Having fun, chatting and being brave!

Module One people you are starting reflection tasks these can be a lot of fun. In the past, as well as the tasks in the Handbook, we have tried writing a poem each night. It is a fun way to see what you were thinking, often it is quite a surprise what you write about. Reflection is at the core of this work since it is the process of analysis (looking at the things around you and finding meaning, relationships and connections between things. The reflection reader is your first introduction to theory in the course. Take the time to find out more about some of the people you are reading about and also to apply (link) the theory with your own day-to-day experience -  reflection. 

Module Two people a word about the SIGs each year the students in this module have found different ways to make groups. The goal is to have a group of people to discuss with. In the past facebook has worked well but this year Linked-In seems to be working well for some people too. Go to the notice board on Libguides to see which groups have been formed. You don’t have to make a new group for every thought or theme you have. Just find / create a place where you can exchange ideas with peers. Remember it could be a regular meeting in a coffee shop with other students near you, but for most people the internet is easier because they are moving about because of work or do not live near other students. The point is the get chatting with people.

You are also thinking about ethics. I really would like to stress that ethics is partly about what you create for others. It is about thinking about what your actions will create and also thinking about how one can not control what people receive from us but we can put in checks and reflection points for ourselves to consider what our actions and perceptions create.

Module Three people – artefacts!! You know its great to start to think about what you could do for an artefact, but I want to ask you to consider being brave and allow yourself NOT TO KNOW yet. It is pretty hard to know at the moment because a large part of your inquiry is your analysis (thinking, reflection) of your data. You cannot really know what your inquiry is really about until you have done that part. At the moment as you collect data you are following ideas, intuition, literature but putting it all together happens in the analysis which is down the line yet. So of course you don’t know what the artefact is yet. Remember it is an artefact of the inquiry not a solution to the ‘problem’. The inquiry is not about problemtising elements of your profession (to which the artefact is a solution) rather you are inquiring to find out more for yourself.  The artefact is the manifestation of the experience of the inquiry. It is a way to move from a totally theoretical piece of work to something that expresses outside words something that stands physically outside of the pile of words in your report.

What do you all think? How is it going?

Adesola