Heidi May discusses how art and design education can incorporate online technologies and social media. She explores the conceptual overlaps between networked art practices and discussions in pedagogy around relationships and in-between spaces. Theorists such as Ted Aoki advocate for a decentralized, rhizomatic approach to curriculum that embraces non-linear learning. Tools like Moodle can foster collaborative, active learning through forums, chats, and video to provide feedback and critique on student work. This allows for a personalized, temporal understanding of knowledge in flux.

1. < Art in the Age of Networked
Learning >
HEIDI MAY mayh@ecuad.ca
Emily Carr University of Art and Design (Vancouver, CA)
PhD student, Dept. of Curriculum & Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Univ. of Brit. Columbia (Vancouver, CA)
web: http://heidimay.ca
twitter: @hmm__

2. Interests
• conceptual overlaps between contemporary relational
and networked art practices and current discussions about
pedagogy > both explore relationships and processes in-
between individuals
• why use the internet to teach art?
- how might online technologies and social media be
incorporated into art and design curriculum in a way that
responds to these shared interests?
- how might we use these tools to foster creative
processes and critical discourse?
• specific to this panel, how might we do so in a way that
instigates learning and understanding of our being with/in
a digital visual culture?
http://heidimay.ca

3. FIRST, SOME THEORY...
... making connections between curriculum
theory and ideas related to networked learning...
http://heidimay.ca

4. Complexity theory in education embraces a
collaborative and non-linear experience of learning,
rejecting the use of linear, machine-based metaphors.
http://heidimay.ca

5. centralized networkCurriculum + Pedagogy
1. Theory of Knowledge in

6. Decentralized approaches to teaching are most
appropriate for learning situations in which there exists
more than one response to a topic.
It’s about reconfiguring the exchange of knowledge.
Setting up open communication and creating active
learners as opposed to passive participants.
http://heidimay.ca

7. decentralized network
1. Theory of Knowledge in Curriculum + Pedagogy

8. rhizomatic experience

9. Curriculum theorist Ted Aoki:
rhizomean curricular landscape
http://heidimay.ca

10. 1. Theory of Knowledge in Curriculum + Pedagogy

11. 1. Theory of Knowledge in Curriculum + Pedagogy

12. Complexity theory
collectives elaborating
Decentralization emergent knowledge through a
temporal epistemology
Rhizomatic Experience
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13. TEMPORAL EPISTEMOLOGY:
A quest for knowledge that is not representational
but rather performative-based.
A way of interacting with materials and ideas that
is not about exploring something static, but rather
something that is always in flux.
http://heidimay.ca

14. How can these theories be applied
to art and design learning?
collaborative and dialogue and
active learning conversation
peer interaction and
accessibility
http://heidimay.ca

15. Recording and Archiving Creative Process
and Dialogue
“...openness remains a hallmark of this [Web 2.0] emergent
movement, both ideologically and technologically” (Alexander, p.34).
Alexander, B. (2006). Web 2.0: A new wave of innovation for teaching and
learning? EDUCAUSE Review, 41(2), 34-44.
http://heidimay.ca

16. Example: NING

17. Example: Moodle

18. Example: Moodle
PROCESS FORUMS

19. Example: Moodle
PROCESS FORUMS
Student Example #1 “Abstract Representation”
Assignment: Create an abstract piece that represents an
experience with a type of music, a recreational activity/sport,
or an interaction with a technological object.
Idea = Knitting

20. PROCESS FORUMS

21. PROCESS FORUMS

22. PROCESS FORUMS

23. PROCESS FORUMS

24. PROCESS FORUMS
Student Example #2 “Narrative Sequence”
Assignment: Create an interesting narrative sequence based on an everyday
activity, capturing the ‘rhythm’ of the event through placement of forms and
colour. The objective is to challenge traditional narrative formats.
Idea = Feeding the fish

25. PROCESS FORUMS

26. PROCESS FORUMS

27. PROCESS FORUMS

28. Posting the completed piece to the project Forum

32. CRITIQUE
Instructor final comments

33. WRITTEN REVIEWS Peer Reviews > Strengthen writing skills and teach
students how to be critical about art work.

34. WRITTEN REVIEWS Peer Reviews > Strengthen writing skills and teach
students how to be critical about art work.
Casual Responses
Peer Review

35. Moodle Chat

36. Multiple windows to view work and type comments simultaneously

37. Inserting archived chats into discussion forums for reference

38. Video chats allow for students to physically show work in progress

39. • Personalizing Knowledge with Self-Reflexivity
Integration of web cams and video blogging
10 second videos, audio muted

40. • Personalizing Knowledge with Self-Reflexivity
10 second video, audio
muted

41. "...Sometimes in face to face classes there is not enough
actual time to spend adequate time on each project so
critiquing can sometimes become very generalized and less
specific to each persons piece. Lots of time and effort goes
into each piece that students create and I feel that the time
and effort spent critiquing the piece should parallel this, the
online environment achieved this better then any face to face
art/design class I have taken. Of course all of that also
depends on the instructor and students as well."
- Erica Hargreaves, Emily Carr online student, FNDT 109 Visual
Communication, Spring 2008
http://heidimay.ca

42. Promoting Critical Discourse...
(Lange, 2007): “...by being vulnerable and sharing
intimate moments and choices, it is possible to
promote increased public discourse about formerly
uncomfortable, distasteful, or difficult topics in ways
that other media and other methods have not” (p. 13)
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43. Student project
Theme:
Social Awareness
“In this piece, I am commenting on a few different aspects of one whole idea; the idea being, that mass media
promotes unrealistic body images to society. I chose to zero in on a smaller, but very common result of these images
in the media; which is the rise in eating disorders. Media can be a culprit for many other social problems, but it is
certainly supporting the creation of people's warped opinions of what is beautiful and "normal".
I guess i hope that, from this piece, the viewer gets the irony i'm pointing out. This irony being that society has
become so obsessed with body image, that being thin is the new epidemic. This gives reason to the text and my face.. i
tried to show a confident look as if to say... "aren't YOU bulimic?". It seems that people have this false feeling of power
from being thin, and "desirable".”

44. WRAPPING UP..
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45. A course management system like Moodle provides a ‘hub’
and a home base. Incorporating other social media might
make sense if students are already using those
communication tools.
Being open to a multilinear experience is important, but
instructors need to choose appropriate tools for the content
of the course and the intended learning experience.
Instructors should feel as if they can create hybrid models
that might connect open source media to applications/
systems put in place by educational institutions.
http://heidimay.ca

46. Example: David Darts, NYU

47. Example: David Darts, NYU

48. Example: David Darts, NYU

49. Example: David Darts, NYU - Social Media IN
classroom

50. Example: David Darts, NYU - Social Media IN
classroom

51. Thank you
☺
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