Today’s session started out by a discussion on where everyone was with their big questions which could lead into an inquiry. There was, as expected, some questions which were more formulated than others which is perfectly natural at this time. Adesola was on hand with useful advice on asking how questions could be linked to professional practice and emergent questions from college days. Inevitably, some people have shifted in their professional practice from the subject pursued in college. Nonetheless this could be a starting point. The importance of engaging in SIG(s) was recalled and we reminded people how useful Facebook was in supporting this the last time.
We then went to look at the issue of Professional Ethics and attention was drawn to the Reader where the history of Ethics and the various theoretical standpoints are explained. We discussed the potential conflicts between personal, professional and organisational ethics. We asked people to draw up a Code of Practice for their profession and then compare it with an actual code in their professional practice. The tasks in this part of the module (Part 5 – Ethics) should be attempted about this time and blogs updated.
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Government Reports
Sometimes useful material can be gleaned from the above and I insert a link to one such which could be of interest to those involved in dance education. You will see on this page links to other reports which may be of interest ....
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Campus Session 4th October – Module 2
There was a small group in attendance and at the outset of the session we looked at the Module Handbook and what people are required to submit for the Module. These requirements are set out on p6-7 therein. The substantive piece that is required is a Professional Inquiry Plan accompanied by a Critical Reflection Portfolio. In addition, there are 3 other important things to submit. These are:
Employer Professional Support
Ethics Form
Proposed award title and rationale
We all agreed that there is much to do in this module and in many senses can be viewed as a serious step up from Module 1 in terms of work required.
Clearly, what needs to be focused on is the topic of the inquiry and not everyone present had arrived at this yet. We did an exercise as a stimulant to settling on a topic. Firstly, we considered the Eraut article which has been sent out to everyone doing Module 2. If you have not already read this, please do, as it provides useful context to knowledge in professional practice. A point raised in the article is competency and capability and the distinction between these two. The first, it is suggested, can provide a straightforward yes/no answer. Capability is a quality that has an element of grading about it.
Novice
Advanced Beginner
Competent
Proficient
Expert
We engaged in a spot of reflective practice and evaluated ourselves in our professional practice. No-one in the room claimed to have professional knowledge at “expert” level, indicating that we all have something to learn. This gap in our knowledge / skills could suggest a topic for inquiry.
We then moved on to mapping out our Professional Knowledge and trying to organize it diagrammatically in a meaningful way. To get things started I drew out a table of Professional Knowledge necessary for a University Lecturer. In doing this we could see that there were certain things a lecturer would need to know, to be able to do which is peculiar to the job as well other more generic skills. These are set out on the table below
Professional Knowledge of a Lecturer
Knowing What: Theories of Learning; Subject knowledge; Pedagogy
Knowing How: Curriculum Design; Setting learning outcomes; Assessment
Hence one way into deciding on a topic could be to attempt the above and ask yourself what in particular do you need to know (Knowing what) to be a professional practitioner in your area. Then, what do you need to be able to do (Knowing how) in order to be part of this profession. Focusing on these two areas and doing a self assessment on capability could suggest a topic. So for instance, in the lecturer’s case, it could be that they feel they could learn and develop greater expertise in say, “Assessment of and for Learning”. Hence, doing a professional inquiry on this would deepen their knowledge. That is what we are hoping you will do in this module.
A few there had some ideas about inquiry topics. One suggested she was interested in “Open Mic’s”. This immediately set off a train of questions – what about them, who participates in them, are they used by talent scouts or as “practice opportunities” for aspiring professionals. One simple question could be the start of a spidergram or mind map of ideas.
One way to hone and shape these questions is to be involved in a Special Interest Group and ask them questions. Getting started as early as possible is recommended on this module – there is much to do.
Employer Professional Support
Ethics Form
Proposed award title and rationale
We all agreed that there is much to do in this module and in many senses can be viewed as a serious step up from Module 1 in terms of work required.
Clearly, what needs to be focused on is the topic of the inquiry and not everyone present had arrived at this yet. We did an exercise as a stimulant to settling on a topic. Firstly, we considered the Eraut article which has been sent out to everyone doing Module 2. If you have not already read this, please do, as it provides useful context to knowledge in professional practice. A point raised in the article is competency and capability and the distinction between these two. The first, it is suggested, can provide a straightforward yes/no answer. Capability is a quality that has an element of grading about it.
Novice
Advanced Beginner
Competent
Proficient
Expert
We engaged in a spot of reflective practice and evaluated ourselves in our professional practice. No-one in the room claimed to have professional knowledge at “expert” level, indicating that we all have something to learn. This gap in our knowledge / skills could suggest a topic for inquiry.
