Alys Longley

Streams of Writing From a Fluid City

What is the relationship between qualitative research and environmental activism? At a time when the effects of environmental damage are becoming increasingly more visible and flooding our daily lives in unpredictable and sometimes devastating ways, how do qualitative methods of research and writing respond to current environmental challenges? This article discusses an arts-science-education collaboration titled fluid city, which disseminates critical research on water ecology to the wider public of Auckland City, New Zealand, through creative and performative means. An experimental approach to narrative washes through the style of this article in an attempt to have the encounter of reading flow with the logic of ecological thinking and liquid perception.

From invisible to SEEN: a conceptual framework for identifying, developing and evidencing unassessed graduate attributes

ABSTRACT Academic transcripts record students’ learning, providing a grade which indicates the student has achieved a certified level of disciplinary knowledge and skill. However, recognising what a graduate has accomplished during a course, or over a programme is much more involved: it includes not only disciplinary awareness but students’ learning processes (e.g., autonomous learning), social aptitude (e.g., diversity awareness and collaborative skills), and even their professional readiness (e.g., time-management and resilience). Such learning is often invisible on university academic rubrics and transcripts, and may be difficult for students to articulate and evidence to others. In this article, we introduce the concept of ‘invisible’ graduate attributes at the tertiary level, distinguishing such unassessed/unassessable attributes from more visible graduate attributes. We then introduce our conceptual framework, SEEN, for articulating, evidencing and actively developing ‘invisible’ attributes. We argue that the SEEN framework provides the basis for a toolkit for students, lecturers and employers.

“Skeleton Boat on an Ocean of Organs” and other stories: understanding and evoking posthuman relations through site-based dance, somatic practices, performance writing and artist-books

ABSTRACT Excerpts of performance writing from three dance research projects are at the heart of this article. It explores relationships between bodies, sites and ecologies and offers methods for documenting creative inquiry through a posthuman/new materialist paradigm. Projects discussed include the interdisciplinary art/science installation Fluid City; a dance research process entitled Moving, Writing, Living – Experimental Documentary Practices in Site Specific Dance Research and the site-based dance workshop Into the Fields.