Starting back

In the last two days Helen https://helenbapp.blogspot.co.uk  and I have had a few skype sessions. We did two Induction sessions for Module Oners. If you are Module One and have not had an Induction session look at the post about the make-up Induction session and comment there include when you are free next week. Read what other people have posted so we can coordinate a time when everyone can do it.

Today (Saturday) we also did a starting back Skype for Module Two-ers and Three-ers.

We talked about how people are getting going again after the Summer break.

I think starting is a really interesting concept. I feel there is always more than one start to anything you do. I have talked about this as being more like three plus starts:

When the official date or time of something is.

When you feel you have woken-up within the thing and are engaged with it.

When you start to experience a change or the impact of the thing.

They do not all happen at the same time or in the order above. 

With BAPP the officially start is often quiet it’s just a date. It is the waking-up start that it is important to consciously do. This might mean starting to organise your time and activity to engage be a part of it all.  Waking up in the course. Make sure this ‘waking-up doesn’t happen a few days before you have hand-in your work !!! That can happen.

Here another post I did about starting back http://adesolaa.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/welcome-back.html

In the Skype session, we talked about different peoples strategies for this:

Lauren talked about how she has ear-marked two nights a week as study nights and one day in the weekend to relax and one to study. Emily said she gives herself weekly aims to achieve.

We also talked about making a space for your study – maybe a coffee shop or place that you feel you can get some concentrated uninterrupted time in – clear a table in where you live and making that your spot to work from.

Other parts of the conversation people thought were valuable to discuss and share.

Lauren https://laurenharper26.blogspot.co.uk is going to post further on the idea of reading and exploring everything – not just looking at things because you ‘know’ they are about what you want them to be about but actually exploring and researching to find out new ideas and connections you would not find if you didn’t ‘wonder and wander’ a bit more in your reading.

Henryhttp://henryrhodes.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1  is going to post about extending beyond yourself through writing more on the blogs, commenting more, reading but also going and seeing other artist’s work in shows and galleries etc… people have made comments in their art work as well as in written books.

Emily http://emilyrichardsbapp.blogspot.co.uk is going to think about making sure your blog is easy for people to find and comment on. Sometimes you can leave a comment with a gmail identity so when people click on your comment they don’t go directly to your blog or can’t find your blog. The blog address for everyone is on Unihub too.

Hannah https://oneillhannah25.blogspot.co.uk/ is thinking about how work changes and/or scheduling shift from this Module from the last. Maybe you have a different job or you are now auditioning more than paid work. The course needs to flow along with what is going on for you in general and this means thinking about how it fits and benefits and inspires what you are doing. How it can be practical as circumstances change.

Eleanor http://ellebyrne.blogspot.co.uk  is looking at thoughts around reading more and opening things up and the liberation of not yet knowing what you will be doing. Especially for those in Module Two, which she is in, where you have a whole 12 weeks to explore and look at questions that interest you as you design your inquiry project proposal.

Jennifer https://jennifersimm.blogspot.co.uk/ is thinking of making a list of tips she picked up from the conversation.

This post is a little longer than our word count of 400 work per blog post. Overall we are asking you keep post short so people can read and comment more easily. Make sure you have posted at least one post a week and commented on at least two different people’s blogs per week. Much commenting and posting is more fun though! Keep checking Helen’s blog and my blog for up-dates etc…

What are your thoughts about starting and starting back.

Please comment below.

Friday's skype orientation -

Tonight we had our returning orientation.

We talked about the importance of knowing ‘the obvious’:

• When hand-in date is
• What you need to hand-in
• Making sure you are aware of different ways to exchange ideas and share learning (ie know the dates of campus and on line sessions, join the First Tuesday group Skype chats we have every month, &/or start a Special Interest Groups (SIGs) with other people interested in what you are doing, and get back into blogging!

We also talked about getting started by questioning your assumptions and allowing yourself to look beyond your comfort zone. Getting back into study is also about getting back into being comfortable not knowing (yet), having questions and trust you can be confused at times but you are on a journey. The ways to exchange listed above and your Advisors are all there to keep you from getting lost even when you are in a fog of confusion every now and then.

Asking what people got out of the conversation-

Lianne said ‘Don’t just stick to thinking about what you already know. I already knew about my own practice and I want to look beyond that’ …to see different perspectives on my inquiry question. She is posting about the conversation on her blog 

http://lianneclootholt.blogspot.com

Lisa A. talked about the feeling of being confused and the importance of looking at your feedback from your last Module as a way to start back at things. She is posting on the conversation too.

 http://lisaaxelson.blogspot.co.uk

Lisa M. said ‘it is good to hear other people talking from other modules’… somethings start to make sense as you move forward in your own module. She will be posting on her blog too.

http://lisameiklejohn.blogspot.co.uk

We have another returning orientation tomorrow Saturday September 26^th  in the morning at 11am.

What do you think? How are you getting ready to start back?

Adesola

In the nicest posible tone....

For all modules there are different things you are asked to give us for assessment. BUT in each module what you hand-in is linked it is not a load of independent documents. In Module One you are making a portfolio telling one thing. In Module Two you are telling one thing: about a plan that is linked to your practice and will complete your BA. In Module Three you are telling us about one thing; a Research project. But because life is multi-layered you maybe handing different aspects or parts of the one idea but they are all linked in telling the same story of each module.

