Active Learning and Teaching through Digital Technology and Live Performance: ‘Choreographic Thinking’ as Art Practice in the Tertiary Sector

This article is an interdisciplinary reflective response to an intensive studio learning and teaching experience involving artists, academics and postgraduate students. The authors of this article teach, research and practise in coding, digital design, dance, and virtual and live performance. As lecturers and students we reflect upon and propose future approaches to art practice in tertiary education informed by live performance, performance capture and studio‐based responses to digital and virtual platforms. We reflect on an innovative contribution to the field of research–teaching nexus as informed by digital and virtual data capture identifying the key element of immediacy in live performance and choreographic improvisation with systems. We reflect on practice‐based inquiry via the Choreographic Coding Lab (CCL) model – a dialogical negotiation between capture technology and interdisciplinary artists in industry and academia. How can we encourage potential studio inquiry as an adapted model in tertiary learning and teaching? Our interdisciplinary voices, presented as authors’ reflections, provide suggestions for future studio‐based, active learning contexts.     

Interdisciplinary Problem-Based Learning in Gerontology: A Plan of Action

Issues of older adults are often ill-structured and complex, requiring the application of insights from different disciplines to be adequately addressed. Gerontology has often used a multidisciplinary rather than an integrated interdisciplinary approach. Interdisciplinary and problem-based learning (PBL) provide pedagogical tools which teach gerontology students skills for understanding and resolving gerontological issues. The paper presents the concepts of interdisciplinarity and problem-based learning, the types of interdisciplinarity (interdisciplinarity at micro and macro levels of analysis, interdisciplinarity with different attributes of the same unit of analysis), learning outcomes of interdisciplinarity and problem-based learning, the incorporation of interdisciplinary problem-based learning in academic programs, steps of interdisciplinary problem-based study of a gerontological issue, and directions for the future study of this approach.     

Interdisciplinary science research and education

Science history shows us that interdisciplinarity is a spontaneous process that is intrinsic to, and engendered by, research activity. It is an activity that is done rather than an object to be designed and constructed. We examine three vignettes from the history of science that display the interdisciplinary process at work and consider the implications for education. We consider recent examples of interdisciplinary science education, including where interdisciplinarity involves students in authentic scientific research. We conclude that the reconciliation of research and education is a meaningful role for interdisciplinary practice in science education.     

Exploring the Role of Ideology in Interdisciplinary Science Education Policy

Despite its popularity in education studies literature, interdisciplinary science education is mostly considered outside the multitude of social forces that drive education reform. This has contributed to a mythologizing of interdisciplinary science education and lead to assumptions about the necessity of its intervention into science education practice. This research constructs a critical analysis of interdisciplinary science education by exploring a philosophical understanding of the relations between scientific disciplines, investigating discourse about interdisciplinarity in science education policy literature, and provides socioeconomic context for this reform movement. In particular, Louis Althusser's theory of ideology as material force, his conception of the spontaneous philosophy of scientists, and his theses on the ideological nature of interdisciplinary science are foundational to this critique. Althusser's contributions allow for critical reflection on interdisciplinarity and the effects of promoting it throughout scientific enterprise. Viewing interdisciplinary science education through this critical lens allows for demarcating the ideological narratives of reformist discourse from the intended outcomes of reform. This investigation elucidates the intervention of interdisciplinarity as an ideological force governing the reproduction of scientific labor, with intended downstream socioeconomic effects, such as shifting science labor from the public sector to private industry to accommodate for austerity. The conclusions of this analysis advocate for historical materialist methodologies in science education research and critical education studies, while emphasizing the role of ideology in socioeconomic reproduction.     

跨学科性与大学转型

大学是人类知识生产和跨学科研究的主要阵地。伴随着学科研究向跨学科研究的转型,社会出现了要求传统大学向跨学科大学转型的呼声。与传统大学相比,跨学科大学不仅在组织机构、制度安排上具有跨学科性的特点,而且在专业设置、课程开设、教学方式、学习方法等诸多方面也自身的特征。     

Ambience in social learning: student engagement with new designs for learning spaces

An imperative to develop the social experience of learning has led to the design of informal learning spaces within libraries. Yet little is known about how these spaces are used by students or how students perceive them. Field work in one such space is reported. The general private study practice of undergraduates was captured through audio diaries, while activity in the learning space was directly observed, and students provided reflective perspectives in focus groups and through spot conversations. Results suggest such spaces are popular and yet stimulate limited group work. Yet other, less intense, forms of productive collaboration did occur and a taxonomy of four such types of encounter is offered. Of particular importance to students was access to a ‘social ambience’ for study. The results encourage institutions to design for a mixed economy of student choice over learning spaces and to consider modes of encouraging diversity in their use.     

