, M., Elbeltagi, I (2012) The Effectivness of Collective Group Blogs as a Tool for Reflection Within Experiential Learning Projects: A Case Study of Simulated Work Based Learning Within Higher Education. Proceedings of the Conference of Technology and

Educational Development, 7-9 March 2012, Valencia: IATED

Contact: Elaine Garcia – egarcia@plymouthart.ac.uk

Twitter – ela1negarc1a