Developing Lines of Inquiry _ Friday 7th

On Friday October 7^th at 8pm (time in London) we are having a Module 2 group skype

{of course anyone else is welcome as talking about Module 2 might be useful for someone starting Module 3 or someone wondering where the yare going as they start module 1}

Also remember the First Tuesday Group Chat on Oct 4th 10am or 7pm see the post below this one for more details.

We will be talking about Developing Lines of Inquiry: This is about how as you start Module 2 you need to have a field or topic, or question you are interested in finding out more about. This will become the field or topic or question you will find out more about through your inquiry activity in Module 3. It is not about finding the perfect question in order to find the perfect answer. It is much more loose than that. You need to have a general idea about the area you want to develop so that you can begin the rest of the activity in the Module 2 – designing a research inquiry.

How do you find the field or topic or question? Well in Module 1 you looked at what and how you have learnt over the start of your Professional Practice as you have emerged into your practice from formal compulsory education. The journey to your practice is unique and for many there have been surprises along the way and for others there has been a realisation what you trained for at school and what you want to do as your professional practice/career do not match up completely. All these shifts towards finding where your passion is career-wise have come from the experience of starting into your practice. Therefore, there may very well be areas you wish you had learnt more about, classes you didn’t think important back then but are relevant to you now, or classes you were not offered but would value now. In other words, areas, fields of practice or questions you have come across as part of the development of your career but that you want to learn more about. This course is your chance.

But it is not about turning a new corner completely (maybe you’ve always fancied being a skydiver) it is about filling the ‘hole’ that already exist for you. For instance Mary did musical theatre training and now having left college she is singing professionally but she has been getting jobs and find a passion for singing Jazz. When in the studio people are talking about Jazz singers and jazz references she does not know what they are talking about. She can smile and join in the conversation to some extent and these conversations don’t affect the fact she is doing well with her Jazz singing. But she wants to find out more about the background of Jazz singing. She wants to better understand the songs she is singing. So her area is going to be looking into the history of contemporary Jazz singing in UK. She’s got an area its big at the moment but as she works through Module 2 she will refine the area down to a plan for finding out more. Making the plan will help her get clearer on what she wants to know more about. At the moment it is just everything but she knows she need to have informed questions about Jazz in order to find the area she doesn’t know exist yet. So the research she will be doing to plan the inquiry will help her better understand what she doesn’t quite know yet.  

When we have the group skype on Friday we will be talking about Lines of Inquiry. Please indicate in the comments below if you can to join the chat. Also please add a line or two about what you have been thinking about as your line of inquiry. Have a look at each other ideas so we can also share ideas so you can come to the chat we some thoughts about other people’s ideas too. If you can’t come to the chat please still put in a comment on what ideas for inquiry you have been playing with. Then we can al talk about the ideas people have and strategies for developing them.

Looking forward to reading your comments

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

Knowledge, information and Web 2.0

I have been looking a texts about on-line teaching. I thought that the following was really useful. Especially for module two-ers and three-ers. It is important you don't just use information you happen to come across when you google a subject. Researching into things is not just about finding something someone has written on it. It is about evaluating what things mean in terms of what you already know (and who you respect who also knows about it) with what you want to know more about.  Don't let Google determine what you know; allowing your information on a subject to be whatever comes highest in a search! So here are some questions to ask yourself: 

 Authority. Who says? Know the author.

• Who created this information and why?
• Do you recognize this author or their work?
• What knowledge or skills do they have in the area?
• Is he or she stating fact or opinion?
• What else has this author written?
• Does the author acknowledge other viewpoints and theories?

Objectivity. Is the information biased? Think about perspective.

• Is the information objective or subjective?
• Is it full of fact or opinion?
• Does it reflect bias? How?
• How does the sponsorship impact the perspective of the information?
• Are a balance of perspectives represented?
• Could the information be meant as humorous, a parody, or satire?

Authenticity. Is the information authentic? Know the source.

• Where does the information originate?
• Is the information from an established organization?
• Has the information been reviewed by others to insure accuracy?
• Is this a primary source or secondary source of information?
• Are original sources clear and documented?
• Is a bibliography provided citing the sources used?

