Makers in a London College Alfred Gabriel Oti

317 Pages·2017·3.38 MB·English

The Digital-Making Curriculum:
the Learning Trajectories of Frequent Digital-
Makers in a London College

Alfred Gabriel Oti

UCL

This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the
Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
2017

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I hereby declare that, except where explicit attribution is made,
the work presented in this thesis is entirely my own.
99,000 words

(rounding to the nearest thousand and excluding references and bibliography)

Signed_________________ _____________________

Alfred Gabriel Oti
November 2017

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Abstract
Outside of formal education, many young people between 16 and 19 years of age are heavy
consumers of digital content and some are frequent makers of digital content. Traditionally, the digital
and media literacies and making skills needed for engagement with digital content come from
participation in formal education courses such as Multimedia. The digital content taught and made
within formal courses resembles the digital content that young people consume and make outside of
formal education. However, in recent years, the participation levels of formal courses in which the
making of digital content is prominent has fluctuated. Participation in some courses, for example, ICT
has significantly declined and this has raised concerns about methods of teaching and learning as
defined by the curriculums of such courses. Fluctuating participation patterns are often indicative of
learner dissatisfaction with the methods of teaching and learning and the curriculums of formal
courses that prominently feature digital-making. Consequently, learners complain about the lack of
meaningful learning experiences of digital-making within formal education. Learners’ experiences of
digital-making outside of formal education are often unrepresented in the curriculums of formal
courses and this contributes towards learner dissatisfaction and fluctuating levels of participation.
This thesis proposes an alternative curriculum for the study of digital-making within formal
education, called the Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC) a term I have coined. Digital-making is the
practice of ‘learning about technology through making with it’. The DMC encompasses the principles,
and practices regarding the study, production, analysis, consumption, and distribution of digital
content. The DMC occurs in formal courses where digital-making is the dominant or fundamental
focus of the curriculum; or is of rapidly growing importance and prevalence, to the point that its
absence would be impractical and detrimental for the progression of learners. The DMC incorporates
learners’ experiences of digital-making outside of formal education into methods of teaching and
learning. Consequently, the DMC facilitates the fostering of meaningful learning experiences of digital-
making within formal education. At the core of the DMC, are social interactions between tutors and
learners, in which both co-construct and co-develop learners’ understandings of digital and media
literacies needed to solve problems and make decisions, during the construction processes of digital
content. The DMC not only enables learners to develop a deeper understanding of digital-making but
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also enables tutors, curriculum makers and academics to gain a deeper understanding of how to
effectively teach digital-making to learners on DMC courses.
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Contents

Abstract 3

Chapter One: Introduction to Thesis 11
1.1 Introduction to thesis - The annual challenge 11
1.2 The thesis parameters, core focus and statement of research questions 13
1.2.1 Working definition of the DMC 16
1.2.2 Research questions and gap in literature 19
1.3 Introduction Summary 22
1.4 Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC) first-generation: scientific and business-related origins 23
1.4.1 Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC) second-generation: cultural transcoding 30
1.4.2 Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC) third-generation: the critical community 32
1.4.3 Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC) fourth-generation: the third space 36
1.4.4 Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC) Summary 41

Chapter Two: The Learning Theories of the Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC) 44
2.1 The tensions at the core of the Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC) 44
2.2 The first learning theory of the Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC): 46
Skinnerian Behaviourism
2.2.1 The second learning theories of the Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC): 51
Piagetian and Vygotskian Constructivism
2.2.2 The third learning theory of the Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC): 57
Papertian Constructionism
2.2.3 The possible fourth learning theories of the Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC): 62
in the third space

Chapter Three: The Digital and Media Literacies of the Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC) 73
3.1 Digital literacy 73
3.2 Media literacy 76

Chapter Four: Theoretical Framework – The Discourse of the Digital-Maker 87
4.1 The discourse of the digital-maker 87
4.1.1 Stage one: Play 89
4.1.2 Stage two: Exploration 94
4.1.3 Stage three: Experimentation (lower and higher tiers) 95
4.1.4 Stage four: Logical Instruction 97
4.1.5 Stage five: Creative expertise 98
4.1.6 Summary of the discourse of the digital-maker 101

