Ethical considerations: actions and questions

In the campus session we looked at the idea of questions and how they give context to our practises.

In Module Two you are asked to find a ‘question’ (really this is an area you would like to know more about). What happens is that people find ‘big’ questions offer that involve proving something that give further meaning to their own practice. Like showing the dance is important for young children to do (in the question How does dance support children’s development?). These sort of ‘big’ questions are acting as ways to better understand the context of the practice you already have. Really this kind of big question is more appropriate for Module One which is all about positioning yourself and your practice. These big questions are a route to link your practice to further thinking/feeling. As a group we looked at big questions for our practices like:

Community dance how do is it defined? = how am I defining community dance in my practice.

The role of women in acting = As a woman how am I noticing women in practice

Technology and disability = my work involves creating access and experiences.

Identity = how has my identity developed now I have left the environment of training. How have I constructed myself?

These ‘big’ questions are about finding your own position and great to start to develop from Module One onwards. Module One is about this positioning of self (through looking at your practice through the lens of communication., reflection, networks).

In Module Two your question has to be specific to your practice now. Or it will be too big to manage in Module Three. In Module Three keep asking yourself to come back to the smaller inquiry which is part of the bigger questions that the course is raising for you.

We then went on to look at how ethical considerations can help with finding a smaller relevant question.

An ethical consideration – is something you are considering. The word ‘consider’ (to think about).

If you think of ethical considerations as for instance a form to make sure people have consented to have their picture taken, you are looking at the solution someone has put in place after considering something. We are not asking you to make-up the solutions (the forms) we are asking you to do the considering part. The considered part was – ‘people might not like having their picture associated with what I am doing’,’ some people feel an image of them is part of them’, ‘I need to have pictures to capture what I am doing’, ‘people like to see what they did in pictures’… all these are things to consider. They do not all sit well together in considering them you work out how you will acknowledge all these points.

This is what we are doing all the time thinking about all the elements of a situations.

Running for the tube I see someone is in my way – I consider: ‘I cannot be late for this meeting if I miss the train’, ‘this lady looks like she can’t move very fast’, ‘If I run into her might hurt her’, ‘If I run into her  she might punch me’, ‘who is bigger me or her?’ ‘if I head to the next door I might not get there in time before the doors close’… these are all my considerations.

So we are engaging with ethical considerations all the time to better understand/ to take the actions we are taking. As we think about all the possibilities we understand the situation and ourselves better – that is how the ethical considerations help you better understand the inquiry question and what its focused will be – because the considerations help you think/feel through the situation.

Talking to my son about this he said – ethics is like breath: we are breathing all the time: we are making ethical considerations all the time. But when we are doing something special – if we are about the do a grand allegro we have to think about special breath in relation to what we are about to do, just like if we are about to do some research we have to think about special ethicial considerations in relation to what we are about to do.

So ethical considerations are much less complicated than some people seem to think but need much more focus than some people seem to give them – like breath (Breath is simple and yet deeply considered when we are acting or dancing or making music etc…).

Have a look at what other people at the session said. Alysia, Matt, Izzy, Elenor, Jess, Georgie, Amanda can you put the links to your posts on the campus session in the comments below.

What do you think/feel? Please comment.....

Adesola

Writing about experiences...

Busy writing drafts about your experiences this term? I will make this a short post to tickle your thinking (or not). The work asked for, for assessment for all three modules asks you to recognise your unique experience, within a context / environment of the activities you undertook this term; knowing they are connected also to your past and your anticipated future. We are asking you to be reflective about meaning and knowledge by considering yourself as environment, history, future hopes, and actions – a unique matrix of experiences.  Here are some favourite quotes:

 “A body is not so much a thing, as it is an act- an act made possible, to be sure, by the physicality of the organism performing it, but not identical or reducible to the organism’s physicality.” ( Sullivan 2001 p.29)

“Truth occurs when humans and their environments respond to and transact with one another in such a way that flourishing is achieved for both. Truth is not a matter of humans “fitting” their beliefs to the world. Nor is it a matter of matching internal representations to external reality.” (Sullivan 2001 p.144)

So we are asking what just happen (last term)? But how can anyone know? We are asking you to take your best reflective self and look at the different ways you could understand the activity you undertook. In doing so look at where ‘you’ are in that.  I chose these quotes even though I don’t believe we can understand (or even recognise)  ‘truth’ or ‘reality’ but I do think there is a beauty in our attempts.

