Magombe.A.PPD02

C The Future of Creating Creative Communities Anna Magombe

Find out what Creating Creative Communities is about, how it helps students take charge of their personal and professional development, and how it can be effectively used to tackle wider issues in Higher Education institutions.

Contents 5 WHAT IS CCC? 6 An introduction to CCC 8 How does it work?

13 WHY IS CREATING CREATIVE COMMUNITIES IMPORTANT? 14 What are the issues?

20 How can Creating Creative Communities help?

25 THE FUTURE OF CREATING CREATIVE COMMUNITIES 26 Continued benefits for creative students and graduates 28 Statistics 30 REFERENCES

C

C

4-5

What is CCC?

An introduction to CCC

6-7

Creating Creative Communities began as a research project at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. It was started by Design for Graphic Communication student, Anna Magombe, in response to the difficulties faced by students in developing professional networks and getting into the creative industries.

AIMS

FOCUS

Current issues regarding social mobility for pre- and post-graduate students of various cultural and class backgrounds can be addressed by looking into the importance and effectiveness of various methods of self-promotion and ways in which students can easier integrate into the creative industries through collaboration and new ways of networking, such as utilising digital media, supporting printed material and ‘word-of-mouth’.

The project helps us to find out more about how students and graduates can benefit from the systems and resources available to them. The world is changing at a rapid pace economic and political structures can directly affect the benefits students from different backgrounds gain from higher education. The effects from the fluctuations of these variable factors can be minimised by creating the potential and possibilities for young people to find empowerment through systems of their own control and making.

The promotion of collaborative working and inter-organisational communication and networking, particularly within the field of graphic design, and the opportunity for students and graduates to participate in group work or to initiate their own creative projects that others can join in with, can tackle some of these issues.

By taking advantage of the creativity inherent amongst students of design and the creative arts multiplied by the potential of sharing ideas and skills, the possibilities for them to design and create their own futures are great.

How does it work?

Creating Creative Communities acts both as an advisory and facilitation service for collaborative and participative creativity, with the aim of giving students and graduates the confidence and skills to initiate and manage activities that are transferable in their career and personal development. Students and graduates can access information and research about creative collaboration and networking or become members to participate in collaborative workshops and activities.

The Blog The blog documents ongoing research into collaborative working and the projects that have been organised as part of this research. Updates sync with the Facebook page, giving members an insight into the benefits and downfalls of collaborative working as found through secondary and primary research. http://creatingcreativecommunities. tumblr.com/

8-9

The Facebook Page The Facebook page is a space where people can join in or start their own creative projects. It is a great opportunity for creatives to get involved in cool projects, whether they are self-initiated or client-focused, and create some real outcomes for their portfolios whilst meeting new people, learning new things and developing their skills further. https://www.facebook.com/pages/ Creating-Creative-Communities/106960 306057655?sk=wall

10 - 11

Creating Creative Communities Guide to Collaboration A guide for students and graduates containing interviews from industry professionals, tips on working with others and starting their own projects, and evaluations of different types of collaboration (collated from surveys and documentation of collaborative projects run by CCC). This allows people to make informed decisions about the types of collaboration that would be useful to them as well as how to get the most out of these experiences.

12 - 13

Why is Creating Creative Communities important?

What are the issues?

Research by CCC has been combined with that done at University of the Arts London (UAL), information provided by staff at UAL, and other sources where stated. The research has been focused on UAL students due to this being the current focused target market for CCC and its services, and issues having been identified through previous studies of professional development at UAL.

The importance of collaboration

14 - 15

A two year investigation (20072008) by Linda Ball for UAL into the provision and quality of professional development at UAL found that whilst the University produces many high-achieving graduates in the arts and creative industries, overall its graduate destinations profile is weaker than for comparable institutions.

There was a need for more work to be done to prepare students for a successful and confident transition from their courses.

The study identified the strengths of the University’s provision such as having a “vibrant curriculum”, integrated Personal and Professional Development (PPD) and “wellestablished models for collaborative working to create a bridge between higher education and the creative and cultural sectors, and in the wider community”. It also looked at exemplars of practice for entrepreneurial and employability learning with a focus on experiential learning. An example is the Young

Design Programme, a collaboration between UAL and the Sorrell Foundation, and one of the collaborations featured in the CCC Handbook on Collaboration. This is a programme that brings together undergraduate students with professional mentors and a client team of school pupils, with key features being challenging multi-disciplinary working, teamwork, and many other transferable practical and social skills.

There are clear benefits to be had from such opportunities for students to get involved in realistic creative projects in collaboration with their peers as well as external agencies. A study of career patterns of creative graduates (Creative Graduates Creative Futures (CGCF), 2008-2010) found that “Professional Development (PPD), teamwork and teaching by practitioners [were] perceived to be the most useful in relation to their careers.” Teamwork was distinguished from collaboration, which was seen as having an interdisciplinary context.

