Transforming identity through arts-informed, collaborative learning and reflection: case study of a Masters programme in innovation, creativity and leadership

This paper and the associate conference presentation review the initial findings of a PhD study in Professional Education, a mixed method, interdisciplinary project which aims to contribute to research on interdisciplinary pedagogy related to both teaching and enabling creativity. The research focuses on Creativity and the Creative Industries, the final module of City University London’s Masters in Innovation, Creativity and Leadership (MICL), an interdisciplinary Higher Education (HE) Masters designed for mature students with managerial experience. The module’s teaching includes collaborative, experiential arts workshops (eg drama, classical music, improvisation and art) to support the students’ group and individual artistic projects and final reflective journal and report. The paper outlines these theoretical propositions which inform the study’s data analysis (Yin, 2008, p.18): 1) That the module’s learning processes are artistic, unfamiliar, disruptive, embodied experiences 2) That the students create an applied understanding of their learning through reflection and personal narrative 3) That critical incidents in the students’ personal narratives will be expressed through metaphors of personal and professional identity 4) That both narrative (eg James and Brookfield, 2014, p.106, citing Kűbler-Ross’s (1997) Change Curve) and personal change models (eg Heron, 1992, p. 122) will usefully inform the analysis. The study’s primary analytical methodologies include content analysis (eg Charmaz, 2006), narrative analysis (Gregerson, 2013), thematic analysis (Van Manen, 2014) and critical incident analysis (Shiu, 2014) (Argyris, 1982; Bolton, 2014; Dewey, 1933; Downey & Clandinin, 2010; Dreyfus, 1996; James & Brookfield, 2014; King & Kitchener, 1994; McEwen et al., 2009; Merleau-Ponty, 1962/2002; Ricoeur, 2007; Schön, 1983, 1987). The research approach is consistent with work on threshold concepts (Meyer & Land, 2003), theory which links identity and narrative (eg Bruner, 2002; Boyd, 2009; Downey& Clandinin, 2010; Gottschall, 2012; Herman, 2013; McGilchrist, 2009) and arts-based and creativity research (eg Amabile, 1983; Bateson & Martin, 2015; Gregerson et al., 2013; Shiu, 2014; Sayer, 2012). The paper acknowledges the need for a reflexive approach, especially in HE and artistic contexts (eg Brookfield, 2010; Fleming, 2012; Foucault, 1980; Freire, 1970; Mezirow, 1998, 2000), as well as the risks of drawing broader lessons from a case study (Cohen, 2010; Yin, 2013). Consistent with this Track’s theme of ‘rattling’ HE and organisational development through the application of arts-based initiatives, I conclude by discussing whether shifts in the students’ narratives through the MICL programme and this might can be related to their personal and professional identities; and the degree to which these might in turn promote sustained impacts on their inter- and intrapersonal competence and self-efficacy

Accelerating movement across the intentional arc – developing the strategic sensographer

Our research question relates to those who need to be activists in strategic sensography as described in the call for papers. We call these activists “strategic sensographers”. Our own definition of sensuous is characterised by a pseudo-formula, namely 5S+3D (5 senses plus 3 dimensions), which we contrast with the 2S+2D world which dominates the modern office and even university.We take strategists to include both senior executives themselves and those who explicitly support them in the strategy process, whether in a line or staff role. Our model of the intuitive qualities required for strategists has in part been derived from the recruitment criteria of leading organisations, as well as from analyses of the qualities needed to support creativity and innovation (Lucas, Claxton and Spencer, 2012).We examined the routes through which strategists are currently educated or shaped, and conclude as have others (Mintzberg, 2005), that their education is biased in favour of rational-logical thinking. It is in part the tension and interplay between the rational and the intuitive that contributes to sensography, a term that has in part spun off from “stratography” (Cummings and Angwin, 2011)

Three Dimensional Printing of Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt Using a Cobalt Oxide Precursor

Tungsten Carbide 10 wt% Cobalt parts were formed by Slurry-based Three Dimensional Printing (3DPTM). The slurry contained a mixture of Tungsten Carbide and Cobalt Oxide powders, as well as dispersing and redispersing agents. The cobalt oxide is fully reduced to cobalt metal during the early stages of the sintering process. A new binder system, polyethylenimine, is described for use with powders with acidic surfaces, such as WC. Sintered densities approach the theoretical values for WC-10% Co, and the microstructures produced are similar to those of conventionally processed (press and sinter) materials. Up to four parts were produced in a single print run using a layer thickness of 25 Pm, with good dimensional agreement between them, and within the range of target dimensions after sintering.Mechanical Engineerin

