I have expertise in observational research and classroom ethnography. Grounded in socio-cultural theory and dialogic theory, my research looks into collaborative learning and co-creativity. Trained as a linguist, in my earlier research I studied children’s collaborative creativity through analysing classroom talk. Yet, I have always been drawn to an embodied aesthetics of the mind. I am fascinated by the visceral essence of our receptive-responsive dialogue with our natural human neighbourhood (https://earli.org/node/135). My ongoing collaboration with the Liszt Academy of Music in Hungary arose from this interest. I focus on the experience-centred music pedagogy of Klara Kokas and study how imagination and creative insight emerge from active listening and movement improvisations (https://kodaly.hu/research/klara-kokas-research-centre-121178). My most recent work builds on Alan Rayner’s Natural Inclusional approach. A recorded presentation outlining my journey towards this inclusional-dialogic approach can be found here: https://prezi.com/v/dvzigvo8azrb/pwrg-presentation-eva-vass/?preview=1
The University has agreed that your participation in the British Library Thesis Service should be... more The University has agreed that your participation in the British Library Thesis Service should be voluntary, Please tick either (a) or (b) to indicate your intentions. ~ am ~ for the Open University to loan the British Library a copy of my thesis. A signed Agreement F onn is attached D I do not wish the Open University to loan the British Library a copy of my thesis.
Judges are hierarchs. By this, I mean that judges in our society enjoy positions of unusual autho... more Judges are hierarchs. By this, I mean that judges in our society enjoy positions of unusual authority associated with four important characteristics. First, judges possess remarkable power to decide the fates and fortunes of others. Second, they possess this power not because they have purchased it in the market or acquired it by force, but because they have been selected to receive it, sometimes by the very persons whose fates and fortunes they will decide.' Third, judges are expected to use their power not to pursue their own interests-which would be viewed as an abuse of power-but to serve the social goal of the fair and impartial application of law. 2
This article explores how a musical awareness of natural bodily form as an expression of receptiv... more This article explores how a musical awareness of natural bodily form as an expression of receptive-responsive relationship between stillness and movement can contribute to co-creative dialogue and deep learning that reaches beyond the often superficial knowledge and praxis of intellectually constituted thought and language. It will draw especially on findings from research on the Kokas pedagogy an experiential extension of the Kodaly method of music education combining improvised movement and collective reflection. These findings highlight how the physical dimensions of this pedagogy cultivated new, embodied modes of creative ideation and connectivity, presenting unique challenges and opportunities in the observed educational contexts.
Focus redirected to the embodied dimensions of creative connection building. Embodied actions a... more Focus redirected to the embodied dimensions of creative connection building. Embodied actions and connections shown as catalysts of group cohesion, intersubjectivity, creative connectivity and pedagogical transformations. Points toward the need to reconceptualise music education and music teacher training.
Abstract Education experts emphasise the growing pedagogic urgency to cultivate exploratory, crea... more Abstract Education experts emphasise the growing pedagogic urgency to cultivate exploratory, creative habits of mind. As contemporary scientific inquiry has revealed, a major obstacle in this process is the predominant view of creativity as powered by the intellect. We addressed this concern by looking at embodied forms of creative connectivity. Our study focused on the Kokas pedagogy: an experiential extension of the Kodaly principle of music education. We explored the adaptability and the transformative potentials of this pedagogy in the context of music teacher education. Based on the qualitative analysis of the first student cohorts’ reflective essays (13 altogether), we studied students’ sense making of the otherness of the pedagogy. In particular, we looked at the key tensions students documented, and investigated students’ reflective construction of their own responses to these. In doing so, we hoped to capture the choreography of students’ meaning making of their experiences. Furthermore, we looked at the transformational power of students’ immersion in the pedagogy: the extent to which it inspired them towards a fundamental change in perspectives, inciting a pedagogic metamorphosis . Our analysis revealed that the challenges reported by students were often overcome through participatory, creative experiences of being and becoming. Thus, the inherent features of the pedagogy offered the tools to respond to the transformational opportunities it presented. Going beyond the context of music education, our study shows the significance of experiential, embodied connectivity between teachers and students in paving the way towards the transformation of the personal, professional and institutional habits of mind.
