APPLICATION FOR SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE TEACHING AWARD 2014
Dr Suzel Reily, School of Creative Arts
Application for a Sustained Excellence Teaching Award 2014
1.
PREVIOUS TEACHING AWARDS (200 words maximum)
If you have ever previously won a Queen’s Teaching Award, please note the year and category (e.g.
Rising Star, Team etc) below. You should also provide a short explanation of how the work outlined in
this application differs from the work for which you were previously recognised.
I have never put in an application.
2.
CONTEXT FOR THE APPLICATION (300 words maximum)
Please provide a brief summary of your application and a context for your work. Examples of the
information you might include are; the subject you teach or the area of learning support you work in, the
type of learning and teaching/learning support activities you are involved in, how many learners are
involved, your particular learning and teaching/learning support interests and an outline of your overall
teaching/learning support philosophy?
This application is grounded in my pioneering use over more than a decade of web-based ICT in
teaching and learning, particularly as a means for presenting student work in Ethnomusicology.
My first endeavours involved the construction of a web-based teaching and learning tool as part
of the ‘Experience-Rich Anthropology Project’ centred at the University of Kent in 1997; in
conjunction with a junior researcher, I produced a ‘virtual field site’ based on John Blacking’s
ethnographic descriptions of the Venda girls’ initiation cycle. This made me aware of the potential
of this new technology to inspire students in their fieldwork projects: with websites they would be
able to present their texts as well as photos, moving images and recordings, leading to richer data
for ethnographic analysis. Furthermore, as the internet was becoming one of the primary sources
of information, I felt it critical that a university degree involve ‘internet literacy’. In 2000 I set up an
ethnographic web-construction station in the School of Anthropological Studies; within a few years
I had built up a ‘Hypermedia Lab’ with ten fully functional stations. This equipment allowed for a
number of parallel projects: 1) ‘Visualising the Parading Tradition of Northern Ireland’, in which
students were able to experiment with video editing as a means of communication and
dissemination of ethnographic information, by creating short ‘video essays’ from raw-footage of
the Northern Irish parading traditions; 2) web-based ‘special projects’, involving student
productions of virtual instrument museums and instructional websites on the performance of a
range of non-western instruments. Following the creation of blogs.qub.ac.uk, I have turned to this
platform for the presentation of student work, ranging from ethnographic websites to learning
journals/blogs and illustrated essays and reports. An activity that began with three students in
2000 now engages up to 80 a year.
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APPLICATION FOR SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE TEACHING AWARD 2014
3.
DISCUSSION
You should illustrate your discussion throughout with reference to specific learning and teaching/learning
support activities. You should also provide examples of the influence of learner feedback on your
learning and teaching/learning support practice.
(a)
Promoting and enhancing the learners’ experience (1000 words maximum)
I have been developing projects for web-based teaching and learning for well over a decade, one
project leading seamlessly into the next in response to student engagement, shifts in disciplinary
debates and advances in ICT and web-design technologies. In all the projects to be discussed
below, I have been guided by a concern with ensuring that teaching and learning fulfils a range
of academic objectives, developing both discipline-specific knowledge and skills as well as
diverse transferrable skills, from ICT skills, communication skills and aesthetic sensibilities in
diverse media to social and professional skills.
The very nature of ICT and website construction promotes practice-based learning, and as the
platform can accommodate diverse media, students can explore a range of communication media
beyond the textual, including image (still and moving), sound and graphics, and for many this kind
of work has helped them discover new interests. The broad spectrum of media students engage
with also provides a number of different opportunities through which students can demonstrate
their abilities. Students more inclined toward sonic or visual sensibilities have an opportunity to
excel in ways not possible in theory- and text-based modules.
