PALATINE Briefing September 2007
Contents
- Introduction
- Starting Out: 2-day workshop for new and early career lecturers
- Dance and Imaginative Writing lead growth in creative subjects
- PRISM - use it, share it, contribute to it
- THEATRON: pedagogic research in theatre in Second Life
- Forthcoming events
- Development Awards update
- Please send us your photos
- Funding opportunities
- Against Excellence?
PALATINE postcard, September 2007
Introduction
PALATINE is now into its eighth year supporting learning and teaching in all our three main disciplines. During that period, with the support and encouragement of our colleagues in those disciplines, we have organised 70 events (workshops, seminars & conferences) in 35 institutions across the UK, attended by c. 1500 individuals representing 174 higher education institutions and 136 organisations. We have funded 40 development awards supporting research & development in learning and teaching, and 9 major projects e.g. employability, entrepreneurship, research & teaching, interdisciplinary studies. We have also acted as a source of advice and guidance on pedagogic and policy issues relating to higher education dance, drama and music to individuals, departments, institutions and organisations.
We aim to continue to support learning and teaching in our disciplines through our events (workshops, seminars and conferences), development awards, projects, and publications. This year, in line with the thematic areas selected by the Higher Education Academy, we are particularly interested in promoting and supporting work in the following three areas:
We welcome ideas and suggestions for events, development awards, etc., on these topics, and for any other issues of interest and concern to our communities of practice.
We are piloting an event aimed specifically at new and early career lecturers (see 'Starting Out' below). Though this first one is targeted at drama/theatre studies colleagues, we aim to run similar events for our colleagues in dance and music over the coming year.
As this is the first PALATINE Briefing of the new academic year, we would like to wish all our colleagues working in dance, drama and music higher education a successful and fulfilling year for you and your students.
Paul Kleiman
Deputy Director, PALATINE
Starting Out: Workshop for New and Early Career Lecturers in Drama/Theatre Studies
Friday 19 - Saturday 20 October, Lancaster House Hotel, Lancaster
PALATINE is organising a 2-day workshop for new or recently (i.e. within the past 2 years) appointed lecturers in Drama and Theatre Studies.
The event is FREE to qualifying participants.
The aims of the event are:
- To offer new or recently appointed drama/theatre studies academic staff an opportunity to reflect on and share their experiences of being a university teacher
- To explore and address some of the main issues involved in the learning and teaching experience in drama/theatre studies
- To consider in detail aspects of some of the following:
- assessment and evaluation
- course design and planning
- teaching methods
- principles, ethics and values
- To provide an opportunity for delegates to network with other new/recently appointed drama/theatre lecturers
- To highlight solutions and support for learning and teaching available from the Higher Education Academy.
Full details of this event including the programme and an application form are available on the PALATINE website at www.palatine.ac.uk/events/view/1091/
As this is a pilot for what we hope will be a series of similar workshops across our three main disciplines, there are a limited number of places. Applications will need to meet the criteria published on the website (above).
For any further information about this event please contact Ralph Brown ralph.brown@lancaster.ac.uk at PALATINE.
PLEASE NOTE CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS IS 21 SEPTEMBER 2007
Dance and Imaginative Writing lead growth in creative subjects
The latest statistics for the number of students studying creative arts and design subjects in higher education reveal that there is healthy growth across the whole creative arts and design sector, and that Dance and Imaginative Writing head the field of creative arts and design subjects in terms of their growth.
The tables from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) show that from 2002-2003 (the first year that Dance was identified as a separate category in the tables) to 2005-2006 (the most recent figures) the total number of students (both UG and PG) studying dance has increased by 72% from 1850 to 3170. During the same period the number of students studying Drama has grown from 17175 to 19795 (15%), and Music has increased from 19685 to 23460 (19%).
There has also been a substantial increase in Crafts (37%), Photography (43%) and, particularly, what is categorised as 'Imaginative Writing' (112%). The percentage growth of the two remaining subject areas in the sector is Fine Art (10%) and Design Studies (12%).
The total number of students studying creative arts and design subjects in 2005-6 was 156180. This represents an increase of 17.7% since 2002-2003, and compares with the 7.5% increase across the whole HE sector over the same period.
