The Art of Looping

I had a great time at Queensland College of the Arts (QCA) this week at an intensive workshop with some of Griffith’s most talented artists. Here’s an overview of what we did for our 2-day The Art of Looping Workshop – Enjoy!

@victoriawareham

Day 1

I arrived at the QCA Southbank Design Studio and met my usual partner in creative crime, Claire Tracey. I’ve not been to the studio before and was impressed with the setup. The room had workstations set up with screens and we were issued with extra equipment and tools like speakers, MP3 recorders and other technical materials we would need. We all had mobile phones and a few, like me, had their laptops as well.

There were 19 participants in total, three of whom I knew. So it was a good mixture of mostly new and some familiar faces.

After an intro from the organisers, our presenter Alex Murray-Leslie showed us some of her latest work which explores electronic footwear, lights, environs and video – very interesting!

Then we went around the group and introduced ourselves and our art practice.

We then moved to a different space and took notes as each person read aloud a section from one of the texts they had bought. The readings ranged from textbooks, academic journals, song lyrics, children’s books and people’s own musings. We did a free writing activity and then got into set up in our “looping’ groups” just before lunch.

My Looping team consisting of three other amazing artists: Xhaohui Yang, Paula Payne, Hannah Reardon-Smith and me. Paula is a terrific painter, Hannah is a flautist with the Conservatorium and Xhaohui brought a few of her amazing pieces with her and we ended up using them every day.

After lunch, we all visited fellow Looper Karen Stone’s exhibition and heard her speak about her work. My team ended up staying in the exhibition space to continue filming – and we got a number of impromptu vignettes there …like…

Then we had free time to start shooting short videos. Our team spent the rest of the afternoon trialling and erroring ideas, discussing, designing and investigating how things could work when looped.

We spent the rest of the afternoon working on little projects in pairs and as a group. It was good fun to work with other people and it was a deliberately open format, so we could self-direct and follow ideas as much or as little as we wanted.

I was pretty tired by the end of the first day. Once I got home, I did a 29 min Teacher’s Tech crash Youtube course on DaVinci Resolve 14. I have had this editing software on my computer for some time, but have not made the time yet to use it. As we were one of the groups that didn’t have a video expert, it was the ideal time to learn new skills. The crash course was just enough to hack together a few ideas – perfect!

Day 2

Most people brought ‘extras’ on the second day: costumes, makeup, props, jewellery, pieces of our own art – and I brought in Leki. We started out by going on an ‘excursion’. Those with outfits put them on, others lugged gear and props. We wandered around Southbank and heading over The Goodwill Bridge and into the Gardens on the other side shooting scenes and scenarios as we went. It was great fun.

We explored lawns, garden beds, went up trees, into drains, through car parks, down flights of stairs, sat on rocks and cause some happy mayhem along the way. All the while in colourful costumes, sprouting text and being directed by fellow Loopers – much to the curiosity of random passerbys.

On one particular sortie, Claire, Alex and I found ourselves on Level 6 of the QUT Law building, whereI rode Leki across an overpass while poor Law students undertook a Law exam next door – we were quietly respectful, but the contrast between the two groups was palpable- good luck students!

After our excursion, we all headed back to the Design Studio and spent some time collating, editing and exporting our Loops. They were raw, rough and fun.

As you would expect, each team produced totally different loops. They varied widely in concept, production and technical delivery. It was really interesting to see what others had been working on and what were we able to produce in such a short space of time.

As a final showcase, filled every screen in the Design Studio with team loops, so we could walk around and see what people had been working on. Quite a few academics also came down to see our final presentations – it looked awesome.

Take-aways of time spent Looping

I was really inspired and impressed by the work and skills of my Looper team and the other participants.
It was great working on set with Claire again – we have such great creative synergy. It reminded me that public art and performance are so engaging and fun to create, but also that it is hard work.
I really enjoyed the variety of activities: I liked the warm-up intro, reading and writing that lead to the group work – it worked well to orientate us and get the creative juices flowing.
I liked that the open format pushed me to relax into whatever was happening, to relinquish the idea that ‘I need to know what I am doing’ or always have structure – the learning was organic.
I learnt a new skill (DaVinci Resolve Software) enough to put together an experimental short clip – which I would not have done in such a way if I had not done the workshop.
It was also great to have designated adult play-time – what a joy! So precious!
My team were easy going, innovative and everyone brought something to the table – and it was lovely being in a space where there was no right or wrong ideas or actions – just ‘seeing what might happen if we do this’ or ‘Let’s try X here’ – such a rare delight!
It was also great to get about and about in Brisbane to do some live shooting. I was very proud crossing The Goodwill Bridge with my fellow Loopers and being part of this beautiful, courageous, colourfully-dressed band of creatives exploring the city streets, buildings and gardens of Brisbane.

Looper Awards of Excellence

For a finale, Claire and I awarded each of our fellow loopers (and fearless leaders) a custom-made recycled Looper Award of Excellence medal, each of which we had made out of an array of recycled materials like bike inner tubes and parts, beer caps, repurposed bits-and-bobs, jewellery pieces and other found objects (see below). Just doing our bit to get more bikes in the creative arts!!

Thank you!

A massive thank you to Beck and Sue for organising this event.

To Alex for running the workshop – we had a great time!

To my team for being right there with me – you were awesome!

To all our other fellow loopers … for being equally amazing!

I can’t wait for the next workshop!

10/05/201821/05/2018

Bright Ideas 2018 Award Winner – English Australia (QLD)

Great news!

In March, I presented two workshops at the English Australia (QLD) PD Fest. This event is the state precursor to the national conference held later this year.

The Bicycles Create Change Internship workshop was one of 5 sessions nominated for the EA (QLD) Bright Ideas Award.

This blog formed the basis for work undertaken for this internship, and bicycles and community participation were main features for this project.

