Something I wrote for BAPP but thought might be useful to read here to…

Thinking about feedback….

I am getting lots of drafts and so busy working my way through things. I don’t read fast so it takes time because I don’t skim read; I need to read each word in order to really understand and analyze what is being said, because I want my comments to be meaningful and helpful.

But feedback is not sending a draft for my approval. The approval has to come from you – you making something (writing something) you feel ‘proud’ of or at lease feel you’ve tried your best at. Its about being honest with yourself on one hand and not leaving bits untouched because you don’t want to shake your own story by fixing them at this point. It is also about being diligent finding out the procedure for writing in this way, noticing the books you have read how things lay out and how they are presenting such as how people have used citations and then thinking about why it is done in that way and what it says about what you are trying to make.

Feedback you ask for from me is to get another eye looking at the work you are doing. If you send something and feel you cannot move forward before I get back to you

1)   Then feedback in that form does not seem the best form for the purpose you have. I would say you need to book a quick Skype call in order to discuss the specific points you feel you need input into before you can go on.

2)   Or your use of my feedback is not really ‘feedback’ it is ‘passing the buck’ asking me to edit your work for you!!! So you can use me to decide what should be in or out of your final piece _ I can’t do this for you!! You know what you want to create.

So please feel free to contact me in different forms according to what you need from your feedback. If it’s a quick block you need to talk out – email or skype (set up a time via email or call if you see me on-line). Then also have specific questions – ask what you want to know. Be direct about what you want me to look at that is because I am another eye so you can direct where I look.

I think it is really important in the performing arts to be clear and to have thought about the role of feedback. A few years ago I realised that when I choreographed something I would ask for feedback from a dance agency for instance. Then I realised I would get quite down when it wasn’t ‘can we book this piece’!!! what they would say was things to ‘improve’ the choreography or general comments. But that response is not feedback. I realised what I wanted was to bring my work to their attention NOT feedback and that by asking fro feedback I was putting my work in the light of something that was unfinished or something I was unsure about. That made me think that you have to  be really careful, direct and really want to hear the response when engaging with feedback. It is not there to reassure you, you are o.k.!!

What do you think?

Adesola

Conversations today…

Today’s morning SKYPE:

We talked about the ‘bigness of ideas’ and how you grapple with writing about them without going off on tangents that leave you with no time or to big a word count! We talked about the ‘I’ in your research and learning and that you can only write from you perspective so rather than thinking you are creating definitive documents on a subject, write openly about where you are with ideas and how and why they are meaningful within the context of what you are doing now. This can include suggesting some ideas ‘feel’ important but you are not sure how they fit at the moment. Or you are aware that some ideas are much more complex than you present them as but you do not want to go down that tangent right now. Rose is going to post on her blog about this.  http://rosepaye3012.blogspot.co.uk

We talked about the ‘evidence’ (or illustration) for Module One and how this is just the same as having figures you refer to (illustrations) in a piece of writing. Sarah is going to post about citations particularly for different types of material to illustrate in writing. http://sarahsulemanji.blogspot.co.uk

We talked about enjoying the learning process and making the most of the task of making the AOLs Maria and Tamzin will write more on this. Aggy is going to write about being reminded that it is a creative process not a ‘court case’ about the value of your work!!

 http://mariaranden.blogspot.no

 http://tamzinhoward.blogspot.co.uk

Mary is going to post in response to a part of the conversation that was about literature and literature reviews. http://www.marymapp.blogspot.co.uk

Jamie is going to post thoughts about the Professional Artefact, after we talked about its role in as a documentation of your inquiry. http://jamiewarburton.blogspot.co.uk

In this evening SKYPE session we talked about important dates

Dec 9^th – to have written a draft by this date

Dec 19^th – last day of classes at Middlesex Uni (Break for winter holidays)

Jan 2^nd – Middlesex starts back

Jan 5^th – Work must handed in on or before this date

Jan 19^th – Module Three Oral presentations – whole MAPP community is invited.

