Tuesday 20th April - The central place of analysis synthesis of information through reflection: Module Three focus

Tuesday April 20th 2021

Online session with ACI3633 Module Three focus

The central place of analysis, synthesis of information through reflection.

6pm (time in London)

These discussion groups are a time to talk across the BAPP learning community and practice speaking to others about your work. You can join the group through the Zoom link on Unihub . 

*Please note if you have any specific questions about the course that you need to discuss with your Supervisor you can email them or Skype call your Supervisor (quick questions can just be called in via Skype there is no need for an appointment - we ask you to try to call during your Supervisor's Office Hours if possible - see UniHub for times).

Friday 16th April - What if you can't interview anyone? The central place of analysis: Module Two & Three focus on Zoom

Friday April 16th 2021

Online session with ACI3622 Module Two & Three focus

What if you can’t interview anyone? The central place of analysis.

6pm (time in London) 

These discussion groups are a time to talk across the BAPP learning community and practice speaking to others about your work. You can join the group through the Zoom link on Unihub 

*Please note if you have any specific questions about the course that you need to discuss with your Supervisor you can email them or Skype call your Supervisor (quick questions can just be called in via Skype there is no need for an appointment - we ask you to try to call during your Supervisor's Office Hours if possible - see UniHub for times).

Tuesday 17th November - The central place of analysis, synthesis of information through reflection: Module Three focus

Tuesday Nov 17^th 2020

Online session with ACI3633 Module Three focus

The central place of analysis, synthesis of information through reflection.

6pm (time in London)

These discussion group Skypes are a time to talk across the BAPP learning community and practice speaking to others about your work. Please write below to indicate if you will be  attending and what you would like to share/talk about. 

*Please note if you have any specific questions about the course that you need to discuss with your Supervisor you can email them or Skype call your Supervisor (quick questions can just be called in via Skype there is no need for an appointment - we ask you to try to call during your Supervisor's Office Hours if possible - see UniHub for times).

Friday 13th November - What if you can't interview anyone? The central place of analysis: Module Two and Three focus

Friday Nov 13^th 2020

Online session with ACI3622 Module Two & Three focus

What if you can’t interview anyone? the central place of analysis.

6pm (time in London) 

These discussion group Skypes are a time to talk across the BAPP learning community and practice speaking to others about your work. Please write below to indicate if you will be attending and what you would like to share/talk about. 

*Please note if you have any specific questions about the course that you need to discuss with your Supervisor you can email them or Skype call your Supervisor (quick questions can just be called in via Skype there is no need for an appointment - we ask you to try to call during your Supervisor's Office Hours if possible - see UniHub for times).

Skype with Module Three focus

We thought about analysis and explaining the experience of your Module Three inquiry. By sharing what their inquiry has been like those in the conversation noticed:

The importance of themes as ways to organize as a result of analysis as opposed to just telling people everything that happened.

The importance of explaining the 'shifts' in the inquiry - which are often a result of a 'sub-concious' analysis of the inquiry that has moved you from thinking about approaching it one way to discovereing  a new way to engage or approach the topic.

The importance of understanding the point of the assessed work to be handing in - it is a bout an overview of the experience and what it has said to your practice - so you have to edit express this you can not explain every thing that happened. It took 12 weeks so it would take at leased 12 weeks to explain!!

At the same time not to cut corners on what you talking about - explain who you are, why the inquiry in terms of your practice, what you planned to do, what you did, what meaning you made of it and the analysis that emerged, themes and then some reflection on the whole experience (+ throughout reflection on ethical considerations and new questions that arise from the activity)

Please see comments below for people in conversations blog posts and to keep the conversation going...

Campus session

Some useful points that came up in the conversation:

Analysis needs to revolve around you and your questions - not some thing/ activity that waits to organise the field data collected. Think about: the questions are analysis, unpicking your story and your thinking to allow the field data to move through it.

Planning in Module Two needs to include planning the analysis and therefore needs to include questioning yourself . Such as where you are in your topic so you can expand your understanding and knowledge of the topic in the Module Three inquiry

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See more on Amanda', Danila, Beverley's blogs

Tuesday Analysis!!

On Tuesday we had Skypes about the central place of analysis across the whole course with a focus on Module Three. I described a way into thinking about analysis as thinking about it as 'meaning making'.

In Module One ACI3611, you are starting to analyze what your practice is so you can describe and reflect on it in the work you are handing in at the end of the term.

