I want to question the structuring of Exercises 1 and 2.
Both ask us to produce essential communications – practice introductions and call-outs to attract potential collaborators. Yet we are being asked to deliver these separately on different digital channels, when it would make more sense (to me anyway) to consolidate on one. For a potential collaborator to respond to a callout, an understanding of the artist making the request along with their practice is an essential component – but all of that information about their process, their thematic interests, their concerns and aims is in one place – the shared space on the VLE – which can be difficult to find if you don’t have immediate access to the course documentation. The callout however is on the padlet. Potential collaborators have to cross-link between two difficult to locate digital spaces to gain enough guiding insight to respond to the callouts. It is also adding to the students’ cognitive load by splitting their attention across two OCA comms channels when they’re already tracking several others
Better to aggregate the exercises and request the output is delivered via one communications channel.
As I hold this perspective, I have written a single piece that combines a response to both Exercises 1 and 2 and have posted it on both the VLE shared space and Padlet. I have reproduced it below.
I am also, at this very early stage of the unit, finding the didactic approach to what is an experiential practice a little patronising – and in itself, non-collaborative. Collaboration is not something that I feel can be taught in an academic, intellectual way – it has to be experienced, partaken in and learnt through its practice, especially through the gaining of domain knowledge, soft-skills and mistake making – the mistakes are the learning opportunities. Maybe I hold these views as professionally I work in an industry that cannot function without collaboration. But I am also a visual and kinaesthetic learner – and I learn best when I ‘see and do’. I know that is coming later, but I feel that the ‘deep-end’ would have been as valuable a place to start as reading about collaboration typologies.