STLHE 2015

As instructors and leaders in the educational community the desire to constantly transform our teaching practice and create meaningful learning opportunities for students remains a constant priority. Augusto Boal, founder of the Theatre of the Oppressed and a student of Paolo Friere, stated that, “To transform is to be transformed. The action is, in itself transforming “ (Boal, 1979, p. xxi). Through this interactive session, designed collectively by faculty, graduate students and educational developers, the “actors” will transform themselves into characters that face dissonance in their teaching practice. This Theatre for Living format (Diamond, 2007) will explore issues including academic integrity, English as an additional language, technology use in the classroom, student motivation and more through short lightly-scripted and improvised scenes. In this active space where everyone (audience and actor, alike) become creators, participants are able to re-imagine problems and conundrums, explore creative possibilities without fear of failure and honour the personal and relational dynamics inherent in any issue. Meant to provoke dialogue and engage the senses, facilitated conversation will follow each of the scenes. Each scene will be influenced by current research in the aforementioned topics and provide an opportunity for participants to share their own practices and ways of addressing issues. Due to the improvisatory nature of this session, there will also be the opportunity to incorporate relevant themes that emerge throughout the conference.

Boal, A. (1979) Theatre of the oppressed. New York, NY: Theatre Communications Group.

Diamond, D. (2007) Theatre for living. Victoria, BC: Trafford Publishing.