Dyslexic film!!! Power to the dys

http://dysthelexi.com/

DYSPLAMENTARY OFFICIAL TRAILER from Kazimir Bielecki on Vimeo.

Question(aires)?

My blog post is a little late this week, sorry. I have been at a conference – “Meaning + Making of Queer Dance: embodied pleasures in History, Representation, and Queer Communities”. It was a great conference and really interesting. Queer theory is an interesting strand of inquiry. For me it responds to and informs the use and expectation of the body that resonates with questions that dance wrestles with. “Trans” informed thinking raises questions about the body, who defines it, how it can change and wider questions about the linear progression of time that heterosexual perspectives take which are not the lived narrative of many peoples lives.

I will write more on the conference maybe next week. This week I wanted to talk about literature reviews and questionnaires. This is particularly relevant to Module 2ers and 3ers. I have notice a trend, which I will describe below, but just to say there is nothing wrong with this trend but I just want you to think deeply about it and be aware of these thoughts on it.

It is clear that if you are going to analyse data the simplest way of understanding that activity is to compare one set of data with another. The second set being a kind of fixed or established idea and the first being looked at in terms of the fixed or established idea.

I have notice a lot of peoples plans for their research involving taking a questionnaire or survey as a first step then using that to inform further collection of data through interviews. What I want to point out here is that the questionnaire / survey is being used here in the way a Literature Review should / could be used. That is to establish that a group of people think a particular thing. I feel that people are seeing the numbers that a questionnaire can gather as a form of justification for the main ideas the questionnaires uncover. As if, if 50 dancers think it, it is validated enough for you to go on to ask questions about it or use the idea as a basis for your interviews, but this a weak position to be in for two reasons.

Firstly, the size of the questionnaire and the quality of the questionnaire is not enough to justify the results being a the foundation of your ideas and inform the rest of your inquiry. Secondly, the time it takes to really analyse the data from the questionnaire itself is prohibitive to getting the interviews done in time too. In other words you run the risk of the questionnaire being so superficial or under analysed that it does not really provide a foundation for rest of your work.  

However this process is not wrong it is just that academia has solved the problem by using a Literature Review. A Literature Review looks at ‘all’ the books or ideas about your topic. It is not looking a Key Texts – one or two books that you read and quote – it is about knowing what people think / have published on the subject generally. In other words in the same way the questionnaire gives you an overview of what 50 people think. A literature review also gives you an overview of what 50 people think but these are people who have published their ideas so the ideas have been challenged and defended. This means that using these ideas as the basis of your interview (as you would the questionnaire results) is a stronger foundation. The authors have done the work of rigour and ‘credibility’ for you.

So I would like you to think about what you are using as a foundation for the ideas you have and then what you are comparing them too or using to make them credible: a questionnaire in a way is like you saying if I can get 50 of my friends and colleagues to agree with me then I am going to say that this is a kind of fact that I will interview people about. The literature review is saying I think this and XXX thinks it too but [and here is the most useful part of the literature review] YYY does not think this and challenges this. I will use this site of interaction that the literature revolves around  to inform how I approach my interviews.

Does that make sense? What do you think?


I am not saying that a survey or any other method is a replacement for a  literature review. I am saying be careful that you use the literature review and data collection methods appropriately and not use them interchangeably. I am making the assumption you do not want your conclusions to be limited to information gather from a few people you loosely know but want to be informed by the wealth of literature and ideas out there. 

Module One (1st campus session)

Module One (First Campus Session)

We had campus sessions this week. The idea of campus sessions is that they instigate ideas, question and thoughts that the whole student body can discuss and think about. The blogs are a good space to do this of course. In the first campus session for Module One we took an over view of the whole module. I felt important points were:

1). The tasks are not assessed; it is your reflection of them in the Critical Review that you hand in at the end of the module that is assessed. The tasks are to guide you through a learning journey, they are tips on how to look at yourself, look at your learning identity and style and start to see how you will move forward as you complete your BA with us.

2). Don’t get bogged down in the first section of the module. There are a lot of task suggestions there and you can get stuck in the comfort of doing things because you have been told to. Don’t get stuck making the perfect blog site (!), throughout the whole course you will be developing your ideas and often coming back to things to develop them further too.

During the session the Advisors introduced themselves, Paula, Rosemary, Alan and myself. Every student has one of us as an advisor. You need to have contacted your advisor by now so if you are not sure who your advisor is check your emails and make contact. Avni also introduced herself she is our administrator and will help you with issues to do with enrolment, etc… Then the students who had come introduced themselves. See Sherminne Seaman’s comment below.

