Dissertation defence in the field of art education, Owen Kelly
MA Owen Kelly will defend his dissertation Ambient Learning and Self Authorship.
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PhD Bryan Alexander (National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education NITLE) will act as the Opponent. Professor Kevin Tavin will act as the Custos.
This thesis takes the form of an interdisciplinary examination of the relationship of so-called “virtual worlds” with reality, and the possible uses of such “worlds” as learning tools. To do this it unpeels the core question, layer by layer until we reach the fundamental question: when we talk about people learning, what exactly do we mean by “people”? From there it builds up a view of consciousness that strongly suggests that our relationship to the world is narrative; that we “are stories all the way down”; and that, once we understand this, we can begin to construct artistic tools to help people begin to co-author themselves.
The thesis has three parts. The first analyses eight years of empirical research based on the Marinetta Ombro project, a lengthy exercise in exploring a virtual culture, carried out by staff and students at Arcada, a university of applied science in Helsinki, Finland.. The second lays out a theoretical discussion that takes the empirical research as its starting point. The third draws conclusions from the discussion and offers a programme for the construction of creative tools for self authorship using a process of arts research.
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Owen Kelly is currently senior lecturer in online media at Arcada. He has a B.A. (Hons) in English and Sociology from the University of Keele; and an M.A. in e-pedagogy Design from the University of Art & Design, Helsinki. He is the author of the books Community, Art and the State; Culture & Democracy (with John Lock and Karen Merkel); Digital Creativity; and The Creative Bits (with Eva Wojdat). He has also published numerous articles and book chapters, as well as self-publishing e-books including A Short History of the Tripartite Church, Should It Exist and Urban No-mind.
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