Developing creative research skills: harnessing the power of practice

Enys, Rosie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5216-0389 and Connell, Anna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9884-2602 (2024) Developing creative research skills: harnessing the power of practice. In: LILAC: The Information Literacy Conference, 14-16 Apr 2025, Cardiff University. (Unpublished)

Preview

Image (Poster) Developing Creative Research Skills.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike. Download (857kB) | Preview

Abstract / Summary

Our creative practice students at Falmouth University are showing an appetite for research and an appreciation for the associated skills librarians can support them with. Moreover, we have increasing numbers of pracademics (Dickinson, Fowler and Griffiths, 2022) amongst teaching staff who are receptive to this support, in relation to their own practice research as well as for their students.

We have been delivering an online synchronous ‘Bitesized’ session entitled Research for Creative Practice for several years now and, encouraged by high engagement and favourable feedback, have looked at alternative approaches to sharing this content with a wider audience. Another driving factor was to ensure that our population of online students, which constitutes an expanding proportion of Falmouth University's student body, would have equitable access to this content.

An asynchronous version, developed using the course creation tool Articulate 360, was the outcome of our aim to grow and improve our offer. The process prompted us to revisit and hone our key learning objectives and pedagogical approaches, reflecting on and reshaping information literacy skills for this context. Fueled further by ideas on information creativity (Dahlquist, 2023), and our renewed enthusiasm for the value and relevance of research to creative practice.

We overcame multiple challenges around providing access to this content by using the limited free hosting offered by Omniplex Learning, providers of the authoring tool Articulate 360. Initial engagement was offered through a pilot to online MA Fine Art students during the 2024 autumn term. A cohort of 64 students were invited to participate and provide feedback.

We would like to share our new online module with you, giving you the opportunity to see aspects of the platform and the content. We will reflect on the efficacy of the online space, the approach to supporting research skills for practice, and to consider the potential relevance to students beyond the creative arts.

Our changing information landscape invites us to review research skills in a world of Open Access and Open Research, decolonisation and diversity, and generative AI technologies. Through an exploration of the online module, we will reflect on the content of the session and the framing of the activities in relation to this altered landscape.

We will demonstrate the connection of our design principles and pedagogy with institutional drivers such as providing a ‘creative bridge’ into industry and embedding employability within the curriculum (Falmouth University 2030). As well as our application of threshold concepts to support students conceptually within liminal space and to help them to explore interdisciplinarity (Timmermans and Land, 2020).

We will invite observers to consider the relationship between creativity and research, and the influence this can have on information literacy skills and frameworks. We will share our concepts for further advancements, including the incorporation of these ideas into curriculum-based instruction and how these are influencing the ongoing development of our Information Literacy framework.

DAHLQUIST, Mark. 2023. ‘Toward a Framework for Information Creativity’. College & Research Libraries, 84(3), 441-462.

DICKINSON, Jill, Andrew FOWLER and Teri-Lisa GRIFFITHS. 2022. ‘Pracademics? Exploring Transitions and Professional Identities in Higher Education’. Studies in Higher Education 47(2), 290–304.

FALMOUTH UNIVERSITY. 2030. ‘2030 Research and Innovation Strategy’. Falmouth University [online]. Available at: https://www.falmouth.ac.uk/sites/default/files/media/downloads/2030_ri_strategy.pdf [accessed 13 November 2024].

TIMMERMANS, Julie A. and Ray LAND (eds.). 2020. Threshold Concepts on the Edge. Leiden, The Netherlands; Brill Sense.

View Record (staff only)