We talked about getting feedback on drafts after Dec19th and how you need to talk to your adviser about this.

During both conversations we talked about Turnitin and the submission of work process. Helen has written a comprehensive blog post about this in response to the conversations today. http://www.helenkindred.blogspot.co.uk

One tip Ainsley talked about was trying out submitting work before the due date to make sure you know how to do it.

We also talked about the practicality of putting the things together that you will be handing-in. Regardless of the module you are on make sure what you hand in makes sense out side of the familiarity you have with it. It was suggested that you give work to a trusted person (who may not be in your profession) and ask them if it makes sense and ‘can they follow it?’. This way you get someone looking at it who has fresh eyes.

Great conversations to be a part of, Thanks
Adesola

Just a quick reminder – Group skype sessions on Sunday December 7th.

Just a quick reminder – Group skype sessions on Sunday December 7^th.

Morning one – 11am (in London time!)

Afternoon one – 5;30 (in London time!)

Please comment below which one you intend to join. If you want to join and don’t get a call feel free to skype me during the session and I can add you to the conversation.

Talk to you Sunday

Adesola

On writing and other forms of communication

Thinking about writing styles: I sometimes read a book and love the way the writer has what seems like a command of the words and language. I read a sentence and almost like a wonderful mouthful of food find there is a digestive experience where the sentence hits me with a deeper meaning after I have read it. As if it carried me through with meaning helping me follow the idea and then hit me with a reverberation (aftertaste) of deeper meaning as the idea settles into the paragraph. But it is not their turn of phrase that is doing this, it is how they are using the words like surgical tools to focus, hone in on an idea and how they have stripped away all unnecessary diversions so that they send me straight to the point they are making with that sentence. As if they had used the words to penetrate straight in to my mind and laid an idea there in the uncommunicable realm of my own ideas. This is why I am convinced words are of no use unless they describe something already existing – an idea. I have called this a 3D idea because it can be described from different angles by different forms of communication. (Akinleye 2012). I feel words are NOT ideas. They are part of the tools of cooperation that is communication.

Dewey says:

“The heart of language is not expression of something antecedent, much less expression of antecedent thought. It is communication ; the establishment of cooperation in an activity in which there are partners.”  Experience & Nature (1958 ) pg 179

So there is the idea, and the want to share it that is communication, the partnership that is communicating, and the tools  how we share it.

Next step: so not only should words be there for a working purpose to cooperate (not to augment or illustrate your thinking). In other words – words and thinking are not necessarily related. Words do not have to be the tools we use to communicate. In fact as dancers we know that in many instances a movement or sound expresses an idea much more understandably than words could ever. Mr Mitchel used to sing exercises to us and come up behind us and make what I could only call a ‘grunt’ but it explained the steps  feeling and direction of energy of the dance far more than words. And as we develop, as dancers we understand the steps, energy and direction are part of larger ideas about connection, balance rhythm ideas that are all learnt and expressed in the wordless realm of physical experience (of which my work is about suggesting that this is the realm of life). So if words are nothing but tools and they are not always useful tools then why should you be limited to them especially when you are talking about dance (often a wordless experience). Well you need to use words because that is what universities use and you need to communicate in the language of the University to talk to it.

BUT what about people at work, in the dance field – they are not a University? Yes, good point. What are they used ideas coming in the form of. How do you share in your profession?

So you will have two artefacts of the idea. (You have to have the ideas first in order to communicate them)

1)   the University artefact – words and paper (we know what this is because we work in a university so we can help by telling you)

2)   A professional artefact – this will be??? (We can’t tell you because we don’t work in your profession exactly, we are not there. You know best)

To be explicit (and this is the second time because I just wrote all this and lost it to my ailing computer!!!) this post is about words and communication. And has led to the advice that you write to explain, not write to sound like you know what you are talking about! (There is a difference). And then the post attempts to explain the Professional Artefact of Module Three.

