1stDraft Action Research Proposal
Online Collaboration and Social Justice: Art Education for Social Change through New Media
This research project considers the effectiveness of a collaborative mentorship model of social justice art education to bridge cultural divides through the creation and beta-testing of a collaborative, generative, art making application and social media platform. And, through that process, examines the value of online art making applications and social media platforms as alternative or continued learning tools.
Social Justice and New Media in Art Education
Promoting social justice in the art classroom is integral to affecting change in the community. The National Art Education Association (NAEA) Position Statement on Art Education and Social Justice states,“Artists often engage with the issues of their time, and some treat the creation of art as a social practice” (NAEA, 2015, para. 2). In the Internet age, social engagement as artistic discourse has been extended well beyond the classroom and local community. New media forms have become an important resource for art education. “The interconnectedness of the Internet has enabled many social justice and service learning projects to grow into global arts-based efforts” (NAEA, 2015, para. 3). In collaboration there is kinship and understanding that can bridge cultural divides. Artist and educator Joseph Beuys (1972) suggests, “A total work of art is only possible in the context of the whole of society. Everyone will be a necessary co-creator of a social architecture, and so long as anyone cannot participate, the ideal form of democracy has not been reached.” And in a 1969 interview in Art Forum magazine he asserts“To be a teacher is my greatest work of art.” Through this Beuysian lens, I plan tocreate a new mobile art making application and social media platform to inspire transcultural social justice education initiatives to erode stereotypes and generate situated knowledge toward global social justice.
New Media Art and Social Change: Finding the Solution in The Problem
As social media shrinks the world it also divides us. Rajiv Vinnakota of The Aspen Institute notes, “Connections that transcend social divisions, known as bridging social capital and brought to national attention by political scientist Robert Putnam, should be expanding and pervasive. But that’s not the case. In fact, social media is separating us further.” He goes on to say that bridging these divides “simply cannot be gained through a social media whose algorithms are set up to connect with similar colleagues and steer people away from uncomfortable or inconvenient truths. The internet cannot fix this.” By this assessment, its most powerful tool is encumbering social justice. The solution may be found in the problem. New Media forms that helped enable this dichotomy offer art educators an opportunity to bridge the divide. Over the course of a three month action research project, I aim to explore the process of development and communication between the designer(s), test group lead teacher, and myself as artist, researcher, and educator in combining web-based art making and social media intended to inspire social justice education initiatives through a collaborative mentorship approach to art education.
Social Media and Division: A Brief History
Over the past few decades, the United States has become increasingly culturally diverse. Between 2000 and 2010, Texas joined California, the District of Columbia, Hawaii and New Mexico in having a “majority-minority” population, where more than 50 percent of the population was part of a minority group. (US Census Bureau, 2011) Likewise, concerns about gender inequities have come to the forefront of conversation. For example, “…in 2016, women working full time in the United States typically were paid just 80 percent of what men were paid…” (The American Association of University Women (AAUW), 2016). Also, attitudes toward the LGBTQ community have been shifting rapidly. According to a 2015 Gallup Poll, “38% of Americans said gay and lesbian relations were morally acceptable in 2002, that number has risen to 63% today. And while 35% of Americans favored legalized same-sex marriage in 1999, 60% favor it today. (Gallup, 2015) Although these statistics are specific to the United States, they are indicative of a change in global attitudes. As these inclusive progressive ideas became the policy of the day a boiling undercurrent of insular cultural nationalism emerged in response. Both sides continue to sew division perpetuated by the very same technologies and social media platforms designed to unite them. While the history of how this unfolded is playing out in government, judiciaries and the mass media, art educators should be looking to the future with eyes on online applications and social media based art initiatives.
