Reflections on Active Blended Learning: Bridging HE and industry.

Blended learning has long been defined as an approach to learning and teaching which combines face-to-face and online education. During my time at Northampton, my Photography team engaged effectively with innovative approaches to teaching a practice-based subject using blended methods, where the key was to use online, interactive tools to promote active learning, complementing the value of studio, workshop and classroom-based teaching. Moving on to a new role at Bucks New University has led to a re-thinking of what blended learning means in a different context where my broad staffing base emerges from a range of fields of professional practice, and where teaching and learning is more closely connected to industry practice. Based on the principle of applied learning, and ideas around ‘learning by doing’, the approaches adopted allow students the space to experiment as they develop their identities as practitioners. Furthermore, students are often given opportunities to engage in industry-set briefs or professional practice to apply their skills and knowledge to ‘real world’ environments. My talk will reflect on the varied interpretation of ‘blended’ where learning itself is not defined purely by the mode of delivery (i.e. online or classroom-based) but explored in relation to the range of strategies employed to engage students actively in their learning. Drawing from both practical and theory modules, I will highlight a few examples where particular tasks or projects provide the stimulus for individual exploration of the subject. Developing the theme of bridging HE with industry, I will discuss our recently formed partnership with Creative Media Skills, based at Pinewood Studios, where teaching is delivered both at the University and by industry experts at Pinewood. My evaluation of the industry-HE model is also relevant to the apprenticeships we currently deliver, where a blended approach is central to ‘on the job’ learning

Context and Narrative

However beautiful or technically dazzling your photographs might be, if they don't tell a story, convey an idea or make your viewer stop and think, they are unlikely to make a lasting impression. Context and Narrative in Photography introduces practical methods to help you plan, develop and present meaningful, communicative images. With dozens of examples from some of the world's most thought-provoking photographers, this is a beautiful introduction to a fascinating aspect of photography. Beginning with an exploration of different narrative techniques, you'll be guided through selecting and developing a compelling concept for your project and how it might be conveyed either through a single image or a series of photographs. You'll also learn ways to incorporate signs, symbols and text into your work and how to present the finished piece to best reach your audience. New to this edition are extended projects, additional exercises and discussion questions, expanded case studies, around 25% of the images and an expanded Chapter 6 on integrating text into photographic projects

From Material to Virtual: An exploration of visual technologies to develop an online/interactive-learning platform for Photography

This paper draws on pedagogical research, and in particular it focuses on a research project developed by the Photography team at the University of Northampton: Leet, S., Kalpaxi, E., Sherwood, T., Murphy, A., Dalum-Tilds, G, Lowe, C. (2014-2015) ‘From Material to Virtual’, funded by the Institute of Learning and Teaching (ILT) of the University of Northampton. The transfiguration of historically-accepted material or physical forms of photographic practice and research to a largely virtual experience reflects on-going technological changes which impact on contemporary arts and photography. The vision was to create a high-quality online learning environment requiring innovative approaches to design and delivery, leading to an enhanced student experience. The impetus of the project is driven by the need to develop innovative online approaches to L&T in a changing HE and wider educational market, with the challenge being the translation of a practical image-based subject onto a largely virtual platform whilst sustaining academic standards. This development in online learning coincides with the need to invent new platforms for the circulation of photography, academic projects and art – and where students are required to engage in flipped learning, and to explore these developments in relation to their own practice in a self-reflexive manner. Sample multimedia content created (videos and stills) will form the basis of a toolkit for users to develop their practical knowledge. A prototype of an interactive image gallery where individuals will be able to upload their images and collaborate with others to curate content, along with an integrated feedback/discussion platform will be designed. Testing will be underway with regards to its integration into UoN’s VLE. Interactive lectures will be created using Adobe Captivate, where e-tivities are embedded into subject specific content. Questionnaires, feedback surveys and a seminar involving students and external contributors will be used to assess its functionality and quality

Online Photography Toolkits: Digital Approaches to Practical Delivery.

