The Practice-based Professional Learning CETL (PBPL) warmly invite you to join them at the following events hosted by PBPL Fellows at the Open University in Milton Keynes. The events will run between 3.30 and 5.30pm.  Each will have a slightly different format depending on the host but there will always be plenty of time for discussion.

Wednesday 26th March
Responding to emotion in work-based learning
Lucy Rai
Assessed writing involving reflective or experiential elements is common in work-based learning, such as social work. Tutors and students involved in social work education can struggle with the personal and emotive content of reflective writing (Rai 2008). This struggle is exacerbated by the fact that this very personal writing is assessed.  One solution, as suggested elsewhere (Boud, 1999) would be to exclude reflective writing from formal assessment. This is unlikely to be acceptable within social work education due to the nature of the discipline, its curriculum and professional standards. The continued assessment of reflective writing challenges the academy to take account of the emotional impact of such academic work on participants.

This workshop will consider the relevance of experiential writing to academic study in the context of professional learning, and explore some strategies for recognising and managing emotion arising from the inclusion of reflective writing in professional education. In particular, it will explore the benefits of creating a space for dialogue which can recognise the social, educational and historical factors, which influence students' writing practices. Although academic feedback is commonly written, the complexity and emotive content of reflective writing suggests that oral dialogue in some form is important in enabling tutors to respond sensitively to the highly personal nature of the self-disclosures.

A 30 - 40 minute presentation will be followed by discussion relevant to those with an interest in any area of practice-based learning and not confined to social work.

Wednesday 30th April
Learning as if doing things differently mattered
Caroline Ramsey

Gregory Bateson wrote of “the difference that makes a difference”; what would learning look like if we wanted to change the world around us rather than change the interior of a person? Do ‘I’ need to be changed on the inside, i.e. learn some knowledge or skill to do things differently? Is knowing crucial to learning, changing and affecting the world?  At a recent conference, speakers referred to over twenty different types of ‘knowledge’. At what stage does a constant refinement and re-defining of a concept render the original concept unhelpful?  And if we are interested in improved, professional practice as an output of learning, then is an intermediate stage of ‘getting to know’ something really necessary?
 
So what would a higher education not centred on knowing or knowledge look like?  Is the idea simply preposterous?  Ignore the question of whether such an idea is true and ask instead might it be useful. After all, not all of Newton’s propositions are true but his ideas still seem to be helpful to engineers. What would a non-knowing higher education involve?  How would we know that it had been undertaken successfully? What would we have to sell in our brave new, commercialised, commodified higher education world?
These questions and more will probably not be fully answered by Caroline in this interactive workshop. However, she will use such questions as a backdrop to discussion about what a practice centred learning might involve. Additionally, she will explore how a revised mode of learning could support a university’s agenda for employer engagement.  She is highly unlikely to make any conclusions but will probably provoke debate and discussion and, just possibly, one or two ‘maybes’ in our practice of higher education scholarship.
 
 
Wednesday 28th May
Why character matters in practice-based learning
Ann Gallagher
 
This paper examines the potential of a virtue-based approach to respond to everyday ethical issues in practice-based learning situations. The paper draws on perspectives from social psychology and applied ethics. Situationist critiques of character will be addressed and I will suggest how a situated virtue-based approach enables us to understand ethical failings and aspire to practice learning that facilitates human flourishing.
 

If you would like to attend any of the sessions, please complete the relevant sign up form which can be found at http://www.open.ac.uk/pbpl/events/ or send a mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it to let us know.