Students as Creative Producers' ICEL 2013 conference presentation

Students as
creative producers
Travis Noakes, Laura Czerniewicz, Cheryl Brown.
University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
travis.noakes@uct.ac.za
laura.czerniewicz@uct.ac.za
cheryl.brown@uct.ac.za
#connected learning
“Vince” from online songwriter and poet
to scriptwriter, film maker and director.
“Odette”, a private diarist and
cautious sharer of online writing.
Centre for Educational Technology
www.cet.uct.ac.za
2013/06/28 @travisnoakes ICEL (2013) presentation 1

“ „Unofficial‟ use of Internet
services by two Media Studies students
to compliment their Tertiary Education and
corresponding to indicators for
„Connected Learning‟ ”
„Students as
creative producers’
A.K.A.

International Development and Research Council-funded
ICT Access and Use Project, phase 4
Paper results from the fourth phase (2011-12) of
the „Student ICT Access and Use‟ project (2004-
12).
Phase four used digital ethnographies to explore
first-year students‟ day-to-day activities with ICT
on four South African university campuses, and
outside them.
 Overview at http://www.cet.uct.ac.za/virtualmobius
 Blog at https://studentictaccess.uct.ac.za

The two subjects our paper features were identified in analysing
the following sources:
1. Individual interviews
2. Focus groups
3. Day experience media videos
4. Screenshots and transcriptions of computer use
Qualitative research software (NVivo 9) was used to apply coding
matrices* to these sources. Three cases emerged in which
students spoke of their informal use of online services to create
online presences as writers.
Two student cases
from 26 research subjects
* http://www.travisnoakes.co.za/2012/04/new-codings-for-ict-access-and-use.html

Research into Media Production Projects
in local educational settings
• Blogging (Cronje, 2012)
• Digital storytelling (Barnes, Gachago and Ivala, 2013)
• Filming and editing with smartphones (Hassreiter, Walton & Marsden. 2011)
• Video editing and production (Deacon, Morrison & Stadler. 2005. Cronje, 2008,
2009.)
• Gaming and play (Walton, 2008. Pallitt, Venter and Koloko, 2011. Pallitt, 2012.)
• Music making (Haupt, 2008, 2012. Scott, 2012.)
• Podcasting (N‟gambi, 2012)
• Mobile phone publications (Botha, Vosloo, Kuner & van den Berg, 2011. Vosloo,
Walton, Deumert 2009.)
• „Visual Arts showcase e-portfolio‟ designs (Noakes, 2012)
• Wiki-based e-portfolios (Horwitz and Hodgkinson-Williams, 2010)

Understanding
Creative Production
• Creative production results in imaginative and expressive forms that are
shaped by student choices and the media available to them (page 245*).
As such, it can be viewed as primarily an interest-driven genre of
participation that may structure friendship-driven networks and practices.
*„Hanging Out, Messing Around and Geeking Out‟
by Ito et al., MIT Press, 2010.

Use of online services for friendship
and creative production in 2011
by University of Cape Town subjects

and creative production in 2011
by University of the Free State subjects

in 2011 by University of Fort Hare subjects

in 2011 by Rhodes University subjects

Two cases selected based on their contrasting
approaches to creative production
1. “Vince” (used many services from 2011-13 as his
online identities and self-concept developed)
2. “Jake” (used varied services in creating an online
identity as a journalist between 2011-13)
3. “Sidumo” (limited to promoting his acapella group
online in 2011)
4. “Odette” (used a few services to promote her
personal writing in 2011)

#connectedlearning
The „Connected Learning Report‟ (Ito, et al. 2013) is available for free via www.dmlhub.net.
Where can you find out about
Connected Learning?

