Spinning plates while doing a jigsaw

Pauline Johnson

Q1 What was the context/situation/challenge?

Every two years the University promotes the Guildford International Music Festival. It is two weeks of intensive musical activity in venues on campus and in Guildford. I programme, fundraise, organise and oversee the whole event, which includes devised and collaborative works as well as own-promotion contributions from local organisations. The last Festival was March 2007.

Q2 What were the particular characteristics of the situation that engaged you in an immersive way.

The preparation for the Festival consumes working life for at least 8 months before and from November when absolute details must be finalised so that the brochure and website can be produced for publication in early January it subsumes every waking and many sleeping moments. For the 17 days of the Festival it is an average of 14/15 hour days of total concentration and attention to detail and the needs of artists and audiences.

Q3 What forms of learning / personal development / change emerged from the situation?

An acknowledgement that there needs to be vision to create such events, and a realisation that even the smallest of details are important and need to be considered at the visionary stage in order for the big picture to appear complete.

A recognition of the power of the smile and the importance of humour in negotiating and in tense situations.

An understanding that some people just do not see the detail and that it takes hard conscious thought to work with people who have very different thought processes and working patterns when in an immersive situation.

An apparent capacity to appear patient and calm while inwardly panicking!

Q4 What words/concepts/feelings would you use to describe the immersive experience?

Overwhelming, creatively stimulating, satisfying, frustrating, terrifying, collaborative. For the duration of the Festival period I feel as though I am spinning plates while doing a jigsaw, the aim being to complete the jigsaw without any smashed plates. When I catch a plate and put it down, it turns into a piece of the jigsaw, and the picture, hopefully, has no gaps.

Q5 What principles or lessons can be drawn from this story? For example, how could this story inform designs and enrich opportunities for learning through immersive experience in higher education?

Devise physical opportunities for students to put into practice their theoretical knowledge and to test and stretch themselves fully utilising all their experience(s), not just what is taught academically.

To look at ways in which we can encourage acknowledgement and understanding of inner strengths and capabilities so that they can be recognised, built upon and applied in all learning situations.

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