Alternative Pedagogy

The Uses and Limits of the Model United Nations in an International Relations Classroom

by Daniel McIntosh

Change Your World(view): A Setting for Interdisciplinary Research and Action

by Martin Bunch

Handy, Femida and Martin J. Bunch (2009)  Change Your World(view): A Setting for Interdisciplinary Research and Action  in F. Handy and M.J. Bunch (eds.) Sense and Sustainability: Interdisciplinary Research in Environmental Studies. York University Books: Toronto, Canada. Pp 1-4.

Excerpt from the introduction by Handy and Bunch:

"Effective integration of knowledge requires a... more Excerpt from the introduction by Handy and Bunch:

"Effective integration of knowledge requires a certain fluency in multiple academic disciplines, and an ability to bridge them. Beyond this, relevant application of knowledge to real world problems and issues requires the ability to reach beyond the purely academic realm to mobilize and engage with communities, governmental actors, non-governmental organizations and others. Frodeman and Mitcham (2007) point out that environmental studies is one of only very few fields that are at once; sensitive to questions of knowledge, values and their implications for society; that bridge the sciences and humanities; and that involve the general public in an interdisciplinary approach to developing an understanding of societal issues and problems. This approach, that Frodeman and Mitcham refer to as “critical interdisciplinarity,” builds deep pertinent knowledge about issues and problems (beyond purely disciplinary knowledge) by,

    "…[seeking] to take the effort involved in mastering or going deep in any one discipline and spread it over a number of disciplines, going just as deep in a discipline as is necessary or appropriate to grasp the essentials."

They continue by stating that,

    "Interdisciplinarity must be given a scope as wide knowledge itself, spanning the entire space from the natural sciences to the humanities. Although its breadth will, of course, include the social sciences, the insistent focus needs to be on the fundamentally humanistic question of what counts as pertinent knowledge. Knowledge for what? We need not merely to describe the role of values within science and society – the role of the social sciences – but also to assess these values, working with society as it struggles to address questions of social and environmental justice, human freedom and responsibility, and the proper roles of the public and private sectors" (p. 513).

This is the sense of interdisciplinarity (encompassing a broad range of cross- trans- and inter-disciplinary definitions) that pervades the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. With this in mind, the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York (FES) has since its inception in 1968, mandated that students and faculty pursue an interdisciplinary approach to their studies so as to be able to express their academic creativity and discover new ways of synthesizing information. This reflects an understanding that many of the problems of our time, both local and global – from fighting global epidemics to preparing for natural disasters, from mediating forced human migrations to resolving ethno-political conflict, from revitalizing cities to revolutionizing women’s roles – cannot be comprehended or solved by insulated thinking. Student and faculty research at FES has used and integrated conceptual and methodological tools of many disciplines to understand these complex and pressing issues and to contribute to their resolution."

Sense and Sustainability: Interdisciplinary Research in Environmental Studies.

by Martin Bunch

Handy, Femida and Martin J. Bunch (eds.) (2009) Sense and Sustainability: Interdisciplinary Research in Environmental Studies. York University Books: Toronto, Canada. ISBN 978-1-55014-510-6

"An anthology of peer-reviewed work resulting from faculty-student collaboration in the Faculty of Environmental... more "An anthology of peer-reviewed work resulting from faculty-student collaboration in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University"

This is an edited volume highlighting collaborative research achievements among faculty and students at the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University in Toronto, Canada. The book is organized in three sections:

Section 1: In our backyard: Toronto and its environs’
Section 2: Beyond our backyard - North America
Section 3: Our Global Community

A pdf of the introduction "Change Your World(view): A Setting for Interdisciplinary Research and Action" by Femida Handy and Martin Bunch can be downloaded from this site.