In Module Two ACI3622,  you are starting to check the design of inquiry you are making supports the analysis you are planning for what you find. In other words, you are not planning  for collecting data for the sake of collecting things you are gathering things that will help your analysis and discover ideas around the topic you are interested in.

In Module Three ACI3633 you would be finishing gathering field data and starting to look at what it means, whats behind some of the things you experience? If you have come across new ideas you had not considered go back to the Literature/Art and see what people have said about this. It is  a messy period when there are lots of ideas as you piece together new perspectives - new knowledge (to you).

Please comment below and add blog post addresses too. When you add a blog post address please say what it is about so we can discuss both on this blog post and also refer to yours.

Adesola .....

Mapping to build understanding - Holidays and Maps

In skype discussions to day we talked about 'Research as mapping to build understanding'

We talked about three different kinds of research goals

Mapping (shorter period of time) the aim is to better understand something.

Critique (medium period of time) provide a critique of a phenomenon or field after you better understand it.

Social change (longer period of time) provide clear suggestions or praxis for change after you have better understood it and critiqued elements of it.

In the 12 weeks of Module Three and at BA level you are looking to map - to better understand something by knowing the elements and routes through and within it.

(Qualitative Research for Physical Culture) by Pirkko Marcela & Michael Silk.


In Module Three you are mapping to better understand the field of your inquiry.

In Module Two you have another layer of mapping - mapping how to inquire in to the field (looking at research methods for your field of interest.

In Module One you are mapping your practice (by doing your diagram and essay)


Module Two mapping research methods:
The inquiry in Module Three is like a journey into your inquiry topic. Like going on holiday to some where you need to plan the journey. Module Two is the planning the journey.

Here are some things to think about:
If you plan too specifically we are going to 12 West Manor street, Paris, France. That is all you will find. Just like if your inquiry is so specific will only notice and find what you set out to look for. Instead set out to go to Paris (aware 12 west Manor Street might be a place you visit while there).

Then how are you getting there?
Driving main roads,
By train
Bicycle holiday
Are you in a hotel or tent.
You have to look into these things and think about what would work best for the type of holiday you are planning.

Just like how are you getting there in your inquiry
Interview
Observations
Participants
workshops
libraries
You have to look into these and think about what would work best for the analysis you are planning.

Please read other peoples blog post on this and comment.

Analysis is the heart of the inquiry... Module Two Skype sessions

Today we set ourselves the question what if we could NOT interview or observe or give out questionnaires ... (in other words what if we didn't generate new data but instead looked at what is already out there. What would happen?

This made us have to think about what we would do with this (non-interview) data - i.e. think about the analysis process for your inquiry. The analysis makes meaning of the data. It is easier to work out what your analysis would be when you cut out the idea you will just go and ask people what they think. This is because when you interview people you are tempted to just take their answer as THE ANSWER to your inquiry. Whereas if you start to think about what is already out there to find out about you can more easily see how you are going to need to compare things, look for themes and see differences and similarities across the different data, which is the analysis.

For instance we said:
If your inquiry was about mental health and auditions. You could ask people what they feel about auditions but what are you going to do with that?
Or ....add the idea you can't talk to people.... what would you research...
Your own journal, book, and articles on auditions and look to see if the same things come up (themes), look at the Hustle and look at the comments, go to other professional job posts and compare the comments there, look at the advertisement around the audition info pages (which are often for jobs where people are assuming you are not going to get an audition job. Like tela- marketing advertising opportunities next to the dance audition). Thinking about the impact this might have, thinking about why they advertise here. See your inquiry as a way to better understand the culture and the history of the topic you are interested in. This is like using your BA to build a foundation of knowledge - rather than just generating new data through asking someone what they think...

The analysis is the heart of the inquiry.
The analysis is not just telling us what people said...

Have a go at taking the interviews etc...out of your inquiry plan and push yourself to think about what is out there that you can use as resources and what you would do with it. It is usually a much more interesting inquiry that comes out.

Comments...

Thoughts from recent group skype discussions

Module conversations

We have had a number of sessions on skype; conversations with a particular focus on Module topics. Please note a skype with a focus on Module One is open to anyone who wants to think about Module One points not just those on Module One.  From these conversations a few points to share follow below and same for the other Module focus sessions

 From the Module Two focus session on Thursday 16^th :

Making an inquiry plan is an art in itself. You can use your own artistry from your practice to create something… the ingredients or steps or parts of the inquiry that must be included are knowing what your Methodology is, your method and your analysis.

