Shakespeare and chemistry? Why not they say at the CAPITAL Centre at the University of Warwick in Coventry. CAPITAL is one of the Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) funded by the British Higher Education Funding Council (HEFC) (http://www.hefce.ac.uk/Learning/TInits/cetl/).
The CETLs have two main objectives — reward the best possible teaching practice and invest in that practice so there is benefit to all — especially students. In January 2005, 74 CETLs were funded nationwide for 2005-06 to 2009-10 totalling £315 million (roughly $Cdn 483 million).
How did I find myself at the CAPITAL Centre? As part of preparing for my trip to investigate Business Schools in the UK and Europe who were doing interesting projects around teaching and learning, I was fortunate enough to work with Nicole Goldberger, one of Sauder’s great MBA Students. Nicole, the consummate internet detective, set me up with a list of schools and people I should contact.
And out of this process came the idea to visit the CAPITAL Centre as part of engaging with the Warwick Business School (WBS). http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/capital/
I have now been fortunate to spend an evening with Grier Palmer who is a faculty member of the WBS and also a keen collaborator with CAPITAL. But more about Grier in a subsequent post.
Today, I was honoured to meet Carol Chillington Rutter, Professor of English and Director of the CAPITAL Centre. Carol was engaged with students when I was at the Centre, but in my brief meeting I got a hint of her energy and commitment to this place.
What I should say is that the CAPITAL Centre is actually a collaboration between the University of Warwick and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The idea is to use theatre performance skills to enhance student learning and in turn to use the skills and knowledge resident at Warwick to enhance the development of the acting company. So it is truly an interdisciplinary enterprise and it sounds like they have worked with many partners across the university — one being the business school.
I also had the privilege of meeting and having lunch with Nick Monk who is the postdoctoral Research Fellow at the CAPITAL Centre — he is an award winning teacher (who was clear about not liking lecture mode!) who has compiled the research being conducted at the CAPITAL Centre into a forthcoming book on Open Space Learning (OSL) http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/capital/osl/. Will blog more on this and my trip to the “Reinvention Centre” which is an example of an Open Space Learning place.
My point person for this trip to The Capital Centre is one Robert O’Toole (seen below with his Mac on a trolley — the CAPITAL Centre has provided these portables for students to encourage the making of videos and using creativity + technology).
Robert O'Toole -- innovator extraordinaire
Robert endeared himself to me immediately as we shared the frustrations of working in PC campuses when Macs are so much better! Robert is very interested in design thinking and engaging students in going outside their comfort zones. He has won numerous teaching awards and brings that special combination of technology know-how and learning design expertise. As his bio says:
…nationally recognized expertise in a range of technologies and techniques, with a particular interest in research based learning, learning design patterns, developing writing and thinking skills, copyright and IPR, concept mapping, podcasting and video.
Robert noted that we are constantly missing opportunities through not thinking broadly enough about our learning environments and approaches. He also mentioned that design thinking slows things down — allows us to reflect and think about our moves and ideas and decisions.
All-in-all an inspiring day — and more to come.