Learning at boundaries

In the literature on boundaries, it is sometimes falsely assumed that learning naturally evolves from a co-location of diverse practices and perspectives. Empirical studies indicate that this is not self-evident. The aim of this article is to understand the challenge of learning at the boundary. In the light of this aim, the article interprets empirical findings from two previous longitudinal studies of academic projects, in which educational scholars, with diverse cultural backgrounds and different academic perspectives, collaboratively conduct research and encounter boundaries during interaction. The case studies show that (1) boundaries that people encounter can easily stay implicit during ongoing negotiations, and (2) when people do identify boundaries and explicate them during collaborative processes, dialogical engagement is triggered. On the basis of the findings, I argue that explicitly identifying boundaries enables learning since it creates a collective need to take more into account some unfamiliar perspective or practice.     

A roadmap for forming successful interdisciplinary education research collaborations: a reflective approach

Current literature about interdisciplinary education research is focused on three points: conceptual definitions of interdisciplinarity, the need for interdisciplinary research to tackle the advent of problem-based research and the positive curriculum outcomes to be gained from interdisciplinary research. While this research is important, it does not always include an account of the often complex and politicised interactions that might affect the outcomes of interdisciplinary research groups. This paper provides one possible ‘roadmap’ for successful interdisciplinary collaboration. It is based on a reflective case study of the authors’ own formation of an interdisciplinary research group and the practical resolutions to both the theoretical and the practical issues involved in achieving interdisciplinarity in education research.     

Navigating the Methodology of an Interdisciplinary Art and Design Practice with Conscious Bridging

The growing emergent field of interdisciplinary research provides opportunities for discussing and attempting to understand interdisciplinarity at a deeper pedagogical level. The author, having completed a PhD in the field of an interdisciplinary art and design practice, presents an analysis of its methodology to contribute to the discussion. Through incidentally applying the method of Bourdieu's notion of reflexivity onto the practice, a clearer understanding of the approaches undertaken in the practice was experienced. This supported navigating between spectrums of approaches and identifying dichotomic knowledges applied in the practice, which the author terms ‘conscious bridging’. In support of the proposed notion of conscious bridging, the author adds further evidential observations of teams participating in interdisciplinary projects and taking into analysis the processes of varied approaches specific to their discipline. This article presents strategies to consider, adopt and apply in an interdisciplinary art and design practice in order to assist the quality and efficiency of research outcomes.     

国外有效课堂对话之研究:回溯与启示

对理想化的、去情境化的对话模式的追求是课堂对话效率低下的一个重要原因,其将最终危害教育实践。课堂对话需要对情境保持敏感,西方国家课堂对话的类型研究、文化研究、学科内容与学习任务研究以及内在张力分析等都揭示有效的课堂对话需建基于具体的情境之中。基于此,我国的课堂对话研究应注重实证研究,关注实然的动态的课堂对话,摒弃对理想化的、去情境化的课堂对话模式的追求。     

Student socialization in interdisciplinary doctoral education

Interdisciplinary approaches are often seen as necessary for attacking the most critical challenges facing the world today, and doctoral students and their training programs are recognized as central to increasing interdisciplinary research capacity. However, the traditional culture and organization of higher education are ill-equipped to facilitate interdisciplinary work. This study employs a lens of socialization to study the process through which students learn the norms, values, and culture of both traditional disciplines and integrated knowledge production. It concludes that many of the processes of socialization are similar, but that special attention should be paid to overcoming organizational barriers to interdisciplinarity related to policies, space, engagement with future employers, and open discussion of the politics of interdisciplinarity.     