All nominees had a mystery EA selection committee representative attend their session and participant feedback is also considered.

The winner is sponsored by EA (QLD) to present at the national English Australia conference in September in Sydney with all expenses paid: full EA Conference and gala dinner registration, accommodation for 2 nights in Sydney and return flights.

I just got the news our session won the Award!

Here’s what I got:

We are delighted to announce the recipient of this year’s award:

Nina Ginsberg

from Griffith English Language Institute (GELI), Griffith University

The committee was unanimous in its decision. Nina’s paper and presentation, entitled From EAS to Collaborative Internship: Lessons and insights where bicycles create change, was highly praised by both the committee and in delegate feedback.

Hooray! What an honour! I immediately contacted my four ’emerging professionals’ (collaborators) to let them know – they were tickled pink!

(Note: I had asked that the students be listed on the program and in the title as co-presenters. But, it is a ‘teachers conference’, three of the students were not physically there on the day (they are overseas, so they presented via video) and seeing as though I was ‘the main presenter ‘- the organizers used my name only on the program. However, the students are listed in the event publication. Such a bummer we can’t all go to present as a team in Sydney. So I am going to Sydney as the team representative, but this was by no means a solo project and the award and recognition goes to everyone on our amazing team. NG)

Bicycles really do create change!

I am very proud of our team.

We have all come so far since our humble beginnings in Jan 2016. Now 1.5 years on, Gabriel is completing his Social Work course at Griffith Uni, Sachie is back home in Japan completing her final semester, Mauricio has graduated and is now working in Brisbane in IT, and Juliet is a Special Ed teacher in NZ.

The students worked so hard during this internship (and still continue to do so!). As the program designer and facilitator, I learnt just as much as they did!

Now our project is going to the national conference! Hooray!

Here’s the PD Fest Learnings Publication 2018 with all session details:

Thanks all!

Thank you to all the teachers who attended the session and saw the value in what we were doing. It was great to see such enthusiastic interest in our project.

A big thanks to English Australia (QLD), the selection committee and Pearson for this wonderful opportunity.

Workshop Session Abstract – From EAS to Collaborative Internship: Lessons and insights where Bicycles Create Change

Many international students undertake English and Academic Skills (EAS) and DEP bridging classes to get into university with the ultimate aim of getting a job in their field of study. There is a perception that English classrooms are for learning English, University tutorials are for discipline-specific content, and the workplace is for vocational skills. Internships one way where students can become more work-ready. However, a number of studies confirm that current tertiary students are lacking in generic employability skills (ACNielsen Research Services 2000; ACCI/BCA 2002), an issue that is even more challenging for international students. I was curious to explore what a career development program that specifically catered for the academic, vocational and personal needs of the international students in my DEP classes might look like. This presentation was a brief overview of the origins, activities and outcomes of this exploration: The Bicycles Create Change.com 2016 Summer Internship Program.

Program background

This Internship was a volunteer, eight-week, collaborative internship that ran from January 4th to February 27th, 2016. It required participants to fulfil 80-110 working hours. The blog Bicycles Create Change.com (which has over 118,700 hits locally and internationally) served as the professional platform for work activities as it is a low-cost, high-exposure, authentic, skills-integrated outlet to showcase work.

The program was semi-structured with space to modify and self-initiative content. Hours were achieved individually, in pairs and as a team. The team met for one full day each week to review tasks, run workshops, refine skills and discuss progress.

This program integrated key theories including, scaffolding new skills (Vygotsky 1987), the need for authentic vocational guidance, participation and engagement (Billet, 2002), promoting creative thinking and expression (Judkins, 2015) and building on foundational DEP EAS skills and competencies (GELI, n.d.).

Origins and participants

The four volunteer participants varied in ages, backgrounds and degree levels and disciplines. The 4 volunteers for this program were; Sachie (female, 23, Japanese, Philosophy undergrad), Mauricio (male, 33, Columbian, IT PG), Juliet (female, 37, Indian, Special Education PG) and Gabriel (male, 42, Cameroonian, Social Work PG). All participants had just graduated from the Griffith English Language Institute (GELI) 10-week DEP program in December. Semester 1 2016 did not commence until Feb 28^th, leaving a gap of 9 weeks before university started, which is when the internship was undertaken.

Key considerations

There were are a number of key considerations built into this program:

Strengthening self-confidence and independent learning
Experience with unique, transferable and challenging skills
Fostering creativity and valuing artistic expression
Emphasis on developing reflection, collaboration and planning skills
Integrating EAS, vocation and personal skills to a range of contexts
Promoting initiative and the ability to generate own opportunities
Increasing employability, CV and work-ready skills
Authentic interactions and connection with locals/community
Create a comprehensive evidence portfolio of work, skills and achievements
To have fun applying skills in a challenging and productive way

Program design

The focus was to build on current competencies, develop new skills, build a professional portfolio of experience (and evidence), and for participants to become more confident in initiating their own opportunities and outputs.

This program minimised the ‘daily’ supervision and ‘student’ mentality of traditional internships to instead put supported autonomy firmly into the hands of each participant, who ultimately self-managed their own workload. The program provided tailored experiences (below) that provided exposure to a collection of advanced competencies that are cumulatively not commonly experienced in other internships or classes.

