Creative Pedagogy and Research

This module aims to explore the practicalities of using creative skills and iterative design processes to bring about social and community change and promote equality, diversity and inclusion. Through examining the major critical issues in the field of creative pedagogy, the use of creative research methods, and the ethical issues arising from the tensions between product and process in community-based cultural activity, it aims to allow the learners to effectively critique their own practice.

Through an interdisciplinary approach, students will be placed in a creative and critically informed collective environment in which to develop and critique their individual practice as agents of transformation. Following an initial engagement with current understandings of creativity and learning ecologies, especially regarding the role of semiotics and non-linguistic communication in the creation of diverse social worlds and the performance of race, gender and disability, the students will explore creative pedagogy and creative research methods through a mix of practical and theoretical approaches. Pedagogical approaches may include Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Design Thinking, and will focus on the iterative design processes of empathising, defining, ideating, prototyping and testing.Practical work will include developing an understanding of drawing in its various forms as an epistemic action and a tool in reflective practice. In addition to developing their research question, selecting a method, and carrying out their peer-to-peer workshop, the students will complete a final research paper/practical project that frames and supports their practice and/or research, including research documentation.

1. Demonstrate in-depth judgement of major critical issues in the field of creative pedagogy and the use of creative research methods.

2. Critically analyze and reflect on their own and other’s work, practices, and contexts.

3. Construct and test creative engagements, using the iterative design processes of empathising, defining, ideating, prototyping and testing.

4. Develop an effective critique of the ethical and practical implications of creative pedagogy and research.

5. Demonstrate the relationship between theory and methodology in creative pedagogy and research.