An exploration of secondary school students’ multimodal choices with online portfolios in 2010. It introduces the research area; my 2010 fieldwork and findings. It then gives some initial conclusions and suggestions for future research.

3. 1 “ Freemium ” , easy-to-use online portfolio services Media Studies Research Area Since 2003 several online portfolio services have emerged that enable creative professionals and hobbyists to publish digital portfolios online using Web2.0 technology. There are hundreds of thousands of free members and paying subscribers: Example Number of portfolios * Deviantart 13 000 000 Carbonmade 393 450 Cgisociety 184 784 Coroflot 150 000 * S tats taken from these websites on the 16th of August, 2011 September 21, 2011 Carbonmade.com CGI Society DeviantArt

4. 2 Characteristics of traditional and online portfolios Media Studies Research Area Traditional Portfolio Online Portfolio Artist’s statement – Artworks - Curriculum Vitae Analogue A folder comprising original artworks and supporting information. Digital A database comprising digitised imagery and writing choices specified by the user (design format is mostly structured by its software developers). Artwork Folders - Artworks - Creative profile

5. 3 Limitations and problems with the analogue portfolio mode A. Difficult to assemble > only collated at year-end = difficult for teacher to monitor and for students to envision year-end exhibit = diificult for students to learn from previous year’s students’ examples B. No back-up > One physical object = impossible to replace C. Poor distribution > audience must be in the same space to view it = limited opportunity to study distribution and social reception D. Lack contextualisation > students’ work is often contextualised by exhibition context = missed opportunity to teach more in-depth artwork labeling Media Studies Research Area September 21, 2011 The educator’s 2010 and 2011 curricula have shown the educator that he could use online portfolios to address these concerns.

6. 4 Limitations and problems with the analogue portfolio mode E. No “marginalia” > educators cannot place feedback directly onto their students’ work = educator’s feedback may be hard to find and not front of mind F. Drawing bias > limited scope for students to include works done with reproduction (i.e. photography) and digital media (i.e. animations) tools = demotivates students with other (non-Fine Art) interests G. May require digitisation for Tertiary education application > students could be inexperienced with digitising versions of their portfolios for tertiary study = for preparation, it would be beneficial to introduce students to practicing digitising artworks and collating online portfolios before they leave school. Media Studies Research Area 2011 and 2012 curricula may enable the educator to identify how useful the online portfolio is (or may be) for addressing these concerns. N.B. Read http://www.travisnoakes.co.za to learn more!

7. 5 Online portfolios can be used as e-portfolios Media Studies Research Area An important intention of online portfolio use can be enabling students to create showcase Visual Arts e-portfolios . An “e-portfolio” is defined as a product, created by a learner, which collects digital artefacts and which articulates experiences, achievements and learning (JISC, 2008). Students have used online portfolios as e-portfolios to; collect digitised art and design works, describe their creative projects, define their learning and accomplishments, reflect on their experiences and share their work with online audiences.

11. 9 Phase 1: Elite, well-resourced private school Conveniance sample One laptop per learner school (from grade 9 on). Visual Arts educator who is motivated to include laptops in his syllabi for grade 10, upwards. Well-resourced Visual Arts classroom environment. Affluent students have out-of-class online portfolio access and digitisation support. Field Research September 21, 2011

13. 11 Carbonmade portfolio’s three page types Profile description Image Titled folders of digitised artworks Name Carbonmade About Name Contact details Areas of expertise Skills Artist. Date. Folder Name, Description Artwork Title Tags Client tags 1 Home page 3 Artwork Project Folder Page 2 Artist’s profile Work Carbonmade Artist. Date. Availability for freelance Field Research September 21, 2011

14. 12 Carbonmade for e-portfolio curricula Prepared by Travis Noakes September 21, 2011 Combined Analysis 2010 2011 Create your e-portfolio Improve your e-portfolio less-well-resourced public school’s Class of 2013 well-resourced private school’s Class of 2012 Create your e-portfolio WCED VAD’s curricular advisers’ input Field Research 18 students’ choices 15 students’ choices 12 students’ choices Visual Arts educators’ feedback Same software, similar curricula

16. 14 Example: A tablulation of all 18 student’s choices for portfolio title Field Research Despite students following the same curriculum, using the same software and receiving the same guidelines from their educator, there was a wide variety of choice for most written fields and in imagery used. This should not be suprising for students (a creative class) who have made the unconventional choice of doing Visual Art!

