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Binding Students Together
Using books as a Teaching Strategy to Enhance the Development of
Student Work.
Forward
This paper was originally published in Exposure, The journal of
the
Society for Photographic Education. (Volume 32.2, 1999)
Introduction
This paper is based on my experiences in Australia and more recently
in the USA guiding students through the making of a book. Students
learned image sequencing, basic layout skills, the relationship
of image to text and many of the conventions of publishing. Collateral
benefits included appreciating the value of co-operative behavior,
a respect for deadlines, the need for organization, consideration
for others and personal responsibility.
Very quickly students appreciate the benefits of acquiring this
range of professional skills. Additionally they appreciate the advantage
of being able to cite a publication on their resume at graduation.
Making a book also benefits to the instructor. It is a source of
great satisfaction to be able to look through these books as they
accumulate over the years. One has a record of virtually all the
students one has come in contact with and re-reading these books
brings back many memories of the students and their work. Additionally
the books serve as excellent exemplars of previous imaging concerns
and levels of effort and are an excellent way of motivating the
current cohort to match and exceed the standards of the past. Standards
that are, at least from the student's perspective, set not by some
opaque process devised by the faculty, but by their peers, who presumably
possessed similar abilities and aspirations.
The Nature of Such a Book
This paper discusses the production of a book that is a group effort,
representing a compilation of work, both visual and written, by
all of the students in a particular class. This is not to suggest
that a book comprised exclusively of images with no accompanying
text is either impossible or undesirable. However, this activity
serves a more useful educational function if the students are encouraged
to express themselves in words as well as in images. This practice
in critical and analytical thinking greatly enhances the usual feedback
processes that occur in class. Additionally it supports the issues
that they may be addressing in other theory and history courses
run concurrently with their studio practice classes. To address
both visual and written modes of thinking in a coherent and inter-related
manner, helps students to articulate their own personal and imaging
concerns as well as appreciate those of their classmates.
In the simplest terms this means that such a book contains the
following elements. Depending on resources each student has a page
of text and either one or three pages of images. The general principle
is that each student must have an even number of pages. This is
necessary to ensure that each contributor will consistently start
on either the right or left hand page. It is good practice to ensure
that each contributor has the same amount of space. Additionally
it is good practice to maintain a policy of total inclusion rather
than edit any particular student or group of students out of the
book. Such a policy encourages everyone to do their best.
To appreciate the scope of this exercise assume a group size of
twenty students. If each student has 2 pages, the length of the
book is 40 pages. When to this you add the colophon, introduction,
list of contributors, acknowledgments etc., you very quickly get
up to 48 or more pages. If you allocate 4 pages to each student
the book grows to 80 pages plus the additions described above. It
is necessary to decide on the number of pages fairly early on in
the project as it has considerable consequences an both the level
of effort required and also on the cost of the project. From personal
experience, although I have tried 2, 4 and a mixture of numbers
of pages, I have come to the conclusion that 2 is sufficient to
produce an interesting book and keep the project manageable and
affordable.
The Nature of the Images in the Book
One of the most challenging aspects of such a project is to select
the student work in such a way as to reflect a coherent perspective.
It is important to not be too literal when it comes to the editing
of the work. It may be that the students have been working on projects
that have thematic consistencies and as such the nature of the content
may evolve naturally out of this. However, it is equally valid to
allow the work of the students to suggest other methods and modes
of image to image relationships. Quite often a particular group
of students will almost osmotically settle on particular thematic
and formal strategies that occur at a tangent to the assignments
and or projects you have been overtly engaged in. Discovering these
new connections and themes, or even groups of themes, can inject
the process with vitality and a sense of discovery.
Such a process exemplifies ideas on sequencing proposed by folk
such as Minor White and Nathan Lyons. In essence their thesis is
that images gain meaning and resonance when placed in juxtaposition
with each other and in an order. In the simplest terms this means
that each student brings in his or her work and, in consultation
with the instructor and fellow students, makes a preliminary edit
of about two or three images. The images are then laid out sequentially
in an open space, and the result is viewed as a whole. At this point
further editing refinement becomes possible.
This moment is a wonderful opportunity for feedback on work and
as such presents a great educational opportunity. Often students
who have until now exhibited little inclination or ability to express
their creative concerns with any coherence, can often see with great
clarity in this situation how the meaning of their work can be affected
by the context in which it is viewed.
Nature of the Written Component of the Book
The nature and history of the book form as a transmitter of written
knowledge, facilitates and encourages the inclusion of text to accompany
the images. Text can take many forms but once a particular form
has been chosen, it should ideally be the same for each contributor.
Following are some of the forms available although all of these
choices require some skill and sensitivity in implementation. These
include selecting an appropriate poem or creative piece of writing
from an admired (and relevant) author, writing a poem or creative
piece to accompany the work, writing an artist's statement that
articulates the personal and/or critical issues involved in the
creation and/or viewing of the work or finally, and perhaps most
effectively, asking students to write about each other's work. Although
students are often reluctant to discuss their work I have found
that pairing students so that each may write about the other's work
is a particularly effective way to encourage debate and discussion,
not only in the book making context, but also during the remainder
of their time in the course.
This process is considerably facilitated if the process of articulating
the concerns of the work is discussed in class in the first instance.
This process need not be labored. Usually one good session is sufficient
to get the process underway. After class, over the next week or
so the paired students usually sit down with each other and discuss
their work further as they begin to write their essays. Such a process
can often produce quite remarkable insights and surprising fluency
of expression.
Assembling and Printing the Book
The academic who might wish to employ this strategy will need to
appraise what resources are available within their working environment.
The kind of questions one must ask include;Is there a school printery?
Does the printery have an offset press or instead a high speed copier?
