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Helping to bridge the generational gap

Posted on 1 December, 2017 by Eve
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Dr Tony Young tells us about how a new app ‘Ticket to Talk’ developed through funding from the ESRC IAA, is helping young carers communicate to people living with dementia

Earlier research I’d done found that young people – especially teenagers with care responsibilities for older relatives – would benefit greatly from access to resources, information and tools that enable them to increase their confidence and skills for communicating with people living with dementia. It also found that the content and resources available in DemTalk, an existing advice package, provides a useful starting point however it also identified a number of barriers to using the resource for this age group for example that the primary mode of accessing the internet for teenage participants was via smartphones. The advice offered did not always map fully onto younger people’s experiences of, and needs related to, dementia care and so Ticket to Talk was born.

The team worked with a local charity Youth Focus North East (YFNE) to co-design and co-develop a new app that enables young people – especially young carers – to access the resources and information in DemTalk, contributing their own perspectives and experiences to the content and to privately share their experiences with other DemTalk users. During this process we also engaged other groups to get their feedback too. We have spoken to carer services from Northumberland Council to publicise the work done so far. We also talked at a North East Dementia Alliance event in order to raise awareness of the work. Ideas informing DemTalk in general, and the App in particular also featured in the recent Newcastle University Massive Open Online Course ‘staying connected and living well with dementia’ where possible we want to generate conversations about dementia and help all those affected by it.

Workshop co-designing the ticket to talk app with Youth Focus North East

Ticket to Talk hopes to encourage conversation between younger people and grandparents, friends or people they care for who are experiencing dementia. The app is designed to help collect and curate digital media (”tickets”) to be used to prompt and stimulate talk, conversation and reminiscence between younger people and those they are close to with dementia.

After a tremendous amount of hard work from everyone involved we are delighted that the new app, available for Apple and Android platforms is now available for free. The underlying source code is also available, so it can be downloaded by as many people as possible. Starting conversations can be hard for anyone caring for those living with dementia, we hope this app is a way of making that process a bit easier.

Find out more about the app here and the latest work of Youth Focus North East here

Posted in ESRC Impact Acceleration Account | Tagged app, carers, communities, dementia, ESRC IAA, Impact, ticket to talk, young people, youth forcus north east | Leave a reply

Thinking about Learning Communities

Posted on 9 October, 2017 by Eve
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Louise Wilson shares her experience of developing Learning Communities in a project funded through by the ESRC IAA

Something magical happens when a group of people create a space for themselves to talk authentically about their work. When people can decide for themselves what is needed to take part in honest and open conversations, participants tackle the real challenges they face and share practical wisdom about how to overcome barriers: confidence increases, practice improves and trust builds.

Dr Toby Lowe saw these sparks of magic when he worked with participatory arts organisations to find a better way of talking about ‘what good looks like’. The approach, which became the Learning Community model, builds on theories about complexity, positive error culture and reflexive practice. And it turns out that it’s not just the participatory arts that can benefit from enabling authentic, honest conversations – the approach has been evaluated in the voluntary sector, health and social care and these benefits hold there too.

I was introduced to the Learning Communities approach through conversations with Toby about performance, quality and how to know if one’s own practice is making a difference. I was lucky that my own organisation adopted the approach so I experienced the benefits first hand – my whole approach to uncertainty changed overnight as I gained more confidence to seek out colleagues’ wisdom when I got stuck in my efforts to do the best I could for my clients and projects.

So what is needed for more of us who have had those head-in-hands-what-do-I-do-now moments to be able to utilise the Learning Communities approach, and bring about those benefits for our own practice, clients and organisations? How can we build capacity to deliver the approach? An important component is to build the knowledge, skills and confidence to set up, design and facilitate Learning Communities through training Facilitators how to help participants create and maintain that space to talk authentically.

Thanks to the ESRC IAA, Toby and I worked together with colleagues to develop a Facilitator Toolkit – a training programme, a handbook and the means for Facilitators to talk and develop their practice. The handbook – available on the KITE website- and training brings together the theory, philosophy and practical delivery of Learning Communities – the subsequent on-line and face-to-face meetings are where Facilitators then share their practical wisdom. The ideas that emerge here inform improvements to the Toolkit and implementation.

Louise Wilson presents a poster about Learning Communities

We’ve presented a poster about the approach at two regional events and are now working with the Facilitators to understand more about the barriers and facilitators to extending access and adoption. Ever wished for a magic wand in our complex and messy practice? Maybe this is a way of bringing about just a little of that magic.

Posted in ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, Uncategorized | Tagged adult learning, communities, ESRC IAA, KITE | Leave a reply

Scotswood Natural Community Garden: a sensory exploration for the co-production of a new facility

Posted on 29 June, 2017 by Eve
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Here Daniel Mallo, Abigail Schoneboom and Armelle Tardiveau tell us about the ongoing work on their recent  ESRC IAA funded project based in Scotswood Natural Community Garden. 

