Dr Karen Treasure PedRIO Conference, 2015 Research Team: Dr Jennie Winter, Dr Sarah Chapman, Dr Karen Treasure Teaching and learning in the Peninsula Arts Gallery

Background Builds on a previous project ‘Public Arts as Extra Curricular Learning’ (2013) Investigation of student learning experiences in a university-based contemporary art gallery Concluded that structured, disciplinary relevant gallery experiences were potentially valuable in developing students’ social capital (Bourdieu, 1986) and interpretive synthesis (Mansilla, 2010) Recommendations from the study included: 1. Promoting the gallery as a multidisciplinary, inclusive, student relevant space 2. Making clear links between exhibitions and disciplines 3. Making clear the benefits engaging with art can have for graduate development 4. Signposting the gallery as an integral part of the university as a scholarly community

Research Aim and Objectives Research aim: To evaluate case studies where academics use a contemporary art gallery exhibition to enhance disciplinary learning Objectives: Engage faculty from several distinct disciplinary contexts to develop and implement an educational engagement with the gallery, and evaluate the faculty and student experience To explore student experiences of learning using contemporary art To analyse how exposure to contemporary art can support student learning processes

Data Collection Academic staff were recruited to use the gallery as part of their teaching Utilised two exhibitions: ‘Walk On’ Autumn 2014 and ‘Envelope’ Spring 2015 Students filled in questionnaires directly after gallery sessions Interviews were conducted shortly after gallery sessions Two students Academic staff member Academic staff and students from four disciplines took part in the research Sociology, Media, Law, Medicine

Gallery sessions Academics prepared students in a variety of ways for the sessions in the Peninsula Arts Gallery Some academics provided some structure for this engagement Others encouraged constructivist thinking from students and used discussions after the session to draw out issues of relevance to the discipline Students were encouraged to immerse themselves in the exhibition, talk to peers and reflect on themes from their discipline to some extent All academics provided support during the session

Findings: Teaching with Contemporary Art Inspired by various factors: Specific disciplinary links to content of exhibitions Space given by contemporary art for critical interpretations Gallery as alternative learning space and contemporary art as alternative learning medium Perceptions of difficulties in conceptualising student-friendly links to contemporary art were not borne out in practice Critical engagement of students was more easily motivated in the gallery than in traditional learning environments Contemporary art offered an ideal way to teach interpretive analytical skills and critical synthesis of disciplinary knowledge

Findings: Teaching in the Gallery “this was a really positive experience in the sense of how they want pedagogy to work at the university….it was highly interactive and….provided a great scope for independent learning….the students themselves showed independent, creative thinking….every time I went to a group in the gallery, they were all absolutely talking about the artwork that was before them” (Sociology Lecturer) “I thought it was going to be more difficult than it was [to create links between the exhibition and my discipline] so if law can do it, I would imagine that most other disciplines in some respect could ….begin to think a bit more critically and outside the box in order to make those engagements quite interesting” (Law Lecturer)

Findings: Learning with Contemporary Art Most students enjoyed the experience of learning through contemporary art and would like to have more learning experiences utilising alternative teaching mediums The gallery environment and conversations with peers were both deemed very important in the active learning process Students with previous knowledge of art responded differently to the idea of learning in the gallery than those without, but both reported learning outcomes that were similar Cognitive learning processes were effectively promoted by contemporary art Broad-based social application (through art) of disciplinary learning was identified to be important and powerful

Findings: Learning in the Gallery “I learned that I care more about medicine than I realised” (Medical student 1) “It is kind of like an organic way of learning rather than it being just static with words…like even a video, it is constructed and framed in a certain way….The idea that there weren’t really too many boundaries enforces the idea that you really are there for yourself in a way – people have done this but what is your own take on it…. it was just different, completely different to video, reading, pictures” (Sociology student 3) “It really helps with….how you communicate with people and how you go about problem solving…..I think that is the reason why doctors are not just technicians, I think without all of that bit we are not doctors anymore, we are just doing a procedure or something like that” (Medical Student 2)

Preliminary Analysis & Discussion Gallery provided an excellent resource for ‘experiential learning’ (Kolb, 1984) for students of a range of non-art disciplines Creative development of students through the arts is widely recognised (Seagraves et al, 2008) and was evident in the use of the gallery as a learning medium for non-art students Integration of the arts can help to pursue relevant ontological as well as epistemological disciplinary groundings Better reflect demands of market and employers (Creative B, 2010) and thus the role of the modern university in a ‘world [which] is radically unknowable’ (Barnett, 2000:42) Perceptions of barriers to engage with art as a learning medium by both staff and (some) students were not a barrier to learning

Conclusions The Peninsula Arts Gallery is a valuable resource for multi- disciplinary teaching and learning at Plymouth University Cognitive learning processes promoted by using contemporary art as a learning medium can help to create graduates with broader social capital and critical skills, as demanded by modern employers and as required for modern life Contemporary art offers an effective opportunity for interpretive education which is difficult to create using more traditional teaching methods and spaces

Recommendations Previous research paper: Winter, J; Chapman, S and Treasure, K (2015) ‘Contemporary Art as Extra- Curricular Learning: Lessons from a University Art Gallery’. The International Journal of Arts Education, 10:1, pg If you are interested in using the gallery in your teaching and would like guidance, please contact: Dr Sarah Chapman for information on what is going on at the gallery and special arrangements for student groups Dr Jennie Winter for pedagogic advice on how to maximise the educational opportunities of contemporary art in the gallery Recommendations for further research include: Investigation of the potential for contemporary art as a learning resource with a wider variety of disciplines – notably STEM subjects To explore perceptions of students about learning through contemporary art, to motivate better use of the gallery as a campus-based learning resource To consider how other arts-based environments can contribute to student learning processes in the university

References Barnett, R. (2000). Realizing the university in an age of supercomplexity. London, Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press Bourdieu, P. (1986) ‘The forms of capital’. In J. Richardson (Ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. New York, Greenwood, pg Creative B (2010). "Catalyst for a Creative Campus." University of Florida. Retrieved February 2013, from Kolb, D.A. (1984) Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Mansilla, B. A. (2010). Assessing student work at disciplinary crossroads. Change: The magazine of higher learning. 37: Seagraves, l., R. Soden, et al. (2008). Arts Across the Curriculum: Enhancing Pupil Learning: The Pupil Perspective. British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, 3-6 September. Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University