Then we when through the module and underlined what would be assessed. We also looked at the tasks in terms of how they are spread out over the 12 weeks of the module. Following this looked at the steps the first task form.  We had a short break and then we looked at the same ideas using movement games (dance).

We discussed in words and we also did some movement  (dance game) in order to look at our ideas. After our discussions I asked everyone who attended the campus session to write down a single idea they thought was important that had been generated from what we talked / danced about. Also visit there blogs for further comments.

“I enjoyed how one ‘movement’ game allowed us to share and inspire each other’s new ideas.” - Liam Pentland [Using the interactions within a physical space,  the room we were in,  taught us something about the dynamic of the interactions within the cyber-space of the blogs also]

We found that sharing ideas with each other help us articulate our own ideas. “I found it was interesting to learn a variety of ways in which our own learning can be strengthened by communication with others. “ – John http://johnnordon.blogspot.com/

“Life is a journey, experience different things but don’t lose yourself throughout your experience, observe, be aware and make progression. Your experiences are your journey.” – Nina Nunes

“A point I found really useful today was working as a team and learning that we all had different aims but still working towards quite similar goals.” – Sherminne Seaman

“Finding the equilibrium between working alone and working as a team. Sharing an idea is more valuable than owning an idea [and not sharing]. We are all on individual journeys; nourish this!’ – Hannah Zapala http://hannahzapala.blogspot.com/

“Even though we are all on this journey together we all have different pathways. Sharing is better as knowledge is doubled. We don’t own the information and often information is improved when discussed with others.” – Nina Standen

[From the Movement game to generalising about the activity of the first module] “we are all in the journey of the course doing the same tasks (moves). However, the interpretation of the taks (moves) is free for us to decide. We learn from each other but there is no right and wrong way of doing it.” Ahmet Ahmet http://mrahmet.blogspot.com/

“[informed] looking at other people’s work as a guide to your own will help you on your own journey” Afi Agyeman http://afiagyeman.blogspot.com/

[movement exercise] “to share ideas – no need for ownership! [I felt an important point was] that you need to have your own journey as well as learning from others. [It’s about] about finding a balance between those two things.”  - Hollie Smith

Module Two (1st campus session)

Module Two (First Campus Session)

In the afternoon on Monday we had a campus session for Module Two. We had talked about starting to think about of a topic to inquire into for your investigation in Module Three. In terms of thinking about topics of interest we thought about who else is involved – who the stakeholders are? – this gives you a way to look at something from a number of perspectives to get a more three-dimensional picture. It also helps you think beyond your direct experience of place or event. 

We talked about different kinds of learning and the idea of challenging your ideas and notions. This is described as ‘rigour’. It is about not assuming anything but look further, or beneath the surface of things. We talked about how we acquire information (how do we do an enquiry? & What do we need to do to check it has rigour?)

We talked about field data, and data collected from Literature reviews.

This module is much more intense than the first module because it requires a number of things to be thought about and drawn together by the end of the module. It is the module where you figure out what will do to ‘compliment’ your existing credits in order to complete your BA (Hons). This includes being able summarise your knowledge into the title for your BA. This module also asks you to “sharpen your skills” and teaches you new techniques for research and inquire. These skills are not just so you can complete Module Three but so that you can conduct research within your own Professional Practice. This is so that you have the tools to continue your life long learning journey after you have graduated.

Go to Rosemary’s blog for further comments about the session. http://rosemarymcguinness.blogspot.com/

My important points to share were:

Indulge in a sense of wonder – enjoy the idea of knowing nothing and finding out something new.

Don’t take on the burden of spending 24 weeks planning and executing ways to prove yourself ‘right’.

Module Three (1st campus session)

Module Three (First Campus Session)

On Tuesday we had a campus session for module three. We looked at an overview of the next 12 weeks (planning your time will be important). Paula will be posting dates for events to remember over the term, for instance: The next campus session dates (March 1^st and 23^rd), also a day for help with writing (March 8^th). There are also dates for sending in drafts of your work for feedback. Across the 12 weeks you are also asked to post at least 6 Blogs there were some suggestions for topics. All the details are in the power point slides on Paula’s blog http://paulanottingham.blogspot.com/.

We also did an exercise for thinking about the whole embodied process of the learning. We looked at what we want to keep, let go off, carry forward, shout about, think more about, the emotions of. Here is a summaries of these from the people who came to the session. It is different for everyone. It might be fun to try answering the categories for yourself.