Scotswood Natural Community Garden (SNCG), an independent charity, is located in Newcastle upon Tyne in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest 10% for income, health, employment, education and training deprivation in the UK. SNCG is the only natural green space in the area and one of very few organisations in the North East offering nature-based interventions for disadvantaged people. Established in 1995 and designed by the local community, the 2.5-acre garden includes wildflower meadows, forests, woodland, ponds and fruit and vegetable gardens. Last year over 5000 people participated in the garden’s activities or visited the garden.

This ESRC IAA funded project aims to engage garden users and stakeholders (volunteers, youth groups, staff, trustees, school staff and local people) in a participatory design and research process that explores the value of SCNG to its key users, working towards a shared vision for the future of the garden, developing a vision for a new facility that will expand the SCNG’s highly valued programme. The project team comprises architects Armelle Tardiveau and Daniel Mallo, sociologist/ethnographer Abigail Schoneboom, and research assistant Sophie Baldwin.

During May and June this year, SCNG’s volunteers, youth group members, staff and trustees have been busy exploring the meanings and value that attach to this wonderful community garden, nestled in one of Newcastle Upon Tyne’s most deprived neighbourhoods. With the goal of envisioning a new structure that will better serve users of this popular community resource, participants have explored the garden through sensory research and model-making, creating a richly textured portrait and a set of creative ideas that will inform the future development of the space.

In phase one, we worked with an inviting map created by research assistant Sophie, which highlights the garden’s spatial richness created by a diverse biodiversity and enchanting layout. Having marked our favourite spots on the map, we captured through pinhole camera photographs these special places in the garden.  Pinhole photography requires a very simple camera but taking a single photo can take up to half an hour of exposure! For us, this was a wonderful way to immerse ourselves in the garden and spend quality time smelling, listening to, touching and noting down on a map our feelings about these treasured locations. Alongside the photos and notes, we collected objects (such as dandelion leaves, pieces of string from the den-building area, and a blue-green fragment of a bird’s egg) and made sketches and rubbings. Together, these create a rich interpretation of what the garden means to its users. Using the tool shed as a darkroom, we ended each workshop by developing the photos and watching the images reveal themselves.

The silvery, poetic photos created in these first workshops capture something magical about the garden, encouraging us to dream and imagine possibilities. This photograph was taken by a garden volunteer.

In phase two, we built models and framed aspects of the garden, thinking about ways to envisage a new facility with some of the values and sensory qualities we had highlighted in phase one. Working with scaled wooden blocks and a range of materials from felt to scouring pads to evoke atmosphere, we created models that explored possibilities such as opening the indoors into the outdoors or using the vertical space to create a viewing platform. During the modeling activity, we also worked in pairs to ‘frame’ and photograph aspects of the garden that might inform views from the new structure. We imagined being indoor and looking onto the reflective qualities of water or witnessing edibles growing and changing.  We had a lot of fun (and a few challenges) carrying the heavy wood and hessian frame through the winding, narrow paths of the garden.

A tactile model shows the different textures of the garden

The garden is home to many great stories and memories, and much healing – the hum of the traffic on the nearby road, overlaid by birdsong and the rustling of the wind in the trees, is a welcome reminder of just how precious this place is. Themes that have emerged from our work together so far include the importance of building or growing something yourself, feeling protected and secure but out in the fresh air, and being connected to other people and the rhythms of nature. Also space overlaps and conflicts between the many groups of users enjoying the facility became apparent with its related ad-hoc but inventive approach to storage catering for all.

Our customised wheelbarrow holding the materials for the workshop

We have already displayed some of or initial findings and photos at SNCG. Our next step, over the coming weeks, is to materialise and enact some of the ideas with the input of the volunteers. These might be in the form of furniture or spatial adaptations that we will invite visitors to inhabit. This temporary and playful engagement, we hope, will move us further towards a design proposal for a new facility that grows out of the vibrant imaginations and experience of those who use it most and know it best.

Posted in ESRC Impact Acceleration Account | Tagged ESRC IAA, gardens, photography, Scotswood, sensory | Leave a reply

Exploring vital partnerships

Posted on 10 January, 2017 by Eve
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On the 30th November 2016 we ran an afternoon of presentations, networking and discussion surrounding the theme of Working Together: Bringing About Change at Newcastle Civic Centre. The event showcased some of the partnerships that our social science, arts and humanities researchers have with a wide range of organisations and communities in the region, and beyond. Over the next few months on the blog we will be sharing some of the presentations from that day. Following on from Daniel Mallo’s piece last week, Rachel Smith tells us more about her speedy presentation…

In 2016, I presented this Pecha Kucha about the Vital North Partnership between Newcastle University and Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books at two events; the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Common Ground event in June, and Newcastle University’s Working Together: Bringing About Change event in November.

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Both events explored collaborations and engagement in the humanities. Pecha Kuchas are short, visual presentations. As you talk, you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. Your slides change automatically. And they’re more than a little tricky to deliver…

The Vital North Partnership (+ 19 other ways Newcastle University and Seven Stories are collaborating) is exactly what the title suggests: a presentation about 20 current Partnership projects. And what are those projects? Well, watch the video and find out!

Rachel Smith manages the Vital North Partnership between Newcastle University and Seven Stories: the National Centre for Children’s Books, funded by Arts Council England from 2015 – 2018, This post originally featured on the Vital North Partnership blog.