Sullivan, S. (2001) Living across and through skins : transactional bodies, pragmatism and feminism, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

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

Respect

Respect

I don’t know what you all think of us – making you do tasks and then making you write 750 words or 3000 words telling us you did it. It is such a power, control thing to do. Especially when most of the words just tell us, we were right to make you do it. It’s like having your own set of groupies. Do you really think that’s what we want?  Because I can stare at my own navel in the mirror. And what do you think of us if that is what you think I spend my time getting people to do?

The internet is a good example that knowledge is out there it does not belong to someone – there was a time when you did have to rub your ‘teachers’ the right way to get them to share their pearls of wisdom but now you can Google it!

What do you do with it then? All that information: how can it be useful to you? What value is it? What relevance is it? We are saying that in your Professional Practise there is knowledge ‘out there’ both in the day-to-day activities you undertake and in the literature and conversations and in the networks of people and we want to help you find a way to value it. We don’t know what it is you tell us!!! It is not my value of it, it is yours, your voice.

A respectful voice, no body is asking you to critic Dewey or Kolb and decide they are wrong! Just respectfully find a starting place for yourself because what you do has an effect. You are part of the community of people you work and live and internet with.

What has it meant? How do you see it and who else sees it like that? What do you know you don’t know? Can you surprise yourself and completely change your mind?  What do you love to learn about and do? Dare your self to step beyond your schooling, class, culture, gender, time!!

Respect for your work: As always PLEASE put your name on things, page numbers, name documents with your name plus what they are.  See my past blogs.

What do you think?

Adesola

Q & A

The 750 words and what is to actually go into it? (3002)
This what you will be assessed on NOT the tasks themselves. It is a summary of your learning, your experience over this module. You should be able to talk about your learning in terms of your reflections on your experiences and in terms of the theories we have introduced in the readers and be able to link these two. You should cite or refer to blogs and things that have happened around the tasks. And you should cite published work by others. It is a very short amount of text (750 words) because we want you to spend time distilling the experience of the whole term. Does that make sense?   


Also when I've completed it am I able to send it you to have a look at? (3002)
Yes, I think you should aim to send your advisor a draft for comments by mid-April (or whenever they have indicated). Then You will have time to work on feedback. You do not have to do this but I think it helps.


I'm back in England on May 7th, although I don't know what stage of the course that'll be at? (All)
Important point: May 6th is the hand-in date for your assessed work.



I'm a little stuck for idea's on what my award title could be. (3835)
You should try to make your title about what you've done rather than what you plan to do. It is meant to reflect the knowledge you have gained in your experiences. Experiences are not always recognised as legitimate knowledge and the title is a way for you to show that you learnt something even though it may not have been through formal education. (i.e. it was through formal education but also through work based learning.) The title will be awarded because you prove you have the knowledge not as something to point you into a direction for the future.


What do you think? By now you should be feeling some ownership of the module you are on. Leaps of faith are great but you also need to fight to make things work for you. Trust that the modules have something to say and take the time to find the questions you need to ask to help you better understand. The right questions are often more valuable than answers, the art is in asking them and making sure they are not just ways you handover ownership of your process to someone else. If you do not trust that the course has something of value then either find a way to get your advisor to explain it or consider if it is for you BUT do not do nothing and find excuses for why you are not getting on with things. 


....comments?
Adesola

Lines-of-enquiry

I have been watching a DVD of the Rockford Files. I used to watch it when I was really young! It was on in 1977-78. The interesting thing is that the story-lines cover: identity theft and a person hacking computer systems. I would never have noticed these topics back in 1970's but these stories raise questions that are still valid today even with so much development in those areas.

What it made me think was that lines of inquiry are often quite hidden until they are given meaning by your experience.