Things to keep:

-       Healthy eating

-       Working when the house is free and quiet

-       Working  for hour a day everyday (small chunks)

-       Working for the whole day (it takes me time to get started)

-       Scheduling (work and study)

-       Using pictures and images to break down text into images)

-       Going to the library

-       Listening to music

Things to let go off:

-       Overtime at work

-       Bad eating

-       Leaving study work to the last minute

-       Studying at break at work

-       Panic

-       Being negative

Things to move forward with:

-       Using interviews

-       Observations

-       Reflecting

-       Learning how to set-up a sound system

-       Experiencing new things

-       Surveys

-       Completing the course

Things to shout about (feel proud of):

-       How far I’ve come and not given up

-       Sticking to deadlines

-       Paying my fees

-       Organisation

-       The research I’ve done

-       My essay and research how to write better

-       Not giving-up

Emotional associations:

-       relief when deadlines are met

-       panic

-       stress

-       passion

-       enjoyment

-       Motivated / de-motivated

-       being honest with myself

-       questioning

-       doubting

-       anxious

-       enthusiasm

Things to keep thinking about (let stew some more):

-       maybe access the library more

-       better contact with my Advisor

-       how I should use my spare time

-       Find literature

-       Use of interviews (and how to document them)

-       Surveys (to use or not to use)

-       The path the project is taking

-       Observations…

I asked people who attended to write one point they thought was important to share (there were lots more of course).

“Organisation, I think is a key [That worked for me last module was]. I need to have a sort of planning for my study time around everything else that happens in our life. I found that scheduling 1 hour of study / research into my diary and treating it as an hour of work, for instance, really made me stick to it.” – Laura 

http://laurasinigaglia.blogspot.com

“I found mapping out where we are like this very useful…[it made me think]

-       not to be so harsh on yourself

-       allow yourself enough time for deadlines

-       reward yourself for things you are proud of

-       we all feel anxious and stressed at times / allow yourself to enjoy the process

-       Don’t give-up / help is out there” Tanisha http://planyourblogger.blogspot.com/

“For those that were not here today, useful tips:

Organisation and sticking to it.

Support  / keeping in contact with others and other students on the blog

Finding some quite time

Letting go of things that didn’t help or blocked you with Module 2 “ - Samantha http://samanthawebber.blogspot.com/

New Term / Campus Sessions

Hi

Well the new term starts Monday. Don’t forget the Campus Sessions kick-off on Monday and Tuesday too.

Monday: Module One (10am-1pm),

Module Two (2pm – 5pm)

Tuesday: Module Three (10am -1pm)

All of these are at Trent Park Campus.

If you are re-doing a module get to know the your new colleagues who are doing it with you. They maybe someone you have blogged with before. Remember that it is the quality you the learning experience you have that is important not a race to the end. Enjoy the company and community we are building.

If you have just finished and will be graduating PLEASE keep blogging, it would be so nice to have a really big network of people who are doing have done (and maybe thinking of doing).

Adesola

Citations

I am in the middle of marking. It is nice to see everyone’s great work.  Here is a quick comment in general about citations:

A quote should be on a separate line, in italics and indented. The quote also needs a ‘lead in’ and ‘lead out’ in your text. You cannot just put it there to make a point by itself.

Example:

“Dewey’s Pragmatist perspective further develops the research’s understanding of dance as language. Whereas above phenomenological hermeneutics implies dance could be thought of as dealing with the leftovers of verbal language Dewey reverses this idea:

‘language, signs and significance, come into existence not by intent and mind but by over-flow, by-product, in gestures and sounds. The story of language is the story of the use made of these occurrences; a use that is eventual as well as eventful.’  (Dewey 1958, p.175)

Dewey sees verbal language as an adornment to the act of communicating. He sees communication as the drive to share and collaborate meaning. Effort of doing this can lead to verbal language but communication is not brought into existence by verbal language and the effort of communication could just as well lead to a movement language . ” – Akinleye, unpublished thesis

The citation (Dewey, 1958, p.175) is linked to the following in the bibliography, which should not be separate, but a part of the same document. That means that when you read the above quote you can turn to the back pages and see which book it is. The citation tells us this: to find the book you go to the bibliography and look for the name Dewey. I may have a number of books by Dewey I have quoted from so then you look for the one published in 1958. Now you can locate the full detail example below. 

If there were two books by Dewey published in 1958 in my bibliography then I would put

(Dewey, 1958a p.175). Then the bibliography I would put 1958a again so you know which one of the two books by him published in 1958 I was talking about. So the bibliography entry will look like this:

Dewey, J. (1958) Experience and nature, New York: Dover Publications.

