Discussion Skype: Wednesday November 27th

Discussion Skypes are open for all, this is a time to share reflections, things you've looked at, thought about, discuss your study with other people who are doing the same thing - BAPP.

Start your day off Skype 8:15am (time in London)

or

End your day Skype 9pm (time in London) 

Comment below to indicate which one you will attend. Please also give a sentence or two about what you have been thinking about/doing. This will help us plan the discussion.

PM Skype - discussion

Our PM skype went well also. We talked about a number of things including:

How to cite – there are a number of guides for how to write-up unusual citations such as from pod casts or films on web-sites. Some people recommended ‘cite me’ I also found:

https://www.citethisforme.com

There is also a clear guide on our Middlesex Library web-pages and the librarians are also there to help.

We talked about the idea that these chats are for exchanging ideas and thinking beyond your own process. For instance Julia talked about her thoughts about translating her interviews when they are carried out in Portuguese and she is writing in English. That got us thinking about the interview process in general and the ways we can try to make sure we get the meaning behind what people are saying. Importantly it made us realise that to some extent we cannot find the ‘truth’ of what someone is saying. It does not exist in qualitative research (such as we are doing) because everything is interpreted at one level or another.

Bernie and Pip are going to write about this

http://berniebellp.blogspot.co.uk

http://pipspalton.blogspot.co.uk

We also talked about time management. Everyone who was in the conversation is going to put a time management tip on their post. I am asking that you – the person reading this – yes YOU…. Write a time management tip in the comments here Please. 

Mine is: to write a list of things I must do and then give myself a deadline or day I have to do them by. So each thing on the list has a day when I have to have done it by!!

We asked each other questions about the course and those in Module one asked how that was for those who had completed module one. Lisa asked did you know what your inquiry would be in Module Three when you were in Module One? Everyone in Module Three said no that the inquiry emerged as they did the work of Module One and Two. That was helpful because then the Module Three people realised that they were worrying about things toward the end of Module Three (like what the professional artefact should be) rather than trusting like the whole course that would emerge as they did their research. It is impossible to say what the artefact will be before you’ve done the research just as you can’t write about the research before you’ve done it – unless you have a time machine!!

It made us see how discussion is important – that is not always address a question by asking for someone to give you an answer but to address a question by talking about it with other people. Julia is going to blog further on this.

http://julia-v-gil.blogspot.de

Lisa is going to post about hearing how other people have dealt with the course.

http://lisameiklejohn.blogspot.com

Looking forward to reading your time management tips.  

Adesola

AM Skype chat

Today’s am skype session was great. It’s always so amazing to be talking to people who are all over the world. We talked about:

Blogging – we started off about how if you are  starting in Module One you may not be sure what a blog post should look like. Should it be informal, funny, personal, more formal? The conversation took us to the point that the blogs are for connecting. As such people felt that being more personal and informal and not tooooo long encourages people to read and respond. However some post might be more for yourself to reference back later in the Module or the course. We thought about writing for purpose. If you are writing more informally on your blog also remember (and practice) writing more academic style, which the university will require for the work you submit. I think you should start getting used to citing things as you write even if you are writing in an informal manor. If you practice citing then you get used to thinking about how what you are saying can connect with other people’s ideas. Danielle is going to post further about this.

danniausten.blogspot.com.

 We talked about some Module Two inquiry ideas, some ideas are: about how dancers look after themselves, injury and self-medication, the exchange of work place knowledge across a cast or group of performers, Why dance training does not rated as highly in some people’s eyes as desk based study. I am re-posting a great film of a speech by Sir Ken Robinson on this last topic. Saran D. and Sarah S. will post further on our conversation about inquiry questions.

http://sarahdunn88.blogspot.co.uk

http://sarahsmales.blogspot.co.uk

We asked what advice would people who have done Module One have for people in Module One now.  This seemed to be: blog , connect with people, Don’t’ Panic, keep notes to yourself. Anthony is going to post on this and also specifically about working from a cruise ship.

http://antgifford.blogspot.co.uk

James will write about attending a group skype session for the first time and what it was like.

http://jamesbapp.blogspot.co.uk/

We also talked about how all the choices we make and other people make (down to looking at your phone when it should be off for instance during a performance) are ethical choices. Ethics is about reflecting how we are experienced by others.

The next Group skypes are March 31^st

What do you think of our conversations??

Adesola

Oct 7th AM SKYPE session conversation points

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

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

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

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

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

Adesola

Making meaning through talking to each other: April 8th Group Skype chat.

Almost April and I mean that in a its-got-to-get-warmer-and-warmer sort of way not time is flying by!!! Either way our April group SKYPE chat is coming up APRIL 8^th. These chats are really helpful and support the campus sessions in that they are opportunities to ask questions and talk to other people on the course, some of whom have done what you are doing and some who are doing it now too. We have two times to fit around different work schedules. You can join in with either (or both!!)

‘Lunch time-ish ‘ – 11am

‘Evening-ish’ – 8pm (note sometimes we do 8:45 but it will be 8pm this month)

If you have not joined in before you need to make sure I have your skype address, do this by sending me a request on skype. In the request write BAPP so I know who it is from. If you have joined in before you know how useful and inspiring talking to each other can be so please be a part of the chat again.

As we get closer to the hand-in date it is important to keep blogging and talking; sharing your ideas. This is part of working through your initial ideas to find a deeper more meaningful way to look at the experiences of the module and what they mean within your professional practice. It is also important to know your experiences are shared by the rest of the BAPP community and interesting to hear how other people have interpreted and dealt with things.

Look forward to talking with you

Adesola

Why being wrong is not possible on this course!!! the problem is about depth and possibility

Why all this writing!!

I have been posting each day I was here for two main reasons. Firstly, in order to give you an idea of the range of research topics and methods that fall under the arts, and how you are a part of a large community of people who are working in dance (and across the arts) to open up inquiry across forms, risk asking difficult questions, and trust their own passion and interests enough to follow them. Secondly, as a new way (for me) to share my life experiences as part of my teaching practice, which is about how I believe that as I continue to engage in  my own reflective processes and growth I use my own lived experience as an example of 'what not to do' / or 'what to do' however you read my ideas! 

Adesola

more thoughts on WEB 2.0

Commenting on Melissa G blog I wrote:
Some great comments about the practicalities of WEB 2.0 and professional practise. But what about wider implications?

For instance I think avatars are really interesting. The whole idea of people who design themselves quite differently from their physical body or gender. Performers are used to designing themselves physically.  There is a kind of consumerism of image we are all involved with. We come from a very 'beautiful' world as performers. What do you think? Is the platform of 'equality' on the Web effected by this. Have you noticed any techniques you use to edit, sculpt create yourself in print / on the net?

On a superficial level I hate to appear as someone who does not spell well. It takes me ages to write short comments that if I spoke them I would spend much less thinking time on. (If I spelt well I think I would write more often!)

On another level I have found that in fact one starts to have the persona that people create through not knowing you just seeing your work / images and a persona that is created from working directly with you. In fact this two are different and it is important to honour the fact people want / need an image to hang their ideas of you on. This can be as simple as looking the part... dressing like an artist etc...
What do you think?

Interesting conference