Promoting interculturalism through art education : a case study Portugal and Latvia

This study examines art student’s awareness, understanding and practices of intercultural art education in higher institution of art. Specifically, the research focused on Art Academy of Latvia, Riga. The purpose was to promote “interculturalism’’ among students and to acquaint them with the knowledge and skills of developing and reflecting on their cultural values and that of others’. For 10 weeks, 7 students in the Art Academy of Latvia explored the Traditional African Ceramics. My research included data gathered from student questionnaires, class discussions, interviews, observations, student artwork and photographs from their personal activities. I likewise took note of the students’ practical works and their approach to African-based ceramics. First, in literature review, I discuss my purpose of study, why the study is important, limitations, statements of problem, and further research. Secondly, I examine culture and paradigms of cultures, comprehensive context of the African history and traditions of the African ceramics, the importance of intercultural art education. Then, I describe how the case study in Latvia was carried out among 7 participants’ who are students from 2nd year – masters’ level. The case study involved 7 students from the department of graphics, glass, ceramics and painting with the aim of promoting intercultural learning among art students. The case study reveals participants’ attitude towards intercultural education and reveal the importance of intercultural education in higher institutions of art as well as other institutions of learning. Although the participants were positive attitude towards other culture, the study reveals that creating awareness through intercultural art and exposing students to other culture enhances their creativity ability to explore other culture and they are more likely to be opened in sharing their experiences and their cultural perspective. Experiencing culture based- art create awareness of other cultures

The role of software tools in influencing creative problem solving in engineering design and education

Creativity is increasingly recognised as an essential component of engineering design. This paper describes an exploratory study into the nature and importance of creativity in engineering design problem solving in relation to the possible impact of software design tools. The first stage of the study involved an empirical investigation in the form of a case study of the use of standard CAD tool sets and the development of a systems engineering software support tool. It was found that there were several ways in which CAD influenced the creative process, including enhancing visualisation and communication, premature fixation, circumscribed thinking and bounded ideation. The tool development experience uncovered the difficulty in supporting creative processes from the developer's perspective. The issues were the necessity of making assumptions, achieving a balance between structure and flexibility, and the pitfalls of satisfying user wants and needs. The second part of the study involved the development of a model of the creative problem solving process in engineering design. This provided a possible explanation for why purpose designed engineering software tools might encourage an analytical problem solving approach and discourage a more creative approach.

Creative militancy, militant creativity and the new student movement

The practical significance of critical theory, and student action leading to the hope of a new education, and a new politics.

Inclusive education and intellectual disability:a sociological engagement with Martha Nussbaum

As a result of exclusionary tactics, social, cultural or economic disadvantage or disability, vast numbers of pupils have poor educational experiences and are either marginalised or demonised due to 'difficult differences'. In the context of Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach, where she suggests that we ought to be who we want to be, this paper addresses intellectual disability, inclusion and inclusive education. It proposes that care, compassion, creativity and ethics are critical in understanding the education for all children and young people, rather than necessarily pedagogical process. In addition, it suggests that learning should take place within and through relationships and that these relationships are important in developing a healthy sense of self. Therefore politically, rather than following a path of blame whether it is the dysfunctional family, the deficit child or the economically deprived nation, this paper says that we require socially just practices, compassion and care as fundamental to human development, social inclusion and inclusive education. Ultimately, education is failing a large sum of children and young people and therefore needs to be radically reconsidered.

Engineering education for the 21st century:scholarship, synergy and student success

Starting with the question “How can University level Engineering Education be developed in such a way so as to enhance the quality of the student learning experience?”, this discussion paper proposes an approach to engineering education developed by a senior engineering educator working alongside a pedagogical researcher in an attempt to engage colleagues in contemporary debates about the issues currently faced across the Sector. Such issues include difficulties with recruiting students onto programmes as well as high levels of student attrition and failure. Underpinned by three distinctive concepts: Synergy, Variety & Relationships (S+V+R), the approach brings together pedagogic and engineering epistemologies in an empirically grounded framework in such a way so as to provide an accessible and relevant learning approach that, if followed, engenders student success [S2]. Specifically developed with the intention of increasing retention and positively impacting student success [S2], the S+V+R=S2 approach provides a scholarly and Synergetic (S) approach to engineering education that is both innovative and exciting. Building on the argument that Variety (V) in education is pivotal to promoting originality and creativity in learning and teaching, this paper shows how, by purposefully developing a range of learning and teaching approaches, student engagement and thus success can be increased. It also considers the importance of Relationships (R) in higher education, arguing that belonging and relationships are crucial factors impacting student experiences. When taken together (Synergy, Variety and Relationships) and applied within an Engineering Education context, students are provided with a unique learning environment – one that both promotes individual success and improves organisational effectiveness. The uniqueness of the approach is in the synthesis of these three concepts within an Engineering Education epistemology.