This citation format is Harvard:

Surname, initcal of first name. (Year the book you are looking at was published), where it was published: who published it

Note the punctuation as well as the content of the text. Using this method means your work is in line with standard citation formats, which means that anyone who is used to doing research can read your work and find the very text you have copied the quote from. Every book published in UK is in the British Library. That means that someone can find the book you are talking about. That is what citation is for. It is not to prove you know the quote was in a book by X.

Also note that the date is the date of the book you are holding in your hand when you look at the quote. So for instance Dewey did not first publish ‘Experience and Nature’ in 1958, but that is the date of the book I have, so when I put the page number (…, p.175) you can find the page with the quote on it. In a book published earlier or later the print size maybe different or the size of the book pages etc… this means that that quote is not on page 175 of those books. This is why it is important the date is of the publication you have looked at, otherwise the page number is meaningless.

Please think about this….

Does it make sense?

Adesola

Conference

On Thursday and Friday I went to a conference about Somaesthetics in Florida. It was primarily a Philosophy conference, Somaesthetics  looks at the body beyond a vessel for carrying (things like the mind). Dr Richard Shusterman offers the word ‘somaeathetics’ to capture this and it was he that invited me to the conference to give a paper.

I talked about the ‘language of dance’ and the relationship dance as a language has with other ‘languages’. My thesis was that different kinds of languages (like dance as a language) change how we perceive the body of an individual in relation to what is ‘around’ them. In other words the ‘edges’ or ways to define ‘things’  - the gaps between ‘self’ and other are changed by the language used to communicate across it. I think dance creates quite different orientations to the world than verbal based languages.  I got everyone up and moving which surprisingly seemed very unexpected to them. There were two other ‘dancers’ there – one from Canada who talked about body awareness work (The Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education) and women with eating disorders. The other ‘dancer’ was from Columbia and talked about work with ex-combatants who were developing new relationships with their bodies after ‘using’ them as weapons of war.

I learnt a lot about the language of people working in philosophy departments. I am still thinking about what I think! I am not sure where the work of dance as a methodology, as a practice beyond tradition staged performances fits into the ‘Academy’ (university).  For me dance is philosophy.

There are many prejudices that I encounter being associated with dance.  There is an interesting one of body reading. Dancers are used to seeing athletic, ‘young’ looking people who ‘have a career’. When people out side dance look at me they assume I am much younger than I am. They assume that I am beginning... were as dancers do not make that assumption! My contrary nature draws me into antagonising the perceptions of myself that people create, this makes me tend to wear pretty dresses and use ‘Hello Kitty’ pens to write at conferences and campus sessions, construction boots to ballet class and suits to protests and marches!!! But then I come from a performance background and I do belief that ones day-to-day life is a work of art and should challenge whoever decides they are my audience. (Audience as opposed to people who do not observe but attempt to get to know me – the interactive art of living).

We talked about this also at the conference and how there is an opposition between athletic looking people – who it is assumed are not ‘serious academics’. This reflects the mind / body divide we are all dealing with, as if you can either spend time on your body OR your mind and time spent on one is time not spent on the other.

I ended up understanding and hanging out and sharing the same principles as the other ‘dancers’ at the conference and yet all three of us also rejected the confines of the dance world and they way in which many dance techniques places judgement and ‘perfection’ on bodies. All three of us had had problems with the identity of ‘dancer’.

The other interesting thing I found was how people from different fields identify what data are and how they present them. There was a lot that went on and I have not processed the whole experience yet.

Overall it was an interesting time. The trees were amazing and lots of interesting talks and sunshine. 

Playing with film

I am learning stop motion!

What do you think?

Arts and Education

This is a really good talk to watch. It is especially interesting for people thinking about learning from the practical experience of the arts and linking this to formal learning structures like BA (HON). What do you think of what Sir Ken Robinson says here?




Adesola

Thrive

Create the conditions for you to thrive. As this module closes you move along the convey-a-belt to the next modules. Sadly that is how the education system works. But you do not have to adopt the linear structure as a kind of truth to who you are or what you are. Some learning in the last modules might kick-in in a couple of months. Some things might change in meaning to you. Some things might loose meaning: it’s a dance.  However you think you did or what ever you wished you’d done is not behind you irretrievable because the belt has moved on, it’s a part of the rich tapestry of now.

The point is not to decide if you or something or someone is ‘good’ or not, correct or not. The point is to be a vital part of your own process, to notice and create the conditions in which you thrive and meet your full potential. I have found that there is so much fear involved in attempting to express your ideas within a structure where it will be assessed by others. There is so much hope that what you mean will be understood and what you want to achieve will be granted but the fear clogs up the ability to dance. It sets you on a single straight line afraid to step off or over for fear of missing a step. But I really believe that learning, ideas, the lived experience is not a line it is organic, a rhizome. Rather than predict its shape - predicting what it will be, focus on creating the nutrition for it to thrive. In other words now is the time to have a good laugh and welcome the you that just experienced last year.