The program integrated three main competency streams: EAS, Professional Skills and Individual Development. The program was scaffolded so that tasks became progressively more challenging and required greater participant self-direction to complete, as seen below:

Unique features

Participants undertook a series of challenging tasks, including:

Develop and present a professional development workshop (individually and in pairs)
Undertake an individual project that resulted in an output (ie. Crowdfunding project, publication)
Self-identify an industry leader to cold call for a 20-min introductory meeting
Complete a Coursea MOOC on an area of their choosing
Research a social issue to creatively present an individual ‘art bike’ as part of a team Public Art Bike Social Issue Presentation and Forum
Research and produce five original blog posts on how bicycles are being used to create more positive community change in their home country
Weekly meeting with an assigned independent industry expert mentor
Join an industry association and attend events
Series of community activities: vox pops; invite locals to contribute to a community storybook; solicit locals to donate bicycles; deliver their work at a local community garden to the general public as part of the Art Bike Public Forum; conduct an individual public presentation
Complete an Internship Portfolio (documentation of work and reflection journal that documents, audits and reviews tasks, opportunities and skills)
The BCC Internship Team: Public Art Bike Social Issue Presentation and Forum. Sunday 13^th March, 2016.

Takeaways

There were many lessons learnt from this project and given time constraints, only a few were touched on in the presentation. Some key takeaways were:

Provide transferable and unique opportunities to develop ‘generic employability’, critical reflection and creative problem-solving skills
Provide integrated, genuine and practical ways to apply skills
Celebrate strategies, ‘sticky points’, ‘misfires’ ‘pregnant opportunities’ and successes
Make tasks more challenging and higher profile
Participants loved having more contact with the local community
Adaptations are needed for aspects to be taken up by educational institutions
Work from the end result backwards (CV and skill development)
Have visible, productive and meaningful evidence (or body) of work
Foster ability to independently create own opportunities and networks
Honour unexpected outcomes
Change the mindset to change to experience

For more details, or to contact the participants, go to Bicycles Create Change.com (search: internship). This project was a voluntary, independent and informal project, so for ideas on how to modify or embed aspects of this program into an existing course or for any other information, please contact Nina Ginsberg.

References

ACCI/BCA (2002) Employability skills for the future, DEST, Canberra.

ACNielsen Research Services (2000) Employer satisfaction with graduate skills: research report, Evaluations and Investigations Programme Higher Education Division, Department of Education Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA).

Billett, S. (2002). Workplace pedagogic practices: Participation and learning. Australian Vocational Education Review, 9(1), 28-38.

Griffith English Language Institute (GELI): Direct Entry Program. (n.d.) Retrieved from: https://www.griffith.edu.au/international/griffith-english-language-institute.

Judkins, R. (2015). The art of creative thinking. Hachette UK.

Lyons, M. (2006). National Prosperity, Local Choice and Civic Engagement: A New Partnership between Central and Local Government for the 21st Century. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

McLennan, B., & Keating, S. (2008, June). Work-integrated learning (WIL) in Australian universities: The challenges of mainstreaming WIL. In ALTC NAGCAS National Symposium (pp. 2-14).

Vygotsky, L. (1987). Zone of proximal development. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes, 5291, 157.

23/04/201826/04/2018

Bike rides on Astronomy Day 2018

At the start of this year, I posted on the interesting range of 2018 ‘International Day of the ..’ events. So, I was excited when I found out that the latest International Astronomy Day was on the weekend. Especially when I saw how a few cycling groups took advantage of this unique celestial event to organise some community night rides. What a wicked thing to do! Check details to suit as per where you live (i.e. Northern or Southern Hemipshere).

Image: The Astronomical League

I am a BIG fan of night rides.

On this blog, night riding is celebrated in many ways, such as:

And this weekend provided another exciting night time ride opportunity!

International Astronomy Day 2018!

Chart by Guy Ottewell

What is Astronomy Day?

Astronomy Day is a global event observed every spring and ‘fall’ (autumn).

This an annual event is intended to provide a means of interaction between the general public and various astronomy enthusiasts, groups and professionals.

The event was started in 1973 by Doug Berger (then Astronomical Association of Northern California president). His intent was to set up various telescopes in busy urban locations so that anyone could enjoy looking at the heavens.

Since then the event has since grown and is now celebrated in many ways around the world by people in science and the general public.

Originally, Astronomy Day occurred on a Saturday between mid-April and mid-May, and was scheduled so as to occur at or close to the first quarter Moon. For this year, that meant that this latest official International Astronomy Day fell on April 21, 2018.

In 2007, an autumn equivalent of Astronomy Day was added. The next Autumn Astronomy Day will be on October 13, 2018. So, put it in the calendar and organise a night ride!

What does this mean for cyclists? See what these guys did!

It means you get out on your bike with a few others and go for a killer night ride to learn and enjoy our incredible cosmos!

My favorite Astronomy Day bike event for this year was held by Bicycle Tree. They are a nonprofit community bike centre/shop in Santa Ana (Orange Country, CA).

See more of their work and good times on Instagram: @Bicycle Tree.

To celebrate Astronomy Day , the Bicycle Tree held a: Sabor de Santa Ana Community Bike Ride.

Image: The Bicycle Tree

The Bicycles Tree: Sabor de Santa Ana Community Bike Ride.

The Bicycle Tree instruction for this event were: This Saturday is Astronomy Day, so we’re going to gaze upon the universe during our ride Saturday night! Telescopes and guidance will be provided by Jeff Schroeder, a former JPL engineer and Mount San Antonio College planetarium lecturer, and current Outreach Director for the Pomona Valley Amateur Astronomers! Jeff will be bringing meteor samples as well.

We will, of course, also be getting food along the way. We’re going to TCW – Tacos Churros and Wings for stellar food!

The ride meets at the shop at 6:00 pm and we roll out at 6:30. We’ll be back at around 9:30. We do this monthly ride to get together and enjoy some of the great food that Santa Ana has to offer while cruising through this city’s streets and neighborhoods! .

We’ll be riding about 12 miles at a mild pace. We’ll end up back at the shop at around 9:30.

Bike rides on Astronomy Day 2018 @Bicycles Create Change.com 23rd April 2018 Image: The Anime Gallery

Talk about making the most out of a biking community event!!

