1. Blast is a unique social learning environment that aims to embed learning within creativity through a range of online and offline content and opportunities. 2. Successful learning communities require a critical mass of users, low transactional distance between participants, and high social presence to drive engagement. Motivations for participation include reciprocity, recognition from peers, sense of efficacy, and connection to the community. 3. Teenagers perceive creativity differently depending on the context. Creativity in education has only extrinsic value related to school or careers, while creative work for leisure has intrinsic value for self-expression and peer approval, which is enormously important for validation.

1. Blast research
Thought Experiment No 5. Painting by David O'Kane

2. Blast research
1. AHRC Knowledge Exchange Programme. BBC / Bristol & London City Unis
Alone Together? Social learning in BBC Blast, 2008
www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/knowledgeexchange/bristol.pdf
- How much learning is taking place within Blast?
- How can we recognise it?
- How can we optimise for it?

3. Blast research
2. AHRC Knowledge Infusion Programme. BBC / London City Uni
Engagement in Social Learning Spaces: patterns & motivations, 2009
- Beyond Blast: who else is trying to do this, and with what success?
- What should online social learning spaces look like? What do we know?
- What motivates young people to contribute. What holds them back?

4. We wanted to
- broaden our understanding of the process of engagement with social
learning. (Review of existing research and case studies of other learning
environments.)
- deepen our understanding of teenage perceptions of creativity,
authorship, and the relationship between creativity and learning. (Review
of existing research plus interviews with Blast Tour participants.)

5. 1. Who else is doing this stuff?
Still from CSI game, 369 Interactive

6. 1. Who else is doing this stuff?
Survey of 23 comparable websites:
www.activeworlds.com www.boom.mtv.co.uk www.deviantart.com www.flickr.com
www.goldstarcafe.net www.moshimonsters.com www.ning.com www.plings.co.uk
www.schoolnetglobal.com www.scratch.mit.edu www.myspace.com www.youtube.com
www.superclubplus.com www.schoolofeverything.com www.notschool.net
www.mylanguageexchange.com www.totalkiss.com www.facebook.com
www.community.brighton.ac.uk www.bebo.com www.4talent.channel4.com www.videojug.com
?? showcasing creative work - social dimension - offline dimension -
expert help - tips & tools - media richness/interactivity - learning
intent ??

7. Survey findings
1. While some of these sites are hugely successful, none of them are that similar to
Blast. Its range of content, its aim to embed learning with creativity, and its numerous
offline opportunities make Blast unique.
2. Offline practice seems to be as important as online presence, with many of the most
successful sites supporting offline as well as online communities.
3. Size is important. You need a critical mass of users to come together before
productive social learning can take place at scale. A core group of dedicated regulars is
good, but doesn't produce the network effect of large numbers.
4. Details of a site's design seem less important than its ethos - ease of use, welcoming
quality, accessibility, familiarity etc. Look may be less important than feel...

8. 2. What do we know about how learning communities work?
Einstein: ImageShack

9. 2. What do we know about how learning communities work?
Review of existing theoretical models of engagement in communities of learners
- What different stages and levels of participation are there?
eg Lurkers or visitors -> Novices -> Regulars -> Leaders -> Elders (Amy-Jo Kim)
- Jakob Nielsen's Participation Inequality Rule ( 1% - 9% - 90% ) and 2 things that
follow from it
- What design features might optimise for engagement?
- What motivates people to participate in a learning community? $ 64,000

10. Optimising for engagement
Alfred Rovai
Low transactional distance: horizontal and egalitarian, not vertical and hierarchical
High social presence: stickiness and numbers required...
James Gee
Affinity spaces: relatively flat and unstructured. Same space shared by 'masters' and
'novices'; knowledge is readily shared; users move easily from edge to centre, gaining
status as they do so.

11. Motives for participation:
David Kollock
1. Anticipated reciprocity - expectation of a return in kind
2. Desire for recognition - ie, to be thought highly of by one's peers
3. Desire for sense of efficacy - the feeling of having had an impact on the world
Ayelet Noff & Yossi Golan
4. Desire for connection - ie, to be plugged in to the network
5. Desire for emotional safety - ie, wanting to be accepted by the group
6. Altruism - the pleasure of sharing: "dopamine over IP"

12. 3. Teen perceptions of creativity
I See, Explosion by Sharona A Blast

13. 3. Teen perceptions of creativity
Interviews with Blast on Tour participants
- Creativity in an educational context perceived very differently from creativity in a
leisure context
- Creativity in an educational setting has only extrinsic value to do with educational or
career aspirations
- Creative work produced in a leisure setting has intrinsic value to do with authorship,
self-expression and peer approval
- Peer group validation of their own creative work - whether offline or online - is
enormously important to teens.

14. A problem and an opportunity