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What Constitutes Change?

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Today we had a very interesting discussion during our skype session centered around the topic of change, both in our work and our practice. I first posed the question of:  What constitutes change in our professional practice as a result of the learning and reflection accumulated through this course? For me the changes we are expected to see contradicted the framework of my research project in which I conducted an ethnographic study within my professional practice and took care not to alter my surroundings through my observation and questioning in order to provide a true representation of my work environment free from unfamiliar bias. Are things really changed by one simply observing it?  Even if a researcher evokes change, is it significant in comparison to the wider field of knowledge? Is the researcher merely a small piece in an infinite  puzzle or wider learning? Adesola voiced a school of thought that as a researcher you are fundamental to your field and your presence is s
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Quality not Quantity

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As I continue on this journey through module three and my research project, what keeps being confirmed to me is the well known adage of "the more you learn, the less you know".  This is something that has arisen throughout my time on the MAPP course and as I continue reading literature pertaining to my research topic I am continually being led down roads or further reading on associated topics. But when should I stop? It was made very clear that when researching a chosen subject over 10 weeks there will always be a constraint on the amount of research one can achieve and the detail one can go into in a realistic time-frame. I see this research project as a tree forming on the surface with the roots being the theories and literature I am coming across to support and substantiate it's existence. Further reading leads to further growth and further off-shoots into subjects I never realised could relate to my field. These roots could keep going on forever encompassing
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Beginning Module Three

As I commence Module Three my thoughts are overwhelmed with eagerness and anticipation for what seems like the mammoth task ahead. Wanting to swiftly get stuck into the research process, I have to remind myself of the comprehensive plan I set out in my Module Two research proposal. Reflecting back on previous terms and the beginning of term Skype discussion, it is the learning journey itself and not the final destination or answer that is of most benefit. As Adesola said in the Skype session, it is the uncomfortable feeling of not knowing that will lead to further knowledge. These journeys will rarely lead to an answer but merely more questions and more avenues of learning...
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Communicating Ideas

Last Sunday's Skype session saw, what I felt, was a very difficult and thought provoking discussion on communicating ones ideas. The discussion revolved around the different ways one communicates their ideas throughout this course and how they grow through each module. One aspect which I feel resonated with most of us were the differences in communicating our own views and opinions within our work and the communication of other peoples ideas and theories. These seemed to differentiate between the formal citing of theories and frameworks and the informal personal views and reflections. It seemed key to making these areas work in harmony within your work was to not see them in isolation but rather as a fusion of voices. This fusion appears to become more apparent as the course progresses from our RPL claims in module one, our research proposals in module two and the research project, professional artifact and presentation in module three. One idea I felt was that the time in betw
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The Question of Ethics

On Monday evening we had a skype session on ethics, with a focus on the MORE form process within our research proposal. We discussed how it was particularly important to understand the differences between Ethical Considerations and Ethical Processes; something I feel I may have misunderstood in the drafting of my first research proposal. Ethical Considerations are the thoughts of the enquirer regarding how their research methods may impact it's participants. Whether through questionnaires, interviews or observation, it is important to consider if your modes of inquiry may implicate it's participants, put them in a stressful or demanding situation or have a negative impact. In the selection of participants one may even be inadvertently causing exclusion or dis-justice to various other groups. Ethical Processes are the actions and processes one may go through in-order to avoid any negative impacts as mentioned above. This may include ensuring confidentiality or anonymity of p
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The Learning Process

Sunday's monthly MAPP discussion group revolved around the topic of 'knowing and learning' within our practice and within the course. The conversation gravitated towards two different schools of thought in relation to learning: Learning in order to be assessed. Learning in order to grow and gain perspective on your knowledge. We established that the majority of learning is undertaken with the aim of eventually being assessed on how much of that knowledge is retained and replicated. This rung truths with most of the dance teachers in the discussion as they admitted that within their practice more emphasis is placed on preparing students for examination of a set syllabus despite the teachers themselves finding more reward in seeing their students grow and apply knowledge learnt to their own bodies in a unique way. This drew parallels with something I am currently reading about as I start Module Two: Positivist and Non-Positivist approaches (which I will be blogging a
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Art's Critical Value: thoughts

Adesola's blog post "John Green - The Test - capacity to make connections." asked us to consider the role of arts or creative thinking in education. As I embark on module two I am looking carefully, not only at the course content that lies ahead, but also the qualities I possess (often without knowing) that can be of most use to me on the MAPP programme and that I can incorpor ate into further learning. The TED talk Adesola introduces to us in her blog shows Cindy Foley discussing the importance of creativity in education. In it Foley says that more increasingly creativity is being touted as the key to student success, economic growth and general happiness and she further advocates that the key to this creativity are three key traits that often come naturally to artists: Comfort with Ambiguity. Idea Generation. Transdisciplinary Research. On reflection and comparison to my own practice, I came to the realization that these are qualities that as I dancer I h
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