Lyra: blurring the line between the physical and virtual to encourage engagement

Shand, Mark

Abstract

This project sought to address concerns about student engagement with a previously handbook-based module and its task-based approach. An aesthetic approach to the challenge was adopted, with an extra layer of meaning being added through external play that sought to explore some of the concerns and themes associated with the work of PAL leaders (namely teamwork, collaboration, presence, the social). Just as a daemon in the His Dark Materials trilogy (Philip Pullman) is a physical manifestation of the human soul in the form of an animal, so this was to be a manifestation of the student’s online course presence – the virtual made tangible. The creation of objects that might resonate with their owners as emotional characters in their own right. As individuals collaborate and change the nature of their objects, they also affect their own experience of progressing through the course.

I am hoping to give the constructions awareness of others they might want to connect with (through a physical change in an object when a fellow student is online) resulting in an augmented co-presence. But is this what delegates and students want?

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: Playful Learning Conference
• Start Date: Dec 13, 2016
• End Date: Dec 15, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jan 3, 2020
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/4945919
• Publisher URL: http://conference.playthinklearn.net/blog/programme-2016/full-abstracts-wednesday-13th#5