extending the university 'community': integrating research, learning and community...

Extending the University 'community': Integrating Research, Learning and

Community Engagement

Professor David McGillivraySchool of Creative & Cultural Industries, UWS

@dgmcgillivray

Me - Predominantly a researcher with interests in event and digital cultures - Also Joint Faculty Post Holder with Centre for Academic Practice & Learning Development (CAPLed) - Chair of Student Experience Learning & Teaching Forum (SELT) - Interested in ‘practice-led’, ‘practice-based’ research & wider L&T benefits

External drivers - Teaching and learning in ‘public’ - Changing learning environments - not always on campus:

- Social/digital media bringing outside in - Emergence of porous institutions - ‘Mobile’ pedagogies: esp in creative/media education - External funding pressures: making R & KE work for staff/students

Internal drivers - ‘Situated learning’: in creative practice - Embedding UWS in (learning) communities (of practice and place) - Employability/WRL: real world experiences - Extension of research into online and social media ‘communities’ and event cultures (http://www.creativefutur.eu/)- Challenging orthodoxy of the University (estate) as the predominant space of learning

CASE STUDY 1: #citizenrelayJournalism, events, creative

practice60 reporters

Smartphones & flip camsMobile newsroom (a

minibus)June 2012 Olympic Torch

Relay

Small, alternative or citizen media offers space for the digitally empowered citizen to break stories, become media makers

and storytellers of the now

digital tools permit flattened hierarchies, enabling citizens to participate in leisure cultures (e.g. mega events) to subvert

controlled narratives and create alternative, localised readings outside of

commercial media platforms

The theory

#citizenrelay used a hybrid media environment,

including blogs and social media, to mobilise,

organise and discuss issues pertaining the

Olympic Torch Relay in real time

Integrated media

Partnershi

p

Alternative Learning Spaces

Open data

Connectedness

Localit

y

Curriculum lag

Curriculum lag

Knowledge gaps

Industry standard

Flexible curriculum

Outcomes:

- Generated public engagement- Generated conversations (digital media/literacy/policy, research impact) - Generated reputational capital (inside/outside)

Case study 2: Digital

Commonwealth (@DigCW2014)

Building on strong

foundations

Creative response to the Commonwealth(Games) from across Scotland, involving diverse range of individuals/communities

Community media clusters-community media cafes and digital storytelling workshops

Schools programme - in-school digital storytelling workshops with primary and secondary learners in Scotland’s 32 local authorities

Creative voices- documentary film, creative writing and community songwriting around UWS campuses

DigitalCommon

Wealth

DigitalCommon

Wealth

Themes

Place - local, national, international, virtual

People- diversity, migration, participation

Culture- language, art, music, film, literature, sport

- Exchange- common-weal, values, learning

Project principles

‘common-weal’ 

Common (s) purpose  

Ownership 

Collaboration 

Sharing Accessibility Archiving

Embedding Faculty

Employing students/gradu

ates

Informing curriculum

Piloting OER & Open Badges

Research ‘impacts’

Practice impacts

Concluding thoughts- If strategic, opportunity to bring University closer to its constituencies- Curriculum needs to be flexible enough to permit student involvement- Knowledge exchange/transfer can be more than a third leg venture BUT requires detailed planning- Sustainability of collaborations/partnerships vital but resource intensive- Institutional rhetoric needs to be backed up with appropriate systems and support

Thank you & questions

david.mcgillivray@uws.ac.uk http://www.citizenrelay.net

http://www.digitalcommonwealth.co.uk