About the Conference
An archive of the final version of the Conference program is available here.
Download the Shakespeare FuturEd Conference program!
About the organisers:
Shakespeare FuturEd was hosted by the Better Strangers project which is a collaborative partnership between researchers based at the University of Sydney, the Australian National University (Canberra) and James Cook University (Townsville), and teachers at Sydney school Barker College. The Better Strangers team researches educational theory and practice in relation to Shakespeare and Literary Studies and runs the Shakespeare Reloaded website.
About the Call for Papers (CFP):
The Shakespeare FuturEd Conference invited proposals for papers, panels and workshops that interrogate and experiment with new directions in Shakespeare pedagogy in theory and practice.
Teachers from primary and secondary schools, as well as academics, researchers and practitioners, were invited to submit a proposal for a paper, workshop or lightning talk.
Themes and topics:
Shakespeare: text, performance, adaptation; cultural capital, tradition, innovation; global, local, contested
Education: primary, secondary, tertiary, community; English, Literary Studies, Drama, interdisciplinary, active approaches, collaboration; flipped classrooms, blended and online learning, virtual and augmented reality, gamification; open access, corporatisation, the future of education
Theory: purpose of education, philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, creativity; socialisation, democracy, freedom; historicism, formalism, presentism
Teacher: expert, professional, innovator; facilitator, curator, collaborator; instrument, practitioner, researcher
Student: learner, collaborator, player; consumer, client, authority
Questions to ask:
What does Shakespeare education look like now? Where is it headed? What are its accepted norms and critical problems? How is it theorised? How does Shakespeare education manifest in institutions such as schools and universities? How is it performed by theatre companies and community organisations? How is it affected and transformed by digital, virtual and blended learning initiatives and contexts? What is the role played by collaborative educational projects and informal learning environments? How does present Shakespeare education—its theory, practice and needs—relate to imagined or experimental futures for education?
Proposal types:
- 20 minute papers - A traditional conference paper format. These will be arranged by organisers in panels of three papers or can be proposed by their speakers as a set of three.
- 45 minute workshops - Workshops are practice-oriented sessions involving active participation from delegates.
- 5 minute lightning talks - A five minute presentation that puts forward an exciting and provocative idea or problem. This is a good form in which to present an early stage concept or share an educational insight or conundrum. Lightning talks are best thought of as conversation-starters and openings to dialogue about any aspect of Shakespeare education. They will be clustered in bunches of 4-6 and followed by lively discussion amongst attendees. Your lightning talk should also include up to 5 PowerPoint slides to accompany your ideas.