PHUV9430 Presenting Arts-Based Research Course description

Language: English (and Norwegian, dependent on the language of participants).

Approved by the Academic Affairs Committee 27.04.2020.

This PhD-course is open for candidates at the PhD Programme in Educational Sciences for Teacher Education, PhD candidates from other relevant programmes, and academic employees.

The course presents arts-based research (ABR) and processes related to ABR that are relevant in traditional qualitative research as well. Accepting knowledge as also being tacit, and the arts as important fields of understanding, today’s educational research often include aesthetical and arts-based processes. ABR is an umbrella term covering different research methodologies that draw their inspiration, concepts, processes or representational forms from the arts. To satisfy the expected transparency in research, processes involving arts-based media also need to be discussed and made explicit, whether one considers oneself to be an artist or not.

In this basic course, methodologies such as aesthetically based research, a/r/tography, practice-led research and artistic research will be presented and discussed, as will onto-epistemological issues related to ABR in general and the different methodologies. Furthermore, the students will participate in a limited number of mandatory workshops investigating core elements of ABR, (e.g. embodiment, empathy and material, formal and relational sensitivity). There will also be optional workshops exploring writing processes in ABR, related to narrative, poetical, fictional and essayistic genres. A seminar presenting and discussing the participants’ projects constitutes the course exam.

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student is capable of

• describing the position of occupational therapy within the placement's framework and how it is organized within the Norwegian health and welfare system
• describing assessment, intervention and evaluation based on an occupational therapy process model
• explaining activity analysis as part of an occupational therapy process
• discuss practical cases by applying occupational therapy models/theories

Skills

The student is capable of

• planning and implementing occupation for therapeutic use under supervision, and practice clinical reasoning of this task
• searching for and present a scientific paper of relevance for the placement
• systematically assessing and evaluate the users’ occupational identity, resources and challenges in occupational participation

General competence

The student is capable of

• adapting the communication with users and other partners
• showing initiative and responsibility for one’s own learning
• identifying and reflecting on ethical issues in relation to people who are in a process of learning, coping or change
• being respectful and comply with the professional ethical guidelines for occupational therapists

The practical training lasts for six weeks; four days at the placement and one study day a week. The student will normally follow the working hours of the occupational therapist at the practical training establishment, 7 ½ hours per day and 30 hours per week.

The assessment is based on the learning outcomes for the course, the cooperation agreement with specification of the learning outcomes and the formative assessment made of the student during the practical training period.

Students’ practical training can only be assessed if their attendance is sufficiently high (90%).

Not relevant.

Pass/fail

The midway and final assessments are made by the supervisor and the contact lecturer at the university. The final decision on whether to award a pass or fail grade is made by the university.

The oral presentation will be assessed by the course coordinator and a member of the academic staff with relevant competence.