#ccourses has suggested that we ‘leverage our why’ – and Jonathan Worth
said we ask others to help with the HOW.
So - HOW?!
We are lecturers in an institution that reaches out into our local communities. Our students are often described as ‘fish out of water’
(Bourdieu and Wacquant 1992), swimming in educational currents composed
of regimes of inspection and the over-riding narratives of assessment, SATs,
League Tables, OFSTED, moral panics about plagiarism – and the ‘dumbing down’
of education:
There are Mickey Mouse students for whom Mickey Mouse degrees are quite
appropriate (Starkey in Brockes ‘Taking the mick’ The Guardian, [online] 15
January 2003).
They are re-territorialising tricky academic space (Deleuze &
Guattari1987/2005) – and do not get an easy ride. More than ever they need to experience connection – engagement –
inspiration – creativity and joy…
We’re sustained by our communities (of Practice, of Inquiry, of Engagement):
ALDinHE, (#loveld, #studychat) - and #edcmooc, #rhizo14, #ccourses … BUT we
know that many staff in HE generally are feeling pretty battered and bruised
right now. As with the students, they, too, experience regimes of control and
surveillance: targets and strategies; Performance Review; Academic Work
Allocation Model. Every hour is mapped and measured and there is no time to ‘be
with’ students. Overworked and under-valued, they do not feel trusted – they may
not feel trust. How can we celebrate and sustain creative emancipatory
practices …in this cold HE climate (Sinfield, Burns and Holley 2003)?
So we are experimenting with Take 5:
Take5 includes some tips on:
Role playing and simulations
Creative and visual learning strategies – using:
Drawing, collage, performance, poetry, prose
Object and Inquiry-based learning
Project Based Learning
Real research projects – from the first year
Academic & empowering literacies – with a positive twist!
Using the MOOCs - #edcmooc, #ccourses, #ds106, #rhizo14
Resource and artefact production.
At the moment we are planning to write fortnightly blog posts speaking
of things that we have done in our classrooms and our MOOCs – in the hope of
seeding conversations and re-engaging people in their own love of teaching and
learning.
What do you think?
What should we do next?
Who wants to join in?
