Well here goes: our first post takes the form of a manifesto for the East Midlands Writing PAD Centre. Future posts will capture our activities as they develop: your comments are very welcome!
Julia and Kaye
Our Manifesto:
Research
We will:
Stimulate pedagogic discourse related to theory assignments, especially in Art & Design.
Develop a regional community of practice who share our passion for inclusive and imaginative approaches to learning.
Undertake student-led research into appropriate, inclusive and engaging learning strategies for theory teaching.
Students
We will:
Engage students with theory assignments through creative and playful learning experiences, with an emphasis on visual and kinaesthetic techniques.
Provide students with learning experiences which encourage reflection on theory and practice within both subject and personal contexts.
Harness students’ passion for their subject in order to increase their engagement with theory and its relationship to their practice.
Provide students with learning experiences which stimulate creative thinking and new connections.
Staff
We will:
Promote and disseminate the research and practice of the wider Writing PAD community within DMU through staff development activities.
‘Seed’ innovative teaching practice through staff development sessions and student workshops.
Curriculum
We will:
Explore, challenge and recontextualise received models of design and delivery for theory assignments.
Dissemination
We will:
Share our research activities through national events, a regional forum, the East Midlands Writing PAD blog, conference presentations and journal articles.
Manifesto context
This is underpinned by the wider Writing PAD network: http://writing-pad.org
‘The name Writing-PAD stands for ‘Writing Purposefully in Art and Design’. Though we began in 2002 as a HEFCE funded FDTL project, since 2007 we have become a self-funded international network, with a membership comprising over 100 institutions. We seek to bring together students and academics from across the disciplines, and staff from across institutional roles:
- studio
- theory
- learning skills and development
- learning and teaching (L&T) coordinators
- Department and School Heads
Writing-PAD now encompasses teaching, scholarship and research. Our aim is to encourage and share different approaches to writing by practitioners by offering its member institutions a creative playground in which to reflect upon ‘thinking-through-writing’. We see these types of writing as an under-explored parallel to the visual discourse in art and design practices. We do this through the Journal of Writing in Creative Practice: http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=154/ published and distributed by Intellect Books; through our website and our wiki, as well as our jiscmail: writing-pad@jiscmail.ac.uk, and social media such as twitter: WritingPAD and Facebook page.
Our core team members, Julia Lockheart (Goldsmiths), John Wood (Goldsmiths), Harriet Edwards, (RCA), and Maziar Raein (KiHO) have been consulted on curriculum design and development both nationally and internationally. Our Project Officer (2002 – 2006), Christoph Raatz is Secretary of CHEAD. Many of our key members have worked as consultants for Writing-PAD approaches across the sector.
The Writing-PAD network is directed by Julia Lockheart and spans the departments of Design and Visual Arts and the Centre for English Language and Academic Writing (CELAW) at Goldsmiths, University of London.’
Goldsmiths, University of London (2013) Writing PAD. [Online] Goldsmiths, University of London. Available from: http://www.gold.ac.uk/writing-pad/ [Accessed 08/10/2015].