This event is brilliant because it really does create more positive community change, in that it provides an opportunity for partipants to:

be part of a key international event/date
brings a range of community members together
riders get to learning about the universe – something new
gain some experience using specialist astronomy equipment
have fun riding bikes around your local area
get out and be active in the evening

What a great idea this kind of community ride is!

I’d love to see more of these kind of events happening.

These events provide great examples and inspiration to plan for other upcoming ‘international’ dates.

I can’t wait to see what kind of innovative bike ride you put on!

Best of luck and happy star gazing on your next ride all!

Here’s what is coming up for those in the Northern Hemisphere – have fun! Image: The Astronomical League

For more Astronomy Day info: click here for a Fact Sheet, history and more about ‘when’ and ‘where‘ about this event from The Astronomical League (what a great name!).

22/03/201818/04/2018

English Australia – PD Fest

English Australia (EA) is the national peak body for the English language sector of international education in Australia. On the weekend, the Queensland English Australia – PD Fest was held. This event is a precursor to the national conference coming up later this year. I always enjoy this event and have been looking forward to it. Here is what happened. Enjoy!

English Australia – PD Fest

I really enjoy going to the English Australia PD Fest each year. I love catching up with industry news, meeting other teachers in my field and seeing what others are doing in the PD sessions. I presented for the first time in 2016, but last year went as a participant and had an equally great time. So this year, it was time to present again. Turns out I ended up presenting twice and here’s how it went!

Session 1 From EAS to collaborative internship: Lessons and insights where bicycles create change

Abstract: This session presents the results and insights drawn from the 8-week collaborative internship I worked on over the Summer of 2016 with 4 DEP students: Sachie, Mauricio, Juliet and Gabriel. This session outlines the multiple theoretical perspectives that underpin the course design and explains how the project focused on providing the participants with genuine and English, academic, professional and practical workplace skills and opportunities in inventive and engaging ways.

Presenters: Sachie Togashiki is in her third year of International Liberal Arts at Soka University, Japan, majoring in Philosophy. Juliet Alfred is Special Educator at Sommerville Special School, Auckland, NZ. Mauricio Gonzalez is a Software Developer working on private contracts for the Queensland Government. Gabriel Besong was unable to present. All are graduates of GELI’s Direct Entry Program (DEP) and were participants in the 2016 Bicycles Create Change Summer Internship. Nina Ginsberg is a Language Instructor and Academic Tutor with Griffith English Language Institute (GELI).

How did it go? This session went well. I had to really condensed the session down as the afternoon sessions had less time than the morning sessions, but it was a good challenge to hit the high points of theoretical perspectives, aha moments, what worked and what didn’t work.

I spent a bit of time going through the Internship outline as this was the crux of whole venture. I explained the different components, how they work together and gave some examples of tasks and activities undertaken to show critical points of skill development, which the audience were really interested in.

It was also great because the audience got to hear directly from three out of the four participants about their experience: Sachie and Juliet had pre-recorded video (they are both overseas) and Mauricio attended in person. Congrats to all three who presented – they did a great job!

Bright Ideas Nomination: This session was one of five on the day that were nominated for a Bright Ideas Award. This means that there was representative of English Australia in the audience evaluating the presentation. Their review is coupled with the distant feedback and a summary of the session written by the presenter. The Panel then assesses each of the five sessions and announces the winner.

The prize for the Bright Ideas Award is a full expenses paid trip (all airfares, accomodation, gala dinner, registration etc) to present as the Queensland representative at the 2018 English Australia (National) Conference to be held in Sydney on 19-21 September. Bloody wicked!!

Click here to see the 2017 Bright Ideas (Queensland) Winner’s session.

Session 2: You’ll never believe what happened in class today!

Abstract: Teaching is hard, but rewarding work. Every teacher has memorable moments that has made it all worth it. This fun and positive participatory session celebrates the unique, wonderful, hilarious and often touching moments in our collective teacher experience. Join us for a few laughs and double entendres as we reminisce magical class moments!

Presenters: Just me!

How did it go? I hadn’t planned on doing this session this year. I spoke to the organisers a week before it was being held and they were still short a few sessions. I had the idea to do this session next year, but the discussion forum format was easy to organise, so I volunteered to double up. I’m glad I did.

The premise that this session was the provide designated space the teachers to sit down and share their experiences. I wanted to steer away from the usual pedagogy, theory and practical skills PD session to really acknowledge and celebrate the personal and often unknown moments that many teachers have, but are all too rarely shared.

I also wanted to recognise and honour the positive and fun side as a counterbalance all the hard work that goes into teaching, which is usually the central focus of many PDs.

The session was simple. After a quick introduction, I told a few funny stories of faux pas, pronunciation confusions, hilarious misspellings and cultural misunderstandings to get the ball rolling. We then divided up into four groups of about six people and spent the time exchanging the memorable times that it made us laugh in English class.

This session was informal, friendly and funny. It was a wonderful way to end the day. The participants who came were very generous in sharing their stories and experiences and it was lovely to hear laughter flowing easily.

Here are a few highlights from my two sessions. A massive thanks to Elliot Kirkwood Photography for providing all session photos other than my presentation slides – what a professional!

17/01/201818/02/2018

My first book review is published

Taking a quick side-step from our usual posts of all things bikey into the straighty-one-eighty world of academia, I was delighted this week to be notified that my first book review has been published!

Woohoo!

I found this book review a little nerve-racking to do, for two main reasons.

The book I reviewed was written by two leading scholars in the field, so it was comprehensive, clearly organised, informative, interesting and very well written.
It was the first time I have collaborated with my PhD supervisor Prof. Singh on a writing project.

Overall it was a very positive experience.

I enjoyed reading the book, learning some new skills (like how to use Routledge’s online proofreading software system) and having to opportunity to develop different academic writing skills and genres

Most of all, I am so grateful to Prof Singh, who invited me to work on the project with her so I could extend my academic skills, networks and exposure.

