E-learning for craftspeople
I am currently doing my Master’s degree by research at the Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design (MIRIAD). MIRIAD is part of Manchester Metropolitan University. My research falls into the Crafts Research Centre, with Stephen Dixon, Michael Eden and Johnny Magee as my research supervisors.
When I started the research my focus was on starting an online learning and how I could develop an e-learning model for craftspeople that want to share their skills, techniques, and processes. YouTube and blogs were essential to my own ceramic education. The problem with these is that the object is so distant, intangible. There is also no feedback on your own work from someone else’s YouTube video.
There is something that the newer social media, with various forms of live streaming that changed my focus, more towards the here and now. Live Streaming has personally helped me make quality connections that other forms of social media have struggled to do. I really believe that live streaming is a way forward for craftspeople to share what they are doing, and it a great way to connect with and educate people who will then want to support us.