Are color reproductions feasible? What kind of binding is available.
Is there a limit to the sheet size that can be reproduced? Is the
quality acceptable for the nature of the work?
As the students are printing their work and writing their essays,
the instructor must create a preliminary dummy. This will define
the size of the finished book and leave room for the title page,
the colophon, acknowledgments, introduction and the list of contributors.
To make this task easier ask the students for a good quality photocopy
of the work they intend to reproduce. These images can be cut out
and pasted into the maquette in the appropriate sequence. It is
only necessary to handwrite the students name on the opposite page
to the image at this stage and indicate where the text will go.
The actual assembly of the book also depends on the resources available.
The biggest factor to consider is the extent to which digital technology
will be employed in the makeup of the book. These days the best
quality (at least for small run books of this nature) is obtained
by preparing the document in a page layout program and printing
directly from disc. However this is only feasible if the institution
you work at has a machine similar to a Xerox Docutek, or you have
the resources to have the work printed on such a machine at a bureau
such as Kinko's. It is worth obtaining a quote for such a service
if you produce your book digitally as this form of reproduction
is becoming increasingly affordable.
In practical terms you have to make a series of choices which balance
your aims with the ability to get the job done. For instance you
can send the work typeset with the images marked up to size to the
printer and ask them to make plates from this raw material. Or,
if you have a reprographic camera in your department you can go
so far as to screen the images so the artwork is ready to make plates.
I have employed all of the above methods in the past but now with
QuarkXPress or InDesign, or even some of the more sophisticated
word processing programs one can produce a master copy of the book
that will be capable of being reproduced on a high speed photocopier
with minimal expense and with surprisingly good quality. This method
most usually meets with support from the institution as usually
the machines to facilitate such an approach are on hand.
In this hybrid digital approach, usually the instructor gets the
job of creating the document, importing the images and designing
the page layout. This task is made easier if the students can supply
their work on a floppy disc. The disc should contain one image file
and the text of their essay. If the students can do this it is a
relatively easy task to import this raw material into its correct
place. One then has only to print out on the best quality coated
matt paper (Glossy paper does not photocopy well.) a master copy
of the document with all images and text in the correct position.
It has been my experience that such a document often reproduces
with great beauty. It seems that images corrected for digital printout
are ideally positioned on the tonal scale for the reproductive capacity
of most if not all photocopiers. A well corrected gray scale (Photoshop)
image invariably reproduces better than a photographic image even
using all photocopying controls to attempt to reproduce a continuous
photographic tonal scale. Finally, layout the document so each two
page spread (appropriately paginated depending on binding) is on
a single sheet and then ask the print shop to copy from single sided
to double sided.
Other Considerations
This activity is gains its greatest benefits from the full and
complete participation of the students. I have found it most effective
to form student subcommittees who look after such important tasks
as ensuring all the written essays and the images are handed in
on time. This strategy also promote personal responsibility within
the class and is a microcosm of professional practice in the outside
world.
Finally a note on when to conduct such a course. To create such
a book requires that each student participate in an activity that
requires a relatively high skill level and a reasonable level of
maturity. This is often too much to expect of ntroductory students
who are still learning the basics and it is arguably equally inappropriate
to ask of senior students, who by their final year should be creatively
independent if not downright selfish. Consequently either the second
or third year of the program is the ideal time to attempt such an
initiative.
Conclusion
This paper is written from the perspective of an academic who enjoys
making books. As such I find the process fulfilling in its own right.
However, in making these books with students I have become convinced
of the very real pedagogical benefits that occur as a byproduct
of the process. Students become more critical both of their own
work and the work of their peers, more able to articulate these
perceptions and more organized and responsible in a general sense.
Occasionally, and rewardingly, they express their perception of
the worth of the task in their own words.
By way of example and conclusion I quote below the introduction
to the book Hidden Things written by one of its contributors, Jorge
Gonzales;
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It can be quite a haunting experience to search below the
surface for the hidden thing that lurks in some of the less
conspicuous corners of the mind.
In this book the search expands into a kind of collective
unconscious, attempting to pick up with photographic images
the guiding thread where conscious thought becomes obsolete.
Dozens of individuals in a quest for that all too ephemeral
split second when the receding lights and merging shadows
coincide to form the right pattern that will reveal the features
of the creature.
The process entails a metamorphosis of sorts. While almost
everyone took to the task with some degree of concern and
uncertainty, there remained, at least. the deceivingly reassuring
conviction that the result could, for some unfathomable reason,
remain private and anonymous. Although some students may have
preferred it that way, the final outcome would have been lacking
in the exorcising property of self disclosure, however painful
it might be, and the enriching quality of shared experiences.
As it happened, the developments took on a life of their own,
and from personal, private and esoteric experiences, each
individual found an empathetic echo in a shared and communal
event, during which, layer after layer of accumulated self
deception was removed in order to reach deeper and wider.
It is a unique opportunity to enjoy working within the diverse
nature of such a large group of people and not likely to be
repeated since the group is bound to disband into the community
in a not too distant future. The mere thought of it emphasizes
the transient and serendipitous nature of the process although
the work on one's self is never ending.
It may not be all that obvious, particularly to the passive
observer, but it will be recognizable to those who look within.
It will probably induce the same magic feelings as the recognition
of things familiar which have remained in the back of our
minds like an old kindergarten friend whose memory has never
left us. It is not likely to be a surprise in content, rather,
it is more likely to have the quality of a much sought after,
but unexpected meeting.
Whatever the mechanics of the encounter,
once revealed, we are more likely to find, with a mixture
of shock, fear and ecstasy, that in the realm of the subconscious,
boundaries collapse, only to leave us face to face with the
lurking thing, in whose features we may see ourselves reflected,
like a mirror of the soul. |
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