Witnessing yourself and your assumptions about yourself - a starting point for each Module

Here is a post I have added to a bit but I originally wrote from 2013 that I think is useful as we start the new term now.  Thoughts sparked by Module One, first task. Module Twos and Module Threes please read this because these are not thoughts in terms of tips for passing Module One, they are ideas about the layers you can find in the work. Don’t think of a module ending and that’s it. The ideas introduced in each module have something to offer whatever stage you are at. Ideas are introduced in a modules as tools ways of looking at things. These are tools we are hoping you will use on-goingly; throughout this course and into your work arena and beyond your time at Middlesex!!

So I am looking at some ideas introduced in Module One, but this should be relevant to everyone on the course. 

The CV

We ask you to use your CV as a starting point for posting / thinking about introducing yourself and what your experiences.  Module One handbook suggests.

‘You should take your current professional CV and rewrite as a profile improving on its quality and Upload this as your blog profile.’ 

This is not about selling you!! it is to get you thinking about you. Why are we asking you to do this:? because we want you to start to see your Self in different contexts. To see yourself beyond how you were positioned in your prior learning environment and start to see yourself in terms of the different parts of YOUR life. Part of doing this is to start thinking about what you ‘have done’ which is what a CV narrates. See my previous blog posts on this. 

Positioning of Self

http://www.adesolaa.blogspot.com/2010/10/positioning-of-self.html

(October 10^th 2010)

(Re-thinking this might be really useful for people starting Module Two to give your self a ‘what have I just done moment’ and to contextualise any feedback you have just got from the work you just handed in (your assessed work from last term)). 

So here is what is happening for me. I feel really uncomfortable that you could feel encouraged  to just post your ‘audition’ CV. I don’t like the details such as dress size, you  SHOULD NOT post your street address as most CVs have at the top. I think it is kind-a icky to have some of those details which are about costume fittings or ‘look’ (like brown eyes etc…) on your blog which is open access to anyone who finds it. But then you are not being asked to do this directly because how relevant is that kind of CV to this context. Ask yourself what is relevant for this study. I want to encourage you to think about the message and appropriateness of the CV you post in the context of an open-access, learning blog.

Hopefully you will look at it and develop something new for this context. The ‘about me’ part of the Blog sort of serves as a CV area too. You could post about the process you took and use the actually CV you develop as your ‘About me’ content. The point is to question what it will be like for people coming across your blog. What experience will they have of you, since the blog might be the only experience they have of you. It is not just what you want to say because you know much more of the story behind the intentions you have as you make your blog. It is also about stepping ‘outside’ yourself to imagine how you are experienced. THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF ETHICS. 

A chunk of Ethics is introduced in Module Two so module Twos and Threes what do you think of the above in terms of how you are approaching ethics? this about how you affect the people that come across you or your inquiry.

Although formally introduced in Module Two it is sooooooo important to note that everything we do, every decision we make has something to say within the realm of ethics. Because experience is transactional there is inter-play you are experienced as something… ethics is about looking at how you or what you create or do are experienced. 

In this case you can ask yourself questions about why you chose the photo you chose to represent you on your blog. Does it actually look like you? Is it what you were told was a good headshot? Did you choose it because you like to think of yourself that way? What does it say about what you want to appear as? How you want to be experienced? How is it an ‘ethical’ representation of you??? Should it be? what other things have you considered: are you putting off posting on your blog because of your spelling and you don't want spelling mistakes to represent You? What things do you consider in other contexts (at auditions, at work...). do you think to try of yourself as a 'good' person! What is that?

You can ask similar questions about how you construct a CV for your blog. What pressures do you feel you have to conform to? Where is honesty in the representation of your Self in your practice? Is it possible to represent your Self ever? Is it more about learning to be what people want you to be in different parts of your life?  

Module Twos these questions are important to you because as you plan your inquiry you are starting to take your ideas (questions) out beyond your own Reflective work (journals and blog posts) and looking at literature, peers and other professionals to see what they think – but at the same time you can be thinking about these questions of representation, transaction, how things are experienced through thinking about how much value you put in information from different people because of how they appear to you. How you experience them. How much you and what you put out alters what you receive / perceive. 

Module threes this resonates with you because of course you are starting to be out in the field talking, interviewing reading and you can think about how much of You, you are gathering and how much of the ‘other person’ or ‘other’ idea it is possible for you to gather. How does the way you approach people change what you see or hear in them? I do not think you are looking for a neutral way to do this but instate to note down the impact you think you have on an encounter as being as important as the conversation / information you get from an encounter.

So what do you think? How has this post come across?? What do you think of thinking of ethics as ‘How you are experienced’?

Please comment below

Adesola

Claiming You within your work...

I put up a blog post about presentation of work. It was meant to be funny but it might have seemed a bit harsh - sorry.

