Evaluating Practice-based Learning and Teaching in Art and Design

The University of the Arts London is host to the Creative Learning in Practice Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CLIP CETL), which has funded a number of small course-based evaluative and developmental projects. These projects have been designed by course tutors in conjunction with the CLIP CETL team, who are evaluating them to better understand and extend the pedagogies of practice-based teaching and learning. Practice-based learning is a way of conceptualising and organising student learning which can be used in many applied disciplinary contexts. Such pedagogies we argue are founded on the claim that learning to practice in the creative industries requires engagement with authentic activities in context (Lave and Wenger 1991, Wenger 2000). This short paper will describe some of the initial evaluation and research activities in two colleges; identify and define practice-based activities in the context of the courses where the research is being carried out; identify emerging pedagogic frameworks; and discuss implications for further development. Activities identified in the projects undertaken include: Opportunities to develop students‟ direct contact with industry Simulating work-based learning in the University Event-based learning Enhancing professional practice and PPD The authors are seeking to elicit, analyse and evaluate what is often implicit in practitioner-teachers, and the experience of developing pedagogies for extending practice-based learning. We will be theorising from statements made by practitioners in semi-structured interviews and evidence provided in progress reporting from the project teams

Youth Voice in the work of Creative Partnerships

This report summarises the findings of an 18-month research project into ‘Youth Voice in the work of Creative Partnerships ‘, 2007-9, conducted by Sara Bragg, Helen Manchester, Dorothy Faulkner at the Open University, funded by the Arts Council England. Creative Partnerships (CP) was established in 2002 and is a ‘flagship creative learning programme’. It aims to foster innovative, long term collaborations between schools (often in areas of socio-economic deprivation) and creative practitioners. In particular CP states that it places young people ‘at the heart of what we do’ and claims that its programmes are most effective when young people are actively involved in leading and shaping them. CP highlights three key areas: involving young people in governance (the design, delivery and evaluation of the programme of work); building and maintaining ‘positive relationships’ with young people; working as ‘co-constructors of learning’ with them. The report maps existing youth voice initiatives in Creative Partnerships in those three areas. In addition, it considers the nature of the links between creativity and participation; explores issues of access to youth voice, such as patterns of inclusion and exclusion; explores what skills, experiences, identities and relationships are developed through participation. More broadly it attempts to understand, analyse and theorise youth voice, starting from the empirical but aiming to interpret the features of particular activities or projects to understand them more fully

A preliminary evaluation of using WebPA for online peer assessment of collaborative performance by groups of online distance learners

Collaborative assessment has well-recognised benefits in higher education and, in online distance learning, this type of assessment may be integral to collaborative e-learning and may have a strong influence on the student’s relationship with learning. While there are known benefits associated with collaborative assessment, the main drawback is that students perceive that their individual contribution to the assessment is not recognised. Several methods can be used to overcome this; for example, something as simple as the teacher evaluating an individual’s contribution. However, teacher assessment can be deemed as unreliable by students, since the majority of group work is not usually done in the presence of the teacher (Loddington, Pond, Wilkinson, & Wilmot, 2009). Therefore, students’ assessment of performance/contribution of themselves and their peer group in relation to the assessment task, also known as peer moderation, can be a more suitable alternative. There are a number of tools that can be used to facilitate peer moderation online, such as WebPA, which is a free, open source, online peer assessment tool developed by Loughborough University. This paper is a preliminary evaluation of online peer assessment of collaborative work undertaken by groups of students studying online at a distance at a large UK university, where WebPA was used to facilitate this process. Students’ feedback on the use of WebPA was mixed, although most of the students found the software easy to use, with few technical issues and the majority reported that they would be happy to use this again. The authors reported WebPA as a beneficial peer assessment tool

Cohesion, commonality and creativity: youth work across borders

No abstract available

Students as change agents: new ways of engaging with learning and teaching in higher education

This is a set of practitioner resources for those wanting to set up student-based research projects in their institutions

Project managers and technical change : curriculum development in strategic technology management

Traditional business approaches do not take account of the rapid technological developments underpinning today's world. Further understanding the role of technology and its efficient management to build and maintain a competitive edge in business can allow project managers to more successfully manage organisations, and to adapt to and capitalise on, today’s rapidly changing environment. Strategic Technology Management links engineering, science and management principles to identify, choose, and implement the most effective means of attaining compatibility between internal skills and resources of an organisation and its competitive, economic and social environment. This paper reviews the rationale and the development of a new Strategic Technology Management subject in QUT’s Master of Project Management program. It discusses recent developments in the area of technology management from an international perspective, provides details of the curriculum developed and discusses the experience of completing two years of teaching the new program