Located in the School of Art, Design and Performance at
UCLan this research aims to investigate the lived experience of graduates from
design courses (textiles, ceramics, surface pattern design and 3D design). A
phenomenological study of creative graduates’ transition into employment, the
poster subjects the prevailing approaches to graduate transition into
employment in a post-1992 university to critical scrutiny. In particular it
will investigate the motivations of the key players in employability discourse:
governments, employers, universities and parents in a changing higher education
context to determine whether present interventions truly reflect the future
social, economic and technological needs of graduates.
Friday, 27 June 2014
Thursday, 26 June 2014
Facilitating peer support through social media: Reflections on finding a way through the doctoral maze
Jacqueline Dodding, Hazel Partington, Susan Ramsdale
Abstract below...
Studio learning, expert technical staff and the curriculum
David Dennison and Adam Mead
This poster examines the ways
in which studio practice in the visual arts can be integrated within a holistic
approach to learning: it discusses the role of expert technical staff in the
context of a broader programme of work and makes specific reference to first
year students and their transition to HE studies.
The tact of teaching of devising
Jane Hartley
This
research takes the form of a critical reflection (Larivee, 2000) on aspects of
teaching a second year module entitled ‘MX2001: devising 1’ within the BA
(Hons) in Music Theatre, at UCLan, wherein students are tasked to work in
groups to co-create (or devise) original pieces of ‘new music theatre’.
Is there a theory-practice gap in professional training? A critical analysis of attempts to prepare undergraduates as professionals in Medical Imaging.
Tony Ward
The theory practice gap has been much
reported in health science degrees (Maben, 2006, Baxter, 2007, Mackay et al
2008 and Ferrara 2010). However, little research has been undertaken within the
field of Diagnostic Radiography and that which has been undertaken has focused
on gaps in the curriculum. This study considered the phenomena of the theory
practice gap from a different perspective - that of student experience. This
has been done by exploring how students acquire, develop and experience
professional knowledge during the early years of their undergraduate training
at the University of Liverpool. This case study has illustrated how
professional knowledge is conceptualised, developed, transferred and
experienced within the work placement.
Friday, 20 June 2014
Seeing The Way Forward : Policy Change and Reforms in Schools – Making the Policies Apply In School Settings – Bullying and Identity Young Goths In The School Space
Trish Bryne-Roberts
My
primary research is in its final stages in two high schools in the Northwest of
England. My research seeks to address how the eleven young Goths hide or show
their identities in their school space. Additionally the work seeks to
ascertain if their identities as young Goths impact on their health and
well-being especially in relation to issues of emotional wellbeing and positive
body identity. In order to ensure my research offers a holistic analysis I am additionally
interviewing two teachers, two learning support mentors and two pastoral /
behaviour management tutors as well as an anti-bullying support officer.
Navigating a critical incident through a lens of reflexivity
Sandra Shaffi
Within this presentation I will show how
reflexivity has supported me in my navigation through a critical incident
(Halquist and Musanti 2010) within my study. It demonstrates how I began to
make sense of data through a more critical scrutiny and interpretation in both
my data collection and analysis. As my study is essentially employing a
critical approach to the engagement and perceptions of student voice and
equality within the participation of such, I have shown reflexivity to be not
only a tool for ensuring that validity is addressed but also that the
emancipatory aims of the research are realised and communicated. In this way I
concur with McCabe and Holmes (2009), in their study on reflexivity from a
Foucauldian perspective, that to view reflexivity as merely a means of ensuring
validity in qualitative research somewhat limits the researcher’s ability to
highlight subtle changes that comprise emancipation.
Creative Dissent and Collaborative Learning
Mike Pacey
Devised and collaborative creation is
at the core of many university drama and theatre courses. Theatre
practitioners and theorists have emphasised the 'non-hierarchical
possibilities' of devising and how it may employed as a model of cooperative
collaboration' (Heddon and Milling: 2006, 4). Devising can also represent 'a
practical expression of political and ideological commitment' (Ibid, 2006: 4),
and raise issues about personal politics in relation to group dynamics (Oddey,
2003: 9). Students working in devised theatre are required to take collective
responsibility for all aspects of the process including the creative outcomes
for the project. This can sometimes generate creative tensions which may be
difficult to confront and problematic to manage. These tensions have the
potential to undermine or challenge the principles upon which collaborative
devised work is predicated. Tracy Crossley (2006) identifies a tendency within
group work collective devising towards 'groupthink' in which there is an
avoidance of conflict in order to maintain the appearance of a well-functioning
and cohesive group. Bound up with this is the pressure of assessment, which may
lead a group to be 'risk averse' and consequently make defective decisions. Inevitably,
within collaborative projects there is always the potential for creative
conflict. However, constructive conflict may also be used to produce positive
personal change and social change (Carnevale, 2006). This project focuses on the inherent
tension within the assessment process between a competitive system that rewards
the individual and a group based approach, which values sharing and
collaboration. It considers a variety of methods and approaches to
collaborative learning and examines how creative conflict and dissent might be
used in a positive way to enrich the experience. It also considers how the processes of devising
might be used to explore the place of the individual within a community and the
function of democratic decision-making and power (Wessels, 2011).
Key
words
Creativity, conflict, dissent, devising, collaborative learning, group
assessment
References
Carnevale, Peter J. "Creativity in the outcomes
of conflict." Handbook of conflict resolution: theory and practice,
(2006): 414-435.
Crossley, T.
(2006) Letting the Drama into Group Work: Using conflict constructively in
performing arts. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education.2006; 5.1:
33-50.
Heddon, D. and Milling, J. (2006) Devising Performance: a critical history, London, Macmillan.
Oddey, A. (2003) Devising
Theatre: a practical and theoretical handbook, London: Routledge.
Wessels, Anne. Devising
as Pedagogy, Key Concepts in Theatre/Drama Education. Sense Publishers,
2011. 131-134.
An Exploration of the Design and Facilitation of Asynchronous Discussion Boards in Online Learning
Karl R Lester
A significant proportion of individual
online interaction involves communication. In education this is reflected by
the development of communication systems which support or enhance learning.
Amongst others, Blackmon (2012) and Anderson (2009) have stressed the
importance of discussion forums to the overall educational experience. Rovai
(2007), discussing online learning, concurs, stressing a need for the use of
discussion boards to ‘create a social presence’. It is possible, therefore, to conclude that discussion boards make an
important contribution to the social dimension of learning and development.
This presentation will report the findings
of an action research project which sought to discover alternatives to
traditional, highly structured asynchronous discussion threads commonly found
within VLEs such as Blackboard.
Using a diagram in doctoral research
Clare Stone
The
professional doctorate aims to generate knowledge and ‘initiate change’ in
practice (Lester,
2004:767-768). This poster presentation explores how a diagram 1)
assisted in making sense of data (Weick, 1995, Fenge, 2009), 2) illustrates the unique insights generated from practitioner research,
and 3) is being used as a tool to engage peers in discussion about competence
for social work practice.
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