Back To The Future: A Way Forward Through Integration and Collaboration
By adopting and adapting new media and social media platforms to suit social justice art education initiatives now, cultural divides created by these very same technologies can be repaired and perpetuated in the future. Better understanding of other through collaborative art making promotes equality. “Such relational artwork creates new insights, invites participation, and can evoke transformative learning when individuals discuss their perspectives with each other and create art together about their diverse perspectives. (Keifer Boyd, 2011)” Although this can occur in the classroom, its capacity to affect social change is extrapolated by the potential for global reach provided by the internet. Through examination of the process of creating an art making application and social media sharing platform, studio practice intersects with pedagogical practice. It is at this intersection that the effectiveness of a collaborative mentorship pedagogical model is examined. Further, the design of a social media platform that collects and allows access to individual efforts created in the process of collaboration advocates for mindfulness of others and a more equal society. Although the use of new media in art education is not new, creating and examining new modes like the one proposed here is vital to the progress of alternative and continued online learning initiatives and the understanding of their implications for social justice art education.
Preliminary Literature Review
You will find a literature review relevant to the project in Appendix D. Categories include: New Media in Art, New Media in Art Education, Social Media, Social Sculpture, Collaborative Mentorship, Art History, STEAM, Educational Application Design, Gamification Theory, and Social Justice through Art Education. Resources include: books, essays, websites, research papers, videos, gaming applications, websites, and WebQuests. A bibliography of materials is available in Appendix F.
Suitability of Site or Social Network Selection
The research site will be entirely web-based with the exception of my personal studio. Since the project calls for the creation of a stand-alone social media platform, an administrator’s page will be built for communication between the designer(s), test group lead teacher and myself.
Researchers Role
As collaborative mentor along with web design students, I will be overseeing the creation and implementation of the art making application and social media platform. Through studio and web based visual inquiry, journal entry and both real and digital artifacts I will be examining the process. I will identify and vet potential test groups or classrooms and examine their experience during beta-testing. And then, evaluate and report my findings.
Purposeful Sampling Strategies
The subjects in the test group portion of the study will be chosen through an identification, application and vetting process of a classroom or group of young adult art students. All information collected will be anonymous but include gender, race and other information necessary to the research proposal.
Data Collection Strategies
Over the course of three months, I will be collecting data from observations of the design process through visual inquiry, reflection, journal entries and digital artifacts. During a month long beta-test, I will collect data from student/user art posts, an anonymous feedback section of the social media platform, dialogue from the administrator site and my personal observations collected on the administrator site. A proposed time schedule is available in Appendix G
Inductive Data Analysis
In order to analyze the data collected and highlight the intersection of studio and pedagogical practice I will use reflective layered analysis codifying for the following studio related verbiage:
MODE is defined as action, method or approach.
MOOD is defined as atmosphere, attitude or group feeling.
SYMBOL is defined as metaphor, representation or figure.
Utilizing these metaphorical codes, the data will be analyzed to determine the efficacy of the application as a tool for online alternative or continuing learning initiatives as applied to social justice art education.
Limitations of the Design
The design of the application and social media platform are limited to the abilities of the code writer and app designer. The study of the beta-test group is limited by the initial vetting process because the scope of the final product is meant to be global. So, results from that portion of the data collection will be collected from a much smaller, researcher curated demographic.
References used in the proposal
Beuys, Joseph (1969), An Interview with Joseph Beuys, Willoughby Sharp, Artforum, December 1969.
Beuys, Joseph (1972), An Interview with Joseph Beuys, Georg Jappe translated by John Wheelwright, Studio International, vol. 184, no. 950
Gallup Poll (2015)
Keifer-Boyd, K. (2011). Arts-based research as social justice activism: Insight, inquiry, imagination, embodiment, relationality. International Review of Qualitative Research, 5(1), 3-19.
Keifer-Boyd, K(2011) Envisioning a future techno-infused eco-pedagogy. Advocacy White Papers for Art Education, NAEA, Section 2.
National Art Education Association (NAEA) Position Statement on Art Education and Social Justice, Adopted March 2015.
The American Association of University Women (AAUW), (2016).
United State Census (2011), United States Census Bureau
Vinnakota, Rajeev (2017), How Social Media Divides Us, The Aspen Institute
Appendices
A. Subject consent forms or letters of permission
B. Human subject rights approval by the university
C. Test group classroom application forms
D. Literature review
E. Application design notes and images
F. Bibliography
G. Proposed time schedule