She is a wonderful role model and a very positive and inspiring PhD supervisor.

I was previously advised that while undertaking a PhD, it is important to recognise and celebrate the smaller stages of the whole research process – which this first most certainly qualifies!

So here it is!

Ginsberg, N., & Singh, P. (2018). Consultants and consultancy: the case of Education. Journal of Education Policy, 1-2. doi:10.1080/02680939.2017.1420310

Consultants and consultancy: the case of Education

In their book titled Consultants and consultancy: the case of Education, Gunter and Mills explore how the growth of a consultant class, (a faction of the middle class and comprised of knowledge actors) is working to accelerate the privatization of public education in the United Kingdom. This class faction of the new middle class is redefining what the authors call ‘knowledges, knowings, knowledgeabilities and knowers’ (p 12). The authors have considerable experience and expertise in the research area and this is put to good use in the selection of content and theoretical approaches.

The book focuses on the role and implications on the UK public education service of ‘The 4Cs’ (Consultants, Consulting, Consultation and Consultancy). Each of these 4Cs are defined in detail and refer to actors, practices, exchange relationships and power relations. In doing so, this book provides a valuable exposition of the increasing commodification of knowledge and its implications for how educational policy is being designed and enacted.

The authors are unsettled by the ubiquitous and increasing privatization of the UK education process. In recognizing that ‘the 4Cs are generated by privatization, they create and develop it, and are beneficiaries of it’ (p 95), the book seeks to warn there is ‘no alternative to the privatization of public education’ (p 93) and the ‘creeping commercialization within schooling’ (p 93) will continue, as will the ‘setting up and development of a branded and billable education’ p (129).

The central premise of the book is to raise greater awareness and critical analysis for how the 4Cs are impacting educational management and provision. To highlight this, the authors present their arguments in a clearly structured way, with the book being divided into two main parts. After defining key terms and setting the scene in the introductory chapter, the first part of the book consists of three chapters, where the role and contributions of ‘educational experts’ in the form of corporate consultants, university researchers and industry professionals, are succinctly clarified and unpacked. Part two of the book consists of five chapters. In each of the chapters empirical data generated from three large scale studies is presented with the aid of concepts derived from key sociologists of education (Bernstein and Bourdieu) to think about the processes and issues involved in the generation and management of knowledge within education policy and practice. This section describes the ways in which policies and practices of the ‘consultocracy’ are shaping educational dynamics, tactics and reform.

The book has implications for education researchers working not only in the UK, but also Australia and elsewhere that have witnessed the rise of new middle class factions of consultants. Specifically, the book explores the notion of ‘knowledge regimes’ and ‘knowledge politics’ by drawing on theoretical concepts from Bourdieu and Bernstein as thinking tools to explore the ways in which new knowledge forms produced by the consultancy class (consultocracy) are reaching into schools, classrooms and homes. From Bernstein (2000) the authors draw on the concepts of boundary, pedagogic device, pedagogic fields and recontextualisation. From Bourdieu (1992; 2000 ) the authors draw on concepts of misrecognition, logic of practice, codified knowledge as doxa of self-evident truths, habitus, capital and the illusio of the game.

A limitation of the book, however, is that the work of these theorists is not systematically used to present new insights about the marketization of public education. For example, Bernstein has written about the emergence of new middle class factions engaged in processes of symbolic control (see Robertson & Sorenson, 2017; Singh 2015; Singh, 2017). The book needed to provide more detail about the ways in which factions within the middle class positioned in the fields of symbolic control and economic production are struggling over the pedagogic device of knowledge about public education. The authors provide a deterministic account around the production of new knowledge regimes, and what is thinkable, doable within these regimes. However, as Bernstein (2000) clearly indicated the pedagogic device is a site of ongoing struggle because the stakes are high. Ultimately the pedagogic device governs modes of consciousness and conscience – what is knowable, doable, and thinkable in terms of public education.

This book constitutes one of the sites of struggle over the pedagogic device of public education. Consequently, the book and this review are actors in ongoing struggles over ideas about the re/form of public education.

References

Bernstein, B. 2000. Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity. Theory, Research, Critique. Revised Edition. 2nd ed. Lanham: Rowan & Littlefield Publishers Inc.

Bourdieu, P. 1992. The Logic of Practice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Bourdieu, P. 2000. Pascalian Meditations. Oxford: Polity Press.

Robertson, S. L., and T. Sorenson. 2017. “Global Transformations of the State, Governance and Teachers’ Labour: Putting Bernstein’s Conceptual Grammar to Work.” European Educational Research Journal, 1, 19.

Singh, P. 2015. “Performativity and Pedagogising Knowledge: Globalising Educational Policy Formation, Dissemination and Enactment.” Journal of Education Policy 30 (3): 363–384. doi:10.1080/02680939.2014.961968.

Singh, P. 2017. “Pedagogic Governance: Theorising with/after Bernstein.” British Journal of Sociology of Education 38 (2): 144–163. doi:10.1080/01425692.2015.1081052.

17/11/201714/12/2017

ReImagining Education for Democracy Summit

Life ever stops. Mixing bikes, research and work is my challenge AND my pleasure – as regular readers well know! As a change from our usual bike posts, this post is a little indulgent academic wankery. It has been a very busy week with my new 10-week course starting, a 4-day family trip and a 3-day conference to attend – among other things. Now that peak crazy period has passed, here’s an update of the RE4D Summit (conference) that has been the focus for this week. Cheers! NG.

Earlier this week I attended and presented at the ReImagining Education for Democracy (RE4D) Summit.

It was the first time I have attended this conference and I was very impressed.

To get details of each session – here is the Conference Program.

