Project Introduction: Metaphor, embodied learning and WBL( See update Notes)

The project aim is to provide a practical teaching resource and theoretical framework for the life-changing impact reported by past Work Based Learning candidates at the Institute, inform the quality of reflective writing and create a professional working research tool that enhances the personal impact of the work based learning experience.

The study is an exploration of the implications of McGilchrist, I, (2009) The Master and his Emissary, Yale,Brooks, D. (2011). The Social Animal: A Story of How Success Happens, Random House. Foley, M. (2010). The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to be Happy. London, Simona and Schuster. Gauntlett, D. (2011). Making is Connecting: The Social Meaning of Creativity. Cambridge, Polity. Ramachandran, V. R. (2011). The Tell-Tale Brain: Unlocking the Mystery of Human Nature. London, Heinemann..

The Project Explores:

1) Why reflective learning produce such a sense of pleasure, surprise and fulfillness as well as work based effectiveness?
2) Will students find knowledge of why this is so, an aid to engage in reflective learning?
3) What appropriate teaching resources can be created, based on these discoveries to achieve 2?

The Research Process:

The structure of the study will be:
Stage 1: A series of short videos. See video 1, See video 2
Stage 2: A lecture. See video 3 Work Based Futures V Derby Conference presentation
Stage 3: Workshops and academic papers arising from the events CDE Conference Poster
Stage 4: Research Proposal bids for investigation into the use of metaphor in IWBL videos 2010-2011 See Index of Videos See proposal outline

Possible development
A comparison with the current views of Plato, Nietzsche and Heidegger and in the philosophy of Work Based Learning in the field. Philosphical studies may be less than complete. They provide only part of the picture, one sided - right hemisphere view informing the value of work based learning.

Video 1:How Metaphors Work

Video 2: Writing as metaphor

Designed for:

a) Work based learning teaching staff.
b) Students on OasisPlus using the new server for trial.

Notes so far:

1) 3rd Oct 2010: Creation of first exploratory video

The issue is that we are largely oblivious to the embodied, experiential operation of metaphor in every aspect of our lives. Any metaphor we utter is the process of a whole physical embodied experience of an individual in the world (Lakoff and Johnson). We are not aware of its significance. There is a big possibility that the response to video 1 as it stands may be, so what or I don't understand the connection?

There is a need to try and relate how the operation of metaphor is, not as a window into or example of, or way into understanding, but the way the brain is, and the way it operates. The structure of the two hemispheres is the result of evolution - the need for fine concentrated activity as well as the wide overview for survival. This is the big picture as propsed by McGhilchrist. The brain is a metaphor of our world.

What we do in Work Based Learning is an example of the big picture. The Work Based Learning process - fine detail of project activity (left hemisphere) and reflection upon the work (right hemisphere) mirrors the operation of the brain.

In Work Based Learning Courses candidates use the whole of their brains - both hemisphere - and as a result we experience the wholeness.

I think I will try another exposition that encapsulate the concept in more detail in the second video to be done next week, perhaps with the Sheamus Heaney and Beowulf thole pin example to front end it.

This might be followed up with IWBL interviews with candidates which specifically focus on evidence of the relationship between whole person and business success in more detail.

The concept 'The Power of Metaphor in Work Based Learning': as described above is strictly protected as the intellectual property of Dr Mike Howarth dste 3rd Oct 2010

This proposal arises from the paper delivered at the Middlesex Annual Learning and Teaching Conference- Engaging the Digital Generation in Academic Literacy 29th June 2010 called The Self-Editor: a strategy for improving reflective writing.

The study is inspired by Ian McGilchrist's The Master and his Emissary

2) 20th September 2011: First public trial of project Ideas at Derby Futures Conference - (15th-16th Sept)

A deliberate methodology that starts with practical activity. A presentation without notes or PowerPoint to test the process of physical activity, - embodied learning - that is the core of the project.

I am employing video as a learning tool. In this 'trial by video' , a rocky rough at the edges presentation is captured and used as the base for reflection.

Now I know why staff don't want to be videod. Watching yourself perform is very painful, but an excellent training ground. But learning by mistakes is so important.

It is essential to explore a presentation method that involves physical activity, workshop activities and movement.

It would have been so easy to read a formal paper and use slides to hang the story. But this is not the world of work based learning. It is also a way of getting ready to meet the demands of being a teacher in the workplace, where thinking on your feet, relating to people, being aware of the aural, thinking and acting in 3D space, supporting insights and learning in the workplace.

I suppose my approach is exploring a model of the work based learning adviser asa development of the traditional training officer organising apprentices and their trainer, tutor, teacher - now mentor, with special skills of reflective learning.