A New Look At Neutrino Limits From Big Bang Nucleosynthesis

We take a fresh look at the limits on the number of neutrino flavors derived from big bang nucleosynthesis. In particular, recent measurements of the \he4 abundance enable one to estimate the primordial \he4 mass fraction at $Y_p = 0.232 \pm .003(stat) \pm .005(syst)$. For a baryon to photon ratio, $\eta$, consistent with the other light elements, this leads to a best fit for the number of neutrino flavors $N_\nu < 3$ (the precise number depends on $\eta$) indicating a very strong upper limit to $N_\nu$. Here, we derive new upper limits on $N_\nu$, paying special attention to the fact that the best estimate may lie in an unphysical region ($N_\nu < 3$ if all three neutrino flavors are light or massless; the lower bound to $N_\nu$ may even be as low as 2, if the small window for a $\nu_\tau$ mass is exploited.) Our resulting upper limits therefore depend on whether $N_\nu \ge 2$ or 3 is assumed. We also explore the sensitivity of our results to the adopted value of $\eta$ and the assumed systematic errors in $Y_p$.Comment: 11 pages, latex, four uuencoded ps figures include

The Humanities and the Public Soul 1

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73120/1/j.1467-8330.2008.00615.x.pd

Magnetic fields in the early universe in the string approach to MHD

There is a reformulation of magnetohydrodynamics in which the fundamental dynamical quantities are the positions and velocities of the lines of magnetic flux in the plasma, which turn out to obey equations of motion very much like ideal strings. We use this approach to study the evolution of a primordial magnetic field generated during the radiation-dominated era in the early Universe. Causality dictates that the field lines form a tangled random network, and the string-like equations of motion, plus the assumption of perfect reconnection, inevitably lead to a self-similar solution for the magnetic field power spectrum. We present the predicted form of the power spectrum, and discuss insights gained from the string approximation, in particular the implications for the existence or not of an inverse cascade.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

Development of High-Resolution Scintillator Systems

Mercuric iodide (HgI2) is a well known material for the direct detection of gamma-rays; however, the largest volume achievable is limited by the thickness of the detector which needs to be a small fraction of the average trapping length for electrons. We report results of using HgI2 crystals to fabricate photocells used in the readout of scintillators. The optical spectral response and efficiency of these photocells were measured and will be reported. Nuclear response from an HgI2 photocell that was optically matched to a cerium-activated scintillator is presented and discussed. Further improvements can be expected by optimizing the transparent contact technology

High Energy Physics

This proposal is for the continuation of the High Energy Physics Program at the University of California, Riverside. In 1990, we will concentrate on analysis of LEP data from the OPAL detector. We expect to record 10{sup 5} Z`s by the end of 1989 and 10{sup 6} in 1990. This data will be used to measure the number of quark-lepton families in the universe. In the second half of 1990 we will also be occupied with the installation of the D-Zero detector in the Tevatron Collider and the preparation of software for the 1991 run. A new initiative made possible by generous university support is a laboratory for detector development at UCR. The focus will be on silicon strip tracking detectors both for the D-Zero upgrade and for SSC physics. The theory program will pursue further various mass-generating radiative mechanisms for understanding small quark and lepton masses as well as some novel phenomenological aspects of supersymmetry

High Energy Physics

Hadron collider studies will focus on: (i) the search for the top quark with the newly installed D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider, (ii) the upgrade of the D0 detector to match the new main injector luminosity and (iii) R&D on silicon microstrip tracking devices for the SSC. High statistics studies of Z{sup 0} decay will continue with the OPAL detector at LEP. These studies will include a direct measurement of Z decay to neutrinos, the search for Higgs and heavy quark decays of Z. Preparations for the Large Scintillation Neutrino Detector (LSND) to measure neutrino oscillations at LAMPF will focus on data acquisition and testing of photomultiplier tubes. In the theoretical area E. Ma will concentrate on mass-generating radiative mechanisms for light quarks and leptons in renormalizable gauge field theories. J. Wudka`s program includes a detailed investigation of the magnetic-flip approach to the solar neutrino