scholarly journals 'Putting on a Show' Non-Placement WIL in the Performing Arts: Documenting Professional Rehearsal And Performance Using Eportfolio Reflections

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 62-79
Author(s):  
Narelle Yeo ◽  
◽  
Jennifer Rowley ◽  

his study explores the utility of employing a student-created experiential narrative ePortfolio as a multimodal tool for reflective practice in WIL. It does so by examining a case study situated within the performing arts, where WIL discourses are rarely adopted, and few examples are present in the literature. This paper introduces a circular mentoring framework that extends Kolb’s experiential learning model, whereby learning is facilitated through the interchange of roles through rehearsal and reflection. In this study, participants prepared and performed an opera in a professional venue over a five-day period of intense creative studio work. The 2017 and 2018 Inclusion Project is an innovative teaching and learning opportunity that offered authentic industry-based experience to undergraduate music students in a closely monitored, non-placement WIL setting. Participants (n=18) undertaking a semester long elective, reported their experience through online journaling in an ePortfolio allowing them to create narrative responses. A qualitative analysis using narrative inquiry on the ePortfolio reflections indicated a direct benefit for student’s career readiness as creative artists.

2021 ◽  
pp. 001458582098650
Author(s):  
Gloria De Vincenti ◽  
Angela Giovanangeli

Researchers examining nationalistic conceptions of language learning argue that nationalist essentialism often shapes the way languages are taught by educators and understood by learners. While numerous studies focus on how frameworks informed by Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and intercultural education offer alternative approaches to national stereotyping, these studies tend to focus on theoretical approaches, teacher perspectives or innovative teaching and learning resources. The literature to date, however, does not provide case studies on student responses to activities designed by the teacher to open up the classroom with opportunities that move beyond essentialist representations. This article responds to the need for such scholarship and presents a case study involving a focus group with tertiary students in an Italian language and culture subject. It reveals some of the ways in which students enacted and reflected upon alternatives to nationalist essentialising as a result of language learning activities that had been informed by the discursive processes of CDA. The findings suggest that students demonstrated skills and attitudes such as curiosity, subjectivities and connections with broader social contexts. Some of the data also indicates student engagement in critical inquiry and their potential for social agency.


2021 ◽  
pp. 095042222110308
Author(s):  
Teik Aun Wong ◽  
Wei Chieh Cheah

This study examines the practice, outcomes and challenges of a “triple-blend” approach which combines the components of classroom instruction, online facilitation and external exposure. Examining this pedagogical approach provides guidance for improving the delivery of teaching and learning. The study takes a multiple case study approach, employing action research methodology. The authors are practicing lecturers and the five cases, drawn from a private institution of higher education in Penang, Malaysia, have an average of 13.8 students, comprise undergraduate and postgraduate classes, and cover business, social science and humanities disciplines. Quantitative and qualitative comparisons are made between student cohorts. Students’ behavior and performance are tracked using an online learning management system. The findings reveal that the deployment of the triple-blend approach on aggregate produces positive outcomes in terms of student engagement and performance. However, there are instances of negative outcomes, suggesting that other factors are at play apart from the choice of pedagogical approach. Discussion of the challenges in deploying this approach shows that the process is far from homogenous. Nonetheless, the overall perspective indicates a positive relationship between the triple-blend approach and positive teaching and learning outcomes. This study provides guidance for teachers on deployment challenges and best practices.


Author(s):  
Jan Söffner

This chapter presents a case study for the use of enactivist phenomenology as a paradigm for Cultural Analysis and Renaissance Studies. It begins by describing a mask used in commedia dell’arte, first as a simple object and then as embedded in an acting praxis. The focus then turns to Renaissance cultures of the performing arts, fiction, and the constitution of subjectivity. Finally, the chapter considers what the mask has to say about sixteenth-century Italy, comparing the outcomes of this analysis with those of more conventional approaches, which are mostly focused on Renaissance humanism. The line of argumentation follows a bottom-up methodology based on enactivist assumptions. By the end the chapter will render the adopted approach theoretically explicit and offer closing remarks about the use of enactivist phenomenology for cultural analysis, by comparing it with neighbouring theories and methods in Cultural Studies (especially Praxeology, Actor-Network-Theory, studies on Material Cultures, and Performance Studies).


Author(s):  
Paola Savvidou

This chapter provides an overview of wellness theories, along with a profile of the challenges facing music students today, and a brief background of performing arts medicine. The multidimensional nature of wellness is introduced as the basis for the explorations that follow in this book. The top impediments to academic performance faced by college students are identified and grounded in national surveys and research. Some of these challenges include stress, anxiety, sleep deprivation, and depression. A discussion specific to music students points to additional challenges, such as performance-related musculoskeletal injuries, isolation, competition, and performance anxiety. The toolkit at the end of the chapter provides eight assessments for each dimension of wellness.


