scholarly journals “It’s Like Being Back in GCSE Art”—Engaging with Music, Film-Making and Boardgames. Creative Pedagogies within Youth Work Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 374
Author(s):  
Frances Howard

Creative pedagogies within youth work practice are well established. Practitioners working with young people are often called upon to utilise their own personal and professional ‘toolboxes’, as a way of supporting ‘Creative Arts Youth Work’. However, within Higher Education (HE), creative methods for teaching and learning within the university context are often overlooked. The problem posed by this article is: how can HE ‘catch-up’ with more advanced pedagogies in the field of practice? Despite a recent focus on the personalisation of learning within HE, how can arts-based pedagogies, including digital storytelling, be drawn upon to enhance the learning experience? This article reports on three areas of pedagogical innovation engaged with by students undertaking the Youth Studies degree at Nottingham Trent University. Three experimental initiatives are explored, which assisted in educating informal educators, through creative learning techniques. Engaging with music, film-making and boardgames are given as examples of creative pedagogy, reporting on both my own practical experience in organising these activities and student feedback. Results showed that the symbiosis of creative pedagogies with relational and experiential learning, key tenets of youth work practice, offered expressive and authentic conditions for learning that are based upon student’s experiences. Therefore, there is much to learn from youth work courses within HE, not only in terms of engaging and encouraging students through creativity, but also setting the scene for the future of creative youth work practice.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 561
Author(s):  
Sinéad Gormally ◽  
Annette Coburn ◽  
Edward Beggan

Community and youth work (CYW) practice has been articulated as striving towards a more socially just and equal society and is theorised as a catalyst for social change that seeks to overcome power differentials. Yet, despite these claims, there is limited empirical evidence to inform knowledge about the extent to which ‘equality work’ is featured and practiced in CYW programmes in higher education. This article draws on perspectives from current and former CYW students in the UK which routinely claim critical pedagogy as the bedrock of professionally approved degree programmes. Utilising a survey approach, our aim was to examine the experiences of students to find out if teaching, learning and assessment practices in professionally approved CYW programmes can be argued as helping students to articulate practice as emancipatory. The findings indicate that there was coherence and a strong understanding of core theories that confirmed CYW programmes as helping students to articulate emancipatory practice. In relation to teaching and learning, programmes were not as aligned with critical pedagogy, inclining more towards traditional and formal methods than alternative or informal methods. Finally, an imbalance between the persistent use of standardised assessment methods over more flexible and creative assessments suggested a reluctance to seek, or develop, more emancipatory sustainable assessment alternatives. The article concludes by arguing that informal education and, specifically, CYW programmes are well-placed to drive institutional and social change forward.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari Carmen Gil Ortega ◽  
Liz Falconer

Purpose – Distance learning (DL) programmes are becoming increasingly popular in higher education. Overcoming feelings of isolation that may occur due to the reduced support available, the few possibilities of social interaction and the non-existent campus atmosphere in online courses, have become one of the major challenges of designers and instructors of DL programmes. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This paper provides an example of how the authors can create and use virtual world (VW) learning spaces that not only match the face-to-face learning experience, but also enhance it. Innovation@UWE Island in Second Life, home of the MA education in virtual worlds, is an example of pedagogical innovation that capitalises on what VWs have to offer to social aspects of teaching and learning. In this programme the authors use a three-dimensional virtual space to provide postgraduate students – physically located in diverse geographical areas of the world – with a sense of community and connectedness that matches the sense of belonging that often accompanies the on-campus learning experience. Findings – The paper provides examples of students engaging in an environment where traditional conceptions of both “teaching” and “learning” do not apply, where the four-walled classroom is not the only setting where learning happens, where everyone in the group can potentially be an instructor or a peer, an expert or a novice, and learn from each other in a meaningful way. Originality/value – This paper introduces the rationale behind the choice of architecture of the learning environment as well as the instructional design of the programme to enhance co-presence and place presence, to build a true community of practice and to foster collaboration for reflective learning.


Author(s):  
K. Sandrasegaran ◽  
M. Trieu

A country or a nation would be immobilized without computers and data communication networks. Computer networking courses are being offered by not only universities and tertiary institutions but also many technical colleges and secondary schools worldwide. The cost associated with purchasing networking devices and equipment to enable students to gain practical experience in setting up a customised network can be significant. Therefore, networking fundamentals are taught by combination of textbooks and lecture-only methods in many schools and publicly funded tertiary institutions. This chapter describes the development and use of an interactive learning tool called iNetwork for teaching and learning computer communication networks. iNetwork provides an environment in which students can experiment with different network configurations and gain hands-on learning experience in computer and data communication networks without the need for expensive equipment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Varda Mann-Feder

The Graduate Diploma in Youth Work is in its fifth year at Concordia University in Montreal.  In a department committed to experiential teaching and the training of practitioners, a large focus of the program is to immerse students in experiences that prepare them for engaging in reflexive and theoretically informed approaches to practice. The purpose of this article will be to illustrate our program model through four learning activities that are representative of our unique approach to youth worker education. An additional focus will be the ways in which our model and these activities align with the Association for Child and Youth Care Practice competencies.               A model of integrative youth work education was developed in 2015 by Ranahan, Blanchet-Cohen and Mann-Feder to form the basis for an advanced Graduate Diploma in youth work in Montreal, Quebec (Concordia University, n.d.). The purpose of this article is to share four structured experiential learning activities that illustrate this model. Prior to describing the activities, an overview of our approach to integrative youth work will be provided, along with a discussion of how it aligns with the competencies for practice developed by the Association for Child and Youth Care Practice (ACYCP) (Association for Child and Youth Care Practice, 2010).


