David has been a lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University since 2007, leading the BA (Hons) International Festival & Event Management and supporting students at undergraduate and Masters level. His teaching draws from time spent working in the festival and event sectors, with organisations such as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. David's modules tend to focus on the contexts and environments in which festivals and events take place, from the motivations of public sector support of events, to the social and cultural meanings of public celebrations. David's PhD (2022, Tilburg University) focused on the social network analysis of festival communities.
In spring 2024, David combined an online digital canvas with an active learning approach to his classes, to facilitate a collaborative environment for his students in their final year undergraduate module. The canvas was provided by Miro.com. The active learning classroom layout had students seating around tables, with each table accompanied by its own large screen. The canvas layout was designed such that each week's collaborative classes could be run through the same canvas, building up an archive of the students' work from week to week. Students were encouraged to collaborate on one or two large tasks each week, adding materials to Miro as they went: images, notes, links to resources, photos of their Lego creations, etc. The Miro canvas allowed each group to have dedicated space in which to work, while allowing very easy sharing of this work between groups. The final minutes of each class were spent discussing the students' work, with the image on the large screen at each table moving between each table's work.
- Become familiar with a chosen online digital canvas. Miro and Figma are likely to be suitable. Create a framework using the online tools, either for a single class or for multiple classes that can be combined in the same space. Plan your classroom layout to encourage students to collaborate.
- Introduce the topic and online platform to your students, with sufficient time for the technical requirements of signing them up to the chosen platform. Give them guidance on how this will lead to a collaborative environment, suitable for working towards that week's topic. This stage tends to rely on students having their own device(s) to work with, and can be a challenge for the tutor to grant canvas access to each student in real time; having multiple devices can be beneficial for this: e.g. a classroom based PC through which to run the class, as well as a laptop for signing students up to the canvas.
- Develop class tasks that have limited instructions, yet considerable flexibility for interpretation and implementation by the students. Activities can be adapted in real time. Time for reflection at the end of each class is important, which can lead to significant discussions and development of ideas and understanding.
This approach allowed me to bring technology into my classes in new ways. I was also using a more "active classroom" based approach. It was a framework that allowed me to build my own confidence in these areas; a foundation onto which I could build each week's topic. My initial vision for the online canvas was largely successful, with minimal amendments required to allow each week's activities to be delivered through the canvas, and thus archived for later reference.
For examples of the overall Miro online canvas, as well as examples of student contributions developed in class time, click hereLink opens in a new window.