APPLICATION FOR SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE TEACHING AWARD 2012
QUB TEACHING AWARDS
APPLICATION FOR SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE TEACHING AWARD 2012
(Open to individual academic and learning support colleagues who have been teaching/supporting learning within higher education for 5 or more years)
Name (including title)Dr Martin Dowling
School/Department:
Creative Arts
1
APPLICATION FOR SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE TEACHING AWARD 2012
1.CONTEXT FOR THE APPLICATION (300 words maximum)
Please provide a context for your application. This should consist of an introductory statement about your contributiontolearning and teaching/learning support to date. Examples of the information you might include are; the subject you teach or the area of learning support you work in, the type of learning and teaching/learning support activities you are involved in, how many learners are involved, your particular learning and teaching/learning support interests and an outline of your overall teaching/learning support philosophy?
The context for this application is my development of a completely new subject area in Queen’s since 2006. Before my arrival, the subject of Irish traditional music had not been integrated into the curricula of the BMus, BSc in Music Technology, and MA in Music degrees, nor had the University had a dedicated member of faculty for PhD research in this area. I have seized the opportunity to use my rich interdisciplinary skills in music, history, and sociology to develop an innovative package of modules on performance, history, aesthetics, and composition which is unique in the world. This has had a major impact on teaching provision and recruitment in the School of Creative Arts, taking in approximately half the cohort on these degrees each year. The core of the provision is level 2 and 3 modules on Irish music history and on the form, style and development of Irish music. The package also includes adding Irish traditional music options in the level 1 and 2 modules in performance which were devised to broaden the performance provision to include popular genres. At MA level, I have lead the integration of the study of Irish music into not only the Music and Composition MA, but also MA programmes in Irish Studies and Ethnomusicology. The peak of this provision is PhD research in Irish music, where I am now involved in the supervision of six projects relating to Irish music, ranging in subject matter from Irish music and technology, to performance practice, to research into historical sound and manuscript archives. Four of these projects are externally funded, and the students include professional and renowned musicians, and graduates of strong music MA programmes in Limerick and in Queen’s.
Having had a diverse career myself in and outside academia, I have been very engaged with career skills development and awareness. I convene a Work Placement module for BSc and BMus students, and an Arts Administration module which features placement, and have been a very pro-active Careers Liaison Advisor for the School since 2006.
2.DISCUSSION
You should illustrate your discussion throughout with reference to specific learning and teaching/learning support activities. You should also provide examples of the influence of learner feedback on your learning and teaching/learning support practice.
(a)Promoting and enhancing the learners’ experience (1000 words maximum)
I will focus this discussion on the most significant and innovative area of my teaching, the levels 2 and 3 modules on Irish traditional music history, form, style, and development. Feedback from students over the last five years in the form of Lecturer and Module Evaluation Forms is very positive. The majority of students rank the qualities of both the teaching and the modules as “good” or “excellent.” Drawing from student commentary, these results derive from my ability to communicate my rich “knowledge of the subject”, my “enthusiasm for the subject,” and my pedagogical use of live performance of Irish traditional music (both my own performance on the fiddle and that of guest musicians brought in from the field). Students recognise the value of the strong interdisciplinary mix of history, criticism, and performance I bring to the classroom.
The development of a new field of teaching has problems of its own, and I would like to focus this discussion on the ways in which I have responded to these challenges through professional development and pedagogical innovation. Two key principles, drawn from the PGCHET curriculum and from CED training opportunities, areenhancement of interactive learning and promotion of the student researcher and performer in digital contexts.
I am having an impact on the advancement internationally of the academic study of Irish music. However, there remains, particularly with regard to its history, a shortage of accessible, digestible reading sources. Here in Queen’s, much important material is held in special collections with restricted access. This situation put pressure on me to devote a significant proportion of contact time to lecturing. To prepare students for assessment without the types of textbooks underpinning more mature subject areas, I saw the need to provide synthesis and context. I also recognised, as did my students, that the traditional lecturer sacrifices opportunities for engagement and active learning.