Essentially, this conference uses Critical Pedagogy perspectives to unpack and explore aspects of contemporary education research, policy and practice that are complex and challenging.

The Summit has a strong political undercurrent with sessions wrestling with issues such as globalisation, the role of the state and markets, technocratic models of education and how equity, access, fairness and social justice are being addressed in schools and within wider educational dynamics and systems.

So what was the ReImagining Education for Democracy Summit?

This event was an awesome 3-day conference that covered an wide range of education policy, process and practice. There were 5 keynote speakers, a free public lecture, and event called Pedagogy in the Pub, and over 80 presentations in the form of symposiums, focus panels, individual research papers and workshops.

The was a wonderful range and scope of the presentations. You can always tell a good conference when you are conflicted about what session to go to for fear of missing out on other sessions.

My Presentation

My presentation was part of a symposium with 3 other presenters.

As a group, we had developed the abstract (see below) and each of us contributed a differing perspective to our main contention.

We decided to go for the practical, for the personal and for the challenging.

Unfortunately, on the day one of our speakers (Ian) could not make it, so we were missing the male perspective, but it also meant that we had more time.

Here’s the abstract for our symposium:

Our presentation was awesome.

We had a great topic and some really interesting and unique expreinces and difficulties to share.

Naomi started us off by presenting her experience of being a mother whilst doing her PhD to tease out some key political and neoliberalist tensions. Sherilyn followed up with a little more methodological view to processing some key transformative ‘moments’ she had during her work disrupting educational and social structures within in her own local community.

Then, I ended by outlining some of the practical ‘shadows, cracks and hauntings’ that I have experienced in my work and telling 6 stories that hit at the heart of when things can go wrong when working on gender justice.

This format worked really well and the session was a pleasure to be part of. The build-up and layering of ideas from one presentation to the next was strategic and served well to show the individual, dynamic and complex nature of the work we do as well.

I told a few stories that I have not told before, which was a little daunting, but I was glad that my presentation struck a cord with the audience and reminded people that there are ofter negative ethical, social and other consequences of the work we do that need to acknowledged, shared and addressed.

Here’s my abstract for session on the symposium:

Did I mention that Prof. Michael Apple, his wife Rima and Prof. Pat Thomson from the academic blog Patter (among others) attended my presentation? Talk about a big gun audience!

Following the symposium, I had a number of audience members come up and say how much they enjoyed it – which was very affirming!

I was touched when one woman said that she was very moved by the stories and that my presentations really made her think. She said it was so important to share stories of when things go wrong and to acknowledge that there are dark sides to research, researchers and researching – and I agree!

As a final boost, I was stoked when a friend sent me through this Twitter post that was uploaded from an audience member I’d never met before.

One final thought about the Summit…. Prof. Michael Apple

Prof. Michael Apple

Listening to, and meeting Prof Apple was a real highlight for me.

It was so refreshing to hear his keynote speech on the second day, least of all because it was jammed pack full of provocative ideas. His topic was Can education change society and I was struck by his eloquence and skill as a public speaker. It was truly a pleasure to listen to his educated arguments. He is a consummate orator and gifted storyteller -and a delight to listen to.

To often keynotes are generic, pussy-footing-dont-want-to-upset-too-many-people-or-prensent-anything-too-controversial. But, Prof Apple went there, giving his ideas on some pretty tricky issues – which was great as it meant you knew exactly what he thought and could agree or disagree with it. So suddenly – hey, presto you have a conversation! Awesome! Thats what a conference is all about after all!

Before the conference, I wasn’t fully aware of who he was and I didn’t fully appreciate the immense impact and influence he has within the field of Education and Critical Pedagogy.

Turns out he is one of the fifty most important educational scholars of the 20th Century and one of the ‘first fathers’ that established this field of inquiry and was a contemporary of Paulo Feire and Basil Bernstein – a big deal in my circles.

And, after following up on some of the things he mentioned and finding out more about his about his amazing political commitment to progressing educational and social/cultural activism, I am now a big fan.

Prof. Michael Apple has written widely on educational and social activism with the most recent being his article Critical educational reforms and dirty toilets: being honest about blockages and contradictions for AARE – a very interesting read indeed (especially given some of the ensuing comments).

I’m already looking forward to next year’s conference! See you there!

To give you an idea of the topics covered, below is the 2017 schedule:

More info please!

The website Rage and Hope gives a great overview of the key thinkers of Critical Pedagogy.

For more details on the main thrust, debates and foci of the Critical Pedagogy movement, Aliakbari and Faraji (2011) Basic Principles of Critical Pedagogy is a clear and easy read to get the basic principles and concepts of what Critical Pedagogy is all about and how it is related to education, politics and society.

21/10/201725/10/2017

Recommended for PhD Confirmation

PhD Confirmation happens about 1.5 years into your research. It is a major milestone to check you are on track before you go out for data collection. Essentially, it is a pass or fail milestone – but they don’t actually say it like that, they call it ‘recommend to continue’ (pass) or ‘recommend to revise’ (fail).

After the candidate gives their 30-mins presentation, there is an open Q & A. Then everyone (including the candidate) is asked to leave and the panel (your supervisors, the HDR Convenor and your independent assessor) discuss the work in private. Then only the candidate is invited back in. Then, in private the panel give immediate feedback on the study and the presentation and let the candidate know if they are recommending for continuation or not.

On Friday I had my PhD Confirmation Seminar

PhD Confirmation is a big deal as it is the first time you show your research to anyone outside of your supervisory team. It is where you have to submit you first 4 dissertation chapters (Intro, Lit Review Theoretical Perspectives and Methodology). My first 4 chapters comes to 191 pages and 50,718 words. Two weeks after you submit your Confirmation paper, you present your work.

So on Friday, I presented my PhD Confirmation seminar to explain, justify and defend my bicycle NGO research study.

