Reflecting on Learning and Teaching in the Performing Arts

Rose Bruford College welcomes you to its Open Educational Resource: Reflecting on Learning and Teaching in the Performing Arts.

How to enjoy and benefit from this resource

This Open Educational Resource is intended to support and enhance the professional practice of those involved in Learning and Teaching in the Performing Arts in Higher Education. It is also intended to support students on accredited United Kingdom programmes of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and teachers who wish individually to apply for the Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.

As you enter the site you will find eight study areas. Together these areas cover the major topics of study on accredited Learning and Teaching programmes. As you engage with all eight study areas you will have opportunities to build a portfolio of evidence, a Reflective Portfolio, to meet the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) necessary to apply for Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy.

A link to the The UK PSF for teaching and supporting learning in higher education is provided below. In addition, we have noted at the end of each Study Area the UKPSF Activities, Core Professional Values and Core Knowledge Areas that are related to the material in order to help you organise and cross reference your portfolio. In entering each study area you are encouraged to respond to the material you encounter, to reflect on how it relates to your own practice and to note your thoughts, recording them in writing, sound or visual means as a part of your Reflective Portfolio.

The Four Rooms

This resource has been designed with contemporary research on learning styles in mind. You will find reference to this research in the first study area of the resource. As you enter each area you will be introduced to the study topic of the area and be invited to enter its four rooms. Each room contains a particular type of resource which corresponds to a particular learning style. You can select material quickly depending on your preferred learning style, your mood or the time you have available.

The Reading Room

The Reading Room, as its title suggests, contains mainly text-based resources and recommended reading. It is here that you will find full articles and links to academic web sites. You will also find suggestions for further reading.

The Visual Resources Room

The Visual Resource Room contains video clips of teaching, classroom and studio activities, lectures with animation and interviews with artists. All accessible via online streaming platforms such as YouTube. 

The Case Study Resource Room

The Case Study Resource Room offers a variety of examples of practice and you are encouraged to explore here to find the case studies which most closely match your subject area or pedagogic need.

The Reflection Room

Through a series of Reflection Prompts you are invited to take ownership of your own learning by engaging actively with the resources and reflecting upon your practice as a teacher and supporter of learning in Higher Education.

Study Area Index

To begin using the Reflecting on Teaching and Learning in the Performing Arts Open Education Resource, go to Study Area 1 and progress through the 8 Study Areas in sequence.

RLTPA: Study Area 1

What does it mean to become a critically reflective practitioner?

RLTPA: Study Area 2

Pedagogic Practice

RLTPA: Study Area 3

The Design and Planning of Learning Activities

RLTPA: Study Area 4

Listening and Responding to the Student Voice

RLTPA: Study Area 5

Assessment for Learning or Assessment of Learning in the Performing Arts

RLTPA: Study Area 6

Developing Inclusive Learning Communities

RLTPA: Study Area 7

Entrepreneurship and Employability

RLTPA: Study Area 8

Evaluation and Enhancement of Professional Practice

Using the Study Areas

The 8 units offered here provide opportunities for you to relate your teaching to the UK Professional Standards Framework.

To help you relate the material studied to the framework the relevant areas of activity, core knowledge and professional values of the framework considered in the study areas are noted after each introduction.
We hope that you will enjoy utilising these resources to enhance your pedagogic practice in the Performing Arts.

About the College

Since 1950 Rose Bruford College has been at the forefront of vocational and practice-based theatre training in the UK. We now teach thirteen undergraduate degrees in performing arts related subjects and offer three postgraduate programmes. A focus of our College research is pedagogic practice in the performing arts and this resource has developed from this work.

Further links to enhance your learning and teaching

Acknowledgements

The Open Educational Resource Team: Professor Kathy Dacre, Cordelia Bryan, Andrew Eglinton, David Matthews, Joe Murray, Gail Ellis, Rafael Mazzillo, Marc Wilson, Frank Trew.

The team would like to thank the students on the 2010 Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Theatre and Performing Arts programme at Rose Bruford College who helped in the creation of this resource.