My solution to the problem was to promote engagement with more accessible digital media, getting students involved as researchers and creators. Like so many other spheres of cultural life, traditional Irish music is being transformed by You Tube, iTunes, Facebook, miniaturized recording and playback devices, and by information rich websites such as thesession.org, mudcat.org, and numerous archives rapidly digitizing and uploading the printed and sonic past. I routinely draw on this material and these media in lecture presentations and tutorial discussions, but I found through CED training courses that there was greater potential to engage students with this material through the use of podcasting.Educational podcasting is growing in popularity, and there are useful examples of innovative practice in virtually every academic discipline. The short audio podcast, designed to converge with other module resources, can enhance the learning experience in a variety of ways. It can provide context and structure or, alternatively, enriching case studies or exploration of specific problems. The format is best used to punctuate, condense, and repackage module content and disseminate it in a restyled mode, rather than to substitute for the lecture or reading. The technical aspects of making a podcast are surprisingly straightforward, even for those who are not used to the sound recording and mixing environment. A laptop with a microphone and an afternoon familiarising yourself with freely downloadable software for recording and mixing are all that you need. There is plenty good advice on podcast design, and a worldwide web full of examples of good practice. Dealing with the time constraint of five to fifteen minutes is a challenge. The benefits of the podcast are heightened by serialisation, and consistency of style and design are important across the series. In my experience, strong podcasts begin with a punchy opening that provokes, invites, or challenges the listener (about contested issues, sources, specific problems), continue with some context for that opening invitation, and then incorporate multiple voices (in dialogue or offering alternative perspectives) as the content develops.
In the level 2 module students sit a final exam (70% of assessment) and submit a research project (30% of assessment). Traditionally the project has been a 3,000 word research essay on a subject related to the historical learning outcomes of the module, to be agreed with the convenor. In the last two years, I have offered a 10-15 minute podcast with a shorter write-up as an option. In the write-up underpinning the podcast, students are given the opportunity to demonstrate that they have conducted research commensurate with the full research essay, as well as reflecting on their engagement with the literature on podcast design and the particular problems they faced. The option is underpinned by tutorials in podcast design and students “pitching” their ideas to the lecturer and each other.
Because of the wealth of audio content in the module, and the facility of most of the students for performance and recording techniques, the podcast is has been a popular and appropriate choice. The best work has featured the student’s own instrumental or vocal performance, and/or judiciously sampled and discussed music from relevant discographies. It has been enriching for me to open up this new form of assessment and witness students grapple with the different challenges of condensation and presentation posed by of the podcast format. It is not every student’s choice, and that too is appropriate. Indeed I am delighted that a minority are firmly committed to the more traditional written research project. It may not suit every module, but in my experience the podcast has widened the palette of music students by offering a new format for thinking, reflecting, and presenting their research.
(b)Supporting colleagues and influencing support for student and/or staff learning
(350 words maximum)
Under this heading I would like to emphasise my activities on behalf of colleagues and students as Careers Liaison Advisor in the School of Creative Arts beyond the core functions. Again the diversity of my training and experience is having a powerful impact. Trained as an economist and economic historian, and with career experience outside of academia in the public sector in Northern Ireland, I give students and colleagues the benefit of my broad overview of the labour market, career paths, and the type of skills that lead to success in an uncertain and rapidly evolving context. I work hard to join together my work as Careers Service Liaison with convening responsibilities on Work Placement modules at undergraduate and MA levels. My arrival in the School effectively doubled the undergraduate intake on the Work Placement module by opening up a module originally designed for SARC students to the entire school. I have deepened the student experience in the module by working closely with colleagues in the Careers Service to provide career skills information and training sessions. I have brought my experience working in the arts sector in Northern Ireland to bear on the MA Arts Administration module. Formerly restricted to two placements in the Ulster Orchestra, I have opened up the module to a variety of placements with music and arts organisations based in and near Belfast, therefore engaging a wider range of workplace scenarios and learning opportunities. .
A further example of quality support in this area is my leadership of a team to review the School’s curriculum in light of the employability agenda in the spring of 2011. In the course of this review I represented the School at the Developing Student Employability Conference held by CED in May 2011 (keynote speaker Professor Lee Harvey, Copenhagen Business School) and represented the University at the annual conference of the National Association for Music in Higher Education on the theme of Music and Employability in Royal Holloway University in May 2011. This resulted in a report to the School’s Review Day in June 2011 which highlightedcurrent understandings of the links between the music curriculum and employability, and put forward a number of recommnedations for School practice including development of a new “Professional Development” module in the School to incorporate and replace the current work placement provision.
(c)Ongoing professional development (350 words maximum)
I have demonstrated a clear commitment to lifelong learning and development of my teaching skills and my awareness of career and employability issues relating the music curriculum, taking advantage of opportunities presented by CED and my School to learn and to share my learning more widely. For me, the exciting thing about working in Queen’s is having the opportunity to develop a unique curriculum while cultivating a personalresearch-performance-teaching nexus. I am committed not only to continuously developing each of these three personal skills independently, but to exploring the synergies between them and using them in mutually enriching ways: by honing my musical performance skills in the classroom while enriching the student experience, by viewing my research as teaching-led as well as my teaching as research-led, and by treating each lecture, each tutorial session, as a performance to be critiqued and improved in an on-going practice of self-assessment. As the example of the podcast shows, I translate these personal tasks into pedagogical principles, and try to cultivate, through the exploration of Irish traditional music, the student as learner, researcher, and performer.
1