Reliability. Is this information accurate? Consider the origin of the information.

• Are the sources truth worthy? How do you know?
• Who is sponsoring this publication?
• Does the information come from a school, business, or company site?
• What's the purpose of the information resource: to inform, instruct, persuade, sell? Does this matter?
• What's their motive?

Timeliness. Is the information current? Consider the currency and timeliness of the information.

• Does the page provide information about timeliness such as specific dates of information?
• Does currency of information matter with your particular topic?
• How current are the sources or links?

Relevance. Is the information helpful? Think about whether you need this information.

• Does the information contain the breadth and depth needed?
• Is the information written in a form that is useable (i.e. reading level, technical level)?
• Is the information in a form that is useful such as words, pictures, charts, sounds, or video?
• Do the facts contribute something new or add to your knowledge of the subject?
• Will this information be useful to your project?

Keep calm and trust yourself

Looking around peoples blogs seems like everyone is getting into the momentum of starting back - Great.

Module Ones have got their blogs going. Some people are on Google+ it is like another world when you are used to using blog spot!! I noticed less comments on Google+ blogs. Remember to visit across hosts!!!

Module Twos: you don't have to pin your question down in detail; just have an idea of the area. Then move on to Section 5 ethics and then the Research tools section. These sections are design to and SHOULD affect your question. So no point having it all mapped out to the letter - because you will feel  reluctant to change anything. Also you need to move on because Module two covers a lot of things!! You need the time. Your question is stewing on the back burner and you are feeding the fire under it by starting to read literature about the area you are interested in. Its like getting all your ingredients together for the final proposal you have the question ingredient for now you need to get the ethics ingredient and the data collection ingredient and most important the how to analyse it all ingredient. Some tasks in the module might feel like they are taking you away from your question. But the module is about developing a line of inquiry or planning research NOT about answering the question. In fact just don't link questions with answers. (tell answers to take a hike close things down, half the time you don't recognise them until we are well past them anyway). Questions should lead to better, more in formed question NOT answers. So you can see you may never get the perfect 'question' just a better understanding of the area.

Module Threes:
OMG don't worry about the artefact yet!!! You cant know what the artefact will be before you know what it is about. Think of it this way.
1) you have a question you want to know more about...
2) you look into it.. thats what you are doing now
3) you look closely at what you found when you collected data and all the reading you have been doing (the literature) and all the conversations (in other words you analyse)
(3b) You realise something... (it might be pre-verbal, non-verbal) it's an idea.
4a) You want to tell others in your life (profession) about it and about the process you took to get to it - it and the process will have an impact on how you share it...How you share it is the professional artefact
4b) You want to tell others in the university about it and the process to get to it ...You have to do that in university language (the final reflective report). This is an artefact also an academic artefact.

Let your research reveal itself to you - don't decide what it is or how it is or what it has to say before you have done it. Trust you will know when you know.

OK then keep going everyone!!
Adesola

Finding a focus

This week I spoke to a student in module two about the size of the project you are being asked to plan. I used a dance class metaphor that might be helpful for others: The topic area of your inquiry is like a dance class. You decide what field / area/ genre you are going to be exploring. This is like you deciding if you are going to be in a ballet class, a tango class, a hip-hop class that tells you the context of what you are doing, (ie an inquiry in the field of curriculum development for stage schools, or funding cuts in dance or marketing a small business). So now you know the topic the class type in terms of the metaphor. But your inquiry is not the whole class. The inquiry is to find one exercise in the class to focus on and really look into.

So in my area of a ballet class my inquiry is to look really carefully at how I do my tendues. I look at this really closely and carefully within the context of the whole class but I do not try to take on looking really closely at all the exercises in the whole class its too much at one time. It is important to do one thing really well and with real care and that will inform, support and connect to a bigger picture. So you are looking at your field of inquiry and finding something you really want to know more about. Not looking at the whole field as a site for proving things you already know. In terms of the metaphor you are deciding the type of environment / type of dance class you but then you are focusing down to look at a particular thing / one exercise to really work at.

Does that metaphor work for you?

Well, I hope everyone is having a good Easter Break

Adesola