17. 15 Using Multimodal theory to describe multimedia choices Multimodality is a form of semiotics: a theory for the analysis of sign systems, or modes of communication. (Burn and Parker, 2005). Its aim is to understand how we communicate with each other in many different ways, some of them mediated through the human body; others mediated through various technologies. Media Studies Research Area September 21, 2011 Artist. Date. Modes of Carbonmade’s Home page Design Writing Still image Colour Moving image Hyperlinks Image sourced from http://mohammed.carbonmade.com/ A “mode” is a socially shaped and culturally given semiotic resource for making meaning. Kress (2010).

18. 16 Common semiotic principles and systematic description Media Studies Research Area September 21, 2011 Multimodality theory looks for semiotic principles common to all forms of communication that are relevant in any given instance. The theory looks for ways to describe systematically how these modes relate to each other: how the meaning of words might be changed by accompanying images.

21. 19 A social theory of communication Multimodality is rooted in social semiotics (Hodge and Kress, 1988), a theory of sign-making that sees all acts of communication as social. The sign maker may be driven to represent something in this world or by the need to establish relations with other people. In practice both functions are performed, whatever the emphasis. The sign-makers communications also depend upon the social and cultural contexts in which the communication occurs. Analyses of the semiotic structures of texts produced by students, must therefor try and relate the analysis to these contexts to determine the interests that motivate the communications under scrutiny. Media Studies Research Area September 21, 2011

22. 20 EG’s creative orientation in “About” Field Research: Visual Arts E-portfolio Drawing Showcase Emotional Drawing Other medium interests Tag choices not prescribed in 2010

23. 21 EG’s creative interests in “About” Field Research: Visual Arts E-portfolio Drawing Showcase Drawing

24. 22 EG’s homepage: Drawing showcase Field Research: Visual Arts E-portfolio Drawing Showcase White background choice resonates with a sketchpad (versus black, the default choice) Drawing is key to the folder cover’s imagery

25. 23 EG’s “Extra Mural Art Work” Project Folder example Field Research: Visual Arts E-portfolio Drawing Showcase EG uploaded eleven drawings with just three works created in other media Detailed description

26. 24 AK’s creative interests in “About” Art mediums Emotional Photography Field Research: Visual Arts E-portfolio Mixed Media Showcase

27. 25 AK’s homepage overview: Mixed Media showcase photography graphic design drawing painting? Top: most salient Field Research: Visual Arts E-portfolio Mixed Media Showcase Choices of a black backdrop and one thumbnail per row is closer to a cinematic experience. Bottom: least salient

28. 26 AK’s “Extra Mural Art Work” Project Folder example Field Research: Visual Arts E-portfolio Mixed Media Showcase Camera type and lens Photographic tag Entire folder contained 13 photographic images, compared to 9 in other mediums.

29. 27 AH’s creative interests in “About” Non-Visual Art interests Field Research: Media Interest Showcase Visual Culture interests

30. 28 AH’s homepage overview Game scene 1 scene 2 scene 3 scene 4 Field Research: Media Interest Showcase Opening folder Imagery sourced from the computer game, Mirror ’ s Edge (2008). Resonates with teenagers ’ typical patterns of profile creation

31. 29 AH’s “Extra Mural Art Work” Project Folder example Field Research: Media Interest Showcase O f the 12 images he uploaded, five were appropriated.

32. 30 Initial Conclusions Initial Conclusions Research perspective There is value in combining multimodal and database-choice analysis to understand the choices youth make with digital media. Students ’ choices reflected the interests (or orientation ) described in their profiles: drawing, mixed-media use and teen media practices (gaming). Pedagogical perspective Educators and other decision makers should accommodate a variety of student interests when designing e-portfolio syllabi. As a result, it is recommended that these syllabi include a broad and flexible range of guidelines. These should best enable students to showcase the particular mediums, subject-matters or themes that their personal interests favour.

35. 33 For research updates, go to travisnoakes.co.za .

36. 34 Thanks for your time  ! National Research Foundation. Grantholders Research Fund. University of Cape Town, Department of Film and Media Studies. Dr Marion Walton Digimobs SA Research Group Multimodal Research Group Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Department of Informatics and Design. Prof Johannes Cronje & Educational Technology MA & PhD Colleagues September 21, 2011 Prepared by Travis Noakes and to this research’s supporters: