Renee Hobbs describes and reflect on the create-to-learn pegagogy she uses in graduate education at the Harrington School of Communication and Media at the University of Rhode Island. Presented at the Eastern Communication Association, March 31, 2016.

1. [R]evolutionizing Our Approach
to Visual Communication
Renee Hobbs
Harrington School of Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island
Eastern Communication Association
Baltimore MD March 31, 2016

2. …learning outside the walled garden

3. www.digitalauthorship.org

4. Activating Visual Communication Competencies
through Online Learning
All teacher & student work is public,
except assessment and evaluation
• Blog as e-Portfolio
• Sharing Content on Twitter with
Hashtags
• LEAP: Creating Media to Demonstrate
Learning
• Reflective Multimedia Essays
• Final Paper/Project includes a
screencast IGNITE presentation

5. Dialogue as Mediated Performance
www.flipgrid.com

6. Activating Visual Communication Competencies
through Online Learning
All teacher & student work is public,
except assessment and evaluation
• Blog as e-Portfolio
• Sharing Content on Twitter with
Hashtags
• LEAP: Creating Media to Demonstrate
Learning
• Reflective Multimedia Essays
• Final Paper/Project includes a
screencast IGNITE presentation

8. Create-to-Learn

9. Create-to-Learn

10. WORKED EXAMPLE: Visualizing Scholarship
FOCUS ON the Audience Problem: What makes a youth-produced video watchable or
unwatchable? In what contexts do people become the audience for digital media
produced by children and youth?
After reading the two articles, compare and contrast the two articles by creating a
visual diagram or representation of some sort, including at least 2 relevant direct
quotations from the works to capture key points of consensus and differences between
these authors. Post your diagram to your blog and tweet a link using the #EDC 534
hashtag.
• Halverson, E. R., Gibbons, D., Copeland, S., Andrews, A., Llorens, B. H., & Bass, M. B. (2012). What
makes a youth-produced film good? The youth audience perspective.Learning, Media and
Technology, 39(3), 386–403.
• Levine, Peter. (2008). A public voice for youth: The audience problem in digital media and civic
education. In L. Bennett (Ed.), Civic life online: Learning how digital media can engage youth (pp.
119 – 138). John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, MIT Press.

19. • How does the public nature of the learning experience affect
the quality of student work?
• What is the learning progression in creating visual
communication with easy-to-use digital tools?
• How do templates support, shape or restrict creativity?
• How does the cognitive load of using a new digital tool
influence the creative production process?
• How does it affect the acquisition of content knowledge?
• Does the create-to-learn pedagogy advance students’ visual
design competencies even when formal instruction in visual
composition is not emphasized?
Research Questions for Create-to-Learn Pedagogy

20. Activating Visual Communication Competencies
through Online Learning
Online learning outside the walled garden can advance visual communication
competencies while building content knowledge through the process of creating to learn.

21. www.mediaeducationlab.com
Renee Hobbs
Harrington School of Communication and Media
University of Rhode Island
EMAIL hobbs@uri.edu
Twitter: @reneehobbs