[Point of interest. Image words not being things that represent anything to you, like I wrote

‘Getthy si heffney ard wenty bleu’.

It makes sense but not to you, so it has to mean something outside the words they are just to communicate an idea. But in case they don’t. that does not mean the idea does not exist it just means the form of communication is not working. You have to know what you want to communicate before you write. The idea is not in the words it is 3D and words are only one dimension. That is what it is like from my dyslexic prospective.]

What do you think?

Adesola

Akinleye, Adesola. (2012). Orientation for Communication: embodiment, and the language of dance. Empedocles: the European journal for the philosophy of communication, 4(2), pp.101-112.

Dewey, John. (1958). Experience and nature. New York,: Dover Publications.

House Keeping points

Hi
If you send work please do not call the document CV.doc because everyones is called that call it
your_name_CV.doc it just makes it nicer for the person receiving it. In other words name it for them they have lots of CVs coming in potentially; don't name it for you - you only have one CV so calling it CV for the context of your computer not theirs.

When you are writing a shorter text (like less than 10,000 words) you don't need to spend time telling us what you will be writing.

"I will show that…"

just do it!! Starting like that is just away to get the reader to understand what will be happening because there is so much text they might loose track but if the text is short there is no need to say that just show it by writing it.

At the same time remember to situate what you are writing about, you are thinking about it all the time but the person reading it might not be thinking about what you are doing at all. Start with an overview of what the text is about in terms of where it sits and why you are writing it.

The bibliography is a part of the text. It should not be a separate document. It is the extended information of the citations and quotes you are using.

Hope that helps….
Adesola

Evening Group Skype Session

We had a big group in the evening 15 people! People agreed to write posts about the conversation including on, capturing ideas, what to write on blogs and thoughts about AOL 'evidence' or illustration. Jamie is also going to post a question he hopes people will comment on for his research.

We talked about the importance of commenting on each others blogs and the value of having a learning community so please explore each other's posts and make some comments.

Adesola

An Artefact of the morning Skype session!!

In today’s morning group skype session we mostly talked about Artefacts in reference to Module three and AOL’s in reference to Module one. We had a long session and I think as we get further into the term the sessions might be a little longer, so it maybe a good idea to calculate for a 1.5 hrs rather than an hour. Each of the people attending are going to write a little about the conversations see links to thier blogs below.

I wanted to post a little on Artefacts and I will be posting on AOL’s later in the week.

We are assuming everything is an ‘artefact’ of an experience – this is not theoretically sound but a quick way to try to get the word to mean something more than ‘Artefact means the thing I don’t know what to do about in the last module’ and change to Artefact in the more general use of the word ‘Artefact means an object made by a human being, typically an item of cultural or historical interest. – the culture being your work culture’

The reflective paper is an ‘Artefact’ from the University culture, the other thing is an XXXX from your work culture. They are both doing the same thing explaining about your research.

Today people talked about their research and I thought up lots of Artefacts for instance:

An installation: Two spaces that you walk through one that has all the added ‘benefits’ and down-sides of dancing in a dance school, for instance images of friends, safe familiar place, tension (whatever came up as benefits/down-sides themes). When you get across this room you are presented with a space that shows where this has taken some people in terms of the themes that emerged.

The other space only focused on the professional goal – the only things in this room would be to do with getting a good technique/themes. When you get across the space you are presented with where this got other people in terms of the themes that emerged.

A choreographic process/method: together with students looking at my feelings across the module. First I felt quite blinded. Then things felt quite big, then they got clearer. I take ‘Blinded’, ‘Big’, ‘Clearer’ my process/my research process and look at how this can be expressed using the processes of American Modern dancers. I ask my students to take one of these themes (blinded, big or clearer) and use one of the modern dancers they have learnt about and choreograph something. Or we choreograph something together with them creating and me facilitating their process. My research was about whether by sharing processes of past dancers this would help my students, so my artefact use processes seeing if the processes of the past dancers can be used to help express something – my process. The choreographic problems and problem solving the choreography manifests is as much a comment as me writing the same comments and solutions.

