Next week myself, Alex Spiers, Chris Rowell and Jeff Waldock will run our workshop ‘Walk this Way’ at SocMedHE17. We will be joined in spirit at least by Santanu Vasant and Claire Moscrop. Between us, we ran the #twalk on Digital Placemaking last May. Our workshop will reflect on our experience of developing and running #twalks – structured learning walks that incorporate tweetchats, thereby connecting rich global conversations through a walking activity.
One of several questions we are considering is about the adaptability of the #twalk method; how they can be designed for learning contexts beyond the study or development of learning spaces – can anyone make use of them? Our first #twalk was focused on placemaking and subsequent #twalks have tended to focus on matters relating to learning spaces too. However, my intention in devising the model was that they should be useful to support the learning of other disciplinary topics. How significant, then, is the actual physical location to #twalk design?
First, let’s look at a few examples where the actual physical location would be significant, where the space itself matters and is imbued with meaning. For example,
- Learning spaces
- Sociology
- Geography
- Architecture and the built environment
- Disciplines which use fields trips and placements
Less obviously perhaps, #twalks can be used as artistic devices,
- Situated poetry #twalks for collaborative writing projects
- Art & Design or Media forays for capturing, seeding and growing idea banks or developing projects
- #twalk debates with proposing and opposing groups physically located in different places but responding to the same structure via the tweetchat
- Historical enactments
The use of metaphor in the landscape really opens the method to any discipline potentially.
- Doors – opening of ideas
- Corridors – passage of time, enclosure
- Windows – the world beyond
- Fields – growth, seasons, ecologies
- Etc!
A miniitwalk on Tuesday
We will run a minitwalk during our session starting at about 15.20 for half an hour on Tuesday using the hashtag #minitwalk. This Twalk will run indoors. It will involve groups of 3 visiting two learning spaces from a list of ten. They will address 3 questions in each location, then share their answers and respond to each other. In this way we crowdsource a view of formal-informal learning space.
I’ll try to post a Plan here so you can join us wherever you are!