About the project
Funding: Teaching and Learning grant
Project duration: 2023 – 2025
Course programme: Communications and Media
Courses involved:
- BA (Hons) Advertising
- BA (Hons) Contemporary Media Cultures
- BA (Hons) Media Communication
- BA (Hons) Public Relations
Changemakers involved:
- Project lead: Chiara Portinari (LCC Changemaker 2023-2024)
- Co-design team: Nieves Mingueza Tortola, Slavi Kaloferov, Alejandra Nava Sánchez, Cassia Clarke and Lara Geary
Aims
- Create opportunities for knowledge exchange
- Enable student and staff collaboration
Impact
Empowered Communications and Media programme students to explore racial and social justice issues through research within their collaborative unit.
Cultivated an exciting learning environment where students can utilise the space within the college for knowledge exchange and valuable peer feedback.
Established a collaborative framework for future Changemakers to build upon and improve, ensuring continuous progress towards creating a more just and equitable learning environment.
Context
Dr Jonathan Wright, Communications and Media Programme Director saw an opportunity to enhance the atmosphere of the 7th-floor corridor in the Tower Block at LCC. The current posters have become outdated and no longer reflect the current environment.
The co-design process
Starting with the staff
I ran a focus group with Communications and Media staff and course leaders to gather their perspectives and expectations for the project. This included considering their personal connections with the students.
Staff were excited to showcase visually compelling and polished material from their students.
Referencing other work
Then I informed a community-focused approach to the Wall Project, drawing from:
- secondary research on the student experience
- personal experiences of setting up socially focused exhibitions such as Bar Cosmos (Final Show of MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures at LCC in December 2023)
- exploring the past, present and future Peckham (an exhibition showcasing the process and findings of the exploration of Making Connections’ EDI practice).
Development of the proposal
I co-wrote the initial proposal with fellow LCC Changemakers and presented it to Dr. Wright. He saw an opportunity to include the project in the Global Media Businesses, Practices and Cultures (GMB) unit.
Subsequently, Sam Brooker, BA Media Communications Course leader, adjusted the proposal to fit the unit assignment.
