Working It Out: Situated and Work-Related Learning in the Humanities 16th March 2007 An English Subject Centre and Ceth (Centre for Employability and the Humanities) Event Welcome

Humanities Curricula (Barnett et al, 2001) Knowledge Discipline-specific competencies and aspects of TL&A that develop subject specialisms Action Competencies acquired by ‘doing’ through practice and application Self Development of an educational identity In relation to Subject areas

Ceth Curriculum Knowledge SelfAction

Realistic Work Environments Encourages the “reciprocal enhancement of employability and Humanities” by offering students the chance to develop their subject skills within a realistic work context and then to transfer their learning back into their subject curriculum Students work on projects in near-commercial environments e.g. Publishing House, ArtHouse Cinema, Media Development, Theatre/Events, Museums/Exhibitions and Gallery/Retail

Insights Examples of ceth and ceth-related modules: Insights into Publishing, Community History Project, Food Writing and Television, Managing an ArtHouse Cinema, Working with English, Introduction to Film Production, Managing an Arts Event … These are NOT work-placements as students are not trained as experts. Instead they gain INSIGHTS into Humanities-related careers, as well as into their subjects and themselves RWE managers will tell you more …

Epistemological shifts in the Curriculum Traditional Curricula ‘ Knowing that’ Written communication Internal Personal Disciplinary Skills Problem-making Knowledge as process Understanding Pure Concept-based +ve? Emerging Curricula ‘Knowing how’ Oral communication External Interpersonal Transferable skills Problem-solving Knowledge as product Information Applied Experiential -ve?

Ceth’s Curriculum Negotiation between ‘Knowing that’ and Knowing how’ i.e. Putting Year 1 subject knowledge and theory into practice in Year 2 Emphasis on transition and transference between disciplinary and transferable skills Knowledge as process but this process can be seen in actual products i.e. Taste Both personal development and development of interpersonal skills Written reflection and formal oral presentations RWE modules are fun - the role of the lecturer is to facilitate while that of the student is to discover - knowledge, connections between subject and the world, their personal qualities and attributes etc. RWE managers will tell you more …..

Situated and Work-Related Learning Apologies to you experts …. Learning involves creating meaning from real (everyday and work-place) activities Subject matter is learnt in and applied to real-world challenges, many of which are work-related Learning transfers more easily when learners are engaged in solving authentic, non- routine problems likely to be encountered in jobs (Courtney & Maben-Crouch 1996) Situated learning places the learner in the center of an instructional process consisting of content - the situations, values, beliefs, and environmental cues by which the learner gains and masters content: community - the group with which the learner will create and negotiate meaning of the situation; and participation - the process by which learners working together and with experts in a social organisation solve problems related to everyday life circumstances (Brown, Collins, and Duguid 1989; Lave 1988; Shor 1987) A good introductory article on Situated Learning by David Stein can be found at

Community Practice Lave and Wenger (1991) place the acquisition of knowledge in the context of social relations - a community of practice RWEs function and have a framework outside the curriculum as well as within it Real opportunities to participate and ‘fail’ and yet to benefit from the learning involved Students responsible for own learning (supported by sessions on team roles, project management, reflection etc - Centre for Employability CfE). Building cohort ethic ensures peer pressure works positively to improve performance Group work and presentations create shared narratives and meaning and re-experience events from different perspectives

Potential Problems Discovery versus failure - how much scaffolding should we provide and how can we put this to the best use? Self-selecting versus compulsory Sustainability of small groups and ‘special’ nature Expensive in terms of staff time and funds? We want to hear your problems.. and solutions

Creating a community of practice within HE We have a valuable opportunity to learn from each other today Alizon Brunning, ceth RWE manager, Publishing Zoe Knowles, ceth RWE manager, Drama/Events Pete Atkinson, ceth RWE manager, Media Production Billy Frank, ceth RWE manager, Museums/Exhibitions Mimi Thebo, Bath Spa, ‘Towards Publication’ Andy Mousley, De Monfort, ‘English in the Workplace’ Bryan Sitch, Manchester Museum, ‘Enquiry-based learning in the Classics’

Creating a community of practice within HE In the workshop ‘Delivering, Assessing and Integrating Work-Related Learning’ we will consider what we have in common, what works and what doesn’t and what we have learnt and are still learning In the Roundtable, chaired by ceth’s Director, David Bagley, we will debate the future of situated and work- related learning in the Humanities. We will also consider how we can create the type of community of practice that we help our students develop, for ourselves.

About and For Humanities The developments of ceth and the other institutions here (both presenters and participants) are both about Humanities and for Humanities - in defence of and in the interests of Humanities students and staff … We hope you enjoy the day Any problems let me know Thanks for listening Helen Day,