Here’s my PhD Confirmation flyer.

A Successful Seminar! Recommended for PhD Confirmation!

I’ve been recommended to proceed with my study!

It was a very stressful and interesting process putting the seminar together. Big decisions had to be made about what to leave in and what to leave out.

My study is pretty complex, but I managed to get it all organised on the day.

The seminar itself went well. There was a great turn out and it had the largest attendance to date! While waiting for the seminar to start, the audience started singing The Pushbike Song, which boosted the energy in the room instead of being so formal and academic (which it was) and made me feel very supported. There were some good questions at the end from the audience at the end, which I was able to answer and had slides prepared for (phew!) to the point where the questions almost looked like a plant (they weren’t!).

I got called back in and was asked the difficult questions in private. No surprises in the immediate feedback I received. The study will need more shaping and ‘massaging’ and I already have a few other ideas I’d like to change and discuss with my supervisors.

I get the Confirmation reports from my panel back in 1-2 weeks.

I’m very interested to hear the feedback!

The panel has recommended me for PhD Confirmation! Yahoo!

This recommendation goes to the Dean of School of Education & Professional Studies to be approved. It is rare that a panel’s recommendation is overturned, but I still have to wait for the official approval from the Dean.

I was completely wiped out at the end of the seminar.

For the last 4 weeks, it has been a massive big push to get my Confirmation paper prepared and then to arrange the seminar.

My brain is officially mush.

I am happy with the result, but too tired to celebrate just yet.

My main task over the weekend is to have a glass of red wine while reading a good book in the bath – and recharge!

04/10/201701/02/2022

Top List of Infosharing Software

The last post detailed the Advancing SQLR session I attended. At the end, I suggested a couple of design programs fellow PhDers might look at using to present their data. I got quite a few emails and requests for a full list – so here it is! If I am missing your favourite program or you have another suggestion, let me know in the comments below! Happy Designing! NG.

Pedalhistory.com-Bicycles.create.change.com — Source: Pedalhistory.com

As a bike researcher, one issue I wrestle is adequately communicating the dynamicism, embodied and affective nature of people cycling through place, time and space.

For me, 80,000 typed words, Excel tables and ‘theoretical anchors’ do not quite capture the thrill and rawness of riding a bike …(boring!!!).

I want my dissertation to bring my research to life – the bikes, the environment, the people, their stories and the African locations where my research is based. I want to capture it in all its glory…the sights, smells, topography, climate, risk, colour, activity…the lot.

So, I’m supplementing the written component of my PhD with a healthy dose of images, infographics and diagrams.

Producing these images has meant learning a few creative software packages. This has been challenging, but very rewarding. The design skills I’ve learnt are transferable for many purposes, like this blog!

History of cycling - Bicycles Create Change.com — Source: Infrographiclist.wordpress.com

My top list of Infosharing software programs.

Software Programs that are quick and easy for non-specialist users.

Canva
ChartsBin
Visualize Me
Venngage
Google Charts
Microsoft Excel (convert data to spidergrams, etc)
Worldmapper

Additional functions (free trial period/ full pay access)

A few scientist mates have shown me simulation and real-time graphics programs they use for presentations. But these are a whole different ball game…I’ll look at them later, maybe for presentations – not so much for dissertations! (Stay focused! Another post!!).

Using the list above can produce more engaging data like:

Sydney bike commuters by gender - Bicycles Create Change.com — Source: City of Sydney Council (n.d.)

Other ideas from Research into Action. Focused purely on communicating complex data, this site provides some innovative ideas to get inspired….their suggestions on this topic are:

StatPlanet: this browser-based interactive data visualization and mapping application allows you to create a wide range of visualizations, from simple Flash maps to more advanced infogrpahics.
Xtimeline: allows you to create your own timelines of data.
Gap Minder: this site created by Hans Rosling allows you to upload data and create an interactive motion charts and graphs.
Creately: this is easy to use Online Diagramming software – purpose built for team collaboration.
Hohli: this online chart maker is simple to use and allows you to create a range of colourful pie, line, scatter, radar and bar charts.
Tagcrowd: allows you to upload texts and highlight the most common concepts. The clouds can be exported as images and inserted in a website or power point presentation.
Wordle: similar to tagcloud, this application lets you create images out of key phrases and words relevant to your research, great for using in PowerPoint presentations.
Tableau: a free Windows-only software for creating colourful data visualisations.

Some examples of researchers presenting work in new innovative and visual ways:

Information is Beautiful: David McCandless, an ‘independent data journalist and information designer interested in how designed information can help us understand the world.”
Flowing Data: This blog explores how “designers, statisticians and computer scientists are using data to understand ourselves better.”
Afrographique: Ivan Colic’s “small contribution to assist the changing perception of Africa and it’s people…This blog aims to collect as much data as possible with the aim of presenting the information in an exciting and digestible format to all.
For inspiration and not so much for academic purposes, but shows how info can be presented in a very digestible way for the wider public – see Farming First. They have a series of infographics on agriculture and the green economy in the context of international development which are simple and clear.

Next steps

No more boring text-heavy Excel data tables!

Creative visual data is more interesting to create and far more engaging to read.

Get inspired with David McCandless’s video below and get experimenting to share more bike information!!

Good luck!

12/09/201715/09/2017

Bikes in Libraries

More bikes in libraries, please!!

Public libraries are a major hub for many communities. When I presented at the Australian National Walking and Cycling Conference in Adelaide in July, I suggested local libraries are an ideal location to integrate bicycles more into the daily community experience.

My approach was slightly subversive.

Instead of building massive expensive road transportation infrastructure to try and get more people cycling (Herculean effort!), smaller actions could be taken to ingratiate bicycles (not cycling) more into the everyday community experience. This kind of low-key familiarity and regular exposure to bikes would be ‘just part of the everyday experience’ for people. That is where I see bicycles become more socially accepted, especially by non-cycling people. This is where positive social change and greater community acceptance of bikes could be made.