Experiencing an 'inclusive' education:parents and their children with 'special educational needs'

This paper focuses on the experiences of British parents who have children identified with ‘special education needs’ within mainstream education. Expectations of mainstream education can have a negative affect on parents when a child is unable to maintain his or her education within a mainstream school. In England and Wales, ‘inclusion’ within mainstream schools is implemented by the current government and promoted as anti-exclusionary. However, current research indicates that actual ‘inclusion’ (the child experiencing inclusion as well as being placed in a mainstream environment) is not necessarily occurring in practice. As it stands, the conflict is between desires to embrace difference based on a philosophy of ‘equal rights’ (‘inclusive’ education) and prioritising educational performance, structuring it in such a way that it leaves little room for difference and creativity due to the highly structured testing and examination culture. Qualitative analysis of parents who have children identified with special educational needs indicate that they have hopes and expectations for their children. These hopes and expectations are challenged recurrently.

A kreativitás megítélése a munkaerőpiacon (Creativity from view of job market)

A cikk két, felsőoktatásban dolgozó oktató és kutató törekvése arra, hogy feltérképezze a frissen végzett egyetemi hallgatókkal szemben, a munkaerőpiac oldaláról érkező kreativitással kapcsolatos elvárásokat. Az alapötlet egy EU-kreativitáskutatásból nőtt ki, melyben magyar középiskolai tanárok is közreműködtek. A szerzők kutatásukba beépítettek egy válaszokat tartalmazó adatbázist (337 fő). Ezt követően generáltak egy másik mintát, amely az egyetemi hallgatókat fedte le (292 fő). A lánc harmadik elemeként on-line formában és személyes lekérdezéssel 112 HR-szakember véleményét kérdezték meg a kreativitás fontosságával, mérhetőségével, az ötletet adó EU-projekt kreativitással kapcsolatos állításaival és a kreativitás definíciójával kapcsolatban. Cikkük a válaszok kvantitatív feldolgozásának eredményeit ismerteti. ______ The paper is the product of a professor’s and a researcher’s (both working in higher education) aim to determine the expectations of the job market as regards creativity in fresh graduates. The idea for this came from an EU creativity study which had included Hungarian high school teachers. The authors have integrated the database (337 persons) of these teachers’ answers into the study. They also generated a second sample that covered university students (292 persons). As a third element, the authors assessed the opinion of 112 HR managers online and in person as regards the importance and measurability of creativity, as well as their views on the statements pertaining to and definition of creativity as given in the EU creativity project. The paper presents the results of the quantitative analysis of the responses.

Horizontal diversity of higher education institutions. The case of Hungary – in European context

In the European Higher Education Area the diversification of higher education is considered to be an emphasized value, a guarantee of creativity. The various institutional rankings are the displays of vertical diversity, but in parallel with these, there is an increasing attention directed at horizontal diversity, the entirety of the institutions' activities. The European Mapping Project (U-map) undertook this challenge. The paper presents the research program, which is an attempt to adapt the U-map model to Hungary. According to the results, the U-map method which was intended for application on an international level, is very useful in the identification of the main groups of institutions in a specific national higher education system as well, and may provide a basis for the creation of institutional strategies and the development of the institutions’ network.

The effects of Chinese painting appreciation education on the artistic achievement of junior high school students in Taiwan

For the Chinese, fine art is one of the most important items in human life. The goals of fine arts education enhance the student so that s/he can make reasonable judgments about work, gain knowledge of color and understand the process of designing environmental layouts. Related technique and creativity training are offered students in accordance with individual differences and social expectations.^ Traditionally, Taiwan's junior high school fine art program teaches mainly painting technique. The Ministry of Education in Taiwan determines the curriculum of junior high school fine art education. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of teaching Chinese painting appreciation on the artistic achievements of junior high school students in Taiwan. The subjects were seventh grade students who had never learned Chinese painting before. Two classes were randomly chosen from each target school and were designated as the experimental or control group. Instruction in all groups was delivered by the researcher himself. At the end of the study, data about subjects' related knowledge, creative technique, and feeling toward Chinese painting were systematically collected and analyzed.^ The result of the study was that students in the experimental group were more motivated to learn Chinese painting than were the students in the control group. Students in the experimental group made better progress in the development of creative skill, had better critical ability, and demonstrated better performance in Chinese painting form, set up, stroke and color of related knowledge than did students in the control group. It was therefore concluded that Chinese painting appreciation education can promote better artistic achievement and that this approach should be used in other areas of art education. ^