The dissolution of the 1987 and 1990 parliaments, following two Supreme Court rulings that the 19... more The dissolution of the 1987 and 1990 parliaments, following two Supreme Court rulings that the 1984 and 1987 general elections were unconstitutional, and the transfer of the power to supervise elections from the police to the judiciary signalled an impending political opening, leaving the impression that there was political will to renew the rules governing elections and make them more transparent and equitable. The paper uses the 2000 elections to the People's Assembly to assess the democratisation process in Egypt. It examines the extent of inclusion of all social forces and political parties, and of changes in popular participation. It argues that the 2000 elections bore the marks of electoral anomalies and manipulations which were characteristic of previous elections. Notwithstanding its flaws the 2000 elections marked a significant step in Egypt's transition to liberal democracy.
This paper reports a study on children's classroom-based collaborative creative writing. Bas... more This paper reports a study on children's classroom-based collaborative creative writing. Based on socio-cultural theory, the central aim of the research was to contribute to current understanding of young children's creativity, and describe ways in which peer ...
ABSTRACT There is an increasing development of courses and course components taught through teach... more ABSTRACT There is an increasing development of courses and course components taught through teaching and learning dialogues online yet there is little secure knowledge of the factors that influence the educational quality and outcomes of these dialogues. This paper explores the value of adapting analytical frameworks that have been developed to understand face to face educational dialogues to the new context of asynchronous electronic conferencing. There are many differences at a discursive level between speech and asynchronous electronic conferencing such as the lack of non-verbal channels of communication, the possibility of multiple threads, the time lag between posting and response and the differences in turn-taking procedures. The uniqueness of electronic conferencing means that frameworks developed to analyse classroom talk cannot be applied directly. However an initial study by Littleton and Whitelock (in press) has shown that there is some value in applying the framework developed for exploring teacher student interactions in classrooms by Mercer and colleagues to asynchronous communication. Mercer and Wegerif (e.g. Mercer, 1995; Wegerif and Mercer 1997) have developed discourse analysis methods to explore the construction of knowledge in face to face classroom interaction. These combine a close reading of the interactions to explore changes in understanding with computer-based text analysis tracking the different contexts in which key words occur. Used in conjunction with a characterisation of types of dialogue, such as ‘exploratory talk’ and with more detailed interpretative work, a text analysis of linguistic features can be used to show changes in the kind of talk being used over time. We apply these methods to analyse data from a ‘virtual summer school’ of around 500 psychology students at the Open University. We focus on two groups of six students, 12 students in total, who were supervised working on an undergraduate psychology project. The electronic record of their online interactions with their tutors and with each other is supplemented with 30 minute telephone interviews conducted with students and tutors. Our analysis seeks firstly to explore the role the tutor plays in supporting joint meaning making and fostering a collaborative community of enquiry and secondly to understand the ways in which students collaborating on a piece of psychology project work negotiate shared understanding and support each other in the process of learning at a distance. We find that the concept of ‘exploratory talk’ taken from classroom research remains useful but needs to be significantly adapted to take into account the different kinds of intersubjectivity, ground rules and utterances found in the online context. Littleton, K. and Whitelock, D.(in press). Guiding the creation of knowledge and understanding in a virtual learning environment. Cyberpsychology and behavior. Mercer, N. (1995) The guided construction of knowledge. Multilingual Matters. Wegerif, R., and N. Mercer. (1997) Using computer-based text analysis to integrate quantitative and qualitative methods in the investigation of collaborative learning. Language and Education, Vol. 11. (4): 271-287.