So how can you start with libraries?

My suggestion was to decorate a series of bicycles in book genres. As an example I used my art bikes to help explain.

This is easily done. Decorate one bike as Romance, another with Cooking, another as Sci-Fi, Crime, Thriller….well…..you get the picture! Alternatively, you can use another theme, event or ‘International Day of the X’ ….or the library can come up with their own idea.

In any case, once decorated, each bike has a rack (bookshelf) hanging from it that offers books in the genre/theme.

There are add-on bonuses you can apply as well, like host a preceding community event to theme decorate the bikes.

As a case in point – I was delighted to see a variation of this suggestion already being enacted during the last fortnight as it was …

Australian Children’s Book Week 2017.

The last week in August was Australian Children’s Book Week 2017.

One of the winning books this year is called The Patchwork Bike by Van T. Rudd.

That means more bikes were in libraries! Woopee!

I was delighted to see a full bike related promotion featuring this event and The Patchwork Bike at my local library. This is what you saw as soon as you entered the main front door:

I love the bike and books – it is such a great combo.

It was a total coincidence that the children’s book Granny, Wait for Me! was featured on this blog in a recent post.

I saw some posters used by various Queensland schools promoting Children’s Book Week 2017 that also featured bicycles – this one is my special favourite as it also had a spunky redheaded rider (more redheaded bike riders, please!! See Ginger Rally here):

Some super progressive libraries have gone one step further.

At some rare University libraries, you can find reading bikes (below) where you can study and cycle. To date I have not seen these in any Australian libraries – if you have, please let me know!

These bike instalments have scientifically proven to significant positive impacts in learning/academic results, health outcomes and future livelihoods. A brilliant foray into this is the first chapter of John Matey’s book SPARK. It is an incredible read about how bicycles and exercise is having a significant impact on turning around the lives for hundreds of US students – especially those from low-socioeconomic schools. Awesome stuff!

Grab a copy of Spark from your local library – and ask them when they are installing a bike reading station while you are there!!

There are so many ways that bicycles can contribute and add value to readers, students and the general public.

Whether it is Children’s Book Week or not, it has been great to see bikes having a greater presence in libraries. It would be great to see bikes become a regular fixture within libraries, not just for special events.

I hope that there will be more creative and progressive integration of bicycles in more local, university and state libraries.

Until then – I have enjoyed seeing more bicycles being happily displayed in libraries to celebrate Children’s Book Week 2017.

Congrats to The Patchwork Bike for being one of this year’s winners!

25/08/201725/08/2017

PhD in Transport Opportunity

Here’s an opportunity for a bike-rider who wants a research challenge.

Earlier this week I met with Assoc. Prof. Matt Bourke after he contacted me to discuss a few projects he is working on and exchange some ideas. Matt is the Principal Research Fellow for the Cities Research Institute (CRI – Griffith Uni). I was delighted to find out he is a bike rider and to see cycling

I am always happy to met a fellow bike rider making positive change. It was great to see cycling paraphernalia dotted around his office. We need more prominent two-wheeling academics!

Matt and I have a number of research and interest overlap in non-motorised travel, physical activity and health and urban travel. However, my interests are squarely on bicycles, community engagement and contested spaces, whereas he is more transport planning, policy, design and implementation.

Which meant there was lots to talk about!

One interesting thing we discussed is that Matt is currently looking for a candidate to undertake a PhD in transport and equity with his team.

Anyone up for the challenge?

PhD in Transport Opportunity - Bicycles Create Change.com — Source: Griffith News Website

What is the focus area of this PhD?

The CRI forecasts requiring double the amount of post-graduate degree candidates within its first six months – this is part of that expansion.

Currently, CRI is focused on investigating ‘place based social policy in Australian cities’ and has over 100 students working on:

Urban planning and water: Towards a new institutional paradigm
Environmental management tools
Working with marginalised groups via cultural development practices
Improving state governance of Australian urban regions

What exactly is this PhD in Transport Opportunity?

Here are the details for SEEK. To apply and get the links click here.

Why is this PhD role so special?

This role also is very prestigious within the transport sector as it is working with CRI and Griffith University, which are highly regarded as:

Griffith University is in the top 100 in the world for Transportation Science & Technology in the latest Shanghai Rankings Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2017.
The Griffith Transport Research (GTR) team was awarded the Griffith Sciences ‘Excellence in a research team’ award for 2015.
GTR has at least ten PhD scholars working in transport research at any one time across the group.
The GRT has won six prestigious Australian Research Council grants since 2009, and they have collaborations with leading international researchers from Europe, North America and increasingly in Asia.
GTR work with and cross various disciplines including travel behaviour, transport & land use, transport economics, transport engineering, transport planning, transport law, logistics, and transport & environment.
Their work covers all modes including walking, cycling, public transport, ferries, roads, freight, shipping and aviation.
The new CRI is designed to become the pre-eminent Australian centre for trans-disciplinary research on the integration of infrastructure, place-making and community and economic development in cities.
This role is based at Griffith Uni’s Brisbane campus at Nathan in the Sir Samuel Griffith Building, which is an innovative flagship research building and is an award -winning 6-star sustainable building produces zero emissions.

I would love to see more bike riders taking an active role in research, planning and policy – and this is one great way to do it. A PhD is a serious undertaking, but for those who are up for the challenge, the results would be not only personal gains but would have significant positive and enduring impacts for the future of city development and for all community members. What a brilliant way to progress the cycling and active transportation agenda!

If interested, contact:

Assoc. Prof Burke
Skype or WeChat (with the username/ID ‘drmattburke’)
Phone: +61 7 3735 7106
Email: m.burke@griffith.edu.au