For the instructor, teaching though web construction can be quite labour-intensive, as it requires
close and continuous monitoring of student work. Yet, it is also extremely rewarding. Because
web material can go live, students tend to see their work with a seriousness that is not always
present in class essays; in effect, they experience a blurring of the divide between student work
and professional activity. Furthermore, working together in the lab promotes teamwork, and one
can visibly document the exchanges between students as, together, they work out how to solve
the various issues that turn up during the constructions of their sites. Some students become
extremely engrossed in their productions and spend hours on the details of their work. The very
labour-intensive nature of the platform also tends to assist students in learning how to organise
their work schedules across the semester/year.
Student evaluations of my models involving the web are generally very positive, with overall
assessments at 4 or above (with only one exception, though I have been reassured that
colleagues teaching this same cohort also received uncharacteristic ratings). While some
students have indicated the modules require more hours of work than other modules,
performance is typically high. For instance, of the 32 Level 2 and 3 students enrolled in Local
Musicking in 2012/13, which involved web-based learning blogs, 12 (or 37%) concluded with a
First Class mark. While this is somewhat higher than other modules, the fact that students are
pursuing projects of their own choosing, clearly affects their engagement.
Student appreciation of this practical mode of teaching and learning is evident in module
evaluation forms, particularly in the section in which they are asked to identify elements of ‘good
practice’, where the most frequent comments draw attention to the internet dimensions of the
course.
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APPLICATION FOR SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE TEACHING AWARD 2014
While the issues above pertain to all the various ICT projects I have been developing over the
years, different projects presented their own challenges. It is to these that I now turn.
The ‘Music Making in Belfast’. This project was a response to my concern that ethnomusicology
students be trained in the analysis of field data in a range of media. Up until the late 1990s a
module called ‘Research Methods in Ethnomusicology’ was assessed through a portfolio
including a descriptive text of a musical event, a ‘photo essay’, a recoding and its transcription
and analysis, and the transcription of a music-related interview. After I made a website I realised
this technology could serve as a platform for the portfolio. I secured funding from the ViceChancellor's Fund in 2000 to set up a station, which allowed the School of Anthropological Studies
to purchase hardware, software and research equipment, establishing what perhaps was then
the most advanced hypermedia station specifically tailored to Ethnomusicology in the UK.
Students involved in the project identified a musical community in Belfast upon which to base
their sites, which they documented using a range of media. In the first year there were three
students, but numbers grew, requiring more computers. Ultimately a new module for both
ethnomusicology and anthropology students was created: ‘Hypermedia and Ethnographic
Representation’.
Hypermedia and Ethnographic Representation. This module is now taught in a ten-station
Hypermedia Lab. The recent creation of ‘blogs.qub.ac.uk’, which uses WordPress, an intuitive,
user-friendly software, has facilitated teaching, and allowed for further developments in student
web work.
From the start this was a project-based module, focusing on the production of ethnographic
websites. Given that the projects are not conventional essays, markers have found them difficult
to assess. Therefore I implemented two measures: 1) a module report, in which students point
out what they did to the ethnographic material, and why they did it; 2) the production of
‘assessment guidelines’, indicating that the sites is evaluated on the quality of the ethnographic
information as well as the match between the use of non-textual media in representing the
ethnography.
‘Visualising the Parading Tradition of Northern Ireland: the art of the “video-essay”’. A grant from
the Annual Fund allowed for the production of raw footage of the 2005 parading season in
Northern Ireland. A pre-edited selection of this footage was made available to students for the
production of two-minute ‘video essays’, focusing on one dimension of parading (e.g., types of
band, instruments, symbolism, gender, differences between Protestant and Catholic parades
etc.). The main cohort to construct video essays were students enrolled in the first-year module
‘Musics of the World’.
4) ‘Learning blogs’. After adopting WordPress for Hypermedia, I realised blogs.qub.ac.uk was
well-suited to ‘learning journals/blogs’. LJs were already an integral part of several modules,
because they encourag students to keep up with the reading and monitor their own learning.
However, the provision of continuous feedback is problematic. By transforming LJs into LBlogs,
student sites they became central repositories for course submissions. I could to access them
regularly and keep track of student engagement with the module.