Teaching Rules or Teaching Creativity: a Paradigm Shift

Structure is everything in a screenplay we are told. If indeed there are any rules to screenwriting then this would be carved in tablets of stone. Within pedagogical frameworks we are diligent in our instruction of the three acts, advocating it as a paradigm. We pass on tools for the analysis of character that are gleaned from psychology. But I have seen students struggle with this toolbox. They feel constrained by concrete techniques. So often seeing principles as rules, structure as restriction. The stifling of free-form ideas is further compounded by the plethora of books that claim the path to glory lies only in structural devices. Some even purport to have a formula, a simple prescriptive model that will bestow almost certain success. Yet this is an industry that abhors formula, that hungers for the fresh and the new. Without bravado, imagination and experimentation with character and form, the best structured screenplay in the world is merely a typing exercise. As educators we have a duty to retain a balance between letting a student’s mind dance and keeping them to the tempo. This study will compare a variety of diverse structures, from Hegel to Alcoholics Anonymous, Kubler Ross to Jung. It will analyse recent journal articles, on both new techniques in teaching creativity and new approaches to the instruction of screenwriting, to suggest a model of how best to inform the application of structure to HE students and keep creativity uppermost. A structure of emotional truth. An equal appreciation of both the tools of our craft and an imaginative exploration of character and world that can unlock our originality and our artistry.

Curriculum, content and controversy in higher education

Recent evidence suggest that academic staff face difficulties in applying new technologies as a means of assessing higher order assessment outcomes such as critical thinking, problem solving and creativity. Although higher education institutional mission statements and course unit outlines purport the value of these higher order skills there is still some question about how well academics are equipped to design curricula and, in particular, assessment strategies accordingly. Despite a rhetoric avowing the benefits of these higher order skills, it has been suggested that academics set assessment tasks up in such a way as to inadvertently lead students on the path towards lower order outcomes. This is a controversial claim, and one that this paper seeks to explore and critique in terms of challenging the conceptual basis of assessing higher order skills through new technologies. It is argued that the use of digital media in higher education is leading to a focus on student's ability to use and manipulate of these products as an index of their flexibility and adaptability to the demands of the knowledge economy. This focus mirrors market flexibility and encourages programmes and courses of study to be rhetorically packaged as such. Curricular content has becomes a means to procure more or less elaborate aggregates of attributes. Higher education is now charged with producing graduates who are entrepreneurial and creative in order to drive forward economic sustainability. It is argued that critical independent learning can take place through the democratisation afforded by cultural and knowledge digitization and that assessment needs to acknowledge the changing relations between audience and author, expert and amateur, creator and consumer.

Curriculum R & D: Incubating change in higher education

This mixed methods study examined incubation as a strategy for curricular change. The purpose was to examine the characteristics and effectiveness of curriculum incubation from a faculty perspective. The conceptual frame for this study proposed combining a grounded theory of incubation with concepts from organizational creativity to explain incubator processes. Findings concluded that while the incubator did engage is typical practices of nurturing, testing, and refining ideas, the salient characteristics of the incubator were most closely related to concepts of organizational creativity. The incubator examined in this study was in formative stages of development and data offered a thin slice of evidence supporting incubation as a mechanism of curricular change. Further study is warranted

An exploratory study of creativity, personality and schooling achievement

International audience

Feeding students’ creativity with language arts: a project developed at ESEV (2013-15)

Children live at a time when the rapid turnover of information and the ongoing changes in the technological, social, cultural, political and economic spheres make it more difficult for teachers to prepare lessons that enhance students’ interest and motivation. There is so much to be learnt outside of the classroom’s four walls that traditional methods of teaching may not be the most effective way to teach today’s learners. When it comes to classes of Portuguese language, teachers are faced with the challenge of teaching culture, literature, grammar and skills such as reading, writing and speaking in a way that involves students as active participants, that is, in a way that engages while also instructing. It means that several strategies need to be adopted, from games to the use of new technologies or, among others, an interdisciplinary approach with maths, (social) sciences and arts, for instance. In an attempt to motivate gifted and talented children that were attending elementary school in a small town near Viseu, in Portugal, The School of Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu was asked to be part of a project in 2013, in a collaborative partnership that proved successful and that was re-enacted in 2015. It is in light of the above that, in this paper, we aim to: a) describe the support that the School of Education provided to these participants, children who were between six and fourteen, by presenting Portuguese language activities that intended to stimulate creative thinking and artistic production; and b) discuss the results of the project, by analysing the students’ productions across verbal and visual modes (ie. script writing and dubbing an excerpt of an animation film, interviews, news reports, drawings, the creation and recitation of poems…). Future activities are on the table, meaning that the School of Education’s commitment to feeding the students’ creativity has shown promising results. Creativity in Portuguese classes is not a guarantee of success but it certainly is food for thought.