Capturing and Interpreting Mediated Learning Spaces

Abstract

This exploratory study examined the perceptions of Communication students to infer meanings and understandings as they responded to visual stimuli presented to them. It was guided by the objectives to determine how communication students perceive pre-selected visual stimuli, how they understand the meanings in these urban spaces, how they respond to the visual stimuli in an interview, and how they connected their interactions to the spaces in their lived experiences. Mimetic Art Theory was used to frame the analysis as it examined sources, tools, and methods that captured, analyzed, and communicated the visual dimension of communicative learning spaces through an interview with 25 Communication students. Thematic analysis was validated using inter-rater reliability tools. Findings revealed three emergent themes, namely, urban expression, lived experiences, and diverse meanings. Inter-rater reliability coding was applied by three faculty members. Inter-reliability results show that 60% consider lived emotions as urban expression; 62- 72% see actual, changing, and hybrid emotions as lived experiences; and 82-90% find material culture, usage, and human behavior as sources of diverse meanings. A strong need for creating and maintaining space ensued from the connectivity and collaboration of students’ activities. Parallel constructs of wireless sensor networks/mobile devices induced and enhanced engagements within the different spaces. Through mediation, learning spaces directly contributed to the quality of social interactions because the use of visual stimuli served as a medium for capturing, processing, and expressing how urban spaces mediated interpersonal interactions in various campus activities. More explicit and transparent methodologies and exemplary visual urban studies may help visual research gradually enter the realm of widely accepted options in the scholarship on the communication value of urban space.