For a copy of this book contact:

Steve Glassman
Director, Bookstore, Printing & Mailing Services
York University Bookstore
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON, Canada
M3J 1P3
tel: (416) 736-2100 x 33018
fax:(416) 736-5733

Holistic education: An analysis of its pedagogical application

by Lucila Rudge

Rudge, L. (2010). Holistic education: An analysis of its pedagogical application. Saarbrücken, Germany: Lambert Academic Publishing.

This book is a theoretical and interpretative study, in which I analyze and evaluate the pedagogical application of... more This book is a theoretical and interpretative study, in which I analyze and evaluate the pedagogical application of the philosophical ideas advocated by the holistic education movement in four approaches to schooling.
Holistic education is an eclectic and inclusive movement, which emerged in the mid-1980s as a response to the then-dominant worldview of mainstream education. It is an educational paradigm that integrates the idealistic ideas of humanistic education with spiritual and philosophical ideas, incorporating principles of spirituality, wholeness, and interconnectedness along with those of freedom, autonomy, and democracy. Holistic education theorists assume an integration of spirituality and humanistic ideals, a combination that most progressive and democratic movements in education have attempted to keep separate.
While these principles may be combined philosophically into an ideal of education, I questioned whether they could be jointly applied in an approach to education. The question I ask in this study, therefore, is as follows: is it possible to apply pedagogical principles of spirituality, along with principles of freedom and democracy, into a single approach to education?
To carry out this study, I selected four approaches to schooling that draw on holistic educational ideals, and explored the pedagogical application of the principles advocated by the leading theorists in the holistic education movement. I then examined some of the tensions that arose as I compared the application of these holistic principles in different approaches to schooling.
In the following sections, after I discuss the field of holistic education, I provide a more detailed account of this study’s nature, purpose, and mode of inquiry.

Pinocchio, Giufà, il Pellegrino Russo. Tre figure contro il lavoro.

by Pietro Piro

Parte prima: Pinocchio.

Nella prima parte di questo lavoro, si analizza celebre la favola di Carlo Collodi, Pinocchio. In questo saggio... more Nella prima parte di questo lavoro, si analizza celebre la favola di Carlo Collodi, Pinocchio. In questo saggio Pinocchio è interpretato alla luce del suo iniziale rifiuto del lavoro. La sua "redenzione" attraverso la sofferenza e l'umiliazione lo trasformeranno in seguito in un lavoratore instancabile. Pinocchio si adeguerà alla morale borghese del proprio tempo. Pinocchio, è un libro che può essere inserito nella corrente della pedagogia nera. L'intento narrativo (più o meno occulto) è di intimorire e di normalizzare.

En la primera parte de este trabajo, se analiza el famoso cuento de de Carlo Collodi, Pinocho. En este ensayo Pinocho es interpretado a la luz de su negativa inicial a trabajar.Gracias a su "rescate" a través del sufrimiento y la humillación más tarde se transforma en un trabajador incansable. Pinocho se adapta a la moral burguesa de su tiempo. Pinocho es un libro que se puede insertar en la corriente de la pedagogía negra. La intención de la narración (más o menos oculta) es intimidar y normalizar.

"Con su constante deseo de trabajar y su incansable actividad, no sólo conseguía atender cumplidamente a todas las necesidades de la vida, y especialmente a las de su padre enfermo, sino que había podido ahorrar hasta unas cuarenta perras chicas para comprarse un traje nuevo".

Carlo Collodi, Pinocho.

Az ubuntu világa

by Tamas Kozma

Developing a Pedagogical Model for Facilitating Situated Learning: A Study

by Tony Wall

2011
European Association for Practitioner Research in Improving Learning
Nijmegen, the Netherlands
(with D Leonard)

Goal(s)/question(s)/problem(s)

Learning through workplace activity and workplace projects, as part of a... more Goal(s)/question(s)/problem(s)