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APPLICATION FOR SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE TEACHING AWARD 2014
(b)
Supporting colleagues and influencing support for student and/or staff learning
(350 words maximum)
My initiatives in the educational use of ICT have had a range of impacts, among which are:
1) Impact on colleagues. Since adopting the QUB WordPress blogging technology I have
been contacted by several staff members from various departments regarding my
experience. This led to invitations to participate in workshops run by the University’s Centre
for Educational Development to discuss my initiatives with colleagues across the
University. I have also produced an article for Reflections (Dec 2013), titled ‘Using blogs
as student learning journals’, to share my experiences with the wider QUB community. On
a more informal basis, I have acted as ‘consultant’ to Anthropology colleagues and
students over the years, providing advice on ICT equipment and assistance in various webbased initiatives.
2) Student careers. Participation in my ICT initiatives has had very concrete impacts on the
career directions of some students. Dr Jonathan McIntosh, for instance, was one of the
three students involved in the ‘Music Making in Belfast’ project during his 2nd year as an
undergraduate student; today he runs a course in the Ethnomusicology programme at the
University of Perth, modelled on ‘Hypermedia and Ethnographic Representation’. Dr Ray
Casserly, whose engagement with ICT-based learning began with a ‘video essay’ in the
‘Visualising the Parading Tradition of Northern Ireland’ project, acted as TA for
‘Hypermedia’ during his doctoral studies, and last semester he was appointed lecturer for
the module; his own research outputs have a strong web presence. At least two UGs
followed on with MAs in Web-design after making an ethnographic website in
Ethnomusicology.
3) International Impact. I provided consultancy to the Music Department of the University of
Rio de Janeiro, assisting them in setting up their Ethnographic Hypermedia Laboratory. I
have delivered papers at international conferences on different aspects of ethnographic
web construction as an educational tool and for the dissemination of research material,
and I have published on the subject and acted as website reviews editor for an international
journal.
4) Other arenas of impact include increased visibility of Ethnomusicology and Anthropology
at Queen’s and contributions to the community through exposure of local ethnographic
information.
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APPLICATION FOR SUSTAINED EXCELLENCE TEACHING AWARD 2014
(c)
Ongoing professional development (350 words maximum)
My undergraduate degree is in Music Education, and it was undertaken within a programme that
emphasised practical learning. This is an orientation I have found assists students in grasping the
relevance of the learning experience. For this reason I have insisted on integrating ensemble
performance in non-western musical styles into Ethnomusicology at Queen’s. The embedding of
ICT into teaching and learning was also guided by this orientation: while it provides a platform for
integrating a range of documentary media, it also creates an arena for developing useful and lifeenhancing transferable skills.
Work with ICT required special training as well as considerable hands-on practical experience. I
received my initial training in web construction in 1997, during a three-day visit from the directors
of the ‘Experience-Rich Anthropology’ project, followed by a month of residence at the University
of Kent. Further updating was achieved through consultation with QUB staff in the ICT
departments as well as short courses and self-instruction using practical manuals. QUB’s ICT
technical staff also gave a number of workshops on the use of University software facilities within
my modules, at which I was present. This ensured that the technologies we used were both as
up-to-date as possible and available within Queen’s.
The very progression in the development of new projects and the expansion of my web-based
work demonstrates my processes of reflection both on how new media can be effectively
integrated into teaching, learning and assessment at all academic levels (including myself), and
on how to respond to the challenges of such work.
The process was set in motion in response to concerns about how to stimulate students to engage
critically with diverse communications media. Discussions with colleagues, external examiners
and student module evaluations contributed to the development of assessment guidelines for
student projects. I was first inspired to use Learning Journals in my courses following efforts in
the dissemination of good practice within the university; after looking at a range of available
models, I adapted the practice to the requirements of my modules. I am now advancing the use
of learning blogs to the wider university community.
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