‘Active learning through projectbased enquiry has always been a feature of the art and design curriculum in higher education.

Through this approach students have been encouraged to develop both the capacity for independent learning and the ability to work with others.

Students not only develop the ability to solve set problems in a creative way, but they also develop the ability to identify and to redefine problems, and to raise and address appropriate issues.’ QAA, ibid.

Plotting mean scores of skill development during undergraduate studies by importance to career development

3.8 Self confidence

3.7

Self management Understanding client needs

Importance to career development

3.6 3.5

Problem solving

Flexibility

Project management

Using IT/software

Presenting your work Creativiy/innovation

Collaborating

Visual skills

3.4 Critical thinking 3.3

Networking

3.2

Written communication

Technical/design skills Research skills

Initiative/risk taking

3.1 3.0 2.9

Entrepreneurial skills

2.8 2.0

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

3.0

3.2

3.4

3.6

3.8

Degree of development during course

16 - 17

Note: where 1 = not at all, 2 = not very, 3 = fairly, and 4 = very. The higher the mean score the more developed or more important the skill Note: each axis crosses at the average: the average importance score across all skills is 3.43 and the average development score across all skills is 2.82 Base: all respondents from undergraduate courses Source: Creative Graduates Creative Futures, IES, 2010, Table App. A9/10.3

4.0

Skill development during undergraduate studies compared with importance to career development (ranked by importance mean score)

Self confidence Self management Presenting your work and ideas Understanding client needs Creativiy/innovation Flexibility/adaptability Problem solving Collaborating with others Visual skills Project management Using IT/software Critical thinking Making/technical/design skills Networking Written communication Research skills Initiative/risk taking Entrepreneurial skills 1.0

1.5

Importance to career development

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

Degree of development during course

Note: where 1 = not at all, 2 = not very, 3 = fairly, and 4 = very. The higher the mean score the more developed or more important the skill Source: Creative Graduates Creative Futures, IES, 2010, Table App. A9.1/A10.1

‘A new paradigm for creative subjects in higher education is emerging that removes barriers between teaching, research, needs of industry and the employability of graduates.

The boundaries between these areas become more permeable and there is a move towards integration and collaboration. This collaborative culture fosters the continuing professional development of students, academic staff, graduates, employees and employers in creative enterprises.’ Ball, 2003

Improvements are continuing to be made at UAL, and skill development opportunities such as the Young Design Programme continue to be made available. In terms of professional development, there will be an amalgamation of professional development and networking services (ECCA, Creative Careers, ArtsTemps) to increase accessability to students, but due to cuts to Arts funding, the size of teams providing this support will be decreasing.

18 - 19

Although enterprise and collaborative working are embedded in the creative learning process, when given the opportunity to note career-relevant skills that they felt their course had not provided, live project work on real projects and networking skills were mentioned by CGCF participants as those that would be useful.

Hannah Clements, careers advisor at UAL, stated that students and graduates are always exposed to networking and collaborative opportunities, as well as being able to create their own. CCC offers a platform

for this, encouraging students to use their initiative and build on their skills whilst learning how these kinds of activities can be used to develop their creative working and professional careers. This supports the hidden learning and areas of the curriculum that creative HE institutions employ to encourage PPD. It facilitates the active, experiential learning that is so crucial to personal and career development.

MOST IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT NEEDS FOR DESIGNERS

Team and interdisciplinary working

Verbal communication

PERSONAL QUALITIES

PROFESSIONAL & BUSINESS AWARENESS

Business management and project management skills

Understanding clients’ needs

Adapted from a report by The Design Council and Cultural Skills Sector Council (2007) It was felt that collaboration is more important to the career development of design students than those studying arts and crafts (Creative Graduates Creative Futures, 2010)

How can Creating Creative Communities help?

Evidence suggests that wider issues at UAL can be aided by the provision of more collaborative opportunities across colleges, Students that have been surveyed support this, with 40% feeling that they could benefit from the networking opportunities offered by stronger communities, and 30% saying that a strong community is essential to their wellbeing.

Student Union at the Arts

20 - 21

Research into Creating Creative Communities has also been carried out by the Student Union at UAL (SUARTS).

Patricia Kaszynska, who leads this research, suggests that many of the issues at the University such as reduced contact time with staff and problems with integration of students could be tackled indirectly by building on the community of UAL as a whole.

It is a great possibility that life for students at UAL could be improved, and many issues addressed indirectly by increasing interaction amongst the students themselves. There had not been any formal research done into the community aspect of the university prior to CCC, so this is new research which looks closely at the student experience and helps to identify student needs. The findings from the research and recommendations for narrowing the gaps between UAL colleges and students will be published on the 24th June 2011.