Connected Learning as a
heuristic to explore interconnections
between two student cases
Learning happens by
doing
Everyone can
participate
Challenge is constant
Contexts
for learning
Experience
of learning
Design
principles
„Connected Learning Report‟ (Ito, et al. 2013), page 12
Interest powered
Peer-supported
Academically
orientated
Shared-
purpose
Production-
centered
Openly
networked
Increasing accessibility to
knowledge and learning
experiences
Fostering engagement and
self-expression
Expanding social supports
for interests
New media
amplification
Expanding diversity and
building capacity
Everything is
interconnected
Framework Aspects
Indicators

In everyday experiences with peers and friends, young
people contribute, share and give feedback in
inclusive social experiences that are fluid and highly
engaging.
When a subject is personally interesting and relevant,
learners achieve much higher order learning
outcomes.
A unique feature of this approach is that learners are
encouraged to link their activities across academic,
civic and/or career domains.
Learners flourish and realize their potential when they
can connect their interests and social engagement to
academic studies, civic engagement and community
outcomes.
Interest powered
Peer-supported
Academically
orientated
Contexts
for learning
Experience
of learning
Design
principles
New media
amplification

Digital tools provide opportunities for the creative
production of a wide variety of content in experimental
and active ways.
Online communities provide unprecedented
opportunities for cross-cultural and cross-generational
learning around common goals and interests.
Online platforms and digital platforms may make
learning resources abundant, accessible and visible
across all learner settings.
Shared-purpose
Production-
centered
Openly
networked
Contexts
for learning
Experience
of learning
Design
principles
New media
amplification

Experiences provide many different ways for
individuals and groups to participate.
Learning is experiential and part of the pursuit
of meaningful activities and projects.
Interest or cultivation of an interest creates both
a „need to know‟ and a „need to share‟.
Young people are provided with multiple
learning contexts for engaging in connected
learning- contexts in which they receive
immediate feedback on progress, have access
to tools for planning and reflection and are
given opportunities for mastery of specialist
language and practices.
Learning happens
by doing
Everyone can
participate
Challenge is
constant
Contexts
for learning
Experience
of learning
Design
principles
New media
amplification
Everything is
interconnected

Interactive, immersive and personalized technologies provide
responsive feedback, support a diversity of learning styles and
literacy, and pace learning according to individual needs.
Through online search, educational resources and communities of
expertise and interest, young people can easily access
information and find relationships that support self-directed and
interest-driven learning.
Through social media, young people can form relationships with
peers and caring adults that are centered in interests, expertise,
and future opportunity in areas of interest.
New media networks empower marhginalised and non-
institutionalised groups and cultures to have voice, mobilize,
organize and build economic capacity.
Increasing accessibility to
experiences
Fostering engagement
and self-expression
Expanding social supports
for interests
Contexts
for learning
Experience
of learning
Design
principles
New media
amplification
Expanding diversity and
building capacity

Avisualoverviewof
ConnectedLearning
Sourced from http://connectedlearning.tv/infographic

Connected Learning
in a South African context:
changed in translation
Connected Learning is a pedagogical framework for secondary
school learning developed based on research in the United
States and Great Britain in response to broader societal
challenges in their developed world environments.
Few secondary schools in South Africa (and other developing
world countries) are likely to have the kinds of „technological-‟,
„contextual-‟ and „content resourcing‟ support (Czerniewicz and
Brown, 2004) necessary to support the educational use of ICT to
achieve a Connected Learning pedagogy.
Motivated students at local universities that offer sufficient
computer access and broadband speed can use these
technological resources to access sufficient contextual and
content support to achieve learning experiences which resonate
with those experienced in the Connected Learning framework.

“Vince”
• Long history of ICT ownership and use (first cell phone at 12)
• Owns an Apple laptop and a Blackberry (previously an iPhone)
• Lives in university residence (fastest broadband speeds in SA, 3 GB of data a month)
• Aspirant songwriter and poet in 2010

Vince‟s interest in songwriting
shapes the types of
Facebook statuses he created in 2011
Regarding his Facebook status updates, he said, „I don't write like
those stupid personal statuses, where like you are having a cup of
tea with your best friend. No. If I find something which is quite
insightful or profound or interesting, then I will put it up and see how
people react to it.‟
(Int1, 2011, R16)

Vince shares
his poetry and fiction writing in 2011
„... often I feel like writing, so I'll randomly just try to find a
writing competition. Because I'm always, either I'm writing
songs or I'm writing poems, or something of the sort. Um, ja. So
what do I do?‟
(Int2, 2011, R14).
Sourced from www.fanstory.com Sourced from voices.net.com

