In parallel to running and observing the main digital storytelling learning activity that sits at the centre of my action research project, I begin to delve deeper into some of the conceptual layers of the project; research cycles within research cycles start to develop. At the core of the project sits the idea that students are part of a community of creative practitioners as well as a succinct group of student partners. My research aims to look at students’ connectedness within that community. As the project develops, however, I begin to wonder about the collective nature of the activity itself. What is the overarching output of the activity and how is the overarching collective output, and students’ collective experience, different to individual experiences within the boundaries of the activity?
Thanks to a brilliant recommendation, I am currently reading Christopher M. Bache’s The Living Classroom: Teaching and Collective Consciousness (2008). In his book, Bache talks about our interdependence and what happens when individuals connect with each other on a sort of metaphysical level (although he does not use these exact words). Bache describes how this type of connectedness supports the development of the group as a whole, and aids the development of something he describes as the ‘group mind’ (p.45). Reading through some of these ideas, I begin to wonder if something like a group mind could possibly develop in a digital learning activity, online, or if you students would need to be physically in the same room, as many of Bache’s examples describe. Also, would the asynchronous nature of my research activity hinder this type of connectedness, or perhaps because of its focus, could it nurture it.
Bache goes on to talk about the development of learning fields, strong fields of connectedness that nurture more productive learning conditions. He outlines three key ingredients that must be present for these fields to emerge as ‘potent forces’ (p.59):
Collective intention focused in an emotionally engaging group project
A project of sustained duration
Repetition of the project in approximately the same form many times
Looking at what my action research project sets out to do and how my research activity is set up, it does, at least in theory, contain the first two of the above-mentioned ingredients. If I were to develop this project further, and to repeat my storytelling activity multiple times, this might allow me to measure the development learning across different groups of students, through the development of such learning fields.
While I am currently not as interested in investigating learning fields specifically, I am curious about the idea of a collective consciousness that might form between learners, particularly in an asynchronous, online activity. What is it that connects us, and can it stimulate something larger than individual creative action?
Bibliography
Bache, C.M. (2008). The Living Classroom. SUNY Press.
Earlier this year, I began to actively explore how I incorporate and use storytelling within my creative practice and academic work. By looking back on past projects and evaluating current ones, it became clear that storytelling weaves through almost every aspect of my professional (and often personal) life. Consciously or subconsciously this had clearly been something I had been drawn to in one way or another. I also then noticed how much of my work connects others to the idea and practice of storytelling, encouraging others to explore and tell their own stories.
In a beautiful piece of storytelling, Taiye Selasi (2014) explores the idea of owning multiple identities in what she describes as “multi-local”. She says, “don’t ask where I’m from, ask where I’m a local” and urges us to reflect on how identities often contain multiple different stories. The talk in itself is an inspiring piece of storytelling, but I particularly like how it breaks down the idea of each of us holding unique, intricate and personal stories within ourselves.
During our previous Inclusive Practice unit, I decided to put things further into practice, academic practice to be exact. I developed an artefact and ran a number of student workshops that explored identity and encouraged students to put themselves at the centre of their own practice, considering their own, unique backgrounds, their own stories. It was brilliant to look at how I might be able to encourage students to consider their positionalities and stories in direct relation to their creative practice.
As I had previously written, providing conditions within which students are able succeed as their authentic selves is an integral part of my work. And the idea of a more socially just classroom started to become visible.
To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin (hooks, 1994, p.13).
Part of the importance of storytelling is to empower students in environments where structural inequalities persists, such as universities. Particularly where certain forms of representation is limited, such as racial representation, I can make use of storytelling to create spaces that empower students to consider and express their identities. Storytelling can open opportunities for students to express their lived experiences and enable them to participate more fully as themselves.
Through empowering storytelling activities in the classroom, we can empower different voices and hand over the reins to our students in a more meaningful way. This isn’t to say that my own positionality doesn’t have a direct impact on how activities are run and supported, but they open themselves up to be more inclusive and socially just.
A big part of storytelling is also the idea of play, the idea that we do not know the outcome, and that stories can change and adapt and that stories are completely guided by the narrator, writer etc. And of course, this does not (and perhaps should not) be the teacher at the front of the room. Through storytelling, we can open opportunities to empower different voices and actively pursue social justice in the classroom, and we can do so in a joyful yet meaningful way.
Bibliography
hooks, b. (1994) Teaching to Transgress, Taylor & Francis Group, Florence. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [7 July 2023].
It’s been an incredibly useful exercise to think about my action research project as a spiral of continuous activity, rather than a project with a distinct start and finish. This has helped me position my work with the wider context of my work, considering how I came to investigate digital storytelling and how I might want to develop this further.
PgCert slide, Workshop 2, Group, Friday, October 2023
Looking at O’Leary’s cycles of action research specifically, and mapping different parts of my action research to this spiral, unearthed a range of additional elements or steps that are already part of my research and that are worth documentation. For example, noticing that digital storytelling might have an impact on students’ learning through activities of play and their link to connectedness can be grouped within the initial ‘observe’ stage of O’Leary’s cycle. Coupled with my research within this area, my personal reflections on the subject then form the following ‘reflect’ stage of the cycle.