Have a good end of the year / new year.

Adesola

Good habits

It is week !!!! (holidays), but you are probably in writing-up final draft time. As the module ends it is a good idea to reflect on how you organised your time, what good practice you want to adopt and what things did not work for you.

I have just finished writing-up a project, myself. I have thought about what I liked about how I did it. I am going to (try to) keep my habit of waking up early to do two good hours each morning before everything starts. I find I get more work done in the first two hours after a good nights sleep than in four hours later in the day. I want to keep the habit. Some people have talked about coffee shops and places they go to work. Are you going to keep going there just to keep in the practice of having time set aside for reflection or study.

I also had to read a lot I want to keep that too since I don’t exactly ‘read for pleasure’ in the conventional sense. So I want to keep up the habit of making myself read by keeping a time during the week when I sit down and read for a block of time. Things I want to let go of is the mess my computer files are in. 

Remember you are inquiring in life long habits for professional practice so think about what works for you to keep don’t just do things because the module made you and then you drop the good practice.

I have planned four days off over Christmas: that’s really exciting; hope you make time to just relax and reflect too.

Adesola

Week 12

Hi, today is the last day of the term, so you will be in the writing-up stage of the module. As you are working remember not to be blinded by any personal realisations or epiphanies. We really wanted you to reflectively experience the familiar of your professional life differently. We hoped you would find you started to think differently, more widely or more deeply about things. We hoped you would become aware of ideas and find problems with notions you had not noticed before. BUT that was the process; that was the point of the tasks. NOW you need to step back and take an overview of the whole module. Focus on the goals of the assignment (i.e. to write a critical reflection, in terms of what a critical reflection is, or plan a project -  PLAN it, or report on research you did ) do not write something to prove the new idea you have found or something that tells the story of finding it.

Make sure what you are doing is going to meet the assessment criteria: that is how it will be marked whether you prove the point or not. The University is look for you show you are at BA(HONS) level a certificate that is recognised beyond you specialty. So just proving you know something about your specialty that nobody else seems to have realised is not meaningful beyond you and your area of the world. Of course your Professional practice is central to you work and this degree but you also need to demonstrate skills that are generic to being at BA (HON) level such as critical thinking, spelling and presentation, use of language and academic writing, structuring presentation of ideas etc...

When ever someone says spelling to me I panic – DO NOT PANIC just be aware that people find it important and do your best. Some one said something to the other day that really put this in perspective. It was that over time the record of your work is less a reflection on you and more a reflection on the University. The University needs to show that their students meet the levels expected. You will grow and do more work but the university is accepting this moment and has the stand behind the decision, therefore your work is also a representation of the institution where you study.  

Writing-up work

Just a short blog to say:
As you write-up your work remain calm and list the things you want to do. Then get through them one by one.
You are writing about your profession, which is more than likely your passion too, don't get caught up in the emotion of talking about things you care about. Right now try to create a space and realise you are fulfilling a requirement not explaining your life's work in 'x' number of words. Figure out what the requirement is asking and address that directly.

Adesola
:)

Clarity

A few people I have blogged or spoken to seem a little ‘freaked out’ at this point in terms of where their direction should be and how much to do. There are bound to be hundreds of interesting twists and turns you are encountering as you undertake the tasks and reflect on your learning. But at this point you need to familiarise yourself with what exactly you need to hand-in to marked.

As you know it is not the tasks. They are stepping stones to help you in your work. I advise you go back to handbook and review the assignment you are handing-in. What form it takes, how many words, what it is about? We do not what the ‘story’ of your tasks we are looking for you to synthesize all the experiences you have had and address the assignment. Maybe some tasks will be more pertinent than others. Maybe you feel you’d like to re-do something. But now is the time to start writing what you are handing-in so that you can have a draft done in time for feedback, if you want feedback from your advisor, even if you don’t it gives you time to really think about what you have been doing and what relationship it has with the assignment you are handing in.

I keep missing one of my students who wants to talk about the artefact. (I will keep trying). This is something module 3ers are doing but it is learning EVERYONE is in fact doing. The artefact is about what is indicated. In all the modules the assignment you handing-in has something to do with consolidating what you have done to the point where you can articulate what it indicates. With Module 1ers you are looking at all the ways you explored yourself learning and writing about what it indicates in terms of what you have done and what you are interested in.

Module 2ers are looking at all the information in the area of the questions you have been looking at and consolidating this into what it indicates in terms of  something that resonates with what you have done and what you are interested in (see the progression from module 1?).