A children’s book  – as with children’s books I will not use words but pictures to express my adult journey through the research. I am using the form of a children’s book because my research is about children but the information is about the research itself so it still has the depth I had to go into (I am not trying to simplify my work for a 4 year old audience) I am drawing the attributes and techniques used in children’s books because my research is about how I make the complicated world of dance meaningful to children so my artefact makes the complicated world of my research meaningful using a tool used to reach children meaningfully (children’s books). As with children’s books there might be a page the reader can feel or a scarf that pulls out of the book….. There might be drawing, little letter to pull out of envelopes and photographs to tell the story of my research process.

In making your artefact you should find deeper meaning to your research because just as you writing it for the University Artefact you become clearer about what it is so too as you make your work place artefact you find new ways to look at the research and become clearer about it.

That is not to say you do the research again – all three (paper, oral presentation and artefact) are about the research you have done. It is done now/ it is over – now you are telling us about it.

I wrote a paper with Paula on this I attach it. This programme grew out of the BAPP programme so the paper is about first introducing the Artefact as a requirement for the BA Professional Practice. You might find it useful to read some of the thinking behind the notion of the Artefact.

Have a look at what other people thought:

http://amandatooms-peel.blogspot.co.uk

http://mariaranden.blogspot.no

http://www.marymapp.blogspot.co.uk

http://aprilannbrown.wordpress.com

http://www.ambermapp.blogspot.co.uk

http://sarahsulemanji.blogspot.co.uk

Article:

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/HESWBL-09-2012-0036

What do you think?

Adesola

Group SKYPE chat this Sunday - let me know if you are joining in !!

Our group skype is this Sunday.

If you are not in UK remember our clocks changed last week!!!

We will be skyping at 11am (in London) and at 5:30pm (in London). If you are planning to join in please leave a comment on this post saying which time you will be joining in with. Looking forward to hearing how its going, what things you have discovered and experiences you are having.

Adesola

FYI

It would be great to see people there!

Comment - community of learners

Hey MAPP-ers keep commenting on each others blogs.
Have a look at Maria's http://mariaranden.blogspot.no
She is looking for feedback on her AOL's

Lets talk/comment to each other people!!!!!!
Adesola

October 5th PM chat

PM skype chat: Sunday afternoon (5:30 in London) we had our PM skype chat. We were a conversation of eight. We talked about a few points that people brought to the meeting to discuss.

We talked about:

What role the reflective journals play in the modules and the place for reflection in your study in general. For more on the conversation visit Tamzin http://tamzinhoward.blogspot.co.uk  , Suzanne www.zsurcy.wordpress.com  ,and Amanda http://amandatooms-peel.blogspot.co.uk  who are writing posts on Reflection.

What questions are. How we deal with them developing in Module three and across the modules how questions do not have to be linked to answers but are more about learning more and stimulating thinking. Rose http://rosepaye3012.blogspot.co.uk   & Mary http://www.marymapp.blogspot.co.uk

We talked about all the communication tools from practical questions about joining the Linked –in group to apprehensions in posting blogs to looking at the differences and strengths of all the communication tools used on the course. Anthony (hold tight we will put his address in the comments below)  will be writing about this in his post.

Also we talked about a reflective journal app Penzu.

And pointed out if you are having problems with Unihub or need tech support with MDX on-line access etc… to contact Aimee Tallon a.tallon@mdx.ac.uk

Great conversations today lets keep thinking and talking.

I ended the day with a phrase about the courage to jump in and enter a conversation or try to write something or just generally allow yourself to be at the edges of what you feel you ‘know’ – to research.

We have to have the humility to love our imperfect selves.