Chapter Five: Methodology 102
5.1 Refinement of research questions and hypothesis 102
5.1.1 Research context 103
5.2 Justification of small-scale heuristic case study research design 106
5.2.1 Small-scale heuristic case study: 114
Data Generation and Analysis Methods - First Round
5.2.2 Small-scale heuristic case study: 120
Data Generation and Analysis Methods - Second Round

Chapter Six: Results of the Heuristic Case Study - Survey 126
6.1 Introduction to the heuristic case-study survey results 126
6.2 South campus: non-DMC-FDM - summary of thematic analysis 127
of open survey questions responses
6.2.1 North campus: Comparisons of themes from Frequent Digital-maker(s) (FDM) 129
on Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC) and non-DMC courses –
Section 1, uses of digital content and technologies
6.2.2 North campus: Comparisons of themes from Frequent Digital-maker(s) (FDM) 135
on Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC) and non-DMC courses –
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Section 2: uses of the Internet
6.2.3 North campus: Comparisons of themes from Frequent Digital-makers 137
on Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC) and non-DMC courses –
Section 3: uses of technology on your current course(s)
6.2.4 South campus: DMC-FDM - summary of thematic analysis 142
of open survey questions responses
6.3 Summary of survey themes 145

Chapter Seven: Results of the Heuristic Case Study – Focus-Group Interviews 148
7.1 Introduction to the Focus-Group Interviews 148
7.2 Refined research question one: 151
What is the constitution of the Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC)?
7.3 Refined research question two: 156
How are Frequent Digital-maker(s) (FDM)’ choices within the DMC influenced
by their experiences of digital-making in the home-setting of the third space?
7.3.1 The topology of DMC-FDM identities 156
7.3.1.1 Susie: the creative expert, home-DMC-FDM 160
7.3.1.2 Ian: the technical modifier, home-DMC-FDM 164
7.3.1.3 Seydou: the narcissistic and technical modifier, home-DMC-FDM 167
7.3.1.4 The non-DMC-FDM (the leisurely and pseudo-professionals) 169
7.3.1.5 Vaughan: the exclusionary, Emulator-DMC-FDM 174
7.3.1.6 Jason & Tevin: the transitional, Emulator-DMC-FDM 177
7.3.1.7 Basil: the academic-DMC-FDM 180
7.3.1.8 Nicola: the infantile, academic-DMC-FDM 182
7.3.1.9 Multimedia: the maverick-academic-DMC-FDM 184
7.3.1.10 Summary of refined research question two 187
7.4 Refined research question three: 188
How are Frequent Digital-maker(s) (FDM) influenced by their prior experiences
of digital-making in the classroom-setting of the third space?
7.4.1 The home-DMC-FDM 188
7.4.2 The non-DMC-FDM (the leisurely and pseudo-professionals) 195
7.4.3 The Emulator-DMC-FDM 197
7.4.4 The academic-DMC-FDM 201
7.4.5 Summary of refined research question three 207
7.5 Refined research question four: What are Frequent Digital-maker(s) (FDM) rationales 209
for and against participation in Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC) courses?
7.5.1 The rationales of the non-DMC-FDM, against participation in DMC courses 209
7.5.2 The rationales of the home-DMC-FDM, for participation in DMC courses 211
7.5.3 The rationales of the Emulator-DMC-FDM, for participation in DMC courses 214
7.5.4 The rationales of the academic-DMC-FDM, for participation in DMC courses 215
7.5.5 Summary of refined research question four 217
7.5.6 Summary of situation network 218

Chapter Eight: Discussion 221
8.1 The relationship between formal and informal digital-making 221
and prior experience of digital-making in the settings of the home and classroom
8.2 The DMC-FDM perceptions of digital-making in the classroom-setting 225
versus the realities
8.3 The DMC-FDM perceptions of DMC tutors as More Knowledgeable Other(s) (MKO) 230
8.4 The third space: 233
the 4th and current generation of the Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC)
8.5 Summary of discussion 237