Module 3ers you are consolidating what you have done this term, which was a response to what, you have done and what you are interested in (Module 1 & 2). the artefact is about sharing how this practically manifests considering what you have learnt. It is the meaning behind what the artefact is that is important not the artefacts perfection.

My research has led me to think that understanding something using words only is not as helpful as using a range of mediums. If I write about this I am in fact saying that what I am choosing to share the idea (that you need more than words) is not as helpful than if I had used a range of mediums. So wouldn’t you ask “If you think that why have you written it?” Then I would bring out my artefact  - a web-site that has visual elements and sound elements…. Get it? !!

O.K. have a good week

I was having a hard time in class the other day because my injured leg is still not as strong as my other leg. As I was trying to balance I thought of all of you. Thinking if I expect them to step outside their comfort zone and be in the discomfort of challenging themselves; I can challenge myself to stay on balance even if it hurts a bit! So thanks guys for all your inspiring hard work.

Adesola

Planning the end

Week 8: How is it going?  Just to be clear this is a twelve-week term. So the modules finish on December 16^th. But then you have until January 9^th to hand-in your work. Different advisors have different cut of dates for feedback. That is when you have to have work in by in December if you want feedback before you hand-in your work. Check you know when the cut off date is and any other requirements your advisor has.  I would leave the last two weeks of the term for writing what I am handing in (December).

Try to do as much as you can, so that drafts are as clear as possible. Make drafts a ‘full-out dress rehearsal’, so that you can see where your problems are.

Think about what will work for you in-terms of your personal and work life over Christmas: so that you give yourself enough time to do what you want to do.

Don’t leave all the nagging things you think you aught to do any longer. Get them done now. If there is a task you really want to do but didn’t get round to do it this week. You need to give yourself time to learn from it.

Overall everyone seems well in the stew of thinking and doing. Just make sure you are not in ‘I must do that mode’ be in ‘I’m doing’. Time is going to go by quickly.

Feedback:

Principle one: only ask for feedback if you are interested in possibly changing what you have created. Do not ask for it as away to engage someone in talking about you work.

I wrote a funny thing about feedback maybe Akin or another graphically gifted person can make it a cartoon. In my head it is a cartoon:

My process for receiving feedback cycle!!

1) Oh, my God that’s right, that’s a much better way to do it than I did!

2) I can’t do it, I can’t change it, maybe I just can’t achieve this.

3) Wait a minute maybe she (the feedbacker) doesn’t really know what she is talking about. I think my work is fine.

4) I feel really sick (fat=cultural / social conditioning , etc… or other excuses for feeling not up to things and just wanting to go back to bed)

5) O.K. that’s better, I think I did, need to develop that etc…

6) Oh my God I’m brilliant; she (the feedbacker) is amazing to be able to see my amazing potential.

7) New feedback

1) Oh, my God that’s right…

2) I can’t do it….

Etc….

!!!!!

Adesola

Courage and Kindness

Hi, week  7 and I’m a little late with my weekly blog!!

Module 1ers are beginning Network tasks supported by Reader 3 – “The networked professional”.  This is about linking things together. Start to think about the module as a whole how things connect.

Module 2ers are starting to try out tools for professional enquiry: see what kind of information piloted tools gives you. Remember that is not what information they give you (i.e. the content, x does x). It’s what kind of information (i.e. general, large quantities, personal, focused etc…)

Module 3ers would be beginning to analyse their data. Starting to think about what it is you’ve found, learnt, re-shaped from your data collection period. I find that this involves a lot of thinking!! And writing is not always thinking. You may need to go on walks, or have conversations with friends about it. What has been working for me is reading all the bits I am trying to make sense of so its in my head, then going to Bikram yoga. Because the poses are all the same each time I can get right into my body, which is, were I find meaning. I find that as I stretch out and realign my muscles and bones my brain (thinking) realigns and stretches out too and I find I have made connections in my research too.

Exciting times, you are probably wanting to make sure your going in the right direction. That is a natural feeling but remember although people can reassure you, YOU have to trust yourself and do your best and be true to what you think you should be doing because its your learning journey not a treasure hunt we have made (where we can say you’re getting cooler or hotter).

“genius is talent exercised with courage’ (– Wittenstein) “and kindness” – me!!