We then moved on to mapping out our Professional Knowledge and trying to organize it diagrammatically in a meaningful way. To get things started I drew out a table of Professional Knowledge necessary for a University Lecturer. In doing this we could see that there were certain things a lecturer would need to know, to be able to do which is peculiar to the job as well other more generic skills. These are set out on the table below
Professional Knowledge of a Lecturer
Knowing What: Theories of Learning; Subject knowledge; Pedagogy
Knowing How: Curriculum Design; Setting learning outcomes; Assessment
Hence one way into deciding on a topic could be to attempt the above and ask yourself what in particular do you need to know (Knowing what) to be a professional practitioner in your area. Then, what do you need to be able to do (Knowing how) in order to be part of this profession. Focusing on these two areas and doing a self assessment on capability could suggest a topic. So for instance, in the lecturer’s case, it could be that they feel they could learn and develop greater expertise in say, “Assessment of and for Learning”. Hence, doing a professional inquiry on this would deepen their knowledge. That is what we are hoping you will do in this module.
A few there had some ideas about inquiry topics. One suggested she was interested in “Open Mic’s”. This immediately set off a train of questions – what about them, who participates in them, are they used by talent scouts or as “practice opportunities” for aspiring professionals. One simple question could be the start of a spidergram or mind map of ideas.
One way to hone and shape these questions is to be involved in a Special Interest Group and ask them questions. Getting started as early as possible is recommended on this module – there is much to do.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Welcome Back
By now, those of you are starting Module 3, the Inquiry project will surely have looked at the Module Handbook and seen in there what is required in the Assessment. One of the things we are asking for is a Professional Artefact which emerges from your inquiry. For instance, if you are doing your inquiry on expanding your Arts Business as Nicole Geddes hope to do then she might produce a strategic plan for expansion of her business. This will be a direct by-product of her inquiry and will be a guide to her own business expansion. Someone else may do an inquiry on inclusiveness in dance teaching e.g Nikki McGowan and an outcome of that could possibly be a model lesson plan to address inclusiveness / differentiation. These suggestions are only suggestions ... but it's worthwhile to think at this early stage of the end game of your inquiry ... a standalone artefact which demonstrates the expansion of your knowledge and contribution to professional practice.
Professional Artefact
View more presentations from Rosemary McGuinness
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Monday, 11 April 2011
Teaching Styles in Physical Education
I know some students are exploring dance teaching in their line of inquiry and I came across this today which might be helpful if considering teaching styles as a part of that. Although it's origin is the discipline of physical education, some of the learning intentions as set out in Mosston's Spectrum may prove useful in the professional practice of dance education. Have a look ...
Friday, 1 April 2011
The career path survey is now closed
Many thanks to those who took the time to complete it, it’s very much appreciated. Thinking about it now I suppose the question I wanted to answer was whether there was a life changing moment when those in the performing / creative arts just know that that was what they wanted to do. Hence I constructed this survey and immediately I can see on reflection that two questions are redundant and added nothing to my big question. These questions are about current age and gender. This means that in future I would think very carefully about why a question in a survey is important – each question should add something to the survey.
Summary of the findings.
On career influences – 78% were as a result of personally known influences whereas 4 out of the 18 were attributed to media, famed practising artiste or no-one.
In terms of a life event influencing a career choice only 40% confirmed that this was the case. Of those events 50% (2) were as a result of seeing a performance while 25% (1) was down to the buzz from performing and the other 25% (1) down to work related illness in the family. These are small numbers from which to draw firm conclusions.
In terms of age, career choices were made before 16 by 80% and in terms of the family influences 90% received positive support whereas school was much lower in this regard at 30%.
When asked about good moments from career respondents recorded this in writing. These answers are coded into types and of the answers 60% describe performance as a career highlight while 20% of replies mention getting a paid job and the other 20% relating to learning and completion of educational course / learning.
Evaluating the survey tool
In reviewing these responses I would have to say that the tool was rather limited in trying to answer my question. The best responses were those which demanded a written response from the participant. The information was just so much richer than that collected in the quantitative part of the survey. On the other hand, the good thing about the survey was that it allowed me to gather a lot of data relatively quickly and inexpensively and it suggests areas to dig deeper in if I was to carry on with this inquiry. To get more from this inquiry I would want to gather more stories from people – therefore I would consider interviews or perhaps a focus group.
Summary of the findings.
On career influences – 78% were as a result of personally known influences whereas 4 out of the 18 were attributed to media, famed practising artiste or no-one.
In terms of a life event influencing a career choice only 40% confirmed that this was the case. Of those events 50% (2) were as a result of seeing a performance while 25% (1) was down to the buzz from performing and the other 25% (1) down to work related illness in the family. These are small numbers from which to draw firm conclusions.
In terms of age, career choices were made before 16 by 80% and in terms of the family influences 90% received positive support whereas school was much lower in this regard at 30%.
When asked about good moments from career respondents recorded this in writing. These answers are coded into types and of the answers 60% describe performance as a career highlight while 20% of replies mention getting a paid job and the other 20% relating to learning and completion of educational course / learning.
Evaluating the survey tool
In reviewing these responses I would have to say that the tool was rather limited in trying to answer my question. The best responses were those which demanded a written response from the participant. The information was just so much richer than that collected in the quantitative part of the survey. On the other hand, the good thing about the survey was that it allowed me to gather a lot of data relatively quickly and inexpensively and it suggests areas to dig deeper in if I was to carry on with this inquiry. To get more from this inquiry I would want to gather more stories from people – therefore I would consider interviews or perhaps a focus group.
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