Photography Workshop I

Photography Workshop I

With a group of 8 students that expressed their motivation to participate in a photography workshop, we explored new crafts and ways of expression through photography in combination with various visual techniques at De Ruimte. Under guidance of Juan Monte, we explored textures, colours, light, what role they play and how they are of importance in this craft but also what they mean in our daily life. We rehearsed expressing our taste in how we want the end result of our art to become and at the same time we trained ourselves to find the right words in a language that is not our own. The photography works of the students were exhibited in the hall of the venue where the performance of the theatre workshop took place on February 19th.

Methodology

We are searching for a way to bridge the lessons that students enroll in at Ligo (provider of basic education), and the learning activities that De Ruimte offers (a studio and gallery for visual arts and screen printing).

How we pursued this for this production, is by following these steps:

INFORMATION
- teachers at Ligo get informed about the possibility for their students to enroll in photography workshop
- teachers inform their students of the opportunity to participate in photography workshops

REFERRAL
- students who are interested, take part in the sessions of the photography workshop, a teacher from Ligo is present to evaluate how photography is strengthening the learning outcomes for these students

PROCESS: COCREATION
- students get to know each other and learn new skills while practicing Dutch
- following each session, teachers from the photography workshop and from the basic education organisation have a one on one conversation where insights and feedback are being exchanged and learning outcomes and the process are being discussed

RESULT
- students work together to create works of art
- students and teachers work together in order to organize a way to exhibit their work to the public
- students ellaborate on promoting the event

PROCESS EVALUATION
- following the result that students and teachers co-created, we conduct a multi-factor process evaluation in the form of a fishbowl conversation where students, art teachers and basic education teachers express: (1) expectations prior to participation, (2) appreciation of self-efficacy during the process of creating together, (3) learning outcomes, (4) dissemination of learned skills or learning method into daily practice

Lessons learned

The work format was challenging: it involved more than ‘photography’ as the pupils knew, and explaining the specific use of materials in a language the pupils did not yet fully master is a challenge.
The learning outcomes in photography workshops will be more achievable if the structure of the explanation of the tasks and the steps to be taken to achieve results is more in line with the way the pupils are used to manage and process information at school.
The number of participants is important for the learning outcomes: if the group consists of more than 6 people, the learning outcomes will decrease.
In the further co-creation of the learning methodology, we have to be careful to align the learning steps inside and outside the classroom.