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cleopatra Monique Parkins

Even though youth work has played a critical role in fostering the holistic development of today’s youth, much controversy has surrounded the practice. Nevertheless, youth workers are slowly being accorded professional status, and a code of ethics has been developed in some jurisdictions. Some states are still to adopt this code; consequently the credibility of youth workers and the sector in general sway with the wind. This article presents a comparative analysis of ethical practices of youth work in Jamaica, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, examining current trends in observing ethics and addressing ethical issues. In the case of Jamaica, the researcher used the non-probability convenience sampling technique and collected primary data from a questionnaire administered to a sample of youth workers. The perspective of the ministerial arm responsible for youth work in Jamaica was also captured through an interview. In the case of Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, the framework of the profession and specifically matters pertaining to ethical practices were examined through the use of secondary data sources, which included reports on youth work practices in the selected countries. A mixed methodology was employed in analysing the data collected. The major findings of this study confirmed that advancing youth work as a profession is dependent on the acceptance and integration of a formal code of ethics, that youth workers must receive training on ethics and that a national youth work policy is important to guide youth work practice. In accordance with the findings, the researcher makes a number of recommendations and highlights notable best practices that may help with the overall professionalisation of the sector.


Author(s):  
Frank Abrahams

This chapter aligns the tenets of critical pedagogy with current practices of assessment in the United States. The author posits that critical pedagogy is an appropriate lens through which to view assessment, and argues against the hegemonic practices that support marginalization of students. Grounded in critical theory and based on Marxist ideals, the content supports the notion of teaching and learning as a partnership where the desire to empower and transform the learner, and open possibilities for the learner to view the world and themselves in that world, are primary goals. Political mandates to evaluate teacher performance and student learning are presented and discussed. In addition to the formative and summative assessments that teachers routinely do to students, the author suggests integrative assessment, where students with the teacher reflect together on the learning experience and its outcomes. The chapter includes specific examples from the author’s own teaching that operationalize the ideas presented.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Daniel Abril-López ◽  
Hortensia Morón-Monge ◽  
María del Carmen Morón-Monge ◽  
María Dolores López Carrillo

This study was developed with Early Childhood Preservice Teachers within the framework of the Teaching and Learning of Social Sciences over three academic years (2017–2018, 2018–2019, and 2019–2020) at the University of Alcalá. The main objective was to improve the learning to learn competence during teacher training from an outdoor experience at the Museum of Guadalajara (Spain), using e/m-learning tools (Blackboard Learn, Google Forms, QR codes, and websites) and the inquiry-based learning approach. To ascertain the level of acquisition of this competence in those teachers who were being trained, their self-perception—before and after—of the outdoor experience was assessed through a system of categories adapted from the European Commission. The results show a certain improvement in this competence in Early Childhood Preservice Teachers. Additionally, this outdoor experience shows the insufficient educational adaptation of the museum to the early childhood education stage from a social sciences point of view. Finally, we highlight the importance of carrying out outdoor experiences from an inquiry-based education approach. These outdoor experiences should be carried out in places like museums to encourage contextualized and experiential learning of the youngest in formal education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 8053
Author(s):  
Maram Meccawy ◽  
Zilal Meccawy ◽  
Aisha Alsobhi

(1) This study demonstrates how a Saudi university has responded to the COVID-19 lockdown in order to examine the success factors and highlight any challenges. The main purpose was to determine the perceptions of students and faculty towards emergency online distance learning from a teaching and learning perspective; (2) A cross-faculty study was conducted: two different self-administered questionnaires were developed for students and faculty, respectively. In addition, data was collected from official reports; (3) The results show that students had a more positive perception of e-Learning despite the difficulties that they may have faced, while faculty results leaned slightly towards a negative perception. However, there was not a definite positive or negative perception, depending on the aspect of teaching that was being evaluated. The study also indicated that faculty and students’ gender had no significant effect on their perceptions. Overall results showed that the university performed well in accordance with three of the five pillars of online learning quality framework in terms of student satisfaction, access and scalability. On the other, improvements are needed to achieve better results for faculty satisfaction and learning effectiveness; (4) The findings present a number of suggestions for increasing satisfaction to improve the online learning experience post COVID-19.


2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willmann Liang

This teaching paper utilizes the materials presented by Dr. Fabiato in his review article entitled “Calcium-induced release of calcium from the cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum.” In the review, supporting evidence of calcium-induced calcium release (CICR) is presented. Data concerning potential objections to the CICR theory are discussed as well. In closing, technical issues associated with the skinned cell model are mentioned. Based on this review article, teaching and learning points are put forth in this article to highlight two concepts: 1) the regulatory mechanisms of CICR in cardiomyocytes and 2) the recognition of contradicting hypotheses and limitations in experimental design. The first concept is certainly an important one for physiology students. The second concept is universally applicable to researchers in all fields of science. It is thus the aim of this article to cultivate a rewarding teaching and learning experience for both instructors and students.


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