Practice-based film education for children: teaching and learning for creativity, citizenship and participation

Practice-oriented film education aimed at children has been hailed for various reasons: at a personal level, as a means of providing tools for self-expression, for developing creativity and communication skills. And at a social level, it is argued that children must now become competent producers, in addition to critical consumers, of audiovisual content so they can take part in the global public sphere that is arguably emerging. This chapter discusses how the challenges posed by introducing children to filmmaking (i.e. digital video) are being met at three civil associations in Mexico: La Matatena AC, which seeks to enrich the children’s lives by means of the aesthetic experience filmmaking can bring them. Comunicaciòn Comunitaria, concerned with the impact filmmaking can have on the community, preserving cultural memory and enabling participation. And Juguemos a Grabar, with a focus on urban regeneration through the cultural industries.

Personal learning artefacts: persistence, ownership and privacy

Traditional classrooms have been often regarded as closed spaces within which experimentation, discussion and exploration of ideas occur. Professors have been used to being able to express ideas frankly, and occasionally rashly while discussions are ephemeral and conventional student work is submitted, graded and often shredded. However, digital tools have transformed the nature of privacy. As we move towards the creation of life-long archives of our personal learning, we collect material created in various 'classrooms'. Some of these are public, and open, but others were created within 'circles of trust' with expectations of privacy and anonymity by learners. Taking the Creative Commons license as a starting point, this paper looks at what rights and expectations of privacy exist in learning environments? What methods might we use to define a 'privacy license' for learning? How should the privacy rights of learners be balanced with the need to encourage open learning and with the creation of eportfolios as evidence of learning? How might we define different learning spaces and the privacy rights associated with them? Which class activities are 'private' and closed to the class, which are open and what lies between? A limited set of set of metrics or zones is proposed, along the axes of private-public, anonymous-attributable and non-commercial-commercial to define learning spaces and the digital footprints created within them. The application of these not only to the artefacts which reflect learning, but to the learning spaces, and indeed to digital media more broadly are explored. The possibility that these might inform not only teaching practice but also grading rubrics in disciplines where public engagement is required will also be explored, along with the need for consideration by educational institutions of the data rights of students.

Problematizing practice: MacIntyre and management

Alasdair MacIntyre’s distinction between institutions and practices helps illuminate how powerful institutional forces frame and constrain the practice of organizational research as well as the output and positioning of scholarly journals like Organization. Yet his conceptual frame is limited, not least because it is unclear whether the activity of managing is, or is not, a practice. This article builds on MacIntyre’s ideas by incorporating Aristotle’s concepts of poíēsis, praxis, téchnē and phrónēsis. Rather than ask, following MacIntyre, whether management is a practice, this wider network of concepts provides a richer frame for understanding the nature of managing and the appropriate role for academia. The article outlines a phronetic paradigm for organizational inquiry, and concludes by briefly examining the implications of such a paradigm for research and learning.

Beyond MacIntyre: grounding the business as practice debate

Alasdair MacIntyre’s distinction between institutions and practices helps illuminate how powerful institutional forces frame and constrain the practice of organizational research as well as the output and positioning of scholarly journals. Yet his conceptual frame is limited, not least because it is unclear whether the activity of managing is, or is not, a practice. This paper builds on MacIntyre’s ideas by incorporating Aristotle’s concepts of poíēsis, praxis, téchnē and phrónēsis. Rather than ask, following MacIntyre, whether management is a practice, this wider network of concepts provides a richer frame for understanding the nature of managing and the appropriate role for academia. The paper outlines a phronetic paradigm for organizational inquiry, and concludes by briefly examining the implications of such a paradigm for research and learning.

'Lines of flight': digital musical instruments, inclusive music bands, meaningful engagement in music-making and learning

In this study I examine the development of three inclusive music bands in Cork city. Derived from Jellison’s research on inclusive music education, inclusive music bands involve students with disabilities coming together with typically developing peers to make and learn music that is meaningful (Jellison, 2012). As part of this study, I established three inclusive music bands to address the lack of inclusive music making and learning experiences in Cork city. Each of these bands evolved and adapted in order to be socio-culturally relevant within formal and informal settings: Circles (community education band), Till 4 (secondary school band) and Mish Mash (third level and community band). I integrated Digital Musical Instruments into the three bands, in order to ensure access to music making and learning for band members with profound physical disabilities. Digital Musical Instruments are electronic music devices that facilitate active music making with minimal movement. This is the first study in Ireland to examine the experiences of inclusive music making and learning using Digital Musical Instruments. I propose that the integration of Digital Musical Instruments into inclusive music bands has the potential to further the equality and social justice agenda in music education in Ireland. In this study, I employed qualitative research methodology, incorporating participatory action research methodology and case study design. In this thesis I reveal the experiences of being involved in an inclusive music band in Cork city. I particularly focus on examining whether the use of this technology enhances meaningful music making and learning experiences for members with disabilities within inclusive environments. To both inform and understand the person centered and adaptable nature of these inclusive bands, I draw theoretical insights from Sen’s Capabilities Approach and Deleuze and Guatarri’s Rhizome Theory. Supported by descriptive narrative from research participants and an indepth examination of literature, I discover the optimum conditions and associated challenges of inclusive music practice in Cork city.

Convergence and translation: attitudes to inter-professional learning and teaching of creative problem-solving among medical and engineering students and staff

Background: Healthcare worldwide needs translation of basic ideas from engineering into the clinic. Consequently, there is increasing demand for graduates equipped with the knowledge and skills to apply interdisciplinary medicine/engineering approaches to the development of novel solutions for healthcare. The literature provides little guidance regarding barriers to, and facilitators of, effective interdisciplinary learning for engineering and medical students in a team-based project context. Methods: A quantitative survey was distributed to engineering and medical students and staff in two universities, one in Ireland and one in Belgium, to chart knowledge and practice in interdisciplinary learning and teaching, and of the teaching of innovation. Results: We report important differences for staff and students between the disciplines regarding attitudes towards, and perceptions of, the relevance of interdisciplinary learning opportunities, and the role of creativity and innovation. There was agreement across groups concerning preferred learning, instructional styles, and module content. Medical students showed greater resistance to the use of structured creativity tools and interdisciplinary teams. Conclusions: The results of this international survey will help to define the optimal learning conditions under which undergraduate engineering and medicine students can learn to consider the diverse factors which determine the success or failure of a healthcare engineering solution.

Learning curves: analysing pace and challenge in four successful puzzle games

The pace at which challenges are introduced in a game has long been identified as a key determinant of both the enjoyment and difficulty experienced by game players, and their ability to learn from game play. In order to understand how to best pace challenges in games, there is great value in analysing games already demonstrated as highly engaging. Play-through videos of four puzzle games (Portal, Portal 2 Co-operative mode, Braid and Lemmings), were observed and analysed using metrics derived from a behavioural psychology understanding of how people solve problems. Findings suggest that; 1) the main skills learned in each game are introduced separately, 2) through simple puzzles that require only basic performance of that skill, 3) the player has the opportunity to practice and integrate that skill with previously learned skills, and 4) puzzles increase in complexity until the next new skill is introduced. These data provide practical guidance for designers, support contemporary thinking on the design of learning structures in games, and suggest future directions for empirical research.