Learning through workplace activity and workplace projects, as part of a university level qualification, is an increasingly common approach for practitioners to study part-time higher education. In facilitating such ‘learning through work’ approaches, it is appropriate to adopt a learner centred pedagogy which is grounded in that workplace, and which creates ‘situated knowledge’ (Lave and Wenger, 1991). As described by Gibbons et al. (1994), this can create ‘mode 2’ knowledge which is situated, messy, problem-based and trans-disciplinary – rather than ‘mode 1’ knowledge which is academic/theoretical, sequential and organised by disciplinary boundaries. In assessing such ‘learning through work’ approaches, we have identified three recurring practical issues: learners focusing on describing rather than critical reflecting on their work for new insight, learners rejurgitating theory, and/or critically reflecting on practice without reference to mode 1 academic knowledge. As a result, the projects and assessments were considered to hold greater potential for change.

Procedure and/or instruments

This study draws on practice and data from the University of Chester’s Centre for Work Related Studies, one of the largest providers of negotiated, work based university-level learning, globally. In order to develop the facilitation of mode 2, situated knowledge, a pedagogical model was developed and refined over a period of two years – with learners across professional fields and disciplines, across different ‘learning through work’ subject foci including negotiated project learning, stress and stress management, communication skills, coaching practice and skills, academic skills, research skills, and so on. Using a cyclic first person action research methodological approach (see Whitehead and McNiff, 2006), the model was used in group workshop contexts and one-to-one facilitation contexts with professionals studying work based learning degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Individual feedback was sought after each interaction and learner feedback and grades for assessments were monitored.

What are the findings and interpretations?

The University’s distinctive pedagogical model (reported by Brodie and Irving, 2007) provided a starting point for the investigation. In trying to develop an effective and practical tool to explain and facilitate learning in mode 2 knowledge generation, another model emerged. Three distinctive aspects emerged based on Gibbons et al’s (1994) conception of mode 1 and mode 2 knowledge, in the shape of a triangle: 1. theoretical knowledge (mode 2 academic ideas, principles, theories), 2. critical reflection (questioning for new insight), and 3. the workplace (activity in it, as a location/space focus). During the development period, we have identified that learners place a high value on the model to structure own thinking and to help them articulate and structure the assessments. For them, it clearly distinguishes three important elements to pay attention to. Teaching staff have also found it easier and quicker to explain the mode of learning and assessments.

Why do you consider your submission relevant for practice and/or policy?

Learning through workplace activity and workplace projects deals with situated, mode 2 knowledge which is messy, unstructured and trans-disciplinary. Yet this type of learning is increasing in higher education, working with professionals. This study is therefore relevant for:
• Academic communities who aim to facilitate ‘situated knowledge’ – the above study? demonstrates and provides a model to help enhance learning facilitation practice. It highlights the need to clearly articulate what is required for higher education, and particularly experiential, workplace learning.
• Professional communities wanting to solve problems and develop areas of practice – the above study provides a framework to facilitate learning which is creative and critical for new insights and longer lasting learning.
• Policy communities – it continues to highlight the need for situated approaches to practice development, and the distinctive needs of this way of thinking and researching – it is not simply an extension of traditional research approaches.

How are you going to make your session interactive?

We will make the session interactive by:
• Sharing and demonstrating the Pedagogical Model
• Using and discussing real life examples from practice
• Encouraging group activity around the examples
• Encouraging live questioning and critiquing
• Asking participants to give examples of  their own problematic/critical  incidents they have experienced at work in the past,  worthy of some interrogation,  to gain more learning from their experiences, then
• Applying the model to that work incident which has been shared, to see how the model works to create new ‘mode 2’ knowledge which can be used as part of a  future personal /professional development action plan
• Encouraging group co-development and inquiry around and of the Pedagogical Model.

Teacher learning for new times: Repurposing new multimodal literacies and digital- video composing for schools.

by Suzanne Miller

Miller, S. M. (2008).  Teacher learning for new times: Repurposing new multimodal literacies and digital- video composing for schools. In J. Flood, S.B. Heath, D. Lapp (Eds.) Handbook of research on teaching literacy through the communicative and visual arts, pp. 441-460, Volume II. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates and the International Reading Association.

