A criticism of academic learning is that it does not engage meaningfully with communities outside of the academy. This results in the impression of the university as a privileged place separate from wider society and contributes to situations where students leave university not fully equipped for the demands of the workplace. One way of addressing it is for universities to engage in meaningful co-production with communities, through research or student projects. Meaningful impact with external institutions and professionals can open doors for deeper student engagement with their subject through embodied learning.
Co-Production in Research
In the co-authored report Towards Co-Production in Research with Communities, the writers describe a “Beyond-text” approach to research that widens the potential audience for research (8). These ‘beyond-text’ tools “include story-telling, performance, art and photography” (8). The article details how these approaches to research that are not reliant on text as the main learning tool can have potential “for greater reach and inclusivity” for those involved (8). Further, research into beyond-text tools “emphasises their empowering potential” (8).
My application of the article in teaching
I teach the CW2010 Creative Writing course for Playwriting. Central to the craft of playwriting is a writer’s collaboration with the theatre that stages their play, and professionals such as a director and actors. After reading the research about co-production, I felt that engagement with beyond-text research would encourage my students to understand the nature of a playwright’s collaboration, as well as encouraging greater inclusivity to student learning (some learn more easily through practice-based work, as opposed to text-based work) and audience engagement. I applied knowledge learnt from the article to my teaching by entering into a co-production with Shoreditch Town Hall and some professional theatremakers. Professional theatre directors and actors worked with my students developing and rehearsing their plays, ready for a public performance at Shoreditch Town Hall. The benefit to my students was clear following the event. One of them commented, “it was brilliant for us as writers to witness our work first hand, from a different point of view than we had previously seen it…and experience the whole process, from initial read through and staging, right through to the performance itself”. This suggests that the student now has an embodied understanding of the entire ecology of the playwriting process, which was my precise aim for the project.
How it can be applied to higher education teaching in general
Co-Production with external communities is a powerful method of learning and can be applied to all of higher education. I believe it would be possible for each lecturer to bring in outside professionals related to their subject area, and to develop approaches for students to share their work with the general public, beyond the seminar room. (For example, this can easily be achieved via student blogs, such as the highly effective RHUL Geopolitics blog - https://rhulgeopolitics.wordpress.com). Engagement in these types of projects helps students develop skills including professional communication, responding to different professionals and feedback, understanding of effective approaches to collaboration, and, more broadly, preparing students for interactions in the workplace. In my opinion, the effects of embodied learning are often longer-lasting and more powerfully felt than text-based learning.
References
Beebeejaun, Y., Durose, C., Rees, J., Richardson, J. and Richardson, L. (2011) Towards Co-production in Research with Communities. Swindon, AHRC Connected Communities. (Report)
Introduction
A criticism of academic learning is that it does not engage meaningfully with communities outside of the academy. This results in the impression of the university as a privileged place separate from wider society and contributes to situations where students leave university not fully equipped for the demands of the workplace. One way of addressing it is for universities to engage in meaningful co-production with communities, through research or student projects. Meaningful impact with external institutions and professionals can open doors for deeper student engagement with their subject through embodied learning.
Co-Production in Research
In the co-authored report Towards Co-Production in Research with Communities, the writers describe a “Beyond-text” approach to research that widens the potential audience for research (8). These ‘beyond-text’ tools “include story-telling, performance, art and photography” (8). The article details how these approaches to research that are not reliant on text as the main learning tool can have potential “for greater reach and inclusivity” for those involved (8). Further, research into beyond-text tools “emphasises their empowering potential” (8).
My application of the article in teaching
I teach the CW2010 Creative Writing course for Playwriting. Central to the craft of playwriting is a writer’s collaboration with the theatre that stages their play, and professionals such as a director and actors. After reading the research about co-production, I felt that engagement with beyond-text research would encourage my students to understand the nature of a playwright’s collaboration, as well as encouraging greater inclusivity to student learning (some learn more easily through practice-based work, as opposed to text-based work) and audience engagement. I applied knowledge learnt from the article to my teaching by entering into a co-production with Shoreditch Town Hall and some professional theatremakers. Professional theatre directors and actors worked with my students developing and rehearsing their plays, ready for a public performance at Shoreditch Town Hall. The benefit to my students was clear following the event. One of them commented, “it was brilliant for us as writers to witness our work first hand, from a different point of view than we had previously
How it can be applied to higher education teaching in general
Co-Production with external communities is a powerful method of learning and can be applied to all of higher education. I believe it would be possible for each lecturer to bring in outside professionals related to their subject area, and to develop approaches for students to share their work with the general public, beyond the seminar room. (For example, this can easily be achieved via student blogs, such as the highly effective RHUL Geopolitics blog - https://rhulgeopolitics.wordpress.com). Engagement in these types of projects helps students develop skills including professional communication, responding to different professionals and feedback, understanding of effective approaches to collaboration, and, more broadly, preparing students for interactions in the workplace. In my opinion, the effects of embodied learning are often longer-lasting and more powerfully felt than text-based learning.
References
Beebeejaun, Y., Durose, C., Rees, J., Richardson, J. and Richardson, L. (2011) Towards Co-production in Research with Communities. Swindon, AHRC Connected Communities. (Report)
Photographs by Poppy Corbett