Week6&7 Sprint 3: Problem Scenarios
‘I have been asked to research, design, run and document an ‘Open’ workshop that teaches an aspect of my practice to a group of peers. I’m not sure what a ‘practice’ is, or if I have one! I’m also unsure about what ‘teaching’ this in the ‘Open’ might involve. If I do have a practice, how might I support others to learn it in an open way?’
Firstly, I have been asked to research, design, run and document an ‘Open’ workshop that teaches an aspect of my practice to a group of peers. I’m not sure what a ‘practice’ is, or if I have one!
I would like to set out the background to the turn towards educational practice.
In 15th century feudal Western Europe, the brutal rule of the feudal lords combined with the asceticism of Christianity and the monastic monopoly on culture and education, which hindered the development of science. Education was distinctly religious in nature. Teaching was mainly theological. Grammar, rhetoric, ethics, arithmetic, music, geometry, astronomy and other subjects were also infused with a religious spirit. The teaching method is injective and requires rote memorisation. There was no ‘practice’ involved. (MingYuan Gu, 1998) The content and approach of education in the Middle Ages was therefore relatively homogeneous, often consisting simply of ‘teaching by the teacher and learning by the student’. At the beginning of the 21st century, the notion that pedagogy and the theorisation of education required a ‘practical turn’ (Schatzki et al, 2001) was proposed to further enrich the pedagogical approach. But this shift towards a time-based perspective is not just a trend or fad (Nicolini, 2012); rather, it is a shift towards a social theory that recognises the need to pay close attention to the intricate details of what is actually enacted in the social world. As a result, we begin to think about the implications and ways in which educational practice is turning.
However, practice is everywhere – perhaps even as a taken-for-granted idiom found in the description of everyday social life. Its presence cuts across theoretical, methodological and practice-based literature, pointing to the wider and specific behaviours, actors, actions and activities encountered in the real social world. (Edwards-Groves and Grootenboer et al2015).
Characteristics of practice (what is practice?)
In classroom settings, individual learners (students or teachers) and communities of learners are considered in a symbiotic and mutually constitutive way. In this way, individuals are educated in the discursive, material and social conditions of their place and practice arrangements evolve and change as individuals collectively engage in learning and teaching practices. (Edwards-Groves and Grootenboer et al2015).
In other words, the change from a ‘single lecture approach to a collective and interactive individual approach’ has greatly enhanced student engagement in the classroom and contributed to an increase in students’ self-motivation to learn.
An ontological perspective on education – the routines of education in the classroom and other learning environments. As implied by the generality of the above, this means that education is seen as occurring and unfolding in the ‘everyday’ of learning and teaching. It also sees educational practices as located in physical space and time. Educational practice can only be understood in the context of the arrangements and conditions that enable and constrain it in a particular place. It is important to note, of course, that a ‘site’ may be more than a ‘physical’ building; for example, it may be a virtual classroom or workplace. (Edwards-Groves and Grootenboer et al2015).
Therefore, a spatial vehicle is needed to carry out pedagogical practice, which does not necessarily have to be a physical object, and for this reason I believe that online open platforms are a good vehicle to carry out pedagogical practice in problematic scenarios. For example, Teams, Miro, etc.
Finally, returning to the problem scenario, it can be understood and judged through the above characteristics: “practice”.
Question scenario 2: If I do have a practice, how might I support others to learn it in an open way?’If I do have a practice, how might I support others to learn it in an open way?’
On answering the ‘how’ in the question scenario. I believe that the syllabus is very important as it monitors the classroom and helps the instructor to monitor the progress of the class in real time.
- In terms of content, I think the ‘artist’s kit’ is a good way of inviting the taught to participate and learn from the content. For example, games. Invite the participants to participate in the workshop by playing games. Here I would like to mention the ‘Artist’s Toolkit’ that we participated in this week: we were divided into 3 groups and had a series of mini-workshops. It started with a dance and the whole kit was divided into four parts. It ended with a dance. To be honest, I had a lot of fun and it was a great exercise in hands-on, thinking and observational skills. Therefore, a complete teaching framework is essential for the ‘teaching’ of the problem scenarios.
- ‘Teaching’ in ‘public’ may also involve the preparation of tools. For example, the Roy Ascott Drawing Exercise – Debi game in the artist’s toolkit we worked on required the instructor to prepare paper, pens and other tools. So in preparation for the workshop, also consider the kits you will need to use.
- Marking, note-taking and decoding practice is an important aid in the teaching process. It can help to control the pace of the class. If the syllabus is the “what”, the pacing is the “how”.
How to learn it in an open way?
Build an open learning platform. We know from theories of pedagogical practice that ‘practice’ can be a physical or virtual place. (Edwards-Groves and Grootenboer et al2015). So for addressing the issues in the scenario, an offline venue, I think an open classroom or gallery is a good option. For example, in the artist’s toolkit we participated in, the place of participation was in the hallway of the building of the eca, which is obviously an open and free place for anyone to participate in the toolkit. On the other hand, if it is online, an online communication platform is a good vehicle for the space. E.g. ZOOM. Either way, of course, “openness” is key.
- MingYuan. Gu Dictionary of Education: Shanghai Education Press, 1998
- Grootenboer, P., Edwards-Groves, C., Choy, S. (2017). Practice Theory and Education: Diversity and Contestation
- Schatzki, T. R., Knorr-Cetina, K., & von Savigny, E. (2001). The practice turn in contemporary social theory. New York: Routledge.
- Nicolini, D. (2012). Practice theory, work and organization: An introduction. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Awesome article. Thanks!
A very good piece of writing with a clear structure and a clear intention. From the historical background of the educational turn to the characteristics of the practice, before returning to the problematic scenario of the lesson and finally pointing out your own way of implementing the project. But as an openworkshop in preparation for the barcamp project that follows, it is something worth examining how the open can be used to good extremes.
I learned a lot from the author’s detailed description of the background to the shift to educational practice and the characteristics of that practice. And she gives a very detailed response to the scenario questions, which gave direction to my reflections.