APPLICATION FOR STUDENT-NOMINATED TEACHING AWARD 2012
QUB TEACHING AWARDS
APPLICATION FOR STUDENT-NOMINATED TEACHING AWARD 2012
Name (including title)
Dr Paul Murphy
School/Department: Creative Arts/Drama
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APPLICATION FOR STUDENT-NOMINATED TEACHING AWARD 2012
1.
CONTEXT FOR THE APPLICATION (300 words maximum)
Please provide a context for your application. This should consist of an introductory statement about
your contribution to learning and teaching/learning support to date. 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?
I teach Drama in the School of Creative Arts and deliver undergraduate and postgraduate modules in
theatre history and performance analysis, covering a number of subjects variously incorporating
scholarship-based and practice-based learning. My teaching is to a large extent research-led, currently
including the elective Level 3 modules DRA3009 20th Century Irish Theatre (19 students) and DRA3057
Theatre and Social Justice (18 students) and MA module Contemporary Irish Theatre (10 students).
Each of these modules is inflected through broader research interests focussing on the cultural politics of
representation, social justice and critical engagement with socio-economic hierarchies. Over the years I
have taught a large number of modules that contribute to the broader curriculum including the current
Level 2 core DRA2002 Modernist Theatre (57 students) and the Level 3 elective module DRA3013
Shakespeare in Performance (31 students).
My teaching philosophy involves a full spectrum approach incorporating a variety of learning strategies
and support mechanisms. For all modules detailed lectures are supported by extensive supporting
material available on QOL. Lecture notes are available online in advance of the lecture, thus enhancing
the learning experience particularly for students with disabilities who need extra support. Seminars are
intensive to the extent that they involve a high degree of student participation in terms of independent
study and often involve the requirement to work effectively in groups to achieve a common objective.
Feedback is an intrinsic part of the learning experience insofar as students receive feedback on a regular
basis in both formative and summative formats. The continual assessment aspect of seminar
participation involves a high degree of robust moderation and interdepartmental collaboration. In this
respect colleagues frequently observe learning and assessment procedures during the course of the
module. Colleagues are then able to offer informed analysis and thus facilitate overall module
development and feedback for learners.
2.
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)
My involvement in promoting and enhancing the learners’ experience is manifest in three broad areas:
syllabus development and teaching activities; assessment methods and learner feedback; transferable
skills.
1. Syllabus Development and Teaching Activities
During the course of my career at QUB I have been responsible for overseeing the development of the
core curriculum, particularly the ethos governing the design and delivery of core modules across all three
Levels of undergraduate provision. The provision of teaching in a part-lab subject such as Drama
involves particular challenges in terms of integrating scholarship-based and practice-based learning into
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APPLICATION FOR STUDENT-NOMINATED TEACHING AWARD 2012
a coherent curriculum. I developed an approach which has since become the foundation for assessment
in the core curriculum of dividing the assessment weighting the between practice-based provision in
seminars and workshops, and scholarship-based learning assessed in essays and examinations. The
precise weighting varies slightly for each core module, but the difference in assessment weighting
enables a more balanced approach to delivery of part-lab teaching provision. In addition to the focus on
overall assessment structures, I was responsible for the design and implementation of each of the five
core modules. This required extensive analysis of module outlines to ensure consistency and parity of
learning outcomes, module content and weekly schedules to ensure that students received the optimum
learning experience at each respective Level of provision.
The core module DRA2002 Modernist Theatre exemplifies this approach insofar as it is composed of
three different assessment methods each focussing on a different aspect of the learning experience
including: continual assessment during seminars (40%); coursework essays (30%); and a timed
examination (30%). The learning experience in seminars is enhanced by the lectures, which are
deliberately given one week in advance in order to facilitate independent study, rehearsal and
preparation for seminars. Lectures involve extensive use of multi-media including PowerPoint, video
clips or the cloud-based Prezi software package, all of which is available on QOL in advance of the
lecture for students to access in addition to supplementary material.