This chapter discusses next what research suggests about professional development aimed at transforming teachers’... more This chapter discusses next what research suggests about professional development aimed at transforming teachers’ classroom uses of new multimodal literacies. I argue here that digital-video (DV) composing is a quintessential multimodal literacy that can play a key role in those professional experiences and have positive influences on students and classrooms. The term DV composing aims to conceptualize and emphasize the knowledge-assembling and communicative functions of this multimodal literacy practice.
The following first reviews the work on teacher professional development for integrating new literacies into the curriculum and then focuses on what research says about what does not work and what seems to be promising. In the remainder of the article, teacher professional development for learning to integrate DV composing into the curriculum as a new multimodal literacy practice is reviewed, followed by an overview of a growing body of work situated in a DV composing program that examines both teacher learning and subsequent changes in student engagement, learning, and school performance.

Selective Jamming: Digital Architectural Design in Foundation Courses

by Stanislav Roudavski

Cite as: Roudavski, Stanislav (2011). 'Selective Jamming: Digital Architectural Design in Foundation Courses', International Journal of Architectural Computing, 9, 4, pp. 437-461

This article considers how the concepts and practice of digital architectural design can influence early architectural... more This article considers how the concepts and practice of digital architectural design can influence early architectural education.The article approaches this topic through one example, the Virtual Environments course – a constituent of the Bachelor of Environments program at the University of Melbourne.The institutional remit of this course is to introduce first-year students to the roles of design representation. However, recently, the course developed to encompass these pragmatic educational aims and began to question canonical attitudes towards architectural education and practice.At the core of this course are the notions, methods and skills of digital architectural design, understood not as a stylistic option or as a novel paradigm, but as a catalyst for creativity, experimentation, critical thinking and the sustained growth of creative communities.

Epistemophilia: Rethinking Feminist Pedagogy

by Peta Cox

Feminist understandings of epistemophilia (the drive for knowledge) have typically focussed on epistemophilia’s... more
Feminist understandings of epistemophilia (the drive for knowledge) have typically focussed on epistemophilia’s destructive aspects with little consideration for the multitude of possible creative and productive expressions of the drive (see Grosz 1990; Rudberg 1996; Townley 2006). In contrast, the reading of epistemophilia developed in this article is one of a precarious subject whose psychic investment in knowing is both multiple and conflictual. Knowing is not innocent here; it is never a “pure” nurturance or an untainted lust to learn. Neither though, can it be reduced to the libidinal or the masterful. As such, imagining a feminist pedagogy with the understanding of epistemophilia developed in this article constitutes a productive rethinking of what feminist pedagogy could be.

The Princess And The Pig

by Michael O'Donnell

This paper began as a paper for a cognitive psychology class. The assignment was to get a list of objectives and goals... more This paper began as a paper for a cognitive psychology class. The assignment was to get a list of objectives and goals from a teacher whose class we were observing, observe the lesson, then interview students to assess whether or not the objectives an goals were achieved. If the idea is answer the question, "What does it mean to learn?" and the answer is learning is unlearning or a deconstruction of consciousness, then the next question is "What is consciousness?" I used Derrida as a frame for this this inquiry then deconstructed Derrida.

Pédagogie active: de la conceptualisation à la marginalisation

by Pascal Engelmajer

Natural Medicine for Common Ailments

by Poppy Valentine

This is a collection of non-synthetic health tips for common illnesses. This is a collection of non-synthetic health tips for common illnesses.

