THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2022/2023

Timetable information in the Course Catalogue may be subject to change.

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Edinburgh Futures Institute : Edinburgh Futures Institute

Postgraduate Course: Relationality, Creative Practice and Education (fusion online) (EFIE11065)

Course Outline
SchoolEdinburgh Futures Institute CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)
Course typeOnline Distance Learning AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryAre we at risk of losing educational relationships in a data-driven, digital society? This course examines the nature and importance of relationality in education. Students will engage with creative arts-based practices to support their understandings of how to foster inclusive 'relational' education futures.
Course description This course is designed for students interested in understanding the nature and importance of 'relationality' within present, and possible future, data-driven educational systems.

Relational ideas of education and pedagogy - which highlight the human relationship between teachers and learners as the foundation of education - have increasingly been drawn upon to decentre the cultures of measurement and datafication driving 21st century education. In particular, theories and practices of listening will be explored as essential to relational understandings of education. Using the lens of relationality, the course offers students opportunities to examine potential exclusionary and dehumanising effects of data-driven decision making in education. Students will experiment with creative arts-based approaches to develop their understandings of how relational approaches can foster inclusive rehumanised educational futures.

Students will be offered a unique perspective on relationality through reading, discussing and experimenting with key ideas from the traditions of educational philosophy, art history, and art practice. They will be encouraged to apply these ideas to their chosen contexts. (A background in the arts is not a prerequisite for enrolment).

Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - Online Fusion Course Delivery Information:

The Edinburgh Futures Institute will teach this course in a way that enables online and on-campus students to study together. This approach (our 'fusion' teaching model) offers students flexible and inclusive ways to study, and the ability to choose whether to be on-campus or online at the level of the individual course. It also opens up ways for diverse groups of students to study together regardless of geographical location. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities. Students should note that their interactions may be recorded and live-streamed. There will, however, be options to control whether or not your video and audio are enabled.

As part of your course, you will need access to a personal computing device. Unless otherwise stated activities will be web browser based and as a minimum we recommend a device with a physical keyboard and screen that can access the internet.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2022/23, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  5
Course Start Semester 1
Course Start Date 19/09/2022
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 3, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 5, Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 3, External Visit Hours 2, Online Activities 4, Formative Assessment Hours 2, Other Study Hours 3, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 76 )
Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) Other Study: Scheduled Group-work Hours (hybrid online/on-campus) - 3
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Summative Assessment:

As part of the course, students will design and test a research-informed experimental educational intervention (either under real conditions or hypothetically) which focuses on enhancing relationality in a context of their choosing, decided in consultation with instructors. The intervention is to be informed by the literature presented in the course, and at least one of the creative approaches encountered during the course.

The course will be assessed by means of the following components:

1) Revised Blog Design Draft (20%)

Students will be required to submit a revised draft of their blog design. This will be an expansion of the 250-word formative assessment by an additional 250 words, which takes account of peer and instructor feedback.

2) 1500 Word Critical Reflection (80%)

Students will be required to submit a 1500-word critical reflection on the process of designing and testing an educational intervention plus documentary evidence related to the process. (The documentary evidence can incorporate a range of media, e.g., art, videos, photos, collage, audio).

The critical reflection will be required to engage with the course's core concepts and literature, key issues around data-driven decision-making in education, and your personal experience of the process of designing and testing the intervention with reference to the documentary evidence.

Formative Assessment:

Each course within Edinburgh Futures Institute includes the opportunity for you to participate in a formative feedback exercise or event which will help you prepare for your summative assessment. The formative assessment does not contribute to your overall course mark.

1) Blog Design Draft (250 Words)

Students will publish a draft design (250 words) of their educational intervention on their blog during the intensive, developed over the course of the pre-intensive and intensive. The draft design will identify key ideas and creative case studies that inform the intervention, the chosen context, who in that context will be impacted by the intervention, and initial proposals for carrying out the intervention.
Feedback Feedback on the formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The course organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.

Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.

Feedback on the summative assessment will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

Students will receive peer feedback on their blog draft design and feedforward from course instructors.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate an understanding of the nature and significance of relationality in education.
  2. Demonstrate an understanding of key theories and practices of listening in education.
  3. Critically examine the role of data-driven decision making in teaching, learning and education from the perspective of relationality.
  4. Demonstrate a critical understanding of how creative practice can enhance relationality in an educational context.
  5. Critically reflect on a personal experience of applying creative approaches to an educational context.
Reading List
Indicative Reading List:

Biesta, G. J. J. (2015). Good Education in an Age of Measurement: Ethics, Politics, Democracy. Routledge.

Bourriaud, N. (2002). Relational Aesthetics. Les Presses du réel.

Dewey, John. (1938/2008). 'Experience and Education'. In Boydston (Ed.), The Later Works of John Dewey, Volume 13, 1925-1953: 1938-1939, Experience and Education, Freedom and Culture, Theory of Valuation, and Essays (Vol. 13). Southern Illinois University Press.

Farinati, Lucia and Claudia Firth (2017): The Force of Listening. Berlin: Errant Bodies Press.

Freire, P. (2005). Teachers as Cultural Workers. Letters to Those Who Dare Teach. Westview Press.

Hooks, bell. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge.

Kester, Grant, Kocur, Z., and Leung, S. (2005). 'Conversation Pieces: The Role of Dialogue in Socially-Engaged Art'. In Theory in Contemporary Art Since 1985, 76-88. Malden, Mass.; Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Kwon, Miwon. One Place after Another: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity. Cambridge, Mass.; London: MIT Press, 2002.

Murdoch, D., English, A. R., Hintz, A., & Tyson, K. (2020). Feeling heard: Inclusive education, transformative learning, and productive struggle. Educational Theory, 70(5), 653-679.

Stoltz, Steven and Webster, R. Scott (2019). Measuring Up in Education: Philosophical Explorations for Justice and Democracy Within and Beyond Cultures of Measurement in Educational Systems. (n.d.). Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved 15 June 2021, from https://www.routledge.com/Measuring-Up-in-Education-Philosophical-Explorations-for-Justice-and-Democracy/Stolz-Webster/p/book/9780367360320

Ultra-red. 'Organizing the Silence'. In On Horizons: A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art. Ed. Maria Hlavajova, Simon Sheikh, and Jill Winder, edited by Maria Hlavajova, Simon Sheikh, and Jill Winder, 193-209. Rotterdam: Post Editions, 2011.

Waks, L. J. (2015). Listening to Teach: Beyond Didactic Pedagogy. SUNY Press.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills - Curiosity for learning that makes a positive difference;
- Passion to engage globally and locally;
- Critical and reflective thinkers;
- Creative problem solvers and researchers;
- Effective and influential contributors.
KeywordsEducation,Relationality,Educational Relationships,Listening,Creative Practice,Datafication,Teaching
Contacts
Course organiserDr Andrea English
Tel: (0131 6)51 6172
Email: Andrea.English@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Abby Gleave
Tel: (0131 6)51 1337
Email: abby.gleave@ed.ac.uk
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