Personal sketch, classroom exercise ‘Mapping your Project to the Action Research Cycle/Spiral’
The exercise also allowed me to reflect on additional ‘observe’, ‘reflect’, and ‘plan’ stages, which could include coming up with possible solutions, making recommendations, and planning next steps. In a way, there is a possibility for this spiral to continue, with new experiences, observations and research feeding into further stages as I develop my work in digital storytelling.
Over the summer, I designed and set up a new programme of student partnership work, and in September recruited 12 student partners to our online team. Students will be directly involved in the co-design, support and feedback of a range of online projects throughout the coming year, with the ethos of working more openly and inclusively with the community of students we’re here to support. The basis of much of my academic work, therefore, is one of partnership and co-creation. A short briefing paper outlined the role of student partners and made the basis for a recruitment and induction plan that followed, establishing roles, responsibilities, and a code of conduct.
UAL Online Student Partners programme outline, Word
Building on my personal interests in play and storytelling, and how these ideas can impact students’ experiences, I set out to develop a short storytelling activity, which I am now looking to investigate more closely.
Mapping stories
The activity includes students exploring and adding to a number of storytelling elements on Padlet, after which they will be able to explore a map of stories on Miro. Students are then able to write or produce their own short story, before publishing it on their Miro map. Outside of the activity, they will be asked to digest information about the activity, provide their consent, and complete an activity evaluation at the end of the process.
To begin with, the stories map will only include one central story, and it is essential to acknowledge my own directive power in this process as researcher and writer, having created the overall design of the study, the activity and elements such as the central story, which acts as a starting point for students. The idea, however, is that as students add their stories to this map, this then culminates into a large network of stories that represents the community of participating students; and this could, in theory, grow over time.
As play, the activity embraces some ideas of spontaneity and choice. Students are able to choose from a number of existing stories to respond to, however the more students contribute the larger the number of stories to which they can respond. Students can take part in the activity whenever, however and from wherever they choose – of course within the duration of the research and within technological limitations – but they will not be limited by the inflexibility of timed lectures or workshops.
How I got here
Much of my day-to-day work embraces iterative design thinking and I decided to apply some of this to my action research project. I began by creating a mind map of ideas, thoughts, and potential ways to explore different topics of interest. I also added outstanding questions and dependencies to this map. I then connected different ideas to see if there were common or connecting elements worth exploring further. This quickly became a helpful resource to help me guide my research, and I have returned to it numerous times to compare my initial ideas to my ongoing research and plans.
PgCert ARP Mind Map on Miro
In fact, I found this mapping exercise so helpful, I decided to create a secondary map that gathers relevant research, reading and references in support of my project. I found this a helpful way of gathering citations and having a better understanding of connections between authors, theories and readings; as well as potential gaps I might want to further explore. So far, this map has been an incredibly helpful tool I plan on using as my research progresses, contributing to this along the way.
PgCert ARP research map on Miro
To capture my ideas, I also began to develop a briefing document for students that outlines the activity in more detail. I have found it helpful to keep this documentation student-facing, aligning this with the idea that the students I work with are student partners and I am keen to keep processes as transparent as possible. Capturing my ideas in one short document has also helped me develop and revise some of the research detail.
Student-facing storytelling briefing, in Word
Starting to plan
Although I developed my action research plan with the possibility for the activity to take on a cyclical process and to be run again in the future, I outlined my plans against a 6-month timeline, aligning this with my work and PgCert schedule, including relevant milestones. I’ve been continuously using this visual timeline to track milestones and actions, updating it along the way, adding relevant steps and requirements as and when needed.
PgCert ARP project plan, on Miro
Trello also became one of my biggest friends, helping me to capture ideas and prioritise detailed actions.
Research question and ethics
One of the biggest challenges so far has been developing a concise research question that captures my interest and supports my enquiry, including the data I hope to capture. Working through the ethical form helped my review all aspects of the project and my progress so far, and raised some interesting questions for me particularly around project scope, what is achievable within the time and space that I have, and how I can work most effectively with my student partners. Our follow-up tutorial also helped me look at my research question in a new light, and focus in one what I might be able to accomplish as an academic, questioning my own power within the research, rather than questioning large concepts such as storytelling and play. My current research question:
How can I enable a sense of connectedness among creative students through digital storytelling?
Presenting back
Lastly, I am also exploring different ways to present my data and have been toying with the idea of mirroring the idea of the project in my final presentation. For example, is there a way for me to apply digital storytelling within my final presentation. I am currently looking at different presentation styles, visuals and formats for inspiration.
PgCert ARP report(ing) visuals, on Miro
Bibliography
Bradbury, H. (2015). The SAGE Handbook of Action Research. 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP : SAGE Publications Ltd. doi:https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473921290.
Braud, W. and Anderson, R. (1998). Transpersonal Research Methods for the Social Sciences : Honoring Human Experience. Thousand Oaks, Calif. ; London: Sage.
Cook, T. (2009). The purpose of mess in action research: building rigour though a messy turn. Educational Action Research, 17(2), pp.277–291. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/09650790902914241.
McNiff, J. and Whitehead, J. (2010). You and Your Action Research Project. 3rd ed. London ; New York: Routledge.