Vince‟s online writing community interactions
resonances with Connected Learning in 2011
Intensely personal reviews and a close online friendship he had made
contributed to Vince‟s belief that there „…really is an online community‟. In
response to a poem Vince wrote for his Dad‟s Birthday, an American
mother wrote; „My three sons are just a little younger than you and would
dearly love to think of their father this way, because they are fine young
men, like you they do love him, even though he doesn't know they exist,
only as showpieces when they do well. Always value your relationship with
your Dad.‟
Participation in this online community assisted him to be more receptive to
criticism, „I was extremely defensive of my poetry when I joined the site
and gradually learned to calm down more and try to better understand and
consider the reviewers criticisms before I launched into a diatribe.‟
(email, 07/02/2012)
It also helped him moderate his criticism, „... after a while of, um, seeing
other people's reviews and stuff, I realised that actually, no, this site is
more like, it is to help people to get better at writing. So, it's not really that
objective, it's kind of like, give each other nice ratings and prop each other
up, thing. So, it's less harsh than I understood and it is more of an online
community, like people are friendly. And it is nice as you are sharing
something intimate.‟
(Int2, 2011, R32).
✔ Interest powered
✔ Peer-supported
✔ Academically orientated
Contexts for learning
✔ Shared-purpose
✔ Production-centered
✔ Openly networked
Experience of learning
✔ Learning happens by doing
✔ Everyone participates
BUT $30 for many reviews
✔ Challenge is constant
✔ Everything is interconnected
Design principles
✔ Increasing accessibility to
✔ Fostering engagement and
self-expression
✔ Expanding social supports
for interests
✔ Expanding diversity and
building capacity
New media amplification

Vince contributes
an article to Varsity Vibes
in 2011

During 2012, his entire online footprint
changed from one that which „reflects the
identity of a confused but inspired and
enthusiastic song writer (in which I would
try to emulate the rebellious voice and
philosophies of my namesake - Bob Dylan
- in little lyric status updates) to one that
reflects the calmer, but no less
confused, identity of an aspiring film
maker (in which I would offer my thoughts
on movies I love and my activities.‟
(email, 07/02/2012)
Vince changes his
online persona in 2012
Vince‟s profile description on Twitter.com, 2013.
Google+,
Part of Vince‟s profile description on LinkedIn.com, 2013.

Vince on Prezi
in 2013
Vince‟s presentations on prezi.com, 2013.

Vince‟s Youtube
and Vimeo channels in 2013
Vince‟s channel on youtube.com, 2013.
Vince‟s channel on vimeo.com, 2013.

Vince‟s online activities and
Connected Learning Indicators
Vince believes these presences support his ability to network
and develop a career in film: He describes his online presences
as a „better way for people to get to know me and what I have to
say‟, helping him to develop social support in a film-industry that
„seems to boil down to the old axiom that "it's not what you
know, it's who you know" and what better way for people to get
to know me and what I have to say than my online writing
(including Facebook, Youtube and Twitter). Not to mention my
ability to connect with the people that I need to know through
these social networking sites. In no way am I saying that I think
my "online writing presence" is of a good quality but rather that
it gives me the opportunity to have a voice.‟ (email, 07/02/2012)
✔ Peer-supported
✔ Academically orientated
✔ Shared-purpose
Design principles
self-expression
for interests
building capacity

Ghetto Film School
Google+ Hangout
Vince‟s online presences enabled him to connect
with important people and organisations, like the
Ghetto Film School of LA (GFS). The GFS is an arts
programme that primarily assists learners in the US
with developing story- and film-making skills and
organises a MasterClass for international students
via Google Plus‟ Hangouts.
Sourced from ghettofilm.org, 2013.
Sourced from plus.google.com/+GhettoFilmSchool, 2013.

Vince wins a trip to the
Sundance Film Festival
In 2012 Vince entered a GFS competition and
used it to produce an „expertly crafted and
visually arresting‟ video which was chosen to be
showcased at the Sundance Film Festival in
2013 and consequently sponsored his
attendance.
Article on uct.ac.za, 2013.

