Making and Creating in the Experiential Cycle : learning with zine making

  • Frania Hall: Senior Lecturer/Course Leader MA Publishing/Teaching and Learning Innovation Lead, Media School, LCC

Abstract

Zines have at their roots expressions of identity, alternative cultures, community building and do-it-yourself freedom from the mainstream. Because they offer an immediate but intimate response to learning environments, Zines are used already by different groups.

MA Publishing have been using zine-making in various ways to experiment with different ways of teaching and engaging students on the subject of publishing and related media areas. It combines a subject specific approach to learning about publishing both through:

  • the collaborative experience of editing, designing and producing printed and digital content on the go
  • while simultaneously reflecting on publishing themes through writing content for the zine
  • and then building on developing publishing knowledge by supporting other zine making projects.

In this presentation I will outline different ways we have used zine making activities, building on Kolb’s experiential cycle and linking to new learning styles of i-generation/generation z. Placing zine making into teaching and learning situations builds a social constructivist pedagogy which includes active involvement in the creation of authentic responses to the learning. It also builds on collaborative activity that links with developing ‘real-world’ experience.

Various zine projects will be outlined in the presentation and the pedagogy that is building around them examined. The presentation will examine how the act of publishing can help the learning process for a subject area, enable connections across disciplines and open up the curriculum by introducing new learning styles around the core subject areas.