The identity theft is recognisable to me as something interesting now because I understand it but back in 1977 it was not contextualised by my experience, so I missed the idea. When I learnt about identity theft maybe ten years ago, I did not refer back to Jim Rockford. I felt as if I was learning about it for the first time! I did not remember the Rockford Files story-line because I did not have a way to give it meaning at that time. In this way you can feel you have discovered something new when actually you have noticed something that was already out there.

When I watched the episode about computer hacking (the computer fills a whole room) I thought wow that's so forward thinking of them. This is because I am fixing the idea of computer hacking in the future at the time I finally became aware of it. It is only "forward thinking of them" if I place it as an idea that happened when I became aware of it myself, rather than an idea in itself.

This can happen in dance class too. You are told a correction again and again and then one day it makes sense, has meaning and it appears to be a new idea, often one you want to share, spread the word about.

I am talking about being aware of your own ability to see. We see what we value.
1) So look at your experience and the things you value as a doorway to finding MEANING in a line of inquiry.
2) If we are so limited by our own value systems then it makes sense why ethics is a part of this picture here. We need structures to check we look beyond our own values and practical ways to measure or be aware of the impact we are having on others.
3) Its good to laugh a little at our own conceit at 'discovering' things!! This allows us to let go of ideas as our experience changes our perspective.
4) You can see how looking at what other people have written about it, the Literature, can help you avoid telling everyone you have just discovered the wheel!
What are you finding?
Adesola

Twitter

In January I am going to try to tweet more often. I was thinking of sending useful ideas (!) and reflections. If you want to follow I am  adesolaa

Rhizome

Hi
I don't want to confuse things but I read about a really interesting idea this week. It is in a book about Deleuze & Guattari (Post-modern): Rhizome structures. That is like grass lots of shoots that are connected running along them as a posed to the tree model where things develop and branch off from one thing. The Rhizome (grass) has an interesting implication on the connectivity we have all talked about. Also makes you think more about all the odds and ends that may be sticking out in your mind as you start to write the assessed work. Things may not connect in a linear straight way. Ideas (blades of grass) from one end of the field may connect to ideas (grass) at the other end but you just need to look carefully at the structure through which you are looking for connections.

Assessment portfolio

Assessment portfolio

The deadline for the assessed work for 3002 is quickly heading our way. It would be good if you had started draft copies of what you are planning to hand-in.

The portfolio of work that is asked for is like a summary or overview of the learning you have experienced this module. Everyone is learning things all the time, so some learning has happened!!! It is just you might not recognise the full scope of it or the value or it might not feel it is within the context of the course.

This assignment is about you reflecting on what has been happening and what you have been doing. To do this you need all the skills and ideas in the three sections of the module. The tools and web-based ideas because this is how we have been exchanging ideas and a lot of the initial learning experience was about understanding the range and uses of web-based technology.

To think back over the module you use the reflection tools and ideas (hopefully you have also left yourself a breadcrumb trail in the form of a reflective diary – if not start one you will find it very, very helpful through the lifetime of the course, and beyond we hope).

Lastly you need to contextualise the information and learning into your own professional practise. In other words it is no use learning something you will never use or rather I should say something you an never understand using or see the value of in your life. The last part of the module helps you to look more closely at your Professional Practice what resources you have, how you are connected so that you can give a context to the new ideas and learning you have experienced so far.

We have also looked at how the learning might have happened for you when we looked at research that explores different way to understand the process of learning like Kolb’s cycle or Gardner’s intelligences.  

Part 1

I think you need to find something to hang your portfolio on. This is like a clothes hanger to hang your ideas and experience on. This is like the ‘hook’ of a song or the theme movements of a piece of choreography. Find something to give your portfolio structure. Common structures are:

A timeline – starting at the beginning (September) and working to the end. This gives your work a story like feel. It can become very narrative. There maybe danger of getting lost in the story and ignore the meet and bones of the learning also remember you do not have a lot of words.

Theme based  - finding two or three key ideas and gathering the learning and experience that happened around them.

Concrete evidence based – giving concrete examples of things and elaborating on the ideas and learning that manifested them.