For millennia, the Western mindset has been predisposed to the inherited custom to split mind and... more For millennia, the Western mindset has been predisposed to the inherited custom to split mind and matter, emotion and cognition, art and science, the spiritual and the intellectual, the inner and outer, contemplation and objective inquiry. Our contemporary sense of dislocation from nature has arisen from this objectivistic perception. The current societal, economic and environmental crises urge us to break down the pervasive conceptual boundaries and binary distinctions and rethink what science is or what it can become. Covid 19 has exposed the iniquities and deep fault lines in the political and economic structure of globalized modern society founded on false division or unification of individual from or with group. We see Natural Inclusionality as the path to begin to resurrect and cultivate a new normal of co-creative community from the wreckage of the old normal of cultural tyranny (Rayner, 2020). The most ground-breaking dimension of the NI perception lies in its rejection of b...
The University has agreed that your participation in the British Library Thesis Service should be... more The University has agreed that your participation in the British Library Thesis Service should be voluntary, Please tick either (a) or (b) to indicate your intentions. ~ am ~ for the Open University to loan the British Library a copy of my thesis. A signed Agreement F onn is attached D I do not wish the Open University to loan the British Library a copy of my thesis.
Judges are hierarchs. By this, I mean that judges in our society enjoy positions of unusual autho... more Judges are hierarchs. By this, I mean that judges in our society enjoy positions of unusual authority associated with four important characteristics. First, judges possess remarkable power to decide the fates and fortunes of others. Second, they possess this power not because they have purchased it in the market or acquired it by force, but because they have been selected to receive it, sometimes by the very persons whose fates and fortunes they will decide.' Third, judges are expected to use their power not to pursue their own interests-which would be viewed as an abuse of power-but to serve the social goal of the fair and impartial application of law. 2
This article explores how a musical awareness of natural bodily form as an expression of receptiv... more This article explores how a musical awareness of natural bodily form as an expression of receptive-responsive relationship between stillness and movement can contribute to co-creative dialogue and deep learning that reaches beyond the often superficial knowledge and praxis of intellectually constituted thought and language. It will draw especially on findings from research on the Kokas pedagogy an experiential extension of the Kodaly method of music education combining improvised movement and collective reflection. These findings highlight how the physical dimensions of this pedagogy cultivated new, embodied modes of creative ideation and connectivity, presenting unique challenges and opportunities in the observed educational contexts.
Focus redirected to the embodied dimensions of creative connection building. Embodied actions a... more Focus redirected to the embodied dimensions of creative connection building. Embodied actions and connections shown as catalysts of group cohesion, intersubjectivity, creative connectivity and pedagogical transformations. Points toward the need to reconceptualise music education and music teacher training.
Abstract Education experts emphasise the growing pedagogic urgency to cultivate exploratory, crea... more Abstract Education experts emphasise the growing pedagogic urgency to cultivate exploratory, creative habits of mind. As contemporary scientific inquiry has revealed, a major obstacle in this process is the predominant view of creativity as powered by the intellect. We addressed this concern by looking at embodied forms of creative connectivity. Our study focused on the Kokas pedagogy: an experiential extension of the Kodaly principle of music education. We explored the adaptability and the transformative potentials of this pedagogy in the context of music teacher education. Based on the qualitative analysis of the first student cohorts’ reflective essays (13 altogether), we studied students’ sense making of the otherness of the pedagogy. In particular, we looked at the key tensions students documented, and investigated students’ reflective construction of their own responses to these. In doing so, we hoped to capture the choreography of students’ meaning making of their experiences. Furthermore, we looked at the transformational power of students’ immersion in the pedagogy: the extent to which it inspired them towards a fundamental change in perspectives, inciting a pedagogic metamorphosis . Our analysis revealed that the challenges reported by students were often overcome through participatory, creative experiences of being and becoming. Thus, the inherent features of the pedagogy offered the tools to respond to the transformational opportunities it presented. Going beyond the context of music education, our study shows the significance of experiential, embodied connectivity between teachers and students in paving the way towards the transformation of the personal, professional and institutional habits of mind.