What I was saying was: As you are nearing the end of the module you are on, it is important to start to think about your work in a wider context. There is a lot of inner reflection thats part of the process of the modules and it is easy to start to see your work just from the perspective of your own inner reflective process of getting to where you are.

But what you are handing in is going to be read on its own terms - the person reading it does not know the process that got you to where you are to write what you hand-in. (We are not inside your head, don't leave it up to the reader to make sense of what you are handing-in).

So you need to make sure you have the wider context in your work this includes simple things like making sure your name and student number is clearly on your work. It also includes the way you introduce or begin your work. Start with an introduction that explains who you are and what it is we will be reading in the paper you are handing in. Do not assume the person who is reading your work knows all about you.

All this is about positioning yourself and having confidence in your work. The Professional Practice element of this course connects with how you present yourself and the confidence within which you do this. Just like at an audition - even if you know the directors really well you still do the audition as if they had never seem you before.

Here are some past blogs I have written about positioning of Self:

http://adesolaa.blogspot.com/2013/11/noticing-situated-you.html

http://adesolaa.blogspot.com/2010/10/positioning-of-self.html


What do you feel? Please comment below.
Adesola

Oct 7th AM SKYPE session conversation points

This mornings group SKYPE session went well – we had some helpful and interesting conversation. We were Lara, Gemma, myself and Hannah joined us at the very end.

The point of all the sessions we have (campus, skype even on-to-one with your tutor) is to feel like you are an ambassador for the rest on the BAPP learning community. That is share what you got out of the interaction what you learnt , what got you thinking, what it made you question. So true to form Lara and Gemma are going to write posts about what they thought was valuable about the conversation this morning.

Gemma is going to write further about how nice it is just to hear the voice of other students talking about their experience and realising they are like your own. Also practical aspects like adding people to your blog by making sure you have ‘follow’ activated on your blog site. Also starting to ‘follow’ other people to start to get connected. Lastly we talked about how basically this is all about starting to change your student self to a professional practice self, through reaching out and finding the information and connections that you need to develop your work. We are offering you lots of tasks and things to think about but only do this if you are linking it to your professional practice to developing yourself and your understanding. In other words ‘use’ things to find out more and develop do not just do them because you think you have been told to. We are seeing active development and responsibility for developing your professional practice what it mean to be professional and that is what this BA is about . Check out what Gemma has to say http://grwalker92.blogspot.co.uk

Lara is going to write further on how we talked about the importance of finding your own learning style. Try playing with some of the tasks to see what works for you in terms of how you have a meaningful learning experience. You don’t have to do everything suggested they are just ideas to get you thinking. You can try doing things or talk about the idea to people you work with to get their thoughts. The important thing is that what you do is purposeful. The purpose is not to do it to show you did it, it is to use doing it to think more about and develop your Professional Practice. That is what the BA is in. Check out Lara’s post on our conversation at http://larafbapp.blogspot.co.uk

Our next group SKYPE is 8:30 (in London) on Wednesday October 8^th (tomorrow). If you want to join in please say so in the comments box below. Also it would be great to hear what you think of the points made in our conversation. What do you think Professional Practice means?

Adesola

Notes on sending work for feedback

Please do not send documents called 'Proposal' or 'AOLs' or 'Reflection' because everyone doing the same tasks. The title of the document is as much for the person receiving it as it is for you. If I get three documents called 'Proposal'. I then open them and hope that the persons name is clearly on the document!! But no!!! Often it is just the written work no page numbers or footer or header with the persons name and id number. I write this for both my BA and MA courses because they are both in professional practice and it is good practice to do the above in general. Send people things with your name on them!
Akinleye_blog post.doc
then when it is opened your name again and page numbers in case they need to print it out.

I think this is important because it means what you send is intended for the person reading it. This shows you have taken a moment to think about how the thing you are sending will be experienced by the reader and it means it does not look like you did something and sent it the first moment you thought you wanted reassurance it was ok.

Get what I mean? What do you think? Have you experienced the same thing? Do you suddenly realise you did this too!!!!!!
Adesola

Action: doing, links

Hi

Here is a plug for something I am constantly saying . If you are sending something to someone via email imagine it on THEIR computer. They are not you.

 Example One: sending work to your advisor: So putting ‘Critical Review’ on it makes sense on your computer because you have only done one but your adviser has up to 20. The thing it is for your advisor is not a ‘Critical review’ it is a piece of work from you. SO PUT YOUR NAME ON IT and put your name on the work itself. 

Example Two: sending your CV to a producer. On your computer you may only have your CV so calling the file ‘CV’ helps you find it. But on the producers computer they may have 200 CV’s so what is important about it is that it is from YOU. Put your name on it.

