nathalie.sheridan@gcu.ac.uk

Using Creative Pedagogy to Make Sense of Higher Education

Dr Nathalie Sheridan

School of Health and Life Sciences

Learning Development

Centre

School of Build Environment and

Engineering

Learning Development

Centre

School of Business and Social Sciences

Learning Development

Centre

Aims Using Creative Learning & Teaching Support Transition into HEAcademic Literacies Development

ImplementationCurriculum AlignmentThroughout 1st yearModule Integration

Outcomes Better control and ownership of student responsibilitiesIncreased ConfidenceImprovement in essay marks

The Project

The Approach:Accidental Guerrilla Researcherhttp://www.drnsheridan.com/learning-teaching/the-accidental-guerrilla-researcher/

The Tools:Evaluation FormsReflective PapersBlogsStaff InterviewsStudent Marks

The Research

Social Constructivist & Symbolic Interactionist

Cognitive Dissonance? (Festinger, 1957)

Creative Learning & Teaching (Jeffrey &

Woods, 2009)

The

Peda

gogy

Data—Student Voice Codes so far:

Student expectations & Change of opinion

Initial reactions to teaching

Critique on my teaching

Impact on student (my view)

Impact students’ learning (student view)

Real life context

‘I caught myself trying to imagine myself to be engaging with the audience and showing interest and enthusiasm for the topic. Surprisingly I had some questions after and even shared some of my fears and poor presentation habits’ (J, Ref 1)‘Initially it was the last thing I needed after receiving poor feedback from essays. The word essay fills me with fear, writing essays are my weakness. I enjoyed the workshop it was useful and helped relieve some anxiety. I only wish that I had attended workshops like this prior to submitting course work.’ (L, Ref 1)

Data—Confidence

before after0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

0 2

17

260

1

14

02

0

vc sc dk nvc naac

Learning & Teaching Strategies

Let’s do stuff!

White C

up ExerciseDescribe

Compare

AnalyseEvaluate

Discuss

Behind the Scenes

• In the beginning

Diagnostic Imaging

• You should see their faces!

Cognitive Dissonance? • Why are you

saying that?

Socratic Inquiry Technique

• Museum’s Pedagogy

Learning on Objects

http://prezi.com/xdpmlihgju6u/white-cup-exercise/

Play-Dough

Behind the Scenes

• International Master in Engineering Students

In the beginning

• They actually gasped!

Cognitive Dissonance • Ownership,

Control, Relevance & Innovation

Creative Learning

• Let’s do stuff!

John Dewey

Thank you!

Twitter: @drnsheridan

Homepage: www.drnsheridan.com