ArtsSpace - Inspiration, Cultural Diversity
and The Arts
Dr Janice K Jones
Senior Lecturer Arts Education
School of Linguistics, Adult and Specialist Education
USQ Applied Linguistics Group, Leadership Research International
Group
University of Southern Queensland Learning and
Teaching Grant Scheme December 2nd
2015 Showcase
Open Textbook Initiative

Acknowledgement of Country
I acknowledge the traditional
custodians of the lands where
USQ teaching and research is
conducted: the Gaibal,
Jarowair, Ugarapul and
Butchulla peoples of
Queensland. I honour the
wisdom of Elders past, present
and future, seeking to walk
together in the spirit of
reconciliation.
Image: Jada DENNISON/Untitled/2015/acrylic
monoprint/60 x 42 cm

The arts are…
 …foundational to historical, social, cultural and aesthetic
understandings and appreciation.
 …a vital means of human expression, inquiry and
meaning-making.
 …a way to self understanding, aesthetic awareness, and
sensitivity to other ways of seeing the world
 To effectively engage diverse learners teachers must
develop curriculum knowledge, skills, pedagogies and
practices.
BUT….

The Australian Curriculum for the Arts
 …all young Australians are entitled to engage with the
five Arts subjects and should be given an opportunity to
experience the special knowledge and skills base of
each.
 All students study dance, drama, media arts,
music and visual arts — from Foundation to the
end of primary school. Schools will be best placed
to determine how this will occur.
 Secondary (yr 7/ 8) ‘experience some’ subjects in
more depth. (yr 9–12, students will be able to
specialise in one or more Arts subjects as part of
their overall curriculum package.

Lines, boxes, borders, boundaries
 When pre-service educators begin their undergraduate
programs to become teachers, most have had minimal
experience of the arts since primary school.
 My research data captured over 3 years with future
primary school educators confirms the majority are
fearful of teaching the arts and most doubt their own
creativity.
 All want to know how to ‘tick the right box’ to get a HD

The challenge – supporting learning
 Primary: A single 10
week course with 2
week practicum –
students’ only
experience of 5 arts
strands
 Drama, Dance,
Media, Music, Visual
Arts
 Fully online
 Secondary/MOLT:
Single course to cater
for specialist teachers
years 7 – 10 and 11
– 12.
 Lower school – 5 arts
strands
 Upper school – art
subject specialist
 Fully online

Limits to my/our thinking

Storytelling – How we learn
 This is my story about learning in the creation of an
‘Open Book’
 I had not expected this to be such a dramatic, exciting
and transformative experience!
 But – it is also about institutional learning – and the
kinds of systems and supports that will be needed as
universities shift from a ‘one size’ paradigm to embrace
new ways of working.

In the beginning…
 A wordpress site with
OER resources for the
5 arts strands
 An emphasis upon
providing meaningful
and culturally varied
arts examples
 Invitations sent to
colleagues world wide
 Students curated CC
BY SA resources for
the five arts strands
as an assessment
task
 Peer reviewed and
improved
 Sites included useful
arts content for
teaching

Disappointments…
 You can make, create
and share – and
others will read and
perhaps comment
 BUT – none added
original content
 I knew how to create
a website or blogsite
but not how to make
it secure
 Masses of spam –
despite efforts to
adjust settings
 Student curated sites
were uninspiring. All
included useful items
but without any
cultural or connecting
narrative.

Gales of Creative Destruction?

Sleepless nights = new thinking

The ‘Dance’ - Shiva: Creator/Destroyer
 When things go VERY wrong, when they break badly –
this is a wonderful learning opportunity.
 My website was hacked by ‘Hard Hitter’.
 ICT could not help – this was not a university computer.
The site was not a university site.
 Expert friends could not help. Keychain made it
impossible to open up any programs or to do any work.
 Apple back up technicians forgot to guide me through
one important stage – so many settings and programs
were lost.
 I lost weeks of work and was further delayed by the
need to completely re-install the OS on my new
Macbook Air and buy a MS Office installation.

Beyond the ‘Book’
 By now I was in great anxiety. The panel advised against
creating a WikiBook. I am glad as this forced me back to
my earlier thinking but from a new angle.
 Akash Odedra is a dancer: he has always struggled to
express his ideas through the written word
 In Murmur he repositions the centuries old dance
vocabulary of the Kathak dance tradition in a modern
and digital performance context.
 Dance is another language: Odedra re-casts narratives
of dyslexia – not as a failure to comply with the rules of
order in telling of stories – but as a new language
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T49IjKho5y8
 Metaphor – beyond the book - from 5.45

The OER project transformed –
 Why a book? Why
‘deliver’ Arts
Curriculum content?
 Disrupt boundaries
 Start from ancient
myths, mysteries,
narratives, difference
voices, ways of
seeing, disonnances
http://janicekjones.com
 A blogsite, pinterest,
site stimulus for work
by/with pre-service
teachers
 Linked Facebook site
for artists
 Starting from the
earth, the elements,
Indigenous peoples,
stories, mysteries

The flow…
http://janicekjones.com/

Where next?
 Continue to build the
WordPress site
 Engage Arts Council
Toowoomba to post
and share works
 Grow Facebook,
Twitter, and Pinterest
sites
 Physical and virtual
Art exhibition linked to
site in late 2016
 Create new page for
USQ Makerspace –
allowing sharing of
knowledge, skills,
videos
 Encourage sharing of
creative writing and
arts products and
research– from USQ
education courses

Thanks to colleagues
and students at the
University of Southern
Queensland for
supporting this journey -
we are all leaders in
learning.

Thank you –Helpers on the Journey
University of Southern Queensland Teaching Excellence and the expert
panel of USQ advisors
Professor Helen Partridge (PVC Scholarly Information and Learning Services)
Professor Ken Udas DVC (Academic Services) and Chief Information Officer
Adrian Stagg
Lisa Aurisch
Tim McCallum
David Jones
Kate Judith and team
Eric Kong
Janice Kann
Priya Jose and Ron Pauley

References
Odedra A. (2014).Murmur. TedGlobal 2014.
https://www.ted.com/talks/aakash_odedra_a_dance_in_a_hurricane_of_paper_wind_
and_light?language=en
"Fire close up texture" by Titus Tscharntke - http://www.public-domain-
image.com/public-domain-images-pictures-free-stock-
photos/miscellaneous-public-domain-images-pictures/fire-flames-
pictures/fire-close-up-texture.jpg. Licensed under Public Domain via
Wikimedia Commons -
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fire_close_up_texture.jpg#/medi
a/File:Fire_close_up_texture.jpg
Vassil (2007) Shiva Nataragja. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File
%3AShiva_Nataraja_Mus%C3%A9e_Guimet_25971.jpg