I recommend your name_what it is_date or draft number.doc

=

AAkinleye_Introductiondraft_nov12.doc

When I look at work I send it back with

AA_ your name_ whatever you called it.doc

so you know that, that copy is the one I made comments on. Get it?

See blogs: Positioning of Self

OK its get it together time for what you will be handing in, try to let go of going to do a BA and get into doing a BA mode. Its ok not to be a perfect as you are in your head as long as you do something.

Please  think about citations enough said!!! Citations

 Module One’s start asking yourself how all the sections in module one link up and where you and your experience are in the links. Start to make notes about how you will writing your reflective essay. see: 

Positioning of Self (different from above)

Module Two’s commit to an idea and start to work out how you can best explore it. Nothing to prove just inquiry. see Question(aires)?

Module Three’s the handbook  (page 13)is really useful in giving you a structure for your ‘Critical review’:

·      Introduction of the Critical review

·      Evaluation of the inquiry process

·      Analysis of what you experienced (what you found / findings)

·      Critical reflection (of the whole situation including what you did and experienced)

aAlso look at: Weeks 6,7,8& 10 (Module three particularly)

and

http://www.adesolaa.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-research-analysis-is-so-important.html

Thought: Module ones this structure is not too different from how you would be planning your critical reflection too (only yours is shorter, more succinct).

So if you are a Module Two leave a comment of advice for a Oner. If you are a Three leave a comment for a two or One. If you are a One leave a comment for all of us.

I have tried to link past posts. See what people commented at the time (if they did!) then visit their blogs and see where they were at the time when they made the comment. This is why comments are so cool to leave people!

Keep your stick on the ice

Adesola

Holidays, networks, tools and be led!

This week’s blog is a little late, in that I try to post each Thursday. I had a test on Thursday and then had to watch a few hours of 'Glee' to calm back down.

So how is it going? The Easter holidays are upon us but I know for some people that means having more time to work on your module since work obligations are not as intense over the holiday. As the term comes to an end really meeting your own scheduling targets for your study is important. You might use some of the time to assess where you are in the module and re-schedule how you will approach the activity of the last few weeks. Always leave yourself a couple of weeks to write and re-write what you are handing in. In some ways you need to think of writing the work you are handing as an experience in itself that will teach you more. Having written it you might find that the experience of writing it completes the module activity for you and helps you have a full perspective. At that point you will have a kind of clarity of completion that will in form the whole process and will mean you can go back to what you wrote and improve it in terms of order, or clarity of the points you make or seeing where you have left out something important.

I am not going back on what I am always saying about thinking. I am not saying that thinking is IN the writing but knowing the whole event is helpful for organising understanding of it. The whole event is doing the tasks AND writing about the learning. It is like the way if you are learning a dance sequence even if you don’t know how to do it all yet knowing how it will end helps you to start to internalise the sequence so you can learn and remember it. I always find while I am being taught a sequence it seems really long and overwhelming, but once I know the whole thing where it goes I can start to manage the parts of it much better and it don’t seem as long at all.

Module Ones are thinking about networks. This is am important idea because it is about how you connect to things and how you see yourself in the context of your professional activities. The last part of Module one is different from the first two parts because it is asking you to expressly look beyond yourself, to position yourself in the field of your activities. This is the first time we ask you to expressly do this. The reflection part of the module asks you to look in and the network part of the module asks you to look out. By doing both you get a sense of where you are, what your position is now, where you come from and how that has influenced you and the trajectory that moves you forward that will be the energy you use to engage with module two and then later three. I have a number of posts about ‘positioning’ and ‘YOU’; have a look around my Blog at posts from the past.

Module Twos are looking at tools of inquiry. The pilots are trying out tools to see what they do in practise in terms of the kind of information you get from them. Then think about whether this information is in the form that addresses the approach you have taken to inquire. Does it create data that is relevant to what you are interested in. In other words if you piloted something and found you got data in numerical form, (six people thought that, seven thought this) is that useful if your topic is about personal experiences of people? You might have piloted another tool and found you got a massive amount of thoughts from two people this form of data might be much more useful. NOW why do you need to have useful data?... because the inquiry is not about generating data (information) it is about what you do with the data, it is about your analysis (see last weeks blog). If how you are going to analyse is to compare numbers, you need data in the form of numbers to do that. If you are comparing or looking at feelings you need to have documentation of feelings to do that. How do you know what kind of analysis you will undertake? You know because in your inquiry question you indicate what you are looking for.
Module two is about making the ‘framework’ of your inquiry - all the bits fit in and support each other. The art of the module (and research in general) is to be sensitive to the life of the inquiry / the question itself and not to impose your own expectations and assumptions on to what will happen. This is to allow the research to lead you NOT for you to lead the research. This is a lesson for Module Threes also as they begin writing-up there research now.

What do you think?
Adesola