Teaching Beyond the Curriculum

Abstract

Students at the University of Bolton, Graphic Design Degree under the umbrella of embedding socially engaged teaching and learning opportunities, were tasked with designing a range of creative outcomes which directly address the early warning signs of stalking. Working alongside The Alice Ruggles Trust, students learned the red flags displayed by potential stalkers and aimed their creative practice to speak directly to a target market inhabiting social media platforms. Students utilized their creativity and ideation skills to design a range of ephemera which the client could take forward to represent their charity. In doing so, the students learned some of the issues and precursors of this dangerous crime through their graphic design teaching and learning. The project also helped build their community spirit both as a body of students but also as residents of their wider community. In presenting their findings students were tasked with adopting a caring and compassionate tone of voice, whilst being robust enough to deal with the issue at hand effectively. This presentation will explore the student experience of this project via a series of audio-visual testimonials and examine the success of the project through the lens of the client. It will seek to examine the knowledge exchange learning opportunities of projects of this nature and determine their relative benefits. It will also examine whether social and community-based projects can extend the scope for creativity and conceptual thinking in the student body.