A Space to Play, A Space to Compose: A Model for Creative Collaborations and Composition Practices
Introduction
Presents an overview of the goals of this webtext. More
History
Tells the history of the Noel Studio for Academic Creativity. More
Spaces
Shows how the space is being used by faculty and students. More
Flexibility
Discusses the importance of furniture and technology. More
Students
Offers video interviews of people who use the Noel Studio. More
Conclusion
Summarizes the main arguments made in this webtext. More
A Space that Facilitates Creativity: Furniture and Flexibility
As Doorley and Witthoft (2012) explain, “Owned space signals that an individual has standing in the community. In a shared, open, and collaborative environment, you need to find novel ways to provide people with feelings of ownership” (91). To encourage students to embrace the composition process, the furniture in the Noel Studio is unique in that most of the items are on wheels. Students are encouraged to move even large furniture—such as the large, green tables in the Greenhouse—as they see fit, making the space truly student centered for almost any composing occasion as Hannah and Bethany discuss here. Small, round, and brightly colored pods offer students easy access to informal seating that they can pull together around the green tables.
Other spaces encourage students to think with their hands through the use of high- and low-tech artifacts. In the Invention Space, students can engage in a visual invention process through the use of wall-to-wall dry-erase boards, colorful magnetic tiles, and magnetic poetry. Students move these artifacts as they create meaning in the space. Through these artifacts, the invention process becomes more visible. Furthermore, the design of the Noel Studio as a space that fosters intentional creativity in student composers prompts students to consider the drafting process not only through the use of paper or a computer screen but through the design of multiple low-resolution prototypes as Tim Brown (2008) called them. That is, the space facilitates a pedagogical process for composing that might resemble activities often seen in design studios—the process itself does not look much like what you see in computer labs but looks more playful in that it is both visual and interactive.
Verbais (2008) describes the experience of considering tactile learning in the writing center by explaining that
using toys in a [writing center] environment can, in many ways, introduce a tactile learner to various writing concepts. A tactile learner can touch and manipulate toys that might represent parts of speech, or play with a toy such as a stress ball, which might help stimulate creativity during the session. Tactile learners can also play with magnetic poetry to physically move around words, just as they could play with hypertext on a computer screen. (138)
At the high-tech media wall, however, students can use large touch-screen monitors to compose visually. These spaces are unlike any other on campus in terms of both the clustered layout and the technology available. When these spaces are in use, the Greenhouse becomes a gallery of student compositions, with colorful, moving, and animated texts on display. The creativity of one or a few students permeates the space and inspires others to push the edge of their own composing practices. Similarly, faculty members will explore new technologies alongside their students, seemingly echoing the creative philosophy represented by Reiss and Young (2013):
We welcome creativity and innovation not limited by our own skills and practices. We admit that we cannot ourselves do everything we invite our students to do--make videos and Flash movies, for example--as ways to express their learning or to teach us and classmates. By composing in ways not available to us, some students provide us and their classmates with insights into the subject matter that would have been otherwise unavailable to us. (p. 165)
While writing centers, for example, have always encouraged students to showcase their work—either through practices of reading aloud or sharing their work on hard-copy drafts or laptops, the media wall places student texts and processes at the center of the activity.
Continue reading: "Students in the Space"