A representational object – making something that sums up the learning both in its content and in its own form. This might be useful if you need to make something to understand what you think. That is for people who do not think in words. Like myself. I make or do things to understand what I think and then explain it back in words once I know what I think! This is something that I have found takes quite sometime to master because at first you can make something you and other people who think that way can understand but that everyone else finds “too abstract”. So it is important you support your work by using the written summary to explain your process and what it means to you.

Either way ~I think it will be really important to get started and then you will have time to get feedback.

Part 2

Supports and gives example of the learning and ideas drawing from things you have done over the course. It is way to show how you have come to where you are. It also allows you to show you didn’t just make something up overnight. You can show is the pathway that has got you to the clearing where you are now.

What if you don’t feel you are in a clearing!!!! Maybe you don’t feel you are a point where you can summarise. This is the hardest thing because of course learning is on-going. I always feel I am almost there!!! And is not always on schedule that I get an ‘Ahh  moment’.  But this does not have to be the end point just let us know where you are at. By trying to summarise and talking it through with people you will find you start to consolidate ideas and experiences.

What do you think?

Playing with ways to reflect

Hi Guys
Some people have said they haven't got much to reflect on or put in their journal and they are waiting for rehearsal or something scheduled to happen to start (and feel there is something to write about). But this is about teasing out from the every day. In research it is making the familiar unfamiliar (looking at 'everyday' things in new ways) and / or making the unfamiliar familiar (exploring new things and ideas). Here is an idea....
Ten minute poem each night. Take ten minutes to write a poem about anything from your day. These will be good starting points for realising what has effected you or what resonates with you. I am going to try it. Anyone want to join me. I am going to take ten minutes each night for a week to write a poem about my day. Lets see what comes out!!!

Another thing you could do if the poem doesn't sound like something you want to do. Choose a random time at the beginning of the day and when it gets to that time wherever you are or whatever you are doing stop and reflect on where you are. Write something as part of the reflection and then carry on. Again this might help to start to find things in everyday. There is Learning, Live, Love in every minute reflection is about finding meaning.

Can action be reflection?

Melissa wrote an interesting blog about reflection and the reader

More research on Reflective Practice

I commented on her blog as below. I  putting it on my blog because I think it would be interesting to get others peoples take too

The first part of your blog about Kolb is really interesting. I too, find it hard to understand each part when I think of them out context of the cycle. That is as a lone activity. I think it helps to remember thinks can be focus on a larger whole. The whole is the cycle the entry points are just ways to understand the movement of the cycle. BUT if you really want to see where you enter I think it helps to think of ... if you have a plat-pack cupboard kit in front of you what do you do. 1) Just start making it, 2) read all the instructions first, 3) check-out one that's already made or someone else making it, 4) plan out all the stages by putting the parts in order of use. I have trained myself to look at all the parts. BUT the 'real' me would sooner just start and learn as aI do it even if it takes longer than reading the instruction or I end up making something else and have bits left over!!!!!
Anyway the flat-pack question helps me think about the points of the cycle more easily.

Then I want to say a quick word about what you say about reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action, Schon and Kottcamp. It is important to check-out what you consider thinking and what you think with. These are not a 'facts'. There are many arguments that define thinking. Your blog implies that thinking and learning are mental / mind activities. I think That the brush strokes of the painter. They are meaningful movements. When I go to look at Van Goth's paintings at the National Gallery I see his brush stroke and they talk to me as deeply as him talking to me would. The movement of the brush strokes have emotion, knowledge, sensitivity, understanding of the flower or chair they create in my eye. I believe reflection-in-action or on-action  is also to do with what you value as reflection. Remember not everything, thoughts or ideas has to have words to it. In dance think of contact improv. there is a physical conversation without words but you know and you exchange ideas.

In answer to the question I pose "Can action be reflection?" I passionately believe that action is reflection. Dewey points out its all very well working out the best way (theory) to do something but to be part of a community (network) it is only useful if you actually do something about it. This is also important to me as a woman because so many western women philosophers did rather than wrote about it and the importance put on words rather than action have led us to loose much of the meaning behind their work. But I am sure I also feel like this because I am dyslexic and constantly justifying my bad relationship with words!!! What do you think?
Adesola