Memento Mori Letters: Conversations with the internet (Facebook and the Final Practicum)

Abstract

Australian pre-service teachers (PST) frequently report feeling isolated and vulnerable during the high stakes Assistant Teacher Program (ATP) final practicum. Mentoring and online learning communities have been shown to offer effective support during periods in which pre-service and beginning teachers feel challenged.

As social media progressively infiltrates all aspects of contemporary life, individuals and organisations are opting to use technology in highly adaptive ways; as a result, they have to navigate both the positive aspects and pitfalls of the medium.

This project investigated the nature and type of material shared in open FB group spaces (predominantly image and text) to better understand the viability of social media and FB being used safely for university peer to peer support during periods PSTs are away from the university.

The NTRO encompassed a collection of 23 paintings as visualisations of the material being discussed in art and education groups with open settings – each supported by free verse text or poetry.

This creative works research is distinctive because the paintings and poems represent an interactive dialogue about social media often with the very people who inspired the work.

They take the form of vignettes about contemporary social experience and meander through intimate themes of beauty, hope, dance, children, voyeurism, politics, ethics, love, human rights, identity, family, memory and an array of other ‘important/not so important’ experiences that make up contemporary life.

In addition to the creative works described here, the project resulted in journal publications (http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2015v40n9.9), a set of protocols to guide PST use of social media whilst on practicum; and the development of a professional learning program for all PST students preparing to go on practicum.