The figures also show that whilst the number of full-time post-graduates studying dance and drama has increased (75% and 20% respectively), the number studying music has declined by 10%.
The HESA publicly accessible online statistics can be found at www.hesa.ac.uk/
| 2002-3 | 2005-6 | ||
| Total | Total | % +/- | |
| All Creative Arts and Design | 156180 | 132675 | 17.7 |
| Fine art | 18620 | 20525 | 10.2 |
| Design studies | 53615 | 60175 | 12.2 |
| Music | 19685 | 23460 | 19.2 |
| Drama | 17175 | 19795 | 15.3 |
| Dance | 1850 | 3170 | 71.4 |
| Cinematics & photography | 10230 | 14590 | 42.6 |
| Crafts | 1210 | 1660 | 37.2 |
| Imaginative writing | 2745 | 5825 | 112.2 |
| Others in creative arts & design | 7310 | 6940 | -5.1 |
| All HE subjects | 2175115 | 2336110 | 7.4 |
PRISM - use it, share it, contribute to it
PRISM is an interdisciplinary learning website that allows lecturers and students to view and assemble collections of exemplar works from some of the influential art movements or ‘isms’ of the modern period in Europe and the United States. The works, productions and artefacts of each movement are grouped across the subject areas of dance, music, theatre, architecture & design, art, and film.
The exemplar works are contributed by subject specialists, and each work is accompanied by notes and comments that include examples of how the work might be used in learning and teaching across the creative and performing arts.
In the Collections area users can assemble and save the thumbnail images and links to the works, and also add their own teaching materials. These collections can be shared with user-selected groups (e.g. students) or published as part of PRISM.
We encourage colleagues to try PRISM, and also to contribute suggestions for other works to be included. PRISM has been developed by PALATINE with the support of funding from JISC.
prism.palatine.ac.uk/
THEATRON: pedagogic research in theatre in Second Life
PALATINE and the English Subject Centre are collaborating on the educational component of an exciting new project in the 3D virtual world, Second Life. The project involves the importing of a range of pre-existing 3D theatre models into the Second Life environment and supplementing these with existing and new interpretative content and a spectrum of original interactive tools, scenarios and automated tutorials, incorporating manipulable and customisable actors, props, sound effects, lighting and scenic technologies, streaming video and scripts enabling individual and group movement/choreography.
The new scenarios to be developed and tested will allow a wide range of higher education subject areas - including but extending far beyond the performing arts - to take advantage of the social, collaborative and interactive aspects of this shared virtual environment.
We are joining a consortium of organisations to undertake the Theatron 3 Project of which the lead is being taken by the Visualisation Lab at King's College. The project has been funded by the Eduserv Foundation.
After a call for expressions of interest, colleagues in five institutions will be developing specific projects within the Theatron environment. They are:
Paul Brownbill, University of Wolverhampton - Seeing space: Exploring scenographic principles in Second Life
Joff Chafer, University of Coventry - Integrated Performance
Gordon Duffy-McGhie, Middlesbrough College - 'The fools' zanni': exploring prominent characteristics of the Commedia dell' Arte
Chris Wigginton, Northumbria University - Virtual Poiesis: The New Creative Pedagogy of Second Life
Gweno Williams, York St John University - Insubstantial Pageants: learning about Renaissance drama in Second Life
More information on all of the projects can be found on the web pages of the English Subject Centre: www.english.heacademy.ac.uk/explore/projects/archive/technology/tech23.php
Forthcoming PALATINE events
17 October 2007
Teaching Playwriting
York St. John University, York
19 - 20 October 2007
Starting Out: Workshop for New and Early Career Lecturers in Drama/Theatre Studies
Lancaster House Hotel, Lancaster
25 October 2007
Vocal Cords: connecting body and mind
Studio Theatre,
Royal Northern College of Music,
Manchester
21 November 2007
Moving Matters: supporting disabled dance students in HE
Ellen Terry Arts and Media Centre,
Coventry University
To book for any of these events contact Barbara Hargreaves at palatine@lancaster.ac.uk
Attendance at these events is free to colleagues in higher education, although, in exceptional cases a refundable booking or reservation fee may be required. An attendance fee may be charged to those delegates from outside higher education.