Author(s):  
Alma Thomas

Mental skills are integral to success in practice and performance. Prominent educators in sport and in the performing arts have advocated their use for years. This chapter provides voice educators and singers with illustrative mental skills that are based on recent research, supplies further background on mental training, and provides examples of key concepts. Teachers, coaches and singers are encouraged to apply the exercises presented and, if necessary, adapt them through experimentation to meet individual needs. Mental skills require regular practice and commitment, and should be an integral part of all teaching and learning. The literature in sport, and more recently in music education and performance, is full of the benefits of using mental skills, and full of ways in which mental skills guide and enhance performances at all levels. The key mental skills covered in this chapter are commitment and motivation, goal-setting, managing anxiety, relaxation, imagery, and developing self-confidence.


Author(s):  
Miriam Phillips

Performing arts festivals featuring artists representing distinct world dance traditions have proliferated in American cities since the 1980s. Often arranged in a potpourri format, these performances demonstrate a city’s multicultural make-up and proclaim dance to show unity between diverse populations. However, what happens when these dances each with distinct production and performance standards get placed with other dances onto a stage dominated by Western theatrical aesthetics? How do culturally specific production values become skewed and how do power relations play out when people outside the cultures represented produce the performances? Using one of America’s more prominent festivals, The San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival as a case study, this chapter explores issues around the politics of representation and highlights some misconceptions about diversity that are presumed in these types of multicultural spectacles. The chapter also considers possible methods to create more culturally appropriate world dance events.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. p30
Author(s):  
Liu Zhixuan

The outbreak of the COVID-19 caused many Chinese universities to initiate online teaching. This paper aimed to develop Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) practices in online courses to enable teachers and students in China to employ TBLT appropriately and effectively. This research made a case study which was conducted as an online English class with a total of 28 undergraduate students at a university in Guangdong, China. The findings show that the transition from the traditional classroom to online education was successful. This innovative teaching mode promotes students to become the initiator of learning. Besides, the switched roles between students and teachers, advantages as well as problems of this approach have been pointed out. This case study could provide pedagogical implicatures for online English teaching and learning practically and theoretically, which helps to develop new forms that could assist teachers and students to adopt TBLT in class.


2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 132-134
Author(s):  
Sean Swanick ◽  
Jennifer Garland

Purpose – Purpose: As collection development in research libraries becomes increasingly homogeneous and “e-preferred”, it is our heritage collections that differentiate us and anchor the physical presence of our institutions. These valuable heritage resources, vital for teaching, researching, and learning are unfortunately too often inaccessible, uncatalogued, and ultimately undiscoverable. This paper focuses on the curation of special collections as a means of exposing hidden collections and discusses practical steps undertaken to highlight unique print materials in the digital age. Design/methodology/approach – This case study describes the transformation of a hidden collection into a teaching collection through the exhibition of uncatalogued Islamic manuscripts, their associated digital component and the resulting faculty–librarian collaboration. Findings – By sharing print collections through exhibitions with an associated digital component, we are both increasing the visibility of, and improving access to the material. Originality/value – This case study outlines a successful approach to exposing hidden collections to support an innovative teaching and learning environment.


Author(s):  
Hoo Choon Lih

Project-based learning is deemed to be effective in boosting student learning experiences and performance. By incorporating a blended learning approach, the use of iPads has been integrated into engineering project in the foundation in engineering (FIE) program under Taylor's University, Malaysia. The innovative teaching and learning aspects lie in consolidating the student's interest in playing with their iPad into productive learning by solving engineering challenges through conceive-design-implement-operate (CDIO) framework. The project requires the students to build a robocar to complete a certain challenge, which benchmarked with the public robotic competition. iPad was used for learning, designing, brainstorming, preparing project management documentation, and controlling the robocar. The practice has raised the in-depth learning skill while creatively solving an engineering challenge when they progress into the undergraduate program. The FIE students show better and satisfactory overall learning outcomes attainment as compared to the non-FIE students.


Author(s):  
Megan G. Adams

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate how flexibility impacts student performance and satisfaction in a graduate level course. This example explores how much flexibility can be incorporated without compromising instructor satisfaction. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether student satisfaction and performance increased when the instructor in a graduate level teacher education course increased flexibility in discussion grouping and format and in grading and revisions. The goals of the study were to increase student satisfaction and performance in a graduate level reading education course in a college of education. This was a pilot case study using the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) as a lens. Data collection included survey, focus groups, and interview. A small sample size was used to suit the needs of a pilot, qualitative case study. This work is important for teacher educators as they make decisions about the amount of flexibility they are comfortable incorporating into their courses as well as to model evidence based practices for teachers.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document