Gas Stations, Trees, and Rockets Wrapped in Weavings and Ideals: The International Fiber Collaborative and Provocations for Social Change

by Courtney Weida

With Jennifer Marsh, published in Creative Arts in Research for Community and Cultural Change, 2011, Editor Cheryl L. McLean, Associate Editor Robert Kelly Ph.D., University of Calgary, publisher Detselig Temeron Press
http://creativecommunitychange.blogspot.com/2011/01/about-creative-arts-in-research-for.html

This chapter examines the merging of art and activism within the International Fiber Collaborative (IFC), founded by... more This chapter examines the merging of art and activism within the International Fiber Collaborative (IFC), founded by Jennifer Marsh. As a fellow artist and educator, I have participated in and researched multiple collaborative projects with Marsh and the IFC over the past few years.  The large-scale, cozy-like creations of the IFC might be compared to the ephemeral wrapped works of Jeanne-Claude and Christo, yet they also seem to have a craft affinity with products of knitting circles.  Marsh and other IFC volunteers connect the individual fiber panels into vast coverings to wrap a gas station, a gigantic tree, and a NASA rocket. IFC’s community casts a similarly wide net: extending to artists, craftspeople, school children, college groups, and other makers working collaboratively or individually. Even while drawing upon the very tactile and hand-made traditions of fiber, knitting, weaving, and knotting; the IFC haptically utilizes blogging, email, and other digital networking to connect its global communities.  Online dialogues, exchanges, and collaborations offer alternative spaces of education and cultural production, even while providing participants with opportunities to (re)define artistic identities and conceptions of past and present craft communities. Parallel to this repurposing process is the utilization of a range of recycled materials within IFC fiber work.  This chapter will explore contemporary themes and approaches to globalization and activism in community art as they interweave with traditional craft processes with yarn, thread, and fabric.  As an arts researcher, I will draw upon portraiture methodology to describe the IFC’s unique artistic and social relevance for pedagogy.

The individual and communal themes explored in each participant’s contribution to the Gas Station Project, the Tree Project, and the most recent Rocket Project are myriad, yet share an interest in social change. While the Fiber Collaborative projects are intentionally open-ended and include many diverse political and ideological responses; the shared message of community and activism proves a common thread.  Further, the digital interplay of weblogging, linking, and online commentary allows a range of overlapping and divergent voices to coalesce in ways that transcend traditional, individual art-making and critical discourse. Though the original function of craft objects have utilitarian meanings, (such as a potholder or quilt), the purpose of an individual artist’s panel is often a uniquely personal and/or political expression.  In this way, contemporary craft projects like the IFC engender social change while building layers of multifaceted community space and artistic dialogue.

The ethical foundation of critical pedagogy in contemporary academia: (self)-reflection and complicity in the process of teaching

by marta rabikowska

Pedagogy, Culture & Society
Vol. 17, No. 2, June 2009, 237–249

In this paper an ethical approach to educational methodology is discussed in relation to the philosophies of Emanuel... more In this paper an ethical approach to educational methodology is discussed in relation to the philosophies of Emanuel Levinas and Robert Cox. Cox’s anti-essentialist understanding of historical materialism and Levinas’ metaphysical idealism are applied to an analysis of the (self)-reflective methods required today in Higher Education in the UK, such as Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Personal Development Planning (PDP). The paper identifies a post-Kantian paradigm of the subject–object dichotomy as a cause of the ontological constraints which pervade critical pedagogy, and instead it proposes a pre-ontological ethics of the relationship with the other which questions self-centred strategies of reflection.
Keywords: critical pedagogy; self-reflection; complicity; ethics; ontology;
materialist historicism; Problem-Based Learning (PBL); Personal Development
Planning (PDP)

Re-curating Testimony: Toward a New Pedagogy for Learning from the Past

by Monica Eileen Patterson

Co-authored with Erica Lehrer

The last few decades have seen an upsurge among anthropologists (and others) of critical attention to memory in its... more The last few decades have seen an upsurge among anthropologists (and others) of critical attention to memory in its various manifestations. Simultaneously, there has been a proliferation of museums, memorials and media-based interventions seeking to represent and remember past atrocity. Experimenting at the intersection of these trends, we have developed a “curatorial pedagogy” that engages students in both critical thinking and creative production around the question of what it means for public audiences to “learn from the past” in the face of ongoing global violence.

