Inspires Learning - Robert O'Toole, University of Warwick

January 19, 2010

Tony Becher's epistemography of academia

It seems natural enough to think of knowledge and its properties and relationships in terms of landscapes, and to saturate epistemological discussion with spatial metaphors: fields and frontiers; pioneering, exploration, false trails; charts and landmarks. (Becher, 1989:36)

However, the process of locating a discipline in relation to its neighbours is in itself of limited interest, and should be seen as no more than a preliminary to other more fundamental issues. Boundaries, after all, do not exist merely as lines on a map: they denote territorial possessions that can be encroached upon, colonized and reallocated. Some are so strongly defended as to be virtually impenetrable; others are weakly guarded and open to incoming and outgoing traffic. (Bencher, 1989:36)

Becher, Tony, Academic Tribes and Territories: intellectual enquiry and the cultures of disciplines, Open University Press, 1989.

Robert O'Toole : 19 Jan 2010 12:27 | Tags: Becher Inspiration | Comments (2) | Close comments | Report a problem

Subjectivity, multiplicity, creativity and freedom in classical Athens

The life, identity and education of the Athenian (male) citizen was constituted as a complex multiplicity of intersecting lines. But as Oswyn Murray argues, these were lines of flight as much as lines of control, enabling a kind of transversal freedom and creativity:

This freedom derives precisely from the fact that the same man belongs to a deme, a phatry, a family, a group of relatives, a religious association; and living in a complex world of conflicting groups and social duties, he possesses the freedom to choose between their demands, and so to escape any particular dominant form of social patterning. (Murray, 1986: 210)

Now contrast that to the lot of women in Athens, being governed by a single relationship with their alloted governing male.

Murray, Oswyn "Life and Society in Classical Greece" in The Oxford History of the Classical World, OUP, 1986.

Robert O'Toole : 19 Jan 2010 07:43 | Tags: Inspiration | Comments (0) | Close comments | Report a problem

January 14, 2010

Learning Grid Teaching Challenges – the brief

This is a draft version of the brief that we are writing for an Open-space Learning creativity and performance project, in collaboration with the Learning Grid, CAPITAL Centre and Student Development. The projects is for Learning Grid student advisors (students who work in the Learning Grid open access study space, supporting other students)...

The objective:

Take a worthy-but-dull academic skills topic and make it exciting and engaging. Communicate key facts. Stimulate discussion and debate.

What you will create:

An online short film of between 3 and 7 minutes. The film can be of any genre (conventional or experimental), fictional or factual (or both). You can shoot in our theatre studios or on location (including outside of the university). It can include dialogue, voice-over commentary, interviews, sound effects and music. It can use still images, video, slides, text, titles and animated titles. It can be shot naturalistically or with a range of special effects (including sci-fi look, aged film, freeze frames, speeding-up and slowing-down).

The film will be shown in lectures and seminars in your faculty and beyond, and online through the Warwick YouTube channel.

Your team and your role:

Creating a movie requires a team of students from your faculty (although each person can play more than one role). You could consider yourself to be the film's producer. You will need to recruit at least two other students from your faculty (perhaps to do some acting, camera work, editing, script writing). You will get a budget, from which you can reward your team.

You will need to:

Form a production team.
Participate in a creativity and performance workshop in the CAPITAL Centre.
Convince your financial backers that you have a great idea and can turn it into a movie.
Manage your budget.
Hire actors and others as required.
Book equipment and technical support as required.
Manage the production.
Shoot and edit your film!
Show your movie at the project's film festival.

In addition, you will be interviewed by a journalist reporting on the progress of your film.

We will support you with:

Equipment: we have cameras, edit suites (Apple iMacs) etc. You will not need sophisticated video production skills. Editing with iMovie is very easy!
Skills training and support: we have experts in creativity, performance, filming and video editing.

The (dull-but-worthy) topics: