ArtsSpace - Inspiration, Cultural Diversity and The Arts

Dr Janice K Jones

Senior Lecturer Arts Education

School of Linguistics, Adult and Specialist EducationUSQ Applied Linguistics Group, Leadership Research International Group

University of Southern Queensland Learning and Teaching Grant Scheme December 2nd 2015 Showcase

Open Textbook Initiative

Acknowledgement of CountryI acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands where USQ teaching and research is conducted: the Gaibal, Jarowair, Ugarapul and Butchulla peoples of Queensland. I honour the wisdom of Elders past, present and future, seeking to walk together in the spirit of reconciliation.

Image: Jada DENNISON/Untitled/2015/acrylic monoprint/60 x 42 cm

The arts are…

…foundational to historical, social, cultural and aesthetic understandings and appreciation.

…a vital means of human expression, inquiry and meaning-making.

…a way to self understanding, aesthetic awareness, and sensitivity to other ways of seeing the world

To effectively engage diverse learners teachers must develop curriculum knowledge, skills, pedagogies and practices.

BUT….

The Australian Curriculum for the Arts

…all young Australians are entitled to engage with the five Arts subjects and should be given an opportunity to experience the special knowledge and skills base of each. All students study dance, drama, media arts, music and

visual arts — from Foundation to the end of primary school. Schools will be best placed to determine how this will occur.

Secondary (yr 7/ 8) ‘experience some’ subjects in more depth. (yr 9–12, students will be able to specialise in one or more Arts subjects as part of their overall curriculum package.

Lines, boxes, borders, boundaries When pre-service educators begin their undergraduate

programs to become teachers, most have had minimal experience of the arts since primary school.

My research data captured over 3 years with future primary school educators confirms the majority are fearful of teaching the arts and most doubt their own creativity.

All want to know how to ‘tick the right box’ to get a HD

The challenge – supporting learning

Primary: A single 10 week course with 2 week practicum – students’ only experience of 5 arts strands

Drama, Dance, Media, Music, Visual Arts

Fully online

Secondary/MOLT: Single course to cater for specialist teachers years 7 – 10 and 11 – 12.

Lower school – 5 arts strands

Upper school – art subject specialist

Fully online

Limits to my/our thinking

Storytelling – How we learn

This is my story about learning in the creation of an ‘Open Book’

I had not expected this to be such a dramatic, exciting and transformative experience!

But – it is also about institutional learning – and the kinds of systems and supports that will be needed as universities shift from a ‘one size’ paradigm to embrace new ways of working.

In the beginning…

A wordpress site with OER resources for the 5 arts strands

An emphasis upon providing meaningful and culturally varied arts examples

Invitations sent to colleagues world wide

Students curated CC BY SA resources for the five arts strands as an assessment task

Peer reviewed and improved

Sites included useful arts content for teaching

Disappointments…

You can make, create and share – and others will read and perhaps comment

BUT – none added original content

I knew how to create a website or blogsite but not how to make it secure

Masses of spam – despite efforts to adjust settings

Student curated sites were uninspiring. All included useful items but without any cultural or connecting narrative.

Gales of Creative Destruction?

Sleepless nights = new thinking

The ‘Dance’ - Shiva: Creator/Destroyer

When things go VERY wrong, when they break badly – this is a wonderful learning opportunity.

My website was hacked by ‘Hard Hitter’. ICT could not help – this was not a university computer.

The site was not a university site. Expert friends could not help. Keychain made it

impossible to open up any programs or to do any work. Apple back up technicians forgot to guide me through

one important stage – so many settings and programs were lost.

I lost weeks of work and was further delayed by the need to completely re-install the OS on my new Macbook Air and buy a MS Office installation.

Beyond the ‘Book’

By now I was in great anxiety. The panel advised against creating a WikiBook. I am glad as this forced me back to my earlier thinking but from a new angle.

Akash Odedra is a dancer: he has always struggled to express his ideas through the written word

In Murmur he repositions the centuries old dance vocabulary of the Kathak dance tradition in a modern and digital performance context.

Dance is another language: Odedra re-casts narratives of dyslexia – not as a failure to comply with the rules of order in telling of stories – but as a new language

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T49IjKho5y8 Metaphor – beyond the book - from 5.45

The OER project transformed –

Why a book? Why ‘deliver’ Arts Curriculum content?

Disrupt boundaries Start from ancient

myths, mysteries, narratives, difference voices, ways of seeing, disonnances

http://janicekjones.com

A blogsite, pinterest, site stimulus for work by/with pre-service teachers

Linked Facebook site for artists

Starting from the earth, the elements, Indigenous peoples, stories, mysteries

The flow…

http://janicekjones.com/

Where next?

Continue to build the WordPress site

Engage Arts Council Toowoomba to post and share works

Grow Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest sites

Physical and virtual Art exhibition linked to site in late 2016

Create new page for USQ Makerspace – allowing sharing of knowledge, skills, videos

Encourage sharing of creative writing and arts products and research– from USQ education courses

Thanks to colleagues and students at the University of Southern Queensland for supporting this journey - we are all leaders in learning.

Thank you –Helpers on the Journey

University of Southern Queensland Teaching Excellence and the expert panel of USQ advisorsProfessor Helen Partridge (PVC Scholarly Information and Learning Services)Professor Ken Udas DVC (Academic Services) and Chief Information Officer

Adrian StaggLisa Aurisch

Tim McCallumDavid Jones

Kate Judith and teamEric Kong

Janice KannPriya Jose and Ron Pauley

ReferencesOdedra A. (2014).Murmur. TedGlobal 2014. https://www.ted.com/talks/aakash_odedra_a_dance_in_a_hurricane_of_paper_wind_and_light?language=en

"Fire close up texture" by Titus Tscharntke - http://www.public-domain-image.com/public-domain-images-pictures-free-stock-photos/miscellaneous-public-domain-images-pictures/fire-flames-pictures/fire-close-up-texture.jpg. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fire_close_up_texture.jpg#/media/File:Fire_close_up_texture.jpg

Vassil (2007) Shiva Nataragja. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AShiva_Nataraja_Mus%C3%A9e_Guimet_25971.jpg