Documentary Visions, Theological Insights

by Isaac Alderman

Co-Author Donald Beyers. Teaching Theology and Religion, 12:3, 233-247

In an attempt to engage students' higher-order thinking skills, we developed a documentary filmmaking project for our... more In an attempt to engage students' higher-order thinking skills, we developed a documentary filmmaking project for our introduction to theology course. By documenting certain aspects of the theology of John Wesley and John Henry Newman (God, creation, revelation, Jesus, the church), students were able to delve deeply into these themes, better understanding them and their interrelationships. The project helped the students to actively practice historical theology, rather than passively learn about it through lectures. In addition, the project emphasized research skills, quality of writing and creative production, and a professional presentation at a screening.

Performing Cities: Engaging the high-tech flâneur

by Bradley Rink

Co-authored with Dr Karen Rodríguez, published in Frontiers Volume XX (2011)

The city is a place of intersecting cultures, identities and ideas that also serves as fertile ground for learning... more The city is a place of intersecting cultures, identities and ideas that also serves as fertile ground for learning within the context of study abroad. Using the notion of the flâneur, this article problematizes students’ engagement with the spaces and places of the city with special attention to the mediating role now played by technology.  We interweave a theoretical discussion with empirical examples from two urban study abroad locales and with suggestions for practice.  We argue that despite the complex array of resources the student employs to take on the foreign city, it is only the savvy wanderer who picks up on the subtle differences that we elusively refer to as a city’s “character” or personality and who understands their own shifting role of spectator, wanderer and performer—thus entering into a relationship with place.

The Transformative Potential of the DiAL-e Framework: Crossing Boundaries, Pushing Frontiers

by Simon Paul Atkinson

co-authored with Kevin Burden (University of Hull)

This paper investigates the responses and impact upon a group of adult learners (educators) to a novel framework for... more This paper investigates the responses and impact upon a group of adult learners (educators) to a novel framework for the use of digital artefacts in tertiary education settings (the Digital Artefacts for Learner Engagement Framework: DiAL-e).  The framework was developed as part of a UK project, sponsored through the Joint Information Services Committee (JISC), to encourage academics and other educators to adopt digital artefacts (in this case video) as part of their teaching, learning and research strategies.  Eighty academics were involved in a series of focus groups to pilot the framework during 2007-2008, and the data from these workshops (recorded in video format) are analysed using Mezirow’s transformative learning theory as a lens to gauge the extent to which they have experienced perspective transformations.  The study categorises a number of different responses and proposes a tentative model for professional development in tertiary education settings based on the centrality of critical reflection and discourse.

An Actor-Network View of Physical Geography

by Casey D. Allen

Published in "Progress in Physical Geography", volume 35(2): 227-248.

This paper explores the use of a new pedagogy, the rock art stability index (RASI), to engender deeper understanding... more This paper explores the use of a new pedagogy, the rock art stability index (RASI), to engender deeper understanding of weathering science concepts by students. Owing to its dynamic nature, RASI represents a quintessential actor network for weathering science, because it links task in the landscape with an active material practice and an alternative materialistic world-view recently called for in positivistic science, to create
place. Using concept maps as an assessment tool, 571 college undergraduate students and 13 junior high school integrated science students (ages 12–13) were evaluated for increased learning potential between pre- and post-field experiences. Further, this article demonstrates that when students use RASI to learn the fundamental complex science of weathering they make in-depth connections between weathering form and
process not achieved through traditional, positivistic weathering pedagogy. We argue that RASI draws upon inherent actor networks which allow students to link weathering form and process to an animate conceptualization of landscape. Conceptualizing landscape as sentient actor networks removes weathering science disciplinary connections and their inherent pedagogic practices. Our focus in this paper is not to challenge
weathering ontology and epistemology, but rather to argue that there is a need for a pedagogical paradigm shift in weathering science.