Your methodology is the way you are approaching the inquiry, how you understand the people and things involved it links to any ethical considerations you have considered. It is about explaining the why of your approach.

The method is being able to say exactly what you will be doing and explain why you are doing it that way.

The analysis explains what you will be doing with all the things you generate from doing the inquiry data collecting activity. It is not an inquiry if all you do is ask someone something and then tell us what they said. You need to compare across all the forms of data you collect, looked for significant ideas or themes or things that don’t sit together and think about why they are significant to you, why they are the same or different…

Analysis is how you will be triangulating:  1) the data you collect, 2) the literature and existing arts on the subject 3) your experiences and reflections on it (3 things like a triangle (triangulations) where you look at what hold them together and a part.

Keep asking yourself am I creating a plan that assumes I will go and ask someone the answer to a question I have. If so remind yourself if you don’t know the answer, why should they? And if they did answer it how would you know it was ‘right’. Answers are not what you are looking for. Better understanding the depth of your question is what you are looking for. So you will need to analysis everything you come across.

Look at defining what is meant by the words you are using to explore your inquiry. For instance if you are wondering what makes a good teacher, you will also need to find out what ‘teacher’ means to people and what ‘good’ means to people. Part of your inquiry is finding out if people make the same assumptions about things as you. Finding out more about something is realising not everyone thinks about it the same way as you.

We are using a form of triangulation in Module One as well. We are asking you to look at what your practice is. How your practice peels away from the background of your training, current work situation – how your practice is a thing in its own right. In the module, we ask you to triangulate:  1) your practice in terms of communication (inc. web 2:0) 2) your practice in terms of with reflection 3) your practice in terms of networks

In the Module One focus chats both groups talked about networks and the feedback one gets from people – how much of that you allow to shape your practice and how much and when to let it go. There is something here about the transition between being a student in training (when all feedback is expected to be taken on board) to when you are a professional when you need to decide what you will let define you.

We also talked about how sharing and hearing the experience of others can help you start to see yourself more clearly against the backdrop of the experience you had training or working cyurrently. This especially true if your training experience was more negative than positive.

We acknowledged the small word count for the essay in Module One is part of what is hard. You cannot waffle on about your practice or spend too much time just reciting the Module handbook information back to us. You have to have thought about a clear articulation of what your practice is and how it is growing and shaped particularly using communication, reflection and networks. Do not use the appendix to extend the word count!!! (Imagine no one will bother looking at the appendix.) The essay should be clear and make sense with no appendix.

We are more than half way through the term so now is the time to start thinking about what you are handing in and making sense of how it is relevant and meaningful to you/your practice and to the Module Handbooks information. Keep blogging and commenting on each others posts.

Noticing patterns and themes across the course

We had a campus session on Tuesday. We talked about the Professional Artefact, professional practice and analysis. Here are some points that emerged from the discussions that I think might be helpful.

1)    Read the handbook (the 2017-18 ones if possible) more than once.

2)    Module One is about seeing, noticing and articulating your practice. At the end of Module One you are asked to write reflectively about your practice. In order to do that you need to have been able to ‘see’ step outside yourself to critically look at it: to consider and wonder at and notice how your practice manifests at this time.

3)    Module Two once you have some idea of data collection methods you must plan what you will do with the data. How you will analyse it. You have to do more than just compile the answers people gave you when you asked them a question. When you start to think about what you will do in terms of analysis this frees you up to think of more practice-based data collection methods – it becomes more exciting more relevant to your practice. More than just asking people the answer to a question you are asking. The people or books will not have the answer. YOU ARE NOT LOOKING FOR AN ANSWER. (You are looking to find out more about something). You are looking for themes significant ideas, patterns in the data/ activity of the data collection. Then in Module Three you can think about what this Themes, significant ideas and patterns mean to you and your practice (which you started to identify in Module One)

4)    The professional artefact is something that fits as a way of sharing in the culture of your practice. Just as the written essay is a University artefact. Something you would expect to come across in the University setting. The way you explain your inquiry through the professional artefact is something not out of place in your professional setting. If you don’t yet know what you want to say then you will also not know how to say it. The artefact is how you say it. You cannot decide how to say something before you know what it is you want to say. If you don’t know what you want to say it will be because you need to do more analysis to help yourself understand what happened doing your inquiry and what it means to you.

Have a look at the comments where hopefully people who attended the session will also make comments and post links to their thoughts.