Virtually Real Open Practice presentation #1527 at OER17 Theme: Participation & Social Equality Author: Chris Follows Technology is rapidly transforming the way we live, learn, work and interact. This paper aims to highlight and support debate around how we ‘teach digital’ in creative arts education and what potential impacts the UK digital economy could have on current and emerging digital practices and open education. Emergent technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) can present new challenges for teachers who are struggling to integrate evolving digital practices into the curriculum. As a result, new technologies & practices remain inaccessible and therefore reside outside the curriculum, not too dissimilar to challenges faced by those exploring open education integration at University of the Arts London (UAL). The pace of technological change and its impact on the day-to-day practices of University staff and students is fast becoming an issue for everyone. Could the process of Digital Transformation be an opportunity for the open education movement & communities to explore new models of mainstream integration?

1. Virtually Real Open Education
#OER17
Chris Follows
Digital Learning Manager
University of the Arts London
Camberwell, Chelsea & Wimbledon (CCW)
@CCWDigital CCWDigital
#artsDMC

2. “Digital transformation is inevitable for every sector:
you will either digitally transform your business or
you will be replaced by one that has.
When this transformation happens properly it is messy,
hectic, and produces results no one could predict”
Ben Terrett
Governor, University of the Arts London UAL

3. Teaching Digital & Teaching Digitally

4. Why & How Digital Transformation at Art School
Traditional Spaces
• IT rooms, technical spaces/resources
• Mostly screen based
• Specialist Creative 3D, Adobe etc.
• Video/AV, digital print, photography
• Some digital fabrication - Laser Cutter
Teaching Digital
• Happens away from academic/course teams
and studios
• Resources are often overstretched and/or
inadequately resourced
• Requires lots of technicians & support as
digital processes + the number of students
using them increase massively
Referencing data from conversations with Programme Directors (PD), Course Leaders (CL) & Academics regarding the Teaching Digital at CCW

5. Relevance of tech Industries/economy
Traditional Industries Top Digital Sectors
Data from Nesta Tech Nation 2016 report (page 8)

6. Digital Tech Jobs
There are now 1.64 million digital tech jobs in the UK,
and the digital sector is creating jobs 2X faster than
the non digital sector
Data from Nesta Tech Nation 2017 report http://technation.techcityuk.com/
Furthermore, these jobs are highly skilled and highly paid,
contributing to the productivity and growth of the wider
economy.

7. Digital Tech Collaboration
London hosted 22,000
Meetups in 2016, that’s three
times as many as in Berlin,
Amsterdam or Paris
Data from Nesta Tech Nation 2017 report http://technation.techcityuk.com/

8. The Problem with
Open Educational Practice (OEP)
• Dependent on very few innovators/specialists (are you a lone-wolf?)
• Too focused on massive, online technologies & tech solutions
• Lack of key digital literacies & awareness
• OEP practitioners/technologists may no longer teach or lack student
contact, involvement & perspectives on openness.
• Rarely includes industry & the general public
• Not enough collaboration (on the ground, in institutions with public)
• Relevance of open unknown institutionally and in the curriculum
How do we make OEP a more accessible & natural part of what we do?

9. Experimenting with Meet Ups (2015)

10. A Space to Meet Up & Tech Play (2016)

11. Digital Maker Week (2016)

12. Digital Maker Collective

13. Mozilla Festival (MozFest 2016)
Image by Paul Clarke Mozfest 28-10-16 CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/mozfest/30598758376/in/photostream/

15. Tate Exchange Planning (on & offline)

16. Tate Exchange: 150+ Staff & Students

17. Tate Exchange: 2,000 + Public Visitors

18. “A space to incubate ideas & practice, work could evolve over four dates”

19. “Useful conversations & networking with UAL & industry”
“Advance digital learning at our University”

20. “I’ve learnt more about how to involve the public in highly
technological environments”

21. “I was able to challenge my Ideas”
”Curious to see how I could locate my practice in the new digital era”

22. Collective confidence grew through ‘True Collaboration’

23. ”Intense learning experience”
Visibility & Social Media Interest

24. https://hackerfemo.com/

25. What Next?
True Collaboration and Non-Hierarchy Learning Communities
Digital Making in the Curriculum: Looking at how
the work of the Collective fits within courses
Experimental approach to integrating digital
practice in L&T (Teaching Digitally)
Immersive environments & AI art students
New L&T models, pedagogical frameworks
Improve digital literacies and confidence
Art education & public galleries/museums
Critical Media & Critical Arts/Design Digital Practice
Open Practice as Open Research
Relationship between art education & traditional
& emergent tech industries
How can universities better benefit from
home-grown talent?
Explore an enterprise model/strand of the
Collective
New courses through Industry perspectives
on digital e.g. Creative Coding
Open Design and Manufacturing
Knowledge Alliance between HEIs, Makers,
Makerspaces and Manufacturers to boost Open
Design & Open Manufacturing

28. Thank You
Chris Follows
c.follows@arts.ac.uk
Twitter: @CCWDigital
Instagram: CCWDigital
#artsDMC
http://digitalmakercollective.org/
https://process.arts.ac.uk/