All the work we are doing on linking experiences, networks, reflection why would we then ask you to chop things up and not relate things to each other. In some cases – like Module Three you are asked for a document and then there is a brake down of each section but they are part of the same thing!!

The sections are like the way a book has chapters each chapter has a particular part of the story but they relate to each other to make a whole picture. The sections are like chapters of a book each section has its part but they are put to together to make the who report.

For everyone please remember that the assessment work is not a load of hoops we want you to jump through to get the prize of passing. We want to understand what you have been doing, we want you to be able to articulate it in away that anyone teaching at BA level will understand and also at a level where you can tell other people about your work in your professional world. Why would we want to read the same thing repeated again and again in different short documents that don’t relate to each other? I guess I would hope that you could see we are not trying to give you tasks like hero’s in a fairytale that get more and more difficult to see if you deserve a BA. All the work we do about web 2:0 in Module One shows that of course you can find the ‘knowledge’, ‘information’ but what is its value/ meaning. What makes it important is the unique view/ ideas/ experiences you have had and how you give it meaning. That is most important and then it is important that your special voice on the topics can be heard and there are standard ways for people to hear you; the guide-lines for how the work is to be submitted is just so you have experience in presenting your voice in away that will be heard in the establishment of a university setting because a BA is a university artefact.

Please try to make sense of what you are doing. At the beginning of each module we ask you to take a leap of faith into the ideas and activities but by the end do not be doing things because you think you have been told to, have a reason for doing them for yourself also. If you need to grab hold of that meaning and its slips away talk to your advisor that is what they are there for. There is no secret society holding the knowledge: we want you to do your best, do well this world needs all the brilliant, fulfilled people it can get.

Most people are doing this but just a reminder:

Put your name on your work – simply so we know who its from

Put page numbers on it – simply so we know the order of things

Put things together – so that you link your learning particularly to you and your practice.

Use words you know the meaning of

Check the meaning is what you think it is, not just how it is used in Metro or the Sun

Don’t rely on one word to give meaning to a whole sentence – write to illuminate ideas.

Feel you are a part of something: your interesting voice within the context of hundreds of others in books and journals too. 

Respect yourself and what you think by presenting it clearly and respect yourself by respecting the work others have done. If you thought it then probably someone else has too. Find your published soul-mates: what they brought to the ideas you are interested in too. Don’t reinvent the wheel find out about the wheel.

OK then

!!!!

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

Welcome (back)

Hi welcome (back)

Here are some starting back conversation starters.

First, if I am your advisor and haven’t already emailed you I will be next week. There are a number of advisors on the course we all have blogs and they are all useful because different people have different ways to explain and share things. I am going to be writing blogs that are across all three modules. So sometimes my post might be more useful to someone on Module (3) than Module (1) but it is useful to think of the WHOLE course as one thing. Not to think of each module as a closed set of activities we are making you do!! By thinking about what people are doing at other points in the course you might find something really useful for your current study. Also don’t feel if you have finished a module there is nothing more to get out of it. Keep looking backward and forward (its how you locate yourself).

So… for people beginning the last module (3760) (that is Module (3), the research project) a couple of things:

1)    the last module you did was to plan what you are doing now – but its not written in stone, look at the feedback you had on your grading form, think about it now you have had the summer to let the idea settle.

2)    Adapting your method, addressing questions your advisor highlighted is all part of the process. DO NOT think the whole thing is just about gathering data. You can get all the data in the world but it is only as useful as the questions you ask of it.

3)    The module is about the process (as is pretty much everything we are doing) NOT ABOUT you finding an answer to some problem – Let the PhD students save the world and publish stuff. Believe me you don’t need the headache! Just focus on your process, your artistic development, what you can LEARN. We are looking for you to show us what you learn from the experience that is all (and that is a lot).

So get chatting talk to people about what you think blog, email, don’t hide away trying to get a perfect answer for your project.

For people beginning Module (2) (3630). Have a look at what happen last year. Look at the blogs see what you can learn from observing what other people thought about. This module is quite extensive. Start to get on with things get the reading done its more intense than the first module because we are asking you apply some of the principles you are learning about.

For people beginning the first Module (1) (3730) and everyone else remember this is not a set of hoops we want you to jump through. We have planned something that we hope will be useful and meaningful to you in YOUR situation. Try not to see the module as something to critique, or on the other hand something God ordained. Try and apply the ideas to your life. See if they are useful and in doing that see what you learn from them. Do not be put off by starting to blog just get on with doing it.

If you are re-doing a module have a look at what you did last time but also let go of some of the things that seemed like obstacles. Move forward, work out what helped you last time and what hindered you.

Get advice from your advisor if you got an unexpected mark. It was higher than you expected work out what you did to get that response, if it was lower work out what you did to get that response.

For everyone MAKE a timeline for yourself, work backwards from the hand-in date Jan 9^th 2012. Work out what you need to hand in to be marked. This is different from what you will be doing as tasks. Work out when you need to have a final draft by in order to get feedback from your advisor if you want it. Work out all the things you want to do right up to today. Make a plan and be kind enough to yourself to stick to it.

OK these moments, these people on the course are all unique; make the most of all the interesting people who in the course. If you find it’s a lot to do especially with work etc… FIGURE OUT how it can help you AT work. IT IS WORK BASED LEARNING, it should be apart of what you are already doing not something separate from you.

Have fun

Adesola