The event was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal, Newcastle University Institute for Creative Arts Practice, and Newcastle University Humanities Research Institute.

With thanks to Jeff Wilson from the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, who produced this video. The photographs from the event are courtesy of Zander Photography.

Posted in ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, Uncategorized | Tagged collaboration, ESRC IAA, Pecha Kucha, Seven Stories | 1 Reply

SOLE meets Self-Advocacy at the Workers Educational Association

Posted on 22 January, 2016 by Angie
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Anne Preston & Diane Holmes
Anne Preston (left) and Diane Holmes (right) drafting out the Self-Advocacy
SOLE Toolkit in SOLE Central base

By Anne Preston and Diane Holmes

Dr Anne Preston is a Research Fellow in SOLE Central, Newcastle University. Diane Holmes is Adult Literacy specialist teacher at the Workers Education Association North East.

Could teaching ever be obsolete? Can we learn by looking at a Google page? These are just some of the big questions proposed over the years by Newcastle University Professor, Sugata Mitra, who led the well-known ‘hole in the wall’ experiments and more recently, introduced the notion of a Self-Organized Learning Environment (SOLE).

A SOLE is a space where ‘educators encourage students to work as a community to answer their own vibrant questions using The Internet’, an idea which is now achieving global impact. But how are SOLEs made material in local contexts? Is the idea of using The Internet just an example of a ‘charismatic technology’, lacking all- important notions of pedagogy and theory which typically surround what is deemed to lead to ‘deep learning’?

Supported by an ESRC Impact Acceleration Account Knowledge Exchange Secondment award, we have been probing the SOLE of adult learning over the last few months in a collaborative project between SOLE Central and the Workers Educational Association (WEA) North East. Made up of one part Adult Literacy specialist and one part SOLE Central Research Fellow, our work has involved using the SOLE approach with a group of students who have learning difficulties and disabilities. The students are all working towards gaining a qualification in Functional English (ranging in ability from Entry level 1 up to Level 1).

So how did we end up here?

Diane was very keen to use SOLE within the sessions, as she thought this would be an excellent way to inspire ‘deeper’ learning for the students as they studied for their English test. In addition to this, she felt a sense of self advocacy would develop amongst the group. This concept is important to her students, as this type of learner group often have greater difficulty in getting their views heard (or listened to). The students embraced the concept of SOLE really well. They relished the fact that they could do research in groups on the internet and feed back to the class and tutor about what they had discovered. Working in this way naturally developed their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills too – almost by stealth! The group loved the idea of answering the ‘Big Question’ and finding out what different information they could share. A crucial part of the success was also the fact that Diane, as the tutor, had to relinquish control. This really encouraged self-efficacy, as the group became the ‘experts’ and explained to her what they had discovered in their research groups. They became more curious and driven to discover new knowledge, and in short the sessions became a more invigorated learning environment. As individuals, the students were keen to have their own views heard and became more able to present their findings to class. Presenting the research formed part of their Speaking and Listening discussion test. In all, Diane has become more connected to her students and they, in turn, have become more confident and rounded learners.

Students working
Students combine skills to search and curate information as part of their
research to the Big Question: Do insects see in colour?

Students working
Students use digital literacy skills to zoom in on relevant information

So could a computer replace a teacher? We don’t think so. SOLE is not unique in its focus on developing the physical and conceptual space for learning with the inclusion of technology but as our work has shown, such environments can lead to a change in thinking about the organization of learning by teachers and students. The facilitation of SOLE involves a change in the role of teacher from transmitter to facilitator of knowledge and importantly in this context, can empower students with the skills to self-advocate: they have realised that they can have views, they have the right to be heard, and can identify ways to get their voice heard.

We are currently remixing the original SOLE Toolkit to enable other practitioners to explore similar issues in their practice with students who have learning difficulties and disabilities, this will be available soon.

Additional information:

Founded in 1903, the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) is a charity and the UK’s largest voluntary sector provider of adult education. In 2013/14 we delivered  9,700 part-time courses for over 70,000 students in England and Scotland with classes in almost every local authority area and our work in England was assessed in 2014 as ‘Good’ by Ofsted. The WEA offers a wide ranging curriculum and we do all that we can to make your learning experience a positive one in our friendly and supportive learning environments. A better world – equal, democratic and just: through adult education the WEA challenges and inspires individuals, communities and society.

SOLE Central is a global hub for research into self-organised learning environments (SOLEs), bringing together researchers, practitioners, policy makers and entrepreneurs. Professor Sugata Mitra’s work has already transformed lives in some of the most disadvantaged communities in the world and our aim is to build on these strong foundations. Work in this interdisciplinary research centre is led by Newcastle University’s School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences and Open Lab and involves academics from across the University.

SOLE Central logo  WEA North East logo  ESRC logo

Posted in ESRC Impact Acceleration Account | Tagged adult learning, Anne Preston, Diane Holmes, disability, ESRC, ESRC IAA, Self-Organized Learning Environment, SOLE Central, Workers' Educational Association | Leave a reply

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