King's College London

Ever wondered how Augmented Reality can be used to share perspectives? Did you know that you may already possess many of the skills necessary for doing playful prototyping in Virtual Reality? What does it take to start producing podcasts and what is the connection between storytelling and design?

The Creative Digital Skills masterclasses offer King’s students and staff an opportunity to explore the answers to these questions and learn from industry professionals from across the digital and creative sector. In the sessions, now available to watch on demand, experts provide real-world context for key creative and digital skills.

So far, nearly 500 students and members of staff from across King’s faculties have enrolled in the programme, taking advantage of an array of online resources that, alongside the recordings of the masterclasses, will be available on KEATS throughout summer and the next academic year.

Students that attended the live masterclasses noted that the sessions boosted their knowledge and confidence in the topics presented and motivated them to use creative digital tools more in the future, while researchers commented on how the knowledge and inspiration they gained from the sessions will benefit their teaching, enrich student experience, and enhance engagement with their research. 

The Creative Digital Skills programme, curated by King's Culture, includes content from the Department of Digital Humanities in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities at King’s, alongside other resources linking to the topics that have been curated into an exciting offer.

The programme’s masterclasses delved into recent digital technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and 3D modelling and introduced design and storytelling techniques.

Veteran experience designer and King’s artist-in-residence Rob Morgan, of London-based immersive AR design studio Playlines, discussed how to find, design, and create access to AR narratives in ordinary places. Digital artist and creative technologist Maf'j Alvarez introduced students to her work and practice of developing VR experiences for the cultural sector. Neil Jakeman of King's Digital Lab in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities presented some of the different methods that are used to create 3D content and introduced production workflows. 

Further live masterclasses examined the use of more traditional media such as video, illustration and radio, and the potential to co-create with communities and engage new audiences.

Speaker, trainer and science illustrator Hana Ayoob explained different methods to make research more visually engaging for the research community and accessible for public audiences. Documentary photographer and designer at COMUZI, Safiya McKenzie discussed the importance of storytelling and co-creating with communities on creative digital design projects. Independent, multi-disciplinary production company CHILD Studio shared their story of starting a video production company and provided some tips to bring in work, build a client base and grow a business independently. King’s Stem Cells @ Lunch Digested team introduced podcast making and gave students and staff practical tips so they can start their own.