Adesola

CV

I changed it!
Does it make sense or still to abstract?
Adesola

Location

Welcome to week 6 people!!! Well I have been thinking about two things:

Firstly, the process of doing something new: There is a really big shift that one must make from “I’m going to do something” to “I am doing something” to “I am finished”. There is just a comforting feeling in being in the process of starting. And there is a really scary feeling when one is in sight of the end – because while you are just starting you have the potential to be as great as you want to imagine yourself to be BUT when you get to the point where you can see the end you are very aware of all the things you haven’t done or got or understood. I think that we tend to stall ourselves in starting but here we are in week six and so soon you will be more than half-way through the term. Even if you aren’t doing everything you feel you should, give yourself permission not to be perfect and allow yourself to keep moving forward. Whatever module you are doing, by now you should have an idea or outline for whatever you are handing in on Jan 9th. 

Module 1ers make sure you have not got caught-up in doing ‘the perfect task’ and start to own the module as a whole, in order to synthesize what you are doing – remember the portfolio you are being marked on is a document about what you have learnt. You are not being marked on the tasks. Module 2ers start to see your questions and your title as potential ‘realities’, so interrogate what they mean, what they say, where ‘you’ are in them. Module 3ers you need to start figuring out what it is you are ‘finding’. You need to have collected your data or be almost finished collecting.

Secondly, I have been thinking about the last post and the comments people have made.  I hope it was useful in demonstrating the development of an idea / question. But the content of the question itself has raised some really interesting things. I am going to wait and see if there are any more survey responses before I share an analysis.

However, it has made me think there is something missing from my blog. This is a kind of ‘theoretical framework’. A theoretical framework is about showing the context within which you are doing something. In some ways you could argue that your professional practise offers a theoretical framework for much of the work you are doing. It gives you a guideline for how to address things (the ethics section of module 2 is about looking more closely at these).

But the context for which I am teaching is not clear. We know that this course is different and is hoping to encourage you to have a dynamic relationship with learning. A relationship that is possibly not the same as traditional relationship you assume for educational institutes (that is we want you to pull knowledge to you rather than wait to have it pushed at you). The C.V. part of the blog is a way for students to give an idea of their background and in a sense their theoretical context (framework), this is a way to understand how to approach the person. Maybe then my C.V. section should not be so much about what I have done but set out a context for my approach and how I can be approached. I am going to try this. See what you think.

Once again I hope the content of this blog is interesting but what might be most helpful to you is seeing how the ideas resonate with whatever part of the course you are doing. (I’m going to put up my new C.V. over the next few days)

What do you think?

Adesola

Comments / Questions!

Hopefully all is ticking along in week five. In this weeks blog I thought I would look at a ‘question’, as in Module 2. I think this is useful to everyone regardless what module you are on. In a sense this is an exemplar.

Problem: I find people do not comment much on my blogs especially compared to other students blogs. I always end with ‘what do you think?’ but people don’t tell me! Students leave comments on other students blogs like “thank you for writing this” or “good idea” these comments appear to be to let the person know their blog was read. The sort of comments I get are more if people have a problem and many of my post don’t get any comments. I have started to check the numbers of hits I get in order to see if what I am writing is useful or looked for by students. But what I hope for is a conversation in the comments and links to other people’s posts and comments so we create more of a network.  So my question is “Why don’t people leave comments on my blogs”

Then I look at ethical implications (Tasks 5 ) What ethical implications are there.

Ethically First: Am I following the kind of protocols of blogging. Does my writing make it easy for people to comment. What are the other rules of blogging; maybe I am not constructing my blogs in a manor that implies I want comment or on-going conversation? I need to look into this.

Ethically Second: I must be aware that my relationship with students is different from their relationship with each other. I have a different power relationship and their for I am perceived differently.  It is expected that I write blogs because I am an advisor on the course.  In some ways people have become friends through the course but it is ethically unclear if I can be friends with people or not. Writing ‘thanks’ or ‘good idea’ do not seem appropriate because 1) It’s my job to do it and 2) I am not perceived to be an equal (or a friend) so saying ‘good idea’ might seem weird. Also commenting on from what I write might seem as if a person is doubting me or challenging the ideas which goes against the power relationship.

Ethically Third: it is perceived to be possible that interactions I have with students could affect their grades. Because I am a part of the University (as it were) I appear differently. I might be more difficult to interact with and even perceived as dangerous because I could have a negative affect on a grade or something. It could seem unclear how the blogs work (many people still feel that the blogs are being marked as a task rather than evidence of learning). Maybe people would feel that I would be looking at spelling and grammar in the comments. Maybe people feel what I am writing is the ‘answer’ so all you can think is ‘yes’!!

Ethically Lastly, is it reasonable of me to expect to have conversations when people are busy and really what they want to do is find out what boxes they need to check to pass. Whereas I have a job doing this and maybe more time to ‘shoot the breeze’. Or maybe students don’t have much internet time and need to move quickly across blogs (although that doesn’t explain why they comment on other peoples blogs more than mine).