Research by Creating Creative Communities has shown that students would like to collaborate with each other more, given the opportunity.

This is supported by SU surveys which show that there is a lack of communication and collaboration across UAL colleges, but that students would like to feel more of a community member by having more collaborative projects and events across colleges.

If asked about my institutional belonging, I would introduce myself as: a student at my college a student of UAL

How do you feel about community belonging?

I feel that strong community belonging is essential to my wellbeing I like to know that I have a safety net to fall back on I want to be a community member because communities offer great networking opportunities I don’t care whether I belong to a community or not I like to think of myself as an individual not community member

In order to improve my community life, I would like to see more of: collaborative projects on my course collaborative projects across courses events across colleges more structured activities: clubs, societies more social spaces

SUARTS CCC survey of UAL students, Patricia Kaszynska 2011

22 - 23

Collaboration with peers and people from other disciplines is not only beneficial for networking, career and skill development, but also develops a community that is important to the sense of wellbeing that students want to feel.

24 - 25

The Future of Creating Creative Communities

Continued benefits for creative students and graduates Creating Creative Communities fits in with UAL’s agenda of improving the community of of the University in order to get the most benefit out of the shared infrastructure and support systems for its students.

CCC is already operating to provide information and opportunities for students and graduates, with a focus on those from UAL.

26 - 27

In a study on voluntary student collaboration, Tang (1993) found that students who formed spontaneous learning groups demonstrated more deep learning behaviours. Many collaborative or participative experiences that occur during creative working or studying happen spontaneously. CCC has recorded and assessed several different types of collaboration as a way for students and garduates to be more informed about the benefits of these collaborations.

Students are encouraged to take responsibility for their personal and professional development by actively seeking and establishing collaborative learning opportunities.

This may involve finding the confidence to participate in spontaneous collaborations or developing entrepreneurial and networking skills by organising specific group activities.

This could be a positive way for UAL to promote student initiative and PPD, alongside the Student Union and

Careers & Enterprise services. Services, events and opportunities provided by them could equally be promoted via the CCC online social network.

The unique selling point that differentiates Creating Creative Communities from other UAL services is that it operates from the ground up.

As opposed to institutional ‘knowledge’ of what is suitable and beneficial for the student, the scheme steps away from the bureaucratisation of learning.

It empowers the student to be in command of their experiential learning and to make decisions about what is suited to their individual aims.

Possible expansion of CCC could include collaboration with UAL and other HE institutions, and external creative organisations such as Bracket who help to develop creative enterprises through collaboration.

Further marketing to UAL colleges and showcasing of current collaborations could increase participation and integration of students into the wider university communities.

confidence

team-working

EMPLOYABILITY self-efficacy

is having life skills and abilities to practice professionally.

communication

being enterprising in a way of doing that enables students to act in the world

emotional intelligence

having a vision

project management

ENTERPRISE proactive

involves the additional assets of being able to spot and act on opportunities

being resourceful

financial acumen

networking

Statistics

28 - 29

The data shown here is from the CCC Facebook page. It shows who is using CCC and what kind of information these users are more likely to view. Using data on the usage of CCC, a more targeted approach can be made to meet the needs of these individuals.

References With thanks to: Patricia Kaszynska (Policy and Research Coordinator, Students Union of the Arts) Hannah Clements (Creative Careers Guidance Specialist, University of the Arts) Pei-Chin Tay (Enterprise Officer, Enterprise Centre for the Creative Arts)

Ball L (2003) Future Directions for Employability Research in the Creative Industries, Working Paper, Council for Higher Education in Art and Design/Art Design Media Higher Education Academy/Design Council.

Ball, L. (2008) Bold resourcefulness: redefining employability and entrepreneurial learning. Project Report. University of the Arts London.

[Education > Research and Study Skills in Education] Downloaded from: http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/671/ Ball, L. et al. (2010) Creative Graduates Creative Futures, Creative Graduates Creative Futures Higher Education partnership and the Institute for Employment Studies. Downloaded from: http://www.creativegraduates.com/ Barton, A. et al. (2007) Perceived social benefits of voluntary student collaboration. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 6(1), pp26-32.

CCSkills (2008) Creative Blueprint – The Sector Skills Agreement for the Creative and Cultural Industries, Creative and Cultural Sector Skills Council, London.

30 - 31

Harvey, L. and Blackwell, A. (1999) Destinations and Reflections: careers of British art, craft and design graduates. Birmingham: Centre for Research into Quality, University of Central England in Birmingham.

QAA (2008) The Subject Benchmark Statement for Art and Design, The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.

Tang, K.C. (1993) Spontaneous Collaborative Learning: A New Dimension in Student Learning Experience? Higher Education Research & Development, 12 (2), pp115-130