The proposed Transdisciplinary Visual Arts, Science & Technology Curriculum Renewal: Post-New Media Assimilation project draws on a wide range of activity in this area in Australia and overseas that is contributing to the demand for academic reform in creative arts education. In particular, the project brings together key approaches to curriculum development that use transdisciplinarity as a central approach to innovative learning, teaching and assessment. this includes the:

 

Review, analysis and mapping of the present extent of interdisciplinary educational practices that have worked in the arts and Science in Australia and overseas;

Documentation and expansion of the development and enhancement of transdisciplinary content and curriculum design approaches and pedagogies;

Generation of models of innovation in learning, teaching and assessment strategies based on transdisciplinarity that compliment new course development in new technological directions;

Enhancing the long term sustainability and ongoing dissemination of the curriculum renewal process by developing reproducible Creative Commons curriculum materials and case studies evidencing the flexible creation of a community of practice and project-based outcomes accessible in Australia and overseas using collaborative transdisciplinary research practices, and

Synthesising good practice to report on the correlated findings of Leonardo Education and Art Forum workshop projects completed in 2011 included:

The Leonardo Education and Art Forum: Transdisciplinary Visual Arts, Science & Technology Renewal Post-New Media Assimilation workshop at the International Symposium of Electronic Art, Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday, 17  September, 2011 – 13:00 – 16:00  presented in collaboration with the ISEA2011 educational workshop.

The second Leonardo Education and Art Forum: Transdisciplinary Visual Arts, Science & Technology Renewal Post-New Media Assimilation workshop will take place on the 27th September, 2011 – 14:00 – 17:00 in collaboration with the  fourth International Conference on the Histories of Media Art, Science and Technology, Liverpool UK.

 

Integrating advances in transdisciplinary learning teaching and assessment outcomes identified from the recent national and international conference held in 2010 organised, facilitated and presented at by project team members including:

 

1st International Conference on Transdisciplinary Imaging at the Intersections between Art, Science and Culture, hosted 5-7 November 2010 followed by a symposia of all team members 6 November 2011. http://blogs.unsw.edu.au/tiic/

New Media, Art-Science, and Mainstream Contemporary Art: Toward a Hybrid Discourse? Conference at the College Art Association New York 2011, chaired  be Edward Shanken with speakers , Cristina Albu, Jamie Allen, Jean Gagnon, Ji-hoon Kim, Philip Galanter, Jane Prophet, Christiane Paul, Ronald Jones, Paul Thomas

Leonardo Education and Art Forum (LEAF) Conference:  Art-Science  –  Curricular Models and Best Practices in Dortmund Germany 2010, and building on the work done by Nina Czeglady.

PROJECT PLAN: OUTCOMES & RATIONALE

One of the key academic and pedagogical questions facing creative arts education is how best to compar(e) the artist-graduate of 20 years ago with the artist-graduate of 5 years from now :

“What must artists do differently than they always have done to prepare to participate in the world of research?  They must broaden their definitions of art materials and contexts.  They must become curious about scientific and technological research and acquire the skills and knowledge that will allow them to significantly participate in these worlds.” (Wilson 2002: 39)

The three project outcomes below addressing Wilson’s questions are to:

Generate a paper from as a integrated methodology for curriculum restructuring and redevelopment in the creative arts that embraces emerging scientific transdisciplinary imperative for,

Undergraduate and Postgraduate coursework studies (Masters, Graduate Diploma, Graduate Certificate) are key sites for an investigation into a model of transdisciplinary education.  The under and post graduate level allows existing disciplinary knowledge, obtained from science, humanities or creative arts, to be re-evaluated and re-contextualised in a purpose-designed program, one that is often constrained by the credentialing offered by a professional body.

Results from the under and post graduate curriculum development process will suggest recommendations for (re)design of both upstream Bachelor and downstream research programs to facilitate cross-faculty and transdisciplinary studies that are increasingly in demand  configured to individual and/or collaborative student interests.

 

Associate Professor Paul Thomas