These ethical considerations change how I think about my initial question. ‘Why’ people don’t leave comments could be a number of reasons. The question now seems really big. It ranges across power dynamics, perceptions of the ‘teacher’ / student relationship, personal identity and how people see their own voice being heard, time constraints, confidence in spelling, social expectations and that’s only why Middlesex people don’t comment. I have tried to include other people (friends, past students, future students general inter-net users too. Why don’t they comment). The question is clearly too big to research in a couple of months.

It is this point that I must realise that the question can no longer be about the incident that made me think about it (my personal problem) because in order to really find out something useful to me I must look at the question for itself or otherwise I will limit the question to being a comment on my problem rather than a way to find out more about something. In other words, I might think “well I don’t need past students to comment anyway. That wasn’t really a part of the problem to start with.’ But if I ask the question ‘why don’t people comment ion my blog’ I need to look at ‘people’. I might find that the reasons past students don’t comment informs why students now don’t, and if I had not considered this I might have missed a big point in terms of the question (although it appeared unimportant in terms of my ‘problem’. That’s why it has to be the question you address not the my ‘problems’). The biggest problem might turn out to be that my blog is hard to find or something like that. So I can’t limit the question to only construct what I expect to find out as an answer. I must look at the question for what it is asking.

Doing this I see that the question is too big because I would not be able to reach out to enough different types of people in a couple of months. So maybe it should be ‘why don’t current BAPP students comment on my blog?’

Again the ethical points I looked at make me see this is also a big question because there are clearly a number of possible reasons and they are all very different. Maybe the implication of my question needs to be changed.  I could change the word ‘why’ to ‘what are the reason students give….’ There is a big dynamic change of power in terms of where I see ‘truth’ laying here.

When my question starts with ‘why’ there is an implication I need to study something and then use the evidence to prove something ‘why’ it happens as if ‘why’ is answered outside of the situation itself. If I ask ‘what are the reasons given’ then I assume that the students themselves know ‘why’ the answer or ‘truth’ of the situation is not outside it and needs to be interpreted but is in the people themselves. As a social scientist, narrative inquirer and Pragmatist I feel the second construction of the question evens the ground out more for the inquiry. I feel the ‘why’ assumptions follow more along the line of the specialist in the white coat telling you what you think!!!! If I change the question to start with ‘What are the reasons…’ I can still look at what these reasons mean to me and what I feel they imply about my blog.

So now my question is “what are the reasons current BAPP students give for not leaving comments on my blog”. It still seems a little like I am court up in my own up-set and not genuinely interested in comment leaving. In other words not allowing the question to stand alone but using it to make a point about people leaving comments on my blog when I feel I have tried to encourage them. This limits me. Firstly, because the very people who the question addresses don’t leave comments so I am not communicating with them well in the first place so how do I expect to not just replicate the same problems I have noticed in the blog, in the data collection. Whatever is making them feel uncomfortable or seeing it as unnecessary may also affect the data I collect. (I would think) then all I would be doing is proving my point that they don’t communicate with me well rather than actually finding out why. 

Secondly, because there are the people who do comment and it might be as useful and important to find out why they do as why others don’t.

I need to open out my question and not focus on the ‘problem’ that instigated it. It could be “what are the reasons BAPP students give for why the do or don’t leave comments on other BAPP blogs’. Now my question addresses my problem but is open enough for me not to be a mission to prove I’m hard done by the non-commenters, and could be useful to other people who write BAPP blogs. I am not looking for an answer ‘why = because’…. Because I realise the question is too big to answer in a couple of months but I will find out more about it and draw some conclusions that might help me with my blog writing.

I hope this is useful for Module 3ers too because I hope it reminds you what your data collecting and analysing is for.

Tasks 6 etc… so how do I find out? I could try a couple of ways to see which way works in terms of me connecting with people and getting the kind of answers I can find useful. I could try making a survey, maybe I could try interviewing a couple of my advisees. I try out a couple of types of data gathering tools so that when I do the project next term I already know what I am doing. BUT more importantly I realise what kind of answers will help me understand the question in the terms I want to understand it. This is a lot deeper than I am writing about here because I have already gone on for ages. It is also for you to think about.  It is about what you consider valuable information in terms of the question you have. In terms of my question here it would be important to really understand the tools I need  and how I want to interact with people because that is what my question area is about. To show I understand my question would be to show I understand the implications it raises about how I can collect data. Like the student / teacher perceived power relations, the fact I am looking for information from people would have not communicated with me before etc…

Well what do you think?

Please do my pilot survey:

Click here to take survey

Adesola