Bridging the Divide

: How do Lecturers in Undergraduate Sound Engineering Courses Bridge the Gap Between Industry and Education?

Abstract

The formal study of sound engineering is a relatively modern and under-researched field within modern arts education. However, this subject has a number of features that are common across a range of subjects of a similar nature. How the lecturers who work on these courses influence students and tie them to the wider industry is potentially pivotal in an industry so intrinsically tied to the nature of interpersonal connections. Particularly where this industry simultaneously does not provide stable and sustained working partnerships. This international comparative study looks to explore the role lecturers on undergraduate sound engineering courses play in bridging the gap between the communities of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991) found in academia and in industry. In order to explore this, I utilised a comparative study of HE institutions in England, Germany and Denmark that specialised in practical, experiential courses whilst adhering to a strict ethical protocol. These sites were viewed through a Communities of Practice approach. The study utilised semi-structured interviews combined with document analysis and observations recorded in a research journal. My research suggests that the employment of industry professionals as lecturers is of vital importance to running these courses effectively but also that these lectures must be able to exercise a significant level of autonomy for the courses to see the most benefit from them. This study is one of the first to deal with the subject of Sound Engineering specifically and possibly the first to explore it through a Communities of Practice lens. Lastly, within this study I propose a novel manner of viewing Communities of Practice that significantly expands the scope of what we might consider a Community of Practice to be via the use of a Concentric Circle approach.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Plymouth
Sponsors	Plymouth Institute of Education
Supervisor	Jocey Quinn (Director of Studies (First Supervisor)) & Karen Wickett (Other Supervisor)