This paper draws on pedagogical research, and in particular it focuses on a research project developed by the Photography team at the University of Northampton: Leet, S., Sherwood, T., Murphy, A., Kalpaxi, E., Franchi, E., Wardle, C., Lowe, C., Smith, J. A. (2016-2017) ‘Online Photography Toolkits: Digital Approaches to Practical Delivery’, funded by the Institute of Learning and Teaching (ILT) of the University of Northampton. The Photography team at the University of Northampton created a series of digital toolkits to enable students to access information ‘on demand’ through a number of platforms and mobile devices. The development of effective digital resources to facilitate independent asynchronous skills-oriented learning (that commonly involves a hands-on approach) has been acknowledged as an essential need and a challenge in previous Photography CAleRO workshops. The development of these resources also provides potential for greater openness, in terms of sharing resources among departments and the wider public, for educational, pedagogic, and marketing purposes. In line with the University’s Waterside move in 2018, the toolkits will provide a digital resource to aid blended and flipped learning within Photography undergraduate programmes – a way to provide access to essential technical information and support beyond the confines of conventional teaching environments. This project would be appropriate for first year students needing additional support, as well as second year and Top-Up students requiring a refresher of practical skills. Traditional teaching approaches can pose barriers to a number of students, and offer only a finite duration of contact through practical delivery. It is hoped that the implementation of online toolkits will promote inclusion and lead to improved engagement and achievement for all learners, including the significant number in our cohorts who have learning differences and physical disabilities (e.g. deafness)

A passage through place : a visual exploration of the concept of 'home' in relation to refugees in London (1996-1999)

In the following thesis I seek to examine the significance of the photograph in relation to a series of issues which surround its status as both an arbiter of ‘the real’ and as an icon of personal memory and identity. Focussing upon a series of refugee experiences from various communities in London, I seek to explore the complexities of being ‘out-of-place’, and the experience of setting up a ‘home’ outside of one’s homeland. Therefore, my research involved my photographing the interiors of their newly-established homes, both in relation to their experience as displaced persons, and in the way a domestic space is set up (with particular focus on the ways in which visual imagery is used in a private context) as representations of their identities and sense of cultural belonging. At the same time, my photography of public spaces provided a visual analysis of the influence of ‘community’ (despite its ambiguous meanings) on identity formation. In turn, however, my photographic work implicated the way the photograph becomes part of a complex series of constructions which raise questions about private terms of reference, of space, and interpretation. Thus part of my theoretical discussion on the photographic image in terms of memory, nostalgia and the past, aspects which (as I suggest) question the usual terms of the photograph’s status as a record of the ‘real’, notably in relation to historical uses of the medium and the ‘documentary’ tradition. In these terms, the images depicted raise questions about their anthropological terms of reference and the ways in which meaning is both relative to and dependent upon the specific context in which the photograph is made, read, and used. Hence the significance of the refugee experience in relation to the making of meaning out of displacement, and the re-construction of ‘home’ based on this strange, split experience

I Dream of Home: Constructing an Archive of the Intangible.

The concept of ‘home’ has always occupied an indeterminate space: it can refer to a place that has been left behind, or a place to which one returns, or a new place that one, even temporarily, ‘takes up’ (for example, a hotel room). This then means that ‘home’ may refer to a deeply familiar or foreign place, or it may simply be a passing point of reference. This lack of clarity in its meaning has also resulted in its being mythified as a site of utopian belonging. This project explores ideas of 'home' and has involved a broad range of participant-contributors who have posed for me in the studio, eyes closed, in reverie; they were also asked to reflect upon their own life experiences through photographs and to 'donate' an image they regard as symbolic of their idea of 'home

I Dream of Home

The concept of ‘home’ has always occupied an indeterminate space: it can refer to a place that has been left behind, or a place to which one returns, or a new place that one, even temporarily, ‘takes up’ (for example, a hotel room). This then means that ‘home’ may refer to a deeply familiar or foreign place, or it may simply be a passing point of reference. This lack of clarity in its meaning has also resulted in its being mythified as a site of utopian belonging. This project explores ideas of 'home' and has involved a broad range of participant-contributors who have posed for me in the studio, eyes closed, in reverie; they were also asked to reflect upon their own life experiences through photographs and to 'donate' an image they regard as symbolic of their idea of 'home'