“Design in Social Media and Virtual Worlds” Course and Results

As some of you may know, I’ve been teaching a Module 2 course entitled “Design in Social Media and Virtual Worlds“, for the past 2 weeks. During this course the students had various lectures on the relations between design and communication in social media, semiotics and self-presentation, Reception Research and audience theories, definitions and principles of design, and how virtual worlds (virtual objects and spaces) are designed to afford various ways of virtual interaction. We had an intensive 2-week period with a lot of learning discussion and exploration, and we finally got some results! As a group, the students decided to communicate a message on climate change awareness, by telling their peers the value of saving energy in everyday life. To visualize the message (“Save Tomorrow Today!”), we created an informative short Machinima, and a series of posters; and to access their audience, students decided to use a Facebook group (“Green Saver”).

Here is the link for the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA-HC-ll9z8

And for our Facebook group “Green Saver”:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=357002596488#!/group.php?v=wall&gid=357002596488

Since we uploaded, the video has more than 140 views on Youtube, so it seems to be working already (numbers restarted when we uploded the new video). At this point, it is really important for the students to actually see some real feedback from the facebook group (and on the Machinima), and to relate the purposes of the course and the outcomes of their design process. So we need people to access, see and share the contents, and discuss related issues within the group, to keep it alive..

So, we will really be happy if you could visit our Facebook group, watch the video and probably share your comments..

Thank you already