October 5th morning SKYPE session: sharing our conversation

This mornings SKYPE session was good. We had five people talking together. We talked about:

AOL (Module 1) – how to start to define what they should be about: April who was in the conversation is going to post about this in terms of how the AOLs reflecting the whole you, your whole practice http://aprilannbrown.wordpress.com

 

Marie-Renie is going to write about this in terms of an example AOL she is working through now http://marie-reinebouchereau.blogspot.co.uk

Artefact (Module 3) – what is an artefact, how are they crafted? Jamie is going to write about this on his blog http://jamiewarburton.blogspot.co.uk

Maria is going to post about the experience of joining in with the SKYPE session in general http://mariaranden.blogspot.no

We also talked getting help with MDX web-page issues such as down loading e-books – for help with this you could contact Adam Edwards a.edwards@mdx.ac.uk

Office hours and Week One

We are Week One, our first week. Now is a time to be sorting out and getting started. As we talked about in induction here are some points that are important as you start:

1)   Work out when you have to have your assessed work hand-in by (January 2015) and make sure you understand what it is. In other words where are you heading on the journey of this module?

2)   Make a space for your work – in your diary through organised times for when you will working, in your house/office/coffee-shop through having a place to ‘shut the door’ and start working, in your life embracing the notion you are a student (again!!).

3)   Start to open lines of communication with the MAPP learning community, this is through starting your blog and giving us the address, visiting other people’s blogs and leaving comments, getting skype sorted out, contacting your advisor if you have any questions etc…

I am going to have virtual ‘office hours’. These are times when you can skype in to talk to me without an appointment. These will be Tuesday and Thursdays 10am to 11am and Saturdays 8pm to 10pm.

So for comment to this post please let us know what tips you have for starting back/starting-up. What has worked for you?

Adesola

SKYPE Sunday Sept 5th 11am and 5:30pm (London time)

Don’t forget this Sunday (September 5^th) we have two group skype sessions. One at 11am (in London) and please note the afternoon session will be at 5:30pm (in London) NOT 7pm (in London). Please let me know which session you are joining in with, the best way to do this is to make a comment on this post telling me!!

Looking forward to talking to you Sunday.

Adesola

After our first group SKYPE meeting this term!!

We had a first group SKYPE for this term today. It was great to hear everyone introduce themselves and catch up on what returning students are up to. You might notice are numbers are swelling we had 14 people (I think) in that conversation! We talked about a number of things and got to share and ask each other questions. Some people are going to write specific blog posts about topics raised.

Helen is going to post about student info/benefits etc… How to get your student card and what it can be used for.

Jamie is going to write about the MAPP community, Mary about the global network we form;

Sarah about useful books as you start module one.

I am writing about the next SKYPE meetings:

Because there are so many of is now and we are across the globe we are going to have two times for skype meetings. So you can attend either an earlier or later one in the day, which also helps people in time zones outside of UK. So our monthly group SKYPE meetings are:

October 5^th 11am (London time) and also 7pm (London time)

November 2^nd 11am (London time) and also 7pm (London time)

December 7^th 11am (London time) and also 7pm (London time)

I will write a post near to the date reminding everyone about the meeting. If you plan to attend you could write in the comments of that post, so I know to look out for you and when (11am or 7pm). If you miss the post you could also email. Lastly if it gets to the time of the session and you were expecting a call but don’t get one then write me a message over SKYPE and I can add you to the call. So in other words be proactive in making sure your are a part of the group call.

Come to the meetings with a question, idea or experience to share. We will keep each session to an hour so it is a good idea to prepare by having a note about anything you want to discuss or share. That way we can make a kind of agenda at the beginning of the meeting and make sure everyone gets to cover what they hope to talk about.

Of course it is ok to just listen to the conversation; just connect with peers and hear how people are doing. I really believe that community, collaboration and cooperation are a part of how we can shape the 21st century.

Try to find a quiet room to meet: any back ground noise from any of us makes the reception funny, and makes people hard to hear.

Just some up-front planning, As always it was a great chat today, very inspiring and left me excited about getting started this term.

Adesola