Module 2 1st Campus and Online sessions 23/2/15

Module 2 Session 1 23/4/15

Thanks to everyone who participated.

Please add comments to this session summary - and go on others blogs to add to the conversations!

We had good ideas for discussion and comments/questions about Module 2 for the session : Paula's comments in blue

At this stage there needs to be clarification for the inquiry – needs to be time efficient – yes it needs to be planned - Module 2 is about planning your inquiry in a 'proposal' 

Planning “The right path for me” – yes it should be related to your work/future work - there should be a purpose and you may want to think about possible implications/impact to your practice - however - it is NOT an experiment and it is NOT covert - permissions must be sought form those with whom you wish to speak - these are good people skills as well

Verification of ‘social science’ type practitioner research where there is not right of wrong answers – feels like you are second guessing…- yes practitioner research comes in many forms but here it is guided into certain tools that are more familiar to arts and humanities - more about tools in Reader 6 - but the practitioner research tools/methods are only informally ' tried out' with colleagues or fellow BAPP Arts learners - you real research needs ethical approval 

Does approval need to come before a line of inquiry is okay to do – yes in a way the advice is about framing what you want to do and with whom

4b special interest groups – are they limited to your area of interest? You can also engage with others and form groups based on doing research – so anyone on the course!

My inquiry seems to be like others – but ‘in-between’ – yes good to discuss the differences and similarities

Does it just have to be in my current workplace? – the inquiry can incorporate future work pathways – but talk this over with your adviser – the work needs to be arts related in some way
What about the tools? - yes the tools are in the Readers - literature and Reader 6 - we will continue to talk about how you can gather data ethically for your inquiry 

We talked about thoughts about various individual topic ideas – some people had ones that had emerged form Module 1 and some people had focused a bit more.

The professional inquiry as a whole was discussed – so the inquiry incorporates various elements in it like – planning some practitioner research – so the research and development stage of a ‘live’ project that involves asking real people their points of view, using looking at literature/expertise to inform your thinking and theorise your topic or area of study, other activities within the inquiry like workshops, other training, interventions based on new knowledge etc.

The main submission of the module is the 1. A plan/proposal for you inquiry 2. A critical reflection of your learning (like Module 1) and 3. The 3 forms (an award specialism title, an ethics form for the practitioner research , and an employer support form where permission is needed -  a peer practitioner can sign if you are doing the inquiry outside of a ‘workplace’ but discuss this with your adviser  The headings for the proposal/plan writing are in Module 2 handbook.

Here is a drawing/visualisation of the elements I did to during the discussion.

IQ  means the Inquiry Questions that help guide the inquiry. What are you trying to find out? 
K is Knowledge R is research - these are my shorthand abbreviations when I take notes...

We went on to talk about Reader 4 – which I (although I compiled it) am now finding a bit dry and would like to make more dynamic. This is the planning stage of your work so can be an exciting time. We talked a bit about how it could be changed and the meaning of the sections as they are now. I have used some comments for these areas

Developing Lines of Professional Inquiry       

Introduction     - deciding on what you want to do for the inquiry – and formulating inquiry questions around which you base your inquiry

Professional Inquiry Explanation and Related Concepts         - this is a ‘live’ inquiry that involves real people – so it is not just you – but you the university and your employer or your workplace community of practice

Links to Work Based Learning - professional practice ideas can use this area for framing your inquiry work - so a ‘capstone project’ in the workplace for your degree work

Identifying Knowledge and Skills in the Workplace- you might have a discipline(like dancing) but work is generally more complicated than that with awider range of skills, competencies,, and capabilities – this relates to knowledge – what you know and how you know it

Professional knowledge – you are gathering knowledge and understanding about your work (paid or unpaid) or workplace to improve your practice and perhaps the practice of others

The next bits talk about the idea of doing ‘research’ in the workplace

What do we mean by research?       

What will the practitioner research be about?           

Worker-Researcher/ Insider researcher position      

Working within Groups and Teams    

These bits talk about looking at the ideas of others to expand what you know and to lead you into an area you want to know more about  - often people look at what others have said about areas of interest before deciding on their inquiry questions

Reviewing Literature for your Inquiry Planning

References, Further Reading and Web Sources  
You will have areas of knowledge that you need to find out about in the inquiry      

The last thing we did in the campus section is something that everyone can do – it relates to the literature. Christie, Michelle and Lara chose an article from The Stage – as an exercise they read it and orally described ‘what it meant’ – that is reading for meaning – and that is a part of reviewing literature. What does it say? What does it mean? You were doing this in Module 1 looking at the Readers – it is similar here but you are finding your own articles. LOOK AT THEIR BLOGS _ LINKS?

I WILL DO MORE BLOGS ABOUT SEARCHING FOR LITERATURE – but I have done some – as has Adesola – so look at past blogs for inspiration!

An earlier blog is 'the search for love' http://paulanottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/campus-session-1-continued-what-we-did.html - check this out for some strategies for key words