Chapter Nine: Conclusion 239
9.1 The limitations of self-reporting 239
9.1.1 Critical reflectiveness on the effectiveness of the research process 242
9.2 Summary of the refined research questions addressed and explored in this thesis 244
9.3 Recommendations for the continued development 247
of the Digital-Making Curriculum (DMC)
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9.3.1 Contribution to Knowledge 250
9.4 A call for further research into digital-making and makers 253

Bibliography and references 254

Appendix 286
Chapter five section 5.3: The validity and reliability of qualitative methods investigations 286
Chapter five section 5.4: Ethics 287
Chapter five section 5.5: Pilot study 288
Chapter five section 5.6: Refinement of focus-group Interviews 289
Chapter six section 6.1: Sample of survey pages - North Campus DMC 290
Chapter six section 6.1.2: Sample of thematic analysis of the written survey responses – 294
North Campus DMC
Chapter six section 6.1.3: Tables of results from the survey of Large college 303
Chapter seven section 7.1.1: Sample of focus-group interviews: Btec Art & Design – 306
North Campus DMC
Published Article 316

List of figures and tables ___
Figure 1: The historical development of the Digital-Making Curriculum 41
Figure 2: The spectrum of the digital and media literacies in DMC courses 226

List of tables
Table 1: Media literacy – a cultural-semiotic model 77
Table 2: Large college overall survey results 126
Table 3: List of DMC-FDM identities 160
Table 4: List of non-DMC-FDM identities 170
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In memory of my grandfather, Mr Alfred Kwadwo Oti (Snr).
1930 – 2003
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Acknowledgements

First and foremost, to God be the glory great things He has done, not by might, nor by power,
but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for being with me at every stage of my thesis,
without Jesus this would have been impossible for me. I would also like to thank my wonderful
parents Mr Alfred (Snr) and Mrs Rosaline Oti-Boateng, for giving me the encouragement, passion,
and confidence to pursue education. A big thank you to my wonderful brothers Anthony and Matthew
for providing so much fun, stress relief and for proofreading so many, many drafts of my work. My
family is dear to me and I hope this thesis will make them all proud especially Mrs Oti, my
grandmother.
To Dr John Potter, who is a world-class educator and leader. John has been a most excellent
mentor and I am so honoured and privileged to be a student of his. I am so grateful to John for taking
me on shortly before my upgrade presentation. In just three short months he transformed my thesis
by giving me a coherency and direction which was lacking before his supervision. Since then my
thesis has gone from strength to strength due to John. I published my first article under John’s
supervision. John has always believed in me even when others did not, and I drew inspiration from his
confidence. I will always look up to John and I hope to continue learning from him after the viva voce,
through his excellent books and article publications. Thank you, John.
I would also like to thank Prof. Andrew Burn and Dr Niall Winters for judging my work for the
upgrade exam. I really appreciate all the feedback you both gave. I am especially appreciative of Prof.
Burn for reading the initial first draft of my thesis. Thank you to Prof. Neil Selwyn, for steering me
through the MA ICT in Education and then for being my initial PhD supervisor. I learnt a lot from Neil
and I am grateful.
Finally, I would like to say thank you, to important people that are sadly no longer here. To my
loving grandfather Mr Oti, and my uncle Mr John Eiffah for always encouraging and expecting good
things of me. To Phil Butterworth, my former line-manager for taking a risk in giving me a career when
nobody else would. Phil supported me in every way such as giving me flexible timetables to attend
classes at UCL IoE. Phil was genuinely interested in my work. To Kim Fitchew, my colleague and
friend. Kim was one of the kindest people I have ever met, nobody ever mentioned a bad word about
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her. She was about to embark on her own PhD. I am sure she would have succeeded. I greatly
enjoyed speaking to Kim about her work, as she did mine. I am so grateful to have known all.
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