RAPPORT
WWW.RECORDINGACHIEVEMENT.AC.UK
Issue 2 (2015)
Yes, but I can’t knit an e-portfolio
“No wonder learning is so hard to control, so easy
both to direct and to misdirect. It is brain and hand
and eye and ear and skin and heart; it is self alone
and self-in-community, it is general and specific,
large and small” (Wilson, 1998, p.295).
Wilson’s words sum up the impossibility of trying to
separate out or box up the spaces in which we think,
create and learn. Creative reflection is permeable
and crosses boundaries between personal and
academic, physical and digital. The previous section
offers a high-speed, small and selective tour of
creative and reflective activities that offer different
kinds of spaces to think as well as engendering
different kinds of thinking by the act of creating in
those spaces, with those materials. Where further
creativity and imagination is required relates to how
these activities might link up to eportfolios which are
constructed in digital space. The CRA 2015 seminar
Researching
and
Evaluating
Recording
Achievement, Personal Development Planning and
e-Portfolio reassured me at least that sophisticated,
stand-alone systems are not considered to be the
only true eportfolios. Loosely constructed and
dispersed models of eportfolio are in use in the UK
and internationally; this is certainly the case at my
own university where students can display and
record their work and progress in a range of digital
spaces. These include Showtime (an online show
reel of collections, artworks and so on); the use of
blogs and online mini portfolios such as Workflow,
where students can build up an electronic store of
visual work, but also include reflective and textual
elements; Moodle as both a curriculum space and
base for publicising live industry projects; social
media sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter all
also serving to promote creative practice and
events. Blogging is an increasingly popular tool for
reflective evaluation: however, whatever is in use
will largely depend on the purpose to which it is put
and the anticipated audience for it.
•
Reinvent learning
•
Foster genuine communities.
We can ask ourselves how we are progressing with
any of these, in any context. In terms of enabling
students to be creative and reflective thinkers the
ones that stand out for me are around storytelling,
inclusion, celebrating participation and the idea of
gifts, theatre and recognition. The making of an
artefact, however amateur in our eyes, is always
accompanied by a narrative, which brings the
creator and his/her meaning alive to the listener. We
have seen how the recognition has been manifested
through certificates (the HEAR) or badges: however,
the notion of gifts and theatre brings a new colour to
ways of recognising learning. Gifting (building for
someone else) is a LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®
activity while creating concepts in three-dimensional
materials and making unusual things as part of a
group collaboration has distinct elements of the
theatrical. These can be captured through photo and
film and integrated into digital portfolios, as long as
their value is more than just illustrative. In terms of
spaces to think an important aspect is the fluidity of
movement along the online/offline continuum.
Students make something, photograph it, integrate
it into written or practical work, encourage
discussion around it, remake it and so on. The line
between the real and digital space is a blurry one,
passed across many times. Gauntlett’s eight
principles are based on what he calls ‘communitypowered creativity’, which places autonomy, ability
and engagement firmly with the hands of the
amateur users, rather than being steered by experts
or leaders. Reinventing learning may be the greatest
challenge of the eight: however, generating creative
spaces is one way of upending old priorities about
what constitutes ‘proper’ ways of learning at
university.
As I indicated earlier, I have found Gauntlett’s (2012)
eight principles for fostering creativity via digital
platforms to be a helpful framework when
considering how to bring together creative reflection
and eportfolio activity. His principles are:
•
Embrace because we want to
•
Set no limits on participation
•
Celebrate participants not the platform
•
Support storytelling
•
Some gifts, some theatre, some recognition
•
Online to offline is a continuum
References
Anonymous (2010) Win VIP Access to Theakstons Old Peculier Crime-Writing Festival, The Guardian
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