The presentation of the BA thesis, on the subject of professional literacy in the visual media industry.

2. Research question
What is required from a professional
working in the creative industry today
to be successful, and how to become
one?
OR:
What defines "professional literacy" in
today's creative industry, and how can
it be achieved?

3. Professional skills
Based on their knowledge, there are
three main types of professionals:
generalists, specialists and T-shaped
employees.
There is a general trend of small
studios favoring generalists, while big
studios focus more on specialists.
Main traits valuable besides
professionalism are intellectual
curiosity, motivation, can-do attitude,
self-monitoring, a desire to learn new
things, determination and excellent
communication skills.

4. Efficient learning*
Efficient learning happens when the
information is successfully transferred
and applied to another context.
Key findings about learning:
Existing knowledge influences the
learner’s understanding of new
information.
Development of competence
requires i) factual knowledge
ii) conceptual understanding and
iii) information retrieval and application.
Efficiency increases when the
person is actively involved in their
learning process through goal definition
and self-monitoring.

5. Andragogy
Malcolm Knowles defines andragogy
as "the art and science of helping
adults learn“.
Adults learn differently than children
due to five main factors:
They are self-directed and
independent.
They have more experience, which
influences their learning methods.
Their reasons for learning are based
on necessity.
They favor practical application of
what is learned.
Their motivation is internal.

6. Learning by doing
Learning by doing represents a
commonly used method for learning
new skills.
There are three major factors that
contribute to successful learning:
Theory & practical application
should be used together, to build both
factual knowledge and conceptual
framework.
Using multiple information sources
offers different perspectives and builds
analytical and critical thinking.
Practicing results in applying the
new knowledge in diverse contexts,
creates expertise.

7. The main differences between an
expert and a novice can be
summarised as following:
Differentiated perception: the
expert has built the mental framework
to quickly see the relevant information
when presented with a new context.
Conceptual data organisation:
with experience, the information
becomes organized around general
concepts.
Efficient contextual application:
tailoring the existing knowledge to
new situations is highly efficient.
Mental process internalisation: for
the expert, the knowledge becomes
”second nature”.
Expert vs novice*

8. 3D animated short
The learning goal was to get familiar
with Maya and the entire production
pipeline of a 3D animated short.
Prerequisites for a successful outcome:
the subject was of personal interest
(storytelling, design and animation), it
built professional skillsets with tools in
demand (Maya, After Effects,
Premiere...), and resulted in an
animation that could be showcased in
the portfolio.
Animation here.

9. *References: Bransford, J., Brown, A. & Cocking, R. 2000. How people learn: Brain,
Mind, Experience and School. Extended edition.