How do students utilise the internet for their research?
Occasionally, when reviewing student work my colleagues have despaired of the ‘Behance generation’. Behance is a portfolio website and it provides a great platform of student and professional work, however the site can be misused as a research resource, where students can shop for styles and adopt without genuine understanding or awareness of whether it is appropriate for their own work. Noel Douglas, Senior Graphics Lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire gave a heavy sigh when I asked him how his students researched their projects online: his resigned reply, “…Google images”.
This is my research proposal, to create a workshop to gauge how year one and year two undergraduates utilise the internet. Are they satisfied with page one results? Do they go further and identify ‘trusted critical voices’ or curated content?
Our first action has been to present to our PGC colleagues a proposal outline. Next: the 750 word proposal statement and planning the workshop and in July, a presentation of our ongoing research.
Photo: Graphic Communication Year Three students prepare the wall vinyls of their degree show. I think their ‘Honest’ statement displays evidence of students who strive to explore further.