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John Potter

University College London, Culture, Communication and Media, Faculty Member

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John Potter is Professor of Media in Education at University College London at the IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education & Society. My research, teaching and publications are in the fields of participatory research, new literacies, media education, and play on and offscreen. I am the director of the UCL ReMAP Centre (Researching Media, Arts and Play), a research collaborative based in the Department of Culture, Communication and Media at the UCL Knowledge Lab, and at UCL East. I am co-editor of the journal ‘Learning, Media and Technology’.
I use collaborative mixed methods in my research and have conducted many projects with children and young people exploring their lived experience of media, technology and popular culture. Previously, I worked as a primary school teacher in East London, teacher educator, and local authority advisor.
My most recent project as Principal investigator was leading the Play Observatory, an exploration of children’s play during the pandemic, funded in the UK by ESRC.
Phone: +447970914531
Address: UCL Knowledge Lab, 23-29 Emera

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Papers by John Potter

Primary Computing and Digital Technologies: Knowledge, Understanding and Practice

Computing is both a subject and a powerful teaching and learning tool throughout the school curri... more Computing is both a subject and a powerful teaching and learning tool throughout the school curriculum and beyond, into many areas of children’s learning lives. This text highlights the importance of supporting children to become discerning and creative users of digital technologies as opposed to passive consumers.

PotterJ2024 theory building in the social material and postdigital worlds of play

Multimodality and Society, 2024

This article is about using participatory research and multimodal discourse analysis to scaffold ... more This article is about using participatory research and multimodal discourse analysis to scaffold theory-building, with a focus on how children draw on their lifeworlds, folkloric imagination, and media experiences to generate meanings in, and through, their play. It draws on a tradition of research which employs a multimodal semiotic lens to analyse interaction and communication between social actors in combination with sociocultural theory to generate hypotheses about a phenomenon. The focus is on how multimodal discourse analysis operates when partnered in research designs with other interpretive constructs, drawn from sociocultural, socio-material and postdigital frames. Examples are featured from two research projects centred on children’s play, and the central argument here is that play, with its reference points in media, popular culture and traditional folkloric forms is a particular location for theory-building on the postdigital nature of contemporary lived experience.

Social Media and Self-curatorship: Reflections on Identity and Pedagogy through Blogging on a Masters Module

Comunicar, 2012

The widespread uses of social media have been celebrated as a unique opportunity to redesign inno... more The widespread uses of social media have been celebrated as a unique opportunity to redesign innovative learning environments that position students at the center of a participatory, multiliteracy and peer learning experience. This article problemitizes the connection between the social uses of new media and relevant educational practices and proposes more rigorous theoretical frames that can be used to guide future research into the role of social media in education. This article reports on a case study of a small group of students who use an online module to study media, culture and communication as part of a wider master’s programme. The students were invited to reflect in a more reflexive and theoretical manner than is commonly used in a standard course evaluation about their experiences of engaging with social media as both the medium and the subject of the course. The article discusses the student experience as it unfolded in the context of an assessed piece of project work. I...

format_quoteStudent F's reflection on 'critical' reveals challenges in achieving a deeper engagement with critical theory in blogging.format_quote

Lessons from the Play Observatory: re-imagining learning through film-making and transludic practices in children’s pandemic play

Education 3-13

Moving Teaching Online: Cultural Barriers Experienced by University Teachers During Covid-19

Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2021

This empirical study examines the experiences of academics and professional service staff in a la... more This empirical study examines the experiences of academics and professional service staff in a large UK university during first weeks of the transition to online teaching and working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic. The method draws on the work by Gourlay and Oliver (2018) to explore engagement with the digital university in everyday practice. Using data from 412 survey responses and 32 interviews, the study traces varying ways staff characterised themselves during the first months of lockdown in the UK (from March to July, 2020). The findings highlight that university support services underwent a metamorphosis to support the transition to online teaching. However, insufficient attention was paid to the 'identity crisis' and threats perceived by academics who were used to teaching students on campus. Academics tended to focus on transferring traditional teaching practices to the online environment, rather than on changing teaching practice, leaving face-to-face teaching as the default point of reference. These cultural barriers are a persistent obstacle to a more productive engagement with digitalisation. Transitioning to online teaching involves continuing existing work while also learning new practices. Such efforts were challenging for teaching staff who did not have dedicated space at home to work and those with caring responsibilities. This, combined with gendered patterns around caring and the extra support needed by students during the crisis, added emotional labour to already-full workloads. We recommend that intersecting forms of disadvantage be acknowledged, supported and rewarded for universities to create sustainable and just futures.

