News and Events

The Summer 2012 issue has a focus on collaboration. You can read it (or any previous newsletter) on the Newsletters page.

Dr Nick Monk, IATL's Assistant Professor for Curriculum Development , led a workshop at the recent Higher Education Academy Pedagogies of Hope and Opportunity conference in Glasgow demonstrating Open-space Learning techniques developed at Warwick. The workshop ‘Teaching for Creativity’ received the highest average feedback - an impressive 29.5 out of 30 and Nick was awarded the ‘prize’ for the best conference paper. As Nick says, we must be doing something right!

‘Open’, ‘flexible’, ‘light’, ‘user-friendly’. These were the words that occurred most frequently in IATL’s research prior to the re-design of the Ramphal Building’s small teaching spaces, and which informed our thinking before and after our successful joint bid with Space Management to the Capital Investment Fund. The refurbishment work will start in Week 6 of the Summer Term and should be completed by the week before the beginning of the new academic year. News about progress will be posted at http://www.warwick.ac.uk/go/ramphalrefurb.

By the start of the new academic year IATL will have a new home in Coventry House, soon to be renamed Senate House. This will bring us into the centre of the campus where we can be in more direct contact with students and staff. IATL will continue to administer open learning spaces across the campus including some in Millburn House. A date for our move from Millburn House hasn't yet been set but we plan to be installed by mid September.

11th June 2012
Helen Martin Studio, Warwick Arts Centre

"Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold."

IATL’s day on ‘play’ in teaching and learning is the first in series of ‘stimulus’ sessions that will bring together practitioners and academics, from inside and outside Warwick, to inspire innovation in teaching and learning. The quote from Joseph Chilton Pearce (above) defines our approach to the day.

A series of interactive sessions will begin to suggest ways we might use play to develop and stimulate the intelligence and capacity for learning of our students.

The day begins with a 2-hour workshop at 11am run by Sandbox entitled ‘LEGO Serious Play™’, and will conclude at 6.30pm with An Ecology of Mind, a film about Gregory Bateson, the great theorist of ‘play’, . In the interim there will be 45-minute sessions from writer and broadcaster A. L. Kennedy; David Morley, poet and Director of Warwick’s Writing Programme; Jonothan Neelands of the Institute of Education and Warwick Business School; Nick Roberts, cellist with the Coull Quartet; and Jonathan Heron, Theatre Director and IATL’s Teaching Fellow.

As well as acting as a stimulus, the day will offer opportunities for participants to share their own ideas and practices, and to develop proposals for ways to make such work more visible –the digital aspects of play, for example, might be a fruitful focus, for a future event.

**Fully booked**

'An infinite sphere, whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere'.

Tuesday 22nd May 2012
1.30-3.00pm
Humanities Studio

Performance followed by a debate on the transformations of a paradoxical cultural pattern.

Admission for this event is free. You are invited to register your attendance by emailing: G.Addivinola@warwick.ac.uk 

The texts performed are available for download from: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/iatl/projects/studentperformance/addivinola

Taking teaching forward: building on the institutional review

The themes for this year's Teaching and Learning Showcase include

• Assessment and feedback: strategic approaches and practical implementation
• Technology-enhanced learning: digital and virtual learning environments
• Widening Participation: outreach and inclusive teaching

Full programme details have been announced and booking information is now available

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/ldc/tlshowcase2012/programme/. Organised by LDC in association with IATL and The Libray, this event will provide the opportunity to celebrate some of the excellent teaching and learning taking place across the University. .

The Showcase takes place on Tuesday 19^th June 2012 and starts at 10.30am in the Library.

Monday 14 May 2012
3-5pm
CAPITAL Rehearsal Room (G57, Millburn House)

The Institute of Advanced Teaching and Learning with the Humanities Research Centre will host a seminar on Film in Pedagogy to discuss how film and, particularly, film-making can contribute to the undergraduate curiculum.

We will have with us the director and cinematographer Patrick Keiller, HRC Visiting Fellow for 2011-12, and we invite Warwick colleagues and students, especially undergraduates, who have an interest and practical experience in using film in their teaching and learning.

This seminar is open to all although numbers are limited. To register please contact Sue Dibben at the Humanities Research Centre hrc@warwick.ac.uk. Tea will be served after the seminar.

This series of events will be held on 3rd & 4th May 2012 and have been organised by the Centre for Studies in Democratisation (CSD/PAIS). All welcome to attend.

Presentation of Short Films made by Students of Politics and International Studies, with feedback by Zoe d'Amaro (Film maker).

 Thursday 3rd May 2012
12noon - 2pm
SO19, Social Studies Building
 
What does democracy mean? How do people view democracy, and are there different opinions around the world? Why are some countries democratic and others not? Students of the second-year module 'comparative politics' (PAIS) were introduced to the core issues, methods, and concepts in the field, and they worked on their own academic research projects and film projects. Students will present their own short films. For more information see: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/research/csd/whatwhydemocracyproject/

Democracy, Freedom of Expression & Political Activism: the Role of Film and Media in Bringing about Change. Film Screenings and Public Lecture by Zoe d'Amaro (Film maker).

 Friday 4th May 2012
9am-11am
MS04, Mathematics Building

Zoe d'Amaro is an Italian filmmaker based in Amsterdam and founder of Godmother Films (www.godmotherfilms.com). Zoe directed the short documentary Interferenze, part of the international project Why Democracy (www.whydemocracy.net) and focused on the issue of freedom of speech in Italy during the second government of Silvo Berlusconi. She had developed and implemented a documentary training programme for the underprivileged youth of the coloured township of Mitchell's Plain, Cape Town South Africa. Currently, Zoe is developing the cross-media Project Before the Flood, which focuses on climate change and targets a young audience. This event is funded by the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning (IATL).

Roundtable 'corruption and democracy around the world'.

Monday 7th May 2012
Warwick Arts Centre
University of Warwick

As an antidote to a wet Bank Holiday, come and spend Monday in a practical workshop with the actors of the South Sudan Theatre Company about African theatre and in discussion about post-conflict reconstruction for the newest country in the world. This workshop is open to students and staff at Warwick, and also the wider public.

You are probably aware of the centrality of Shakespeare in various programmes linked to this year's 2012 Olympics - at the Globe, RSC and British Museum. Included in the Globe Theatre's Festival programme is the South Sudan Theatre Company's production of Cymbeline, being performed at the Globe in London on 2nd & 3rd May.

The whole South Sudan Theatre Company of 15 actors is visiting the University of Warwick, to meet with people interested either in South Sudan or in theatre or both. The visit has been arranged by the UK Charity, Friends of Ibba Girls School, South Sudan (FIGS), and the day involves staff from a number of Warwick departments including Warwick Business School, the Institute of Education and the School of Theatre and Performance Studies, with space provided by the Warwick Arts Centre.

Come and join us for a stimulating day thinking about and experiencing how education and theatre can support post-conflict reconstruction of this new nation (indipendance 9 July 2011) after 50 years of civil war and disruption.

Please contact Yvette Hutchison Y.A.Hutchison@warwick.ac.uk by Wednesday 3rd May to register your attendance at either the morning session or the whole day.