The study is located in the context of the practice of Art and Design Education, as a
community within higher education. It suggests that some of the `trends' and
`tensions' identified in this community, evident both in its current position and its
recent history, point to the potential value of e-learning designs that support
collaborative and co-operative models. To understand the efficacy of these
`participative' forms of learning, in which peer review is also a central pedagogic
consideration, three case studies were undertaken to explore the way in which cooperation
and collaboration are developed between distributed participants, engaged
in producing a series of joint artefacts (textual and visual).
The thesis argues that networked co-operative and collaborative Learning (e-learning)
might help resolve some practical issues associated with these tensions, including
widening participation, thinking about learner support, and including ways of
productively linking learning and teaching. It also raises the possibility for
assessment to be made a more valuable and formative tool in visual learning.
In line with this, the thesis set out to examine the introduction of networked
collaborative learning into studio-based practice as a pedagogical strategy. The
research presented here is a qualitative investigation of co-operative and collaborative
pedagogical models and designs that may support creative, visual practice-based
learning in networked (e-learning) environments within Art and Design education.
The research explores the effects that these more `participative' forms of learning
have on the development and realisation of creative visual thinking processes and
outcomes, where communication is largely text-based and asynchronous.
The first case, a pilot study, is set in an adult education context that is not `visual' but
provides a `testing ground' for developing the design that is used in the later work.
The two main case studies focus on visual, creative contexts. The second case
explores the model, and design, in an international, professional and informal setting.
The third study focuses on undergraduates working in two locations in UK higher
education.
One distinctive feature of this research is that it uses key `explanatory features' of
several overlapping theoretical frameworks in order to focus the investigation, and
interpret the findings. The main purpose of this approach is to attempt to develop a
more detailed and multi-layered understanding of the nature of the learning that
occurs (creative, open ended, visual) and how it occurs (for e. g. through social
interaction) in participant groups working to create their joint visual artefacts. These
frameworks include Social Constructivism, Situated Learning, Socio-Cultural Theory,
Activity Theory, and Motivational Theory.
A second distinctive feature of this research is the main finding of the study. This
suggests that visual creative processes, and effective, planned learning, can and do
occur in groups of geographically remote ('distributed') individuals, working
collaboratively through the Internet, using an educational (textual and image based)
design that structures learning activity. This finding is used to explore and develop
some pedagogical design implications for Art and Design Education. This study
attempts to articulate some of the details of these new designs, based upon empirical
evidence drawn from the research, in real educational settings. For example, it
summarises designs that emphasise the value and efficacy of more social forms of
learning in helping learners and practitioners to develop and visualise their creative
ideas within a networked environment. These designs include provision for social
grounding, the progressive development of collaborative skills, and forms of
assessment that take account of peer involvement and the processes of learning and
creativity, as well as their products.