Moving Teaching Online: Cultural Barriers Experienced by University Teachers During Covid-19

by Tim Neumann, Martin Oliver, and John Potter

Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2021

This empirical study examines the experiences of academics and professional service staff in a la... more This empirical study examines the experiences of academics and professional service staff in a large UK university during first weeks of the transition to online teaching and working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic. The method draws on the work by Gourlay and Oliver (2018) to explore engagement with the digital university in everyday

format_quoteStaff faced emotional labour due to caring responsibilities during the pandemic, necessitating institutional recognition of intersecting disadvantages.format_quote

Lockdown literacies and semiotic assemblages: academic boundary work in the Covid-19 crisis

Learning, Media and Technology

In March 2020, populations were forced into home quarantine to curb the spread of the coronavirus... more In March 2020, populations were forced into home quarantine to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Universities moved the majority of their operations to homeworking, with profound implications for students, academics, and professional services staff. This paper analyses interview and visual data collected as part of a study on the impact of 'moving online' on staff at a large UK university. Drawing on sociomaterial perspectives, it considers the status and role of academics' literacy practices under lockdown, focusing particularly on the ways in which a range of boundaries are negotiatedspatial, temporal, material, digital, professional, personal and emotionalin a setting where conventional boundaries have been profoundly disrupted. We argue that these practices form part of emergent, restless and shifting semiotic assemblages. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of this conceptual shift for academic work, meaning-making and academic subjectivities, in lockdown and beyond.

Media Education as a Strategy for Online Civic Participation in Portuguese Schools

Comunicar

Whilst various studies have examined participation on the Internet as a key element of a new emer... more Whilst various studies have examined participation on the Internet as a key element of a new emergent civic engagement, informally or formally through national and local governments’ online measures, less has been done to measure or suggest ways of overcoming social and technological constraints on online civic participation. Additionally, few studies have looked at the relationship between the actual implementation of such initiatives in classrooms and the messages which are conveyed indirectly as a result of teachers’ own conceptions of classroom strategies, which are perhaps better described as a “hidden curriculum”. This paper reports on these constructions through a set of detailed quantitative and qualitative case studies of the implementation of civic engagement through online activity in several regions of Portugal. The data, obtained through questionnaires, were used to produce novel composite scores reflecting the participatory and media literacy strategies of schools, as ...

Playground as meaning-making space: Multimodal making and re-making of meaning in the (virtual) playground

Global Studies of Childhood

This article takes as its starting point a recognition of play as meaning-making, and the playgro... more This article takes as its starting point a recognition of play as meaning-making, and the playground as a rich and dynamic ‘meaning-makerspace’ where children draw moment-to-moment, rapidly and readily on the multiple resources available to them to make signs of their interest evident. These resources are drawn from their own lifeworlds, folkloric and site-specific imagination, transmitted game forms from the past, and their pleasure and affective response to contemporary media. The playground is, therefore, a dynamic site for making and re-making, reflecting the concept of ‘makerspace as mindset’, where creative, collaborative meaning-making occurs ceaselessly in a range of modes. To illustrate this position, we share findings from ‘Playing the Archive’, an ‘Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’ funded project exploring archives, spaces and technologies of play. Building upon the Iona and Peter Opie Archive of play from the 1950s–1960s, the project involved ethnograph...

Primary Computing and ICT

This popular text for primary trainees in teaching primary ICT has been updated in line with the ... more This popular text for primary trainees in teaching primary ICT has been updated in line with the new computing curriculum. What do you need to know to teach ICT and computing in primary schools? How do you teach it? This book provides practical guidance on how to teach ICT and the computing curriculum in primary schools alongside the necessary subject knowledge. It explores teaching and learning with applications and technologies, addressing the role of the professional teacher with regards to important issues such as e-safety. This Sixth Edition is updated in line with the new curriculum for computing. It includes new material on how to integrate programming and computational thinking and explores how to harness new tools such as blogging and social media to enrich learning and teaching. Written in an accessible way, it will help trainees to develop confidence in their own approach to teaching. ICT and computing is both a subject and a powerful teaching and learning tool throughout...

Exploring primary pupils’ experiences and understandings of ‘e-safety’

Education and Information Technologies, 2009

This paper examines the experiences and understandings of primary (K6) school pupils with regards... more This paper examines the experiences and understandings of primary (K6) school pupils with regards to managing issues of risk and safety during their everyday use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The paper is based on survey and interview data with pupils aged 7 to 11 years old in five English primary schools (n = 612). Analysis of these data shows that whilst

Playground as meaning-making space: Multimodal making and re-making of meaning in the (virtual) playground

by John Potter and Kate Cowan

Global Studies of Childhood, 2020

This article takes as its starting point a recognition of play as meaning-making, and the playgro... more This article takes as its starting point a recognition of play as meaning-making, and the playground as a rich and dynamic ‘meaning-makerspace’ where children draw moment-to- moment, rapidly and readily on the multiple resources available to them to make signs of their interest evident. These resources are drawn from their own lifeworlds, folkloric and site-specific imagination, transmitted game forms from the past, and their pleasure and affective response to contemporary media. The playground is, therefore, a dynamic site for making and re-making, reflecting the concept of ‘makerspace as mindset’, where creative, collaborative meaning-making occurs ceaselessly in a range of modes. To illustrate this position, we share findings from ‘Playing the Archive’, an ‘Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’ funded project exploring archives, spaces and technologies of play. Building upon the Iona and Peter Opie Archive of play from the 1950s–1960s, the project involved ethnographic research in two contemporary London primary school playgrounds, working with children aged 7–11 as co-researchers. A range of multimodal methods were used with the children to gain insights into their play, including iPads as filmmaking devices, chest-mounted GoPro cameras, voice recorders, drawings and mapping of playspaces. The research highlights that contemporary play exists not only in physical playgrounds, but increasingly in globalised ‘virtual playgrounds’ such as video games and social media. While these playworlds may at first appear separate, we identified ways in which virtual play intersects and inflects activity in the physical playground. We argue that play should therefore be seen as a series of ‘laminates’ drawing variously on media culture, folklore and the children’s everyday lived experiences, re-mixed and re-mediated inventively in the playground.

