Students’ Learning Developments
At the end of each intensive programme in Alicante and Reykjavík, the students handed in a reflective survey, which then were analysed by Kristín Valsdóttir.
The students were asked open-ended reflective questions:
What have I experienced during the course?
What have I learned from this experience?
In addition to this they were asked a small number of reflective questions about the application of the newly gained skills and knowledge in the students’ professional practice development and what could have been done differently. The questions addressed the following themes: gains, obstacles, quality, learning environment, method of the course and process.
The students reflected on their learning on how to collaborate, which included interdisciplinarity and cultural differences:
A student commented:“I learned from new art fields which was great. I witnessed textile-artist, art therapist, visual artist and architects. Met very nice people from across the world and learned to appreciate my own field in a new way.”
A reflection on achieving a mindful collaboration appeared in another comment:“I believe that the great quality was in individuals, both teachers and adolescents. We were there with people of great potential, but sometimes I felt that this potentiality did not always come to the surface or it became explicit for the group and for our group life.”
This was summarized in another student’s comments; “Being in an interdisciplinary and international social environment is always enriching, above all because of the challenges we face in being outside our comfort zone, whether in relation to the language or to the work area. It was great to be able to know different understandings and approaches to the same problem.”
The course helped the students to open up to new forms of art and to be able to adapt to the working environment:
A student wrote:“Working collaboratively may have been the hardest point. Working as a team is a competence to learn lifelong, especially when people from different disciplinary areas come together and try to find ways of thinking that are very different. Developing a project together for me was the biggest challenge.”
Another student found this a challenge: “I loved the international atmosphere and multidisciplinary environment! The classroom was difficult with its noise and soundscape. The whole week with its ups and downs was a huge learning experience.”
And yet another student related the experience to time and the need to be flexible and to be able to adapt to the situation:“We learnt about endings. It was a rush to finish in the group and it was hard to close the day so the end was open because of the problems in this group."
In terms of the creative process, the students identified clear benefits of creating an atmosphere of openness and free communication:
One student wrote: “ The creative process was our referring base in the workshops during the first days. I really, really felt and was witnessing the interdisciplinary atmosphere."
Another connected the creative process with communication: “Creating and doing together; there was a playful atmosphere, adolescents did voluntarily emerge through painting, music, this was a fluid way of picture making and communication evolved."
Another drew out new ways of understanding freedom: “What is interdisciplinary? Everytime we had to explore it in a new situation – it could perhaps be a conversation. It was really good to watch each other – disciplines offer a variety and we learned from each other. I learned how borders give freedom in a system."
The concluding comment here, reflects how working with the arts created a positive effect on the adolescents: “They [the adolescents] were open and happy, not with spectacular things but being met through the arts.
