Boosting students' creativity through visual bricolage of experiences - how visual collage boards help students in expressing their knowledge during online classes

Abstract

The objective of this study is to present various practical applications of collage-based methods (visual bricolage) as a way of boosting creative discussions with students and helping them to express their knowledge and experience using visual representation. This viewpoint paper is based on the experience of twenty classes conducted with the MA program and postgraduate students at Kozminski University between March 2019 and December 2021, when online whiteboards and visual metaphors were used. The method used was participative observation, as the author also acted as the workshop facilitator. To observe the user’s action, the contribution tracking tool that is available on the mural whiteboard (Mural, n.d.) was activated. The explorations during the workshops revealed two elements of online classes: Conceptualization vs Illustration, to determine whether photos and pictures serve as an instrumental illustration in the background of the story, or they are important elements that convey the sense of the students’ statements. Moreover, the paper contains various practical findings that help to facilitate creative educational workshops remotely.