Lockdown literacies and semiotic assemblages: academic boundary work in the Covid-19 crisis

by Martin Oliver and John Potter

Learning, Media and Technology, 2021

In March 2020, populations were forced into home quarantine to curb the spread of the coronavirus... more In March 2020, populations were forced into home quarantine to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Universities moved the majority of their operations to homeworking, with profound implications for students, academics, and professional services staff. This paper analyses interview and visual data collected as part of a study on the impact of ‘moving online’ on staff at a large UK university. Drawing on sociomaterial perspectives, it considers the status and role of academics’ literacy practices under lockdown, focusing particularly on the ways in which a range of boundaries are negotiated – spatial, temporal, material, digital, professional, personal and emotional – in a setting where conventional boundaries have been profoundly disrupted. We argue that these practices form part of emergent, restless and shifting semiotic assemblages. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of this conceptual shift for academic work, meaning-making and academic subjectivities, in lockdown and beyond.

Social Media and Self-curatorship: Reflections on Identity and Pedagogy through Blogging on a Masters Module

by John Potter and Revista Comunicar

Comunicar, Mar 1, 2012

The widespread uses of social media have been celebrated as a unique opportunity to redesign inno... more The widespread uses of social media have been celebrated as a unique opportunity to redesign innovative learning environments that position students at the center of a participatory, multiliteracy and peer learning experience. This article problemitizes the connection between the social uses of new media and relevant educational practices and proposes more rigorous theoretical frames that can be used to guide future research into the role of social media in education. This article reports on a case study of a small group of students who use an online module to study media, culture and communication as part of a wider master’s programme. The students were invited to reflect in a more reflexive and theoretical manner than is commonly used in a standard course evaluation about their experiences of engaging with social media as both the medium and the subject of the course. The article discusses the student experience as it unfolded in the context of an assessed piece of project work. In discussing the findings the authors locate the arguments in the context of debates about new literacies, pedagogy and social media as well as in an emergent theory of self-curatorship as a metaphorical frame for understanding the production and representation of identity in digital media.

Media Education as a Strategy for Online Civic Participation in Portuguese Schools

by Revista Comunicar and John Potter

Whilst various studies have examined participation on the Internet as a key element of a new emer... more Whilst various studies have examined participation on the Internet as a key element of a new emergent civic engagement, informally or formally through national and local governments’ online measures, less has been done to measure or suggest ways of overcoming social and technological constraints on online civic participation. Additionally, few studies have looked at the relationship between the actual implementation of such initiatives in classrooms and the messages which are conveyed indirectly as a result of teachers’ own conceptions of classroom strategies, which are perhaps better described as a “hidden curriculum”. This paper reports on these constructions through a set of detailed quantitative and qualitative case studies of the implementation of civic engagement through online activity in several regions of Portugal. The data, obtained through questionnaires, were used to produce novel composite scores reflecting the participatory and media literacy strategies of schools, as well as teachers and students’ media literacy and online civic actions. We present empirical results from a study population consisting of 12 public secondary school principals, 131 teachers, and 1,392 students in grades 11 and 12, suggesting that students’ online civic engagement and media literacy levels are affected by their teachers’ classroom practices and further training and by the implementation of a project-based approach to media education.

format_quoteEmpirical results show that students' online civic engagement correlates with teachers' practices and project-based media education approaches.format_quote

Burn, A., Potter, J., & Reid, M. (2014). Media arts, digital culture and education.

by John Potter, Mark Reid, and Andrew Burn

Media Education Research Journal editorial for the special issue, MERJ 5 edited by the DARE colla... more

format_quoteIntegration of visual artists and diverse skill sets in media projects enhances student engagement and creative outcomes.format_quote

Potter, J. (2013). Media education and the new curatorship: principles and entitlement for Learners.

This paper was written for the Media Education Research Journal 3(2), 76-87.

format_quoteCuratorship transcends mere collection, signifying a new active cultural practice influencing identity construction.format_quote

Potter, J. (2013). Media Education: Researching New Literacy at Home, at School and In Between.

This was a book chapter written for L. Whitaker (Ed.), The Children’s Media Yearbook 2013. London... more

Potter, J. (2012). Digital video production and learner identity.

This was a book chapter written for N. Govas (Ed.), Videomuseums – recording traces of our subje... more

Potter, J., & Banaji, S. (2012). Social media and self-curatorship: Reflections on identity and pedagogy through blogging on a masters module.

This was a paper co-authored with my then colleague Dr Shakuntala Banaji (who is now at the LSE) ... more