Welcome please, the world famous literary

critic:

Dr Harry Reynard

Petit Testament by Ernest Lalor Malley

from the compilation The Darkening Ecliptic

(1944)

In the twenty-fifth year of my age

I find myself to be a dromedary

That has run short of water between

One oasis and the next mirage

And having despaired of ever

Making my obsessions intelligible

I am content at last to be

The sole clerk of my metamorphoses.

Begin here:

In the year 1943

I resigned to the living all collateral images

Reserving to myself a man’s

Inalienable right to be sad

At his own funeral.

(Here the peacock blinks the eyes

of his multipennate tail.)

The Dr. Fox experiment

The original experiment was conducted at the University of

Southern California School of Medicine in 1970

2 speakers gave lectures to psychiatrists and psychologists on

an irrelevant topic. The topic, “Mathematical Game Theory as

Applied to Physician Education”, was chosen to eliminate the

factor that the students being lectured may know information

about the actual subject.

Students were divided into two separate classrooms;

one classroom would be lectured by an actual scientist

and the other by an actor who was given the identity:

“Dr. Myron L. Fox”, a graduate of Albert Einstein College of

Medicine.

When both "Dr. Myron L. Fox" and the scientist both presented

their material in an engaging, expressive, and enthusiastic

matter, the students rated Dr. Fox just as highly as the genuine

professor.

Petit Testament by Ernest Lalor "Ern" Malley

In the twenty-fifth year of my age I find myself to be a dromedary That has run short of water between One oasis and the next mirage And having despaired of ever Making my obsessions intelligible I am content at last to be The sole clerk of my metamorphoses. Begin here: In the year 1943 I resigned to the living all collateral images Reserving to myself a man’s Inalienable right to be sad At his own funeral. (Here the peacock blinks the eyes of his multipennate tail.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx9kiF00rts

We are reporting work-in-progress on a joint

tutor-student action-research project undertaken

in 2015/16 at Sheffield Business School ('SBS'),

a Faculty of Sheffield Hallam University.

The study is examining potential approaches to

incorporating theatre in HE 'business' teaching.

Volunteers were invited - both staff and students

- to form a research group in October 2015.

The resultant mixed-methods study was

designed by the group

originally 14 students (our 'leading actors') and 4

lecturers (the 'stage-hands').

Additionally, student members provided rich

qualitative data as focus group contributors; they

co-developed several examples of teaching

sessions incorporating their ideas; and gained

valuable academic experience by presenting the

study at conference.

Scheherazade is a legendary queen

and the storyteller of One Thousand

and One Nights.

"Own the space". ....but, who's the performer?

Timpson (2002) teachers are

inherently performers and as such,

techniques from the stage

enhance and expand a teacher's

repertoire.

Schwartz (2013) teaching is a lot

like acting and consequently

teachers need to learn and

practise the art of teaching.

Our survey says . . .

>70% of respondents can sustain

engagement for 2 hours or more

Our survey says . . .

Our hypothesis - theatrical devices can enhance all these things

The top 3 ways tutors have enhanced my

engagement:

1. Made it interesting

2. Made me think

3. Made it fun

Invitation - please help us share more examples

Theatrical devices

- some examples

Characterisation / caricature

e.g. Bennis, leaders and managers

Suspense

"A human life is worth about $200,000"

Misdirection

"In our next session I will lie to you"

Theatrical devices

- some others

Non verbal communications

e.g. emotional labour

Props

magic tricks, etc . . .

Signposts, motifs and symbols

directions to something significant

Invitation - please help us share more examples

Theatrical devices

- some others

Exposition

when you bring everyone up to date

Cliffhanger

"next time we will discover why businesses

must put a value on a human life"

Invitation - please help us share more examples

As long as education remains "utilitarian" and

performance "entertainment," the claim that

teaching is performance will evoke nothing

beyond the facile acknowledgment that a

certain theatricality can help hold the

attention of drowsy undergraduates in early

morning or late afternoon classes

(Pineau 1994)

The recurring tension between scripted teaching

and creative teaching is a manifestation of

deeper, competing conceptions of teaching: is it

a profession, deserving of autonomy and

respect like other professions such as law or

medicine? (Sawyer 2004)

An individual is considered a professional when

granted broad autonomy to creatively solve

problems in response to the unique needs of

each situation (Schön 1983)

Constructivism

Low High

Improvisational Theatre as Constructivism

Collaborative

Research Within

Session

The recurring tension between scripted teaching

and creative teaching is a manifestation of

deeper, competing conceptions of teaching: is it

a profession, deserving of autonomy and

respect like other professions such as law or

medicine? (Sawyer 2004)

An individual is considered a professional when

granted broad autonomy to creatively solve

problems in response to the unique needs of

each situation (Schön 1983)

Constructivism

Low

High

Connectivism

Collaboration

via ICT

Research

Beyond Time

and Space

Collaborative

Research

Within Session

Improvisational Theatre as Connectivism

Connectivism:

"Information technology enables a new model of

collaborative education" (Tapscott & Williams

2010).

"Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is

more important than what we know today.

While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong

tomorrow due to alterations in the information

climate affecting the decision" (Siemens 2014).

Your ideas please

McGuffin

Definition: -- nothing.

Hitchcock: described the MacGuffin as

a plot device, or gimmick, on which to

hang the tension in a film, ‘the key

element of any suspense story”

The only reason for the McGuffin is to

serve as a pivotal reason for the

suspense to occur.

Bibliography

SAWYER, R. K. (2004). Creative Teaching: Collaborative Discussion as

Disciplined Improvisation. Educational Researcher, 33 (2), 12-20.

SCHWARTZ (2013) [On-line]. Last accessed 24 August 2015 at

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/07/01/teaching-as-acting-a-

performance-profession/ /

SCHÖN, D.A., (1983). The reflective practitioner: how professionals

think in action. New York: Basic Books.

SIEMENS, George (2014). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital

age. [on-line] http://www.itdl.org/journal/jan_05/article01.htm last

accessed 25 April 2016.

TAPSCOTT, D. and WILLIAMS, A.D. (2010). MacroWikinomics

Rebooting Business and the World. New York, Atlantic Books Ltd.

TIMPSON, W. M. and BURGOYNE, S., (2002). Teaching & performing

ideas for energizing your classes. Madison, WI: Atwood Publishing.

PINEAU, E. L., (1994). Teaching Is Performance: Reconceptualizing a

Problematic Metaphor. American Educational Research Journal, 31 (1),

3-25.