Here are a few more words until our next Campus Session on the 3rd March.
Work based learning (WBL) projects are projects that are directly realted to what you do in the workplace in some way. It could bewhat you are doing anyway or it could be an innovation or solving a problem. You could relate it to a job that needs to be done.
What do you need to find out?
Why will that make a difference to your work and career?
What impact will it have on your job, your work colleagues, the sector in which you work?
Can you disseminate what you find out anywhere?
Will your project have some sort of impact?
Are you going to develop some new service? a new product? a learning resource?
MDX has been undertaken a lot of research about WBL.
Topics generate issues and the research or inquiry you undertake is finding out about issues that refer back to concepts and theories from 'thinkers' - other professionals and research based academics. That is the academic side of things. The research is just one part of the project, but it is an important one (refer to Peter's and Rosemary's blogs as well on this one).
However in many areas in which we work, while there is some research that has been published in book, journals, the web, there are a lot of sources - like people- in the context of your workplace that you need to go and talk to to find out what is going on! With WBL it is also about the doing.
People have asked about previous topics. Some of the ones I looked at from finalists included: ‘Method Acting and the Current Thinking of its Use Among a Network of Professional Actors’, ‘Preparing an Optimised Dance Curriculum for a Mixed Ability Performing Arts Course’, ‘The Transition from Dancer to choreographer within the Field of Musical Theatre’,‘Can Elements of Ballet Training Improve Gymnast’s Overall Performance’, ‘Using Creative Methods to Enhance Engagement in Dance Education’, ‘An investigation into the Role of Experiential Learning, and its Contribution to the Progression of a Ballet Company’, ‘Action Research Study on Preventative Care Measures for Dancers’, ‘Behaviour Management within a primary school context, primarily focusing on year three children in Key Stage two’.
As we have more visual artists with us this year - I expect more topics that have to do with that line of work.
I think WBL gets a lot of its methodology from social science and business/management (which does organisational research). Education, for example, is a social science. However, the content is your professional practice. In the Arts, research topics are often about events and issues within the arts and compared to cultural theories, practice, and the industry - be it entertainment, gallery, museums, communication, media, etc.. Often people in the creative and cultural industries study a craft or disciplinary theories and do not actually do things like interview people or do surveys. However, they are a part of working life that most people have to do anyway, and learning how to do things in a project format really helps to do things independently.
Hope that helps.
Paula
Thanks for all your posts Paula, I find them really useful.
ReplyDeleteTara.
Thanks for this post Paula - it's really helped me to refocus my thinking for project ideas having read some of those from last years students.
ReplyDeleteLB
Paula this is create it has actually changed my mindset, so the research we are doing does it has to be based on somehting that needs to be changed for work or in a work area.
ReplyDeletebecause i have come to a stage whereby i have had one thing in my mind and am willing to develope it further which is "How graphic design evolved with the introduction of computers"
Lantern these are comments that can be generic to others projects as well...right but that is a broad topic so you would most likely like to focus that more to the work that you are involved in - the art side or the business side. If you are self-employed you have to think about both. There has probably been a fair amount written on this - from what time period will you be looking at - 80's 90's? This will depend on the topic but you may consider limiting the time period studied and think about what relates to your professional practice today. Also - what part of the reseach will be looking at past literature (literature review) about graphic design in the computer age and how will you then be looking at current practice? The literature search should inform the project.
ReplyDelete