In What Ways Do The Enciclomedia Art Resources Provide A Potential For Learning And For The Construction Of Subjectivity?

Spring 2009

Elisa Navarro Chinchilla

In what ways do the Enciclomedia art resources provide a potential for learning and for the construction of subjectivity?
20,260 words

Dissertation submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements of the MA Media, Culture and Communication Degree of the Institute of Education, University of London

This dissertation may be available to the generalpublic for borrowing, photocopying or consultation without the prior consent of the author.

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MA Media, Culture and Communication Institute of Education, University of London

crogersMCT-NAVARRO1

ABSTRACT:The world has changed drastically in the past two decades and educational authorities are having difficulties in adapting schools to these changes. The emphasis made by these policy makers on the importance of using new technologies for the learning practice is an example of how they have tried to respond to the contemporary needs. However technology by itself does not mean a change in thelearning experience. The different ways in which producers design and use the possibilities of the media is what enables different or non-traditional approaches to the learning practices.

The Mexican educational system has made a huge effort in creating learning material using new technology. Through the „Enciclomedia‟ program, supporting material was produced to be used through interactivewhiteboards. In this dissertation we will analyse part of these material, using a „social semiotic‟ approach, to see in which ways these resources are a potential for learning. By analysing resources produced for the Art subject, we ask general questions on the role student‟s play within the classrooms

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crogersMCT-NAVARRO2

CONTENTS:

PAGE:

1.INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................4 2. BACKGROUND......................................................................................................6 2.1 The importance of the text books as supporting material in the Mexican context.............................................................................................................6 2.2 Enciclomedia: the'new' shape of the educational resources.....................7 2.3 Art and the art subject.................................................................................9 2.4 Education in Mexico: negative aspects that have not changed...............10 2.4.1 A story of inequality.....................................................................12 2.4.2Corruption...................................................................................14 2.4.3 Centralized power.......................................................................15 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK............................................................................16 3.1 'Social semiotics' as a participation-oriented theory which places the relation between individuals and their surrounding world at thecentre of the learning process........................................................................................................16 3.2The place of Social semiotics and its limitations.......................................19 3.3The participation and the acquisition metaphors in the Enciclomedia resources: top to bottom, from the study plans to the designed resources......................223.4Learning material entails power relations: closed and open resources... 23 3.5'Mode' and 'medium'...................................................................................24 3.6Reading Images: a useful study of the visual mode...................................25 3.6.1 Representational participants (Rps).............................................25 3.6.2 Interactional participants...