The dissolution of the 1987 and 1990 parliaments, following two Supreme Court rulings that the 19... more The dissolution of the 1987 and 1990 parliaments, following two Supreme Court rulings that the 1984 and 1987 general elections were unconstitutional, and the transfer of the power to supervise elections from the police to the judiciary signalled an impending political opening, leaving the impression that there was political will to renew the rules governing elections and make them more transparent and equitable. The paper uses the 2000 elections to the People's Assembly to assess the democratisation process in Egypt. It examines the extent of inclusion of all social forces and political parties, and of changes in popular participation. It argues that the 2000 elections bore the marks of electoral anomalies and manipulations which were characteristic of previous elections. Notwithstanding its flaws the 2000 elections marked a significant step in Egypt's transition to liberal democracy.
This paper reports a study on children's classroom-based collaborative creative writing. Bas... more This paper reports a study on children's classroom-based collaborative creative writing. Based on socio-cultural theory, the central aim of the research was to contribute to current understanding of young children's creativity, and describe ways in which peer ...
ABSTRACT There is an increasing development of courses and course components taught through teach... more ABSTRACT There is an increasing development of courses and course components taught through teaching and learning dialogues online yet there is little secure knowledge of the factors that influence the educational quality and outcomes of these dialogues. This paper explores the value of adapting analytical frameworks that have been developed to understand face to face educational dialogues to the new context of asynchronous electronic conferencing. There are many differences at a discursive level between speech and asynchronous electronic conferencing such as the lack of non-verbal channels of communication, the possibility of multiple threads, the time lag between posting and response and the differences in turn-taking procedures. The uniqueness of electronic conferencing means that frameworks developed to analyse classroom talk cannot be applied directly. However an initial study by Littleton and Whitelock (in press) has shown that there is some value in applying the framework developed for exploring teacher student interactions in classrooms by Mercer and colleagues to asynchronous communication. Mercer and Wegerif (e.g. Mercer, 1995; Wegerif and Mercer 1997) have developed discourse analysis methods to explore the construction of knowledge in face to face classroom interaction. These combine a close reading of the interactions to explore changes in understanding with computer-based text analysis tracking the different contexts in which key words occur. Used in conjunction with a characterisation of types of dialogue, such as ‘exploratory talk’ and with more detailed interpretative work, a text analysis of linguistic features can be used to show changes in the kind of talk being used over time. We apply these methods to analyse data from a ‘virtual summer school’ of around 500 psychology students at the Open University. We focus on two groups of six students, 12 students in total, who were supervised working on an undergraduate psychology project. The electronic record of their online interactions with their tutors and with each other is supplemented with 30 minute telephone interviews conducted with students and tutors. Our analysis seeks firstly to explore the role the tutor plays in supporting joint meaning making and fostering a collaborative community of enquiry and secondly to understand the ways in which students collaborating on a piece of psychology project work negotiate shared understanding and support each other in the process of learning at a distance. We find that the concept of ‘exploratory talk’ taken from classroom research remains useful but needs to be significantly adapted to take into account the different kinds of intersubjectivity, ground rules and utterances found in the online context. Littleton, K. and Whitelock, D.(in press). Guiding the creation of knowledge and understanding in a virtual learning environment. Cyberpsychology and behavior. Mercer, N. (1995) The guided construction of knowledge. Multilingual Matters. Wegerif, R., and N. Mercer. (1997) Using computer-based text analysis to integrate quantitative and qualitative methods in the investigation of collaborative learning. Language and Education, Vol. 11. (4): 271-287.
For millennia, the Western mindset has been predisposed to the inherited custom to split mind and... more For millennia, the Western mindset has been predisposed to the inherited custom to split mind and matter, emotion and cognition, art and science, the spiritual and the intellectual, the inner and outer, contemplation and objective inquiry. Our contemporary sense of dislocation from nature has arisen from this objectivistic perception. The current societal, economic and environmental crises urge us to break down the pervasive conceptual boundaries and binary distinctions and rethink what science is or what it can become. Covid 19 has exposed the iniquities and deep fault lines in the political and economic structure of globalized modern society founded on false division or unification of individual from or with group. We see Natural Inclusionality as the path to begin to resurrect and cultivate a new normal of co-creative community from the wreckage of the old normal of cultural tyranny (Rayner, 2020). The most ground-breaking dimension of the NI perception lies in its rejection of b...
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