A key innovation developed in this module and applied across both the core and elective curriculum is
the integration of both scholarship and practice-based learning into seminars in the form of weekly
presentation and related discussion. At the start of the semester seminars are split into two research
groups, which alternate each week between presentation and discussion based on the lecture given the
previous week. Presentation groups are required to develop a research question to form the
investigative framework of their 15-minute presentation and explain their conclusions in the rehearsal
report. Those groups not presenting in any given week are required to initiate discussion based on the
presentation. Students are advised that both presentation and discussion groups are assessed each
week. The presentation aspect enables students to engage in both independent study in preparation
leading to group rehearsal and execution of the seminar presentation. Students are facilitated by having
an hour prior to the seminar to finalize any technical aspects of their presentation and are supported by
qualified technical staff. The presentation then serves as a platform for discussion as the group not
presenting in the seminar are required to ask the presentation groups questions, which serve to
significantly enhance the learning experience for all present. The dialogic nature of this method renders
the seminar tutor as a moderator of democratic debate in which every student is able to engage in
learning activities in a mutually supportive environment.
In every year that this method has been used student feedback has been consistently high and
attendance across the semester has been similarly high due to the concentrated nature of the learning
experience. External examiner feedback has been very positive to the extent that the application of this
method has been encouraged across the Drama curriculum.
2. Assessment Methods and Learner Feedback,
Various assessment methods are employed in my modules, and the method used to assess seminar
presentation and discussion in the module described above is particularly innovative. Students are
assessed each week in terms of their achievement in either presentation or discussion, which builds to a
final grade continual assessment grade, which is part of the overall assessment for the module. During
the course of the module colleagues are invited to attend seminars to observe the learning experience
and offer robust moderation. A quarter of the total seminars are recorded on DVD for external examiners
to review during their assessment of the module. In addition to continual assessment during seminars,
coursework essays and timed examinations are also used to enhance the learning experience.
In accordance with QUB assessment policy on feedback and the recent NSS survey on the need for
more feedback, all of my modules have feedback integrated to all aspects of assessment. Formative oral
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APPLICATION FOR STUDENT-NOMINATED TEACHING AWARD 2012
feedback is provided on a weekly in all seminars, where the seminar tutor spends the last five minutes of
the seminar providing feedback on the presentation and discussion groups, emphasizing achievements
and offering constructive criticism on where improvements can be made. The tutor asks the students if
they have any questions and if they have any feedback on the module in order that their feedback can
be integrated during the course of the semester. Summative written feedback on continuous
assessment at the end of the course in the form of a comprehensive statement which outlines the
assessment feedback in terms of the respective level of achievement, in line with Oral Presentation
Assessment Criteria stated in the Drama Handbook. Summative written feedback on essays is provided
in the form of a comprehensive statement accompanied by annotations in the form of MS Comments for
electronically submitted work, which is now standard across my modules, and many of the modules in
Drama.
3. Transferable Skills
In all of my modules transferable skills are built into the learning outcomes and are integral to the
learning experience. Typical embedding of transferable skills with learning outcomes includes: creative
and imaginative skills as shown through the realisation of practical research projects; communication in a
variety of oral, written, visual and performance media; developing ideas and constructing arguments and
the capacity to present them in appropriate ways; understanding of group dynamics and an ability to
implement them in practical contexts.
(b)
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(c)
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Supporting colleagues and influencing support for student learning (350 words maximum)
I have been responsible for liaising with colleagues in Drama in terms of integrating provision across
the core curriculum particularly in terms of the PDP Personal Tutor system and Degree Plus.
I have worked closely with colleagues in QUB’s Disability Service, in order to provide students with
disabilities with a wide variety of support for learning.
I have worked closely with colleagues in QUB’s Learning Support Service, in order to provide
students with an array of options to help them overcome their learning difficulties.
I have been a member of a number of ad hoc groups, in which I have supported junior colleagues
through their probationary periods.
I was heavily involved in the recent Educational Enhancement Process in which Drama emerged as
one of the most effective subject areas for the provision of high quality learning experience.
I have delivered a training session to postgraduate students as part of the Research Methodologies
pathway in order to prepare them for graduate study and to become more employable after they
have completed their studies.
In addition to PhD supervision within my own School, I am about to become a secondary supervisor
for a PhD student in the School of English
Ongoing professional development (350 words maximum)
I was involved with online discussion fora for PALATINE (Performing Arts Learning and Teaching
Innovation Network), which was the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Dance, Drama
and Music (2000-2011).
I am involved in departmental input to the new version of the HEA subject centre for Drama, Dance
and Music and will be a representative at future fora.
I am coordinator of the new Drama Studies peer review forum, which facilitates intradepartmental
collaboration and constructive critique of learning and assessment protocol.
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