Both elements are designed to improve students' and future ... Group 1: Drawing as an expression of Voice: - the purpose
Workshop
1
Title:
The reflexive provocateur toolkit
Presenter:
Paul-Alan Armstrong University of Sunderland
Abstract: Session Learning Outcomes By the end of this session, delegates will be able to: 1. Adopt a toolkit which through the use of poetics help students to develop their critical reflexivity and reflection practices 2. Explore the potential of developing future graduates and professionals through the use of artistic and creative pedagogical practices in the classroom 3. Contribute to the ongoing discourse on reflexivity and reflective practice Session Outline Key issues to be addressed are: The purpose of this session is to present the reflexive provocateur toolkit. The toolkit consists of two elements: Element 1: Artistic creative teaching Element 2: Reflexive Practice Both elements are designed to improve students’ and future graduate/professionals’ ability to interconnect with values of humanism, which leads to greater awareness of social responsibility as they develop as responsible citizens of the 21st century. A reflexive provocateur ‘is a professional who has interconnection and self awareness of their self-image(s) in their professional domain where they ensure their professional behaviour demonstrates the humanistic principles of equality and fairness within a moral framework. They ensure organizations act towards their employees with fairness and equality by acting as a mirror for the organization to ensure they reflect their stated values’ (Armstrong, 2011). The toolkit has been designed by the author to develop reflexivity and reflective practices in students/graduates/future professionals (McIntosh 2008; 2010) and to overcome the struggle for critical reflexivity (West 2010; Hunt 2006; Hunt, 2010). The philosophy behind the design of the toolkit was developed from the concept of artistic imagination as proposed by Winter et al., (1999) who argue for reflection to be meaningful and deep and who postulated that the use of creative writing can enhance the reflective process. Ongoing research has led to the development of this idea into a toolkit which integrates poetics (lyrics, extracts from literature, poetry, photographs and drawings) as a form
of expression to illustrate ‘voice’ (self-image). This research follows an artistic impressionist methodology through autoethnographic practices (Bochner, 2000; Bochner and Ellis, 2003; Ellis, 2004). The toolkit has been tested within the author’s own university with undergraduate business students and through in-house university wide staff development. This session aims to present how this toolkit can be adopted for use in other programmes and universities. Session Activities and Approximate Timings This workshop will be divided into three key elements of the toolkit by delivering three interactive activities (approximately 25 minutes each) based on a particular poetic or poetics to demonstrate how the toolkit can be used to develop reflexive and reflective skills/practices and behaviours: Introduction and presentation of the Reflexive Provocateur Toolkit (5 Minutes) Activity 1: - The use of lyrics for developing reflexivity (25 Minutes) For this activity the participants will be divided into small groups and will be given a choice of lyrics to ‘deconstruct’ and relate to ‘voice’. The activity should last up to 20 minutes and conclude with a 5 minute reflection and feedback. Activity 2: - The use of drawings and photographs for developing reflexivity (25 Minutes) For this activity the participants will be divided into two groups: Group 1: Drawing as an expression of Voice: - the purpose of this activity is to give the participants the opportunity to use visual images to illustrate voice. Group 2: Photographs as an expression of Voice: - the purpose of this activity is to give the participants the opportunity to explore the possibility of using photographs as an illustration of voice. The activity should last up to 20 minutes and includes 5 minutes for reflection and feedback. Activity 3: - the use of poetry and extracts from literature for developing reflexivity (25 minutes) For this activity the participants will work in pairs (or groups of 3) and each paring will be given an extract from literature and or a poem. Participants will then be expected to identify how this could be used to reflect voice. The activity should last up to 20 minutes and includes 5 minutes for reflection and feedback. Feedback and Evaluation of the Reflexive Provocateur Toolkit (10 Minutes) To conclude the workshop, the participants will be given the opportunity to evaluate the toolkit, the methodology of the workshop and to discuss the potential of the toolkit to be adopted for their own pedagogical, reflective and reflexive practices.
References Armstrong, P-A (2011) ‘Where is the Love? The re-imagination of professional voice’, workshop presented to the BMAF Conference, May Bochner, A P and Ellis, C (2003) ‘An introduction to the arts and narrative research: Art as inquiry’, Qualitative Inquiry, 9 (4), pp. 506-514. Ellis, C (2004) The ethnographic I: A methodological novel about autoethnography, New York: Altamira Press Ellis, C and Bochner, A P (2000) ‘Autoethnography, personal narrative and personal reflexivity’ In N K Denzin, Y S Lincoln (Eds.) The Sage handbook of qualitative research,2rd edition, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, pp. 733-768 Hunt, C (2006) ‘Travels with a turtle: metaphors and the making of professional identity’, Reflective Practice, 7 (3), pp. 315-332 Hunt, C (2010) ‘A step too far? From professional reflective practice to spirituality’, in H Bradbury, N Frost, S Kilminister and M Zukas (eds.) Beyond Reflective Practice: New approaches to professional lifelong learning, London: Routledge, pp. 155-169 McIntosh, P (2008) ‘Reflective reproduction: a figurative approach to reflecting in, on, and about action’, Educational Action Research, 16 (1), pp. 125-143 McIntosh, P (2010) ‘The puzzle of metaphor and voice in arts-based social research’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 13 (2), pp. 157-169 West, L (2010) ‘Really reflexive practice: auto/biographical research and struggles for critical reflexivity’, in H Bradbury, N Frost, S Kilminister and M Zukas (eds.) Beyond Reflective Practice: New approaches to professional lifelong learning, London: Routledge, pp.66-80 Winter, R, Buck, A and Sobiechowska, P (1999) Professional experience and the Investigative imagination: the ART of reflective writing, London: Routledge
