Technoparticipation: the use of digital realia in arts education

Technoparticipation is a project that started in 2015, which aims to explore how ‘realia’ can be integrated into arts education. The word realia refers to objects from everyday life, used to improve students' understanding of real life situations, and ‘facilitate[s] the [creative] process’ (Piazzoli, 2017). This article explores applications as everyday digital realia – Skype, Textwall and TitanPad – to consider the benefits and drawbacks of using realia in the classroom. These tools facilitate a wider consideration of other digital applications that could be employed as digital realia in teaching and how, as Paige Abe and Nickolas A. Jordan suggest, ‘using social media in the classroom creates a new pattern of social encounter’ (2013, p.17).Notes by the editor: Reviewing the state of digital technologies in art and design education almost ten years ago I noted the creative potential of computer mediated communications but observed the lack of critical research into its application (Radclyffe-Thomas, 2008). Lee Campbell is a Lecturer in Academic Support and Fine Art whose research paper on his ‘Technoparticipation’ project takes the reader through several teaching interventions applying digital realia into a fine art context. He provides practical examples and conceptual analysis of the potential for inclusivity, collaboration, reflective practice and personalised learning experiences. Along with multiple examples of practice what is particularly novel in Lee’s approach is the appropriation of technological mishaps or ‘communicative fragmentation’ as ‘realia’.