We welcome ideas and suggestions for events, on any topic relevant to the learning and teaching of dance, drama and music. To discuss a proposal contact Ralph Brown, Projects Officer, PALATINE ralph.brown@lancaster.ac.uk.
Events currently under discussion include:
Spring 2007
Asian and African Performance in Higher Education at the University of Reading
("an exchange of ideas as to how examples of non-western drama and dance can be meaningfully incorporated into the higher education curriculum").
(Photos above by Paul Kleiman)
PALATINE Development Awards - update
PALATINE Development Awards enhance and support learning and teaching in higher education. They are awarded to projects which will be useful beyond the award holders' own departments and institutions. Applications are peer-reviewed by external specialists to ensure that each funded project will be a useful and high-quality contribution to the subject area.
New Development Award Projects
An Equal Reflection
John Hole, Performing Arts, Oxford Brookes University
This project addresses a concern that language exchanges occurring in moments of casual everyday activities are conditional and contingent upon implicit assumptions deriving from context, purpose and function, and that this conditionality is not fully recognized as crucial in shaping perception at the point and time of these exchanges. The project is interested in the potential dysfunctionality of language in "casual, everyday" exchanges when perceptions may not concur, and specifically, how this may affect learning process. For example, among those who perceive the everyday world through what is described as learning disability. The project explores ways of embodying within language itself greater acknowledgement of such conditionality.
As part of this project, a workshop, entitled "Assemblage", on inclusive communication through dance, was held at Oxford Brookes University in May.
Promoting Excellence in Small Group Music Performance: Teaching, Learning and Assessment
Jane Ginsborg, Royal Northern College of Music and Richard Wistreich, International Centre for Music Studies (ICMuS), Newcastle University
A project addressing the teaching, learning and assessment of small group music performance in conservatoires and university music departments. (See project page for a full description.)
New Outcome
A new report by Rea Dennis, University of Glamorgan, follows a successful Development Award conducted by Rea and her colleagues:
Integrating E-learning and Reflective Practice to Enhance Critical Writing Skills and Access to Theory in the First-year Drama Studio
For information about the PALATINE Development Awards visit the PALATINE website:
www.palatine.ac.uk/palatine-projects/introduction/
Please send us your photos
It has been a couple of years since we last asked colleagues to send us photos of student work. In that time we have used many of them in our publications and publicity.
If you have digital photos of student work, or students working, that you could let us use for similar purposes - fully credited of course - then please contact Paul Kleiman p.kleiman@lancaster.ac.uk to arrange how best to send them.
Many thanks to all those who have contributed images in the past.
Photos above courtesy of (L-R): University College Chichester; University of Surrey; Joe Bennett, Bath Spa University
Funding opportunities
National Teaching Fellowship Scheme Projects
The call for 2007-08 National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) project bids is now open.
In the first round of the NTFS project strand, 2006-07, nine projects were selected to receive funding.
The project strand of the NTFS presents opportunities for higher education institutions to work with National Teaching Fellows to build on current expertise for their own benefit and that of the wider higher education (HE) sector. Projects will be expected to bring substantial benefits to student learning experiences.
The project strand is funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), which has allocated £6m over the next three years to these projects. Teams will be able to bid for funds of up to £200,000 for use over a period of up to three years.
Full details of the scheme including list of current projects, eligible institutions, how to apply etc. are available at: www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/professional/ntfs/projects
Closing date: 1 October 2007
CRF European Visiting Research Fellowships in Arts and Letters
This is a scheme supporting research in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences in Scotland that aims to establish a two-way flow of scholars between Scotland and Europe.
Eight CRF European Visiting Research Fellowships will be awarded each year, normally four in each direction, and they will be for visits of between two and six months' duration.
Details of the scheme can be found at: www.royalsoced.org.uk/research_fellowships/crf_fellowship.htm
Closing date: 2 November 2007
Against Excellence?
The motion at the recent Higher Education Academy's first Annual Debate was: "This house believes that excellence has become a meaningless term in higher education". See and read about the debate online at: www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/policy/excellence/annualdebate
(Note: The unannounced speaker, introducing the debate at the start of the video, is Sean Mackney, the Deputy Chief Executive of the Academy. He introduces Mike Baker - the Chair - and then the debate gets going.)
(c) PALATINE 2007
Published by PALATINE the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Dance, Drama and Music