This blog will be used to document observations on the implementation of the Moodle/Creative Arts research project.
The creative arts undergraduate curriculum at NMIT includes diverse programs in illustration, writing and publishing, music and music industry. NMIT has recently developed a flexible learning framework for higher education and over the past twelve months has integrated Moodle as the higher education Learning Management System. In the creative arts and in the Bachelor of Illustration in particular this has begun to influence our thinking about the potential of e-learning, social media and digital technologies in our pedagogical approaches and the design of our curricula.
The project will develop and evaluate a model for implementing and delivering meaningful e-learning in the Bachelor of Illustration that can potentially transpose to Creative Arts. To do this, it will consider the nature of the contemporary Illustration industry – which integrates both traditional media and digital media skills. In light of this duality, the research will focus on ways in which the delivery of traditional ‘analogue’ skill sets can be enhanced or complemented within an online LMS that echoes the real world.
The project will create an authentic model of a real world activity through the blended delivery and resolution of a design brief. Students will be issued a design brief in class, and then engage in collaborative feedback online through Moodle to progress the project through the iterative design process. They will engage in collaborative learning – uploading roughs for critique, then colour proofs and then finally submitting the print files.
This project will use the NMIT Bachelor of Illustration as a case study to investigate the development of relevant e-learning within creative projects. Strategies used at Manchester Metropolitan University will be evaluated and potentially mapped to NMIT.
The project will take an action learning framework. This methodology suits the desired outcomes and the qualitative collaborative nature of the inquiry. The reflective action research cycle will allow the researcher to work collaboratively with the creative arts team especially colleagues in the Bachelor of Illustration over the course of the project to plan, act, reflect, and improve.