‘The art of democracy’: Young people's democratic learning in gallery contexts

In this article the authors report on research which aimed to explore the opportunities for democratic action and learning in a number of artist‐led gallery education projects in the south‐west of England. The research takes an approach to citizenship learning and democracy that is less focused on citizenship as a specific subject in the formal school curriculum and the achievement of specific citizenship outcomes that can follow from it. Rather, it is more focused upon understanding how democratic practices that are embedded in the day‐to‐day lives of young people contribute to their democratic learning and participation as citizens. Drawing upon conceptual categories and concepts that illuminate the process, the authors demonstrate the nature and character of young people's democratic learning. An implication arising from this is the need for practice‐orientated research in other contexts (e.g. work, leisure and home) to fully understand the nature of democratic learning.     

Concealed/Revealed

This article deals with a cross‐cultural, interdisciplinary approach to sculpture in a practice‐based PhD. The research centred on context in relationship to the Giriama Commemorative Grave Posts of Kenya and my art practice in the UK. This heuristic investigation culminated in the construction of wall and floor fragments relating to vernacular architecture in both cultures. The natural environment and my previous teaching experience in Kenya had a major impact on the work. The self‐reflexive and visual aspects of the research were documented through diaries and photographic record. Feelings of vulnerability and insecurity led to the main theme of mortality. The practical work progressed through themes of binary opposition and semiotic reference in particular reference to the materials and processes I used. The first body of work was shown to an African audience at the National Museum of Kenya, and then later work at the Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies, London. This reinforced the significance of familiar readings of the work through cultural context and symbolic recognition, often reflecting a culturally specific interpretation.     

Approaches to the study of pragmatism in today’s China

To explore the key approaches to pragmatism is not only a logical requirement of the development of pragmatism itself, but also necessary for Chinese pragmatism to progress. There are three major necessary and feasible approaches to the study of pragmatism, which will play a very important role in the development of Pragmatism in today’s China: Firstly, the approach through the history of Western philosophy and logic of thinking; Secondly, the approach through comparative research in the context of contemporary academic dialogs, and thirdly, the approach through comprehensive interdisciplinary research. The approach through the history of Western philosophy and thought helps us ascertain the status of pragmatism in Western philosophy. Meanwhile, comparative research in the context of contemporary academic dialogs is necessary for resolving cultural conflicts and for the integration of and dialogs between cultures in an age of globalization. Finally, multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, and comprehensiveness are intrinsic to pragmatism, and scholarly circles in China have tremendous room for research characterized by the same.     

Becoming an interdisciplinary scientist: an analysis of students’ experiences in three computer science doctoral programmes

The aim of this study was to identify how and why doctoral students do interdisciplinary research. A mixed-methods approach utilising bibliometric analysis of the publications of 195 students identified those who had published interdisciplinary research. This objective measurement of the interdisciplinarity, applying the Rao-Stirling index to Web of Science and Scopus citations, allowed for a comparison of students’ interdisciplinary research outcomes from three different computer science programmes: a traditional programme, a multidisciplinary doctoral school and an interdisciplinary doctoral college. Applying a sociocultural approach, interviews with the 15 most interdisciplinary students were analysed to understand how dispositions and experiences of students and factors of the different programmes affect the circumstances and processes of becoming an interdisciplinary early career scientist. The data indicate that student motivations, previous skills and knowledge interacted with policies and programme structures including type of funding and supervisor expectations to play a crucial role in interdisciplinarity at the doctoral level. These factors can give rise to interdisciplinary research even in programmes without interdisciplinary focus and compromise the interdisciplinary goals of interdisciplinary programmes.     

JUDAIC STUDIES: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY MODEL

An interdisciplinary approach to any body of knowledge necessarily involves a confluence of diverse scholarly interests and distinct areas of expertise. The study of Judaism lends itself precisely to such interdisciplinarity, and is especially appropriate for an undergraduate liberal arts curriculum.     

A Community of Learners: promoting teachers to become learners

Abstract

This paper describes how the use of video helped us create dialogic intersub‐jective educational spaces in which transformative learning can take place. Focusing simultaneously on two learning contexts: action research and teacher‐student conferencing, it shows how the development of a dialogical space between researchers and teachers in action research enhances the development of such a space between teachers and students in classrooms. In addition, it describes how the participatory research relationship helped illuminate both for teachers and for students what they implicitly know is important to change, as they become aware of new possibilities for pedagogical improvement. Most of all, dialogic video viewing helped them step outside of themselves in order to see each other and return to look at themselves as others’.