“Odette”
• Odette did not own a laptop in first-year, but could access social networks
via her Samsung smartphone.
• She prefers to view the internet on the computer screen and accesses it
mainly on campus; in the library or computer labs.
• She also occasionally accessed the internet on her boyfriend‟s laptop, using
her or her sister‟s mobile phone as a modem.
Screenshot from Odette‟s Facebook newsfeed, 2013.

Odette‟s interest in private journal
and fiction writing shapes the types of
presences she created in 2011
Unlike Vince, Odette is concerned about the types of criticism
her fiction writing might receive and the potential for her writing
to be plagiarized. Rather than email herself copies of her work
as a copyright record, she prefers not to publish her professional
projects on wattpad.com. Instead, she created an account under
a pseudonym that she uses to share autobiographical journal.
Sourced from wattpad.com, 2013.
32

Odette‟s publishes a private journal
under a pseudonym in 2011
She prefers using this to a physical journal, as
the digital one is under a pseudonym, so it
‘cannot be linked to her’ (Int1, 2011, R5). She
originally used to write her journal in ‘actual
books’ and she was not completely herself as
she knew someone might find it. As it is under
a different name online, she believes it is
highly unlikely that someone will find it. As a
result, she is more at peace using a medium
where she feels she can share her ‘deepest and
darkest secrets’. (Int1, 2011, R12).
Most of the work she does on Wattpad is on
her journal. Although she does not use it for
feedback, she does ‘feel that someone is
there’. She also believes that people would not
typically want to give an author feedback on
their journal. She remarked that ‘No one has
really commented, although they can’.

Odette‟s publishes a private journal
under a pseudonym in 2011
She has also used Wattpad to put up a story
that she did not plan on publishing, as she had
taken its idea and changed it into a script. She
did upload a second draft of one of her fantasy
novels, but under a different pseudonym, and
entered a poem into a Wattpad competition.
Although Wattpad affords social network
functionality, Odette has not made friends on
the service. She only has one friend on it, who
does not know it is a presence by Odette. She
believes that the service is far more popular in
USA, where it is like a ‘group of friends’. By
contrast, she does not really communicate
with other users, unless they tell her that her
work is really good. ‘Wattpad is less
communication than expressing yourself.
People like to be appreciated; if people like
your work that's cool. Having your work online
also looks cool.’ (Int1, 2011, R10).
Peer-supported
Academically orientated
✔ Shared-purpose
Design principles
self-expression
for interests
building capacity

While “Vince” uses the same genuine identity across the sites he uses,
Odette uses pseudonyms for her extramural ones and she has separated her
writing interests from her career-related acting/modelling online presences.
She has a much smaller footprint than Vince; a 2013 search reveals presences on
Facebook, a LinkedIn profile which describes her as a model represented by
‘L'Agence TKN Models’ agency and a Pinterest accounts.
Divisions between the
online presences Odette uses
Sourced from wholebangshoot.co.za, 2013.
Sourced from pinterest.com, 2013.
2013/06/28 35

Reflections from
the Center for Educational Technology, UCT
• Media Studies students using online services can develop
their careers outside traditional formal environments.
• Academics can capitalize on this more in their curriculum:
they can help interested students take the initiative with
services like these. Hopefully this can help students get
jobs – proof of what they produced serving as an „online
CV‟s.
• As the technology is readily available for university
students, differentiation through creative production
(versus consumption) becomes increasingly important.
Students should be encouraged to participate in forums
that enable co- and extra-curricular media production.
• Students must be taught about copyright: „The thing is
have not checked it (copyright) out. I have been just like
„Wow - writing site!‟, BAM! throw it on there. And because
there are so many people, I assume that copyright means
you get to keep your own work. Especially, because you
can actually sell your work through the site.‟ (Int2, 2011,
R37).2013/06/28 @travisnoakes ICEL (2013) presentation 36

Thanks for your time.
Please follow me on Twitter
and view my blog at
www.travisnoakes.co.za
for updates…
• Slideshare presentation
• Online portfolio „lessons‟
• Research updates
• Nvivo advice
• Media

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