Campus Session 2 BAPP WBS3760 Module 3

1st March 2012

Paula Nottingham

Agenda

Introduction

Reviewing questions about the Inquiry

Professional Artefact

Break

Writing up the Critical Review Group exercises

Individual advice for Inquiry

Introduction

• This is the 4th week of the semester (12 weeks total) - schedule the work for BAPP (Arts)

• Engagement and negotiating the time and resources at work needed to complete the coursework – this is part of the learning process that you can talk about in your reflection

• Use the blogs and SIGs – it is part of the assessment

Reviewing questions about the Inquiry

Going over the process with your adviser helps clarify what you need to do.

How does your inquiry relate to your inquiry plan? There should be some relationship – there could be changes – explain them in your writing.

Getting feedback from your peers by sharing in SIGs and blogging about your inquiry process. THIS IS IN THE ASSESSMENT FOR MODULE 3. Suggestions… see the next slide…

Deadlines for drafts – look at the Addendum Page. Feedback will help you prepare your thinking through issues in the inquiry

BLOG AND SIG activity

Suggestions for blog titles blog through out the semester:• Commentary on discussions with your peers on the BAPP (Arts)

programme• A conversation with professional externals to the BAPP (Arts)

network – put up their thoughts or have them comment• Thoughts about your artefact – what is it and who is your audience

– is is a product or a work in progress?• Summary of your main project findings in 100 words or less,

what do you think is the main benefit of your findings• Reflections on working collaboratively using social media• Critical reflection on your learning across the BAPP (Arts) course.• Thoughts and plans for your oral presentation

ArtefactThe professional artefact is a product or a work in progress that relates to what you found out during your inquiry. It is not an add on but an integral part of what you have learned about during the degree.

Look at the blogs from earlier Module 3 BAPP students to give you an idea for the type of thing you might consider. Ideas for the type of artefact include posters, PowerPoints (with still and/or moving images), books, DVDs.

You may want to write a summary explanation to accompany the artefact as this will spell out the purpose and function of this piece of work and clearly identify the audience.

Natalie produced a book that explained her the approach that she was taking to a new taster tape for a presenting career pathway. The audience was other BAPP students/performers – she also presented the new taster tape.

ArtefactAt this point, it might be good to identify the professional

audience for whom you want to produce the artefact.

Who is taking part in your inquiry? How can you share your knowledge with them in terms of an object?

How will you share or disseminate your object – is there a digital version that can be shared through social media?

What can you show that might benefit your career progression or bring other people a better understanding of what you do in your professional practice?

ArtefactTry an exercise – take a sheet of A4 paper and draw out who your audience might be… The artefact should be designed with them in mind. You may have several options when you apply this to the context of your own inquiry. How can you share your practice in your workplace or with you community of practice?

Final Module 3 Assessment

Part 1: The Critical Review

It is primarily written (with illustrations if appropriate) using the 4 main Headings provided in the Module 3 Handbook

The writing style is one of reportage with some essay elements.In the critical review, you need to explain what ideas you have explored in the context of your inquiry (your practitioner research) and activities such as workshops or professional engagements. The ideas from your literature, concepts that you have used, should also be defined so that others can follow your point of view. The ‘writing’ will be similar to how you would verbally explain your inquiry ‘project’ work to others…

Think about conventions from your profession and vocabulary – get your tacit knowledge of what you do into the written language.

Writing with style and purpose

Shaping the writing according to your needs will be important in explaining the knowledge you have gained from doing your inquiry…

Chapter II Elementary Principles of Compositions

A basic structural design underlies every kind of writing. The writer will in part follow this design, in part deviate from it, according to his (sic) skills, his (sic) needs, and the unexpected events that accompany the act of composition. Writing to be effective, must follow closely the thoughts of the writer, but not necessarily in the order in which those thoughts occur.

Strunk and White (1959) The Elements of Style

Effective Writing Exercise

Discussion points – the writing in the critical review is similar to reportage so should explain all the key points using detail and examples

Make the writing interesting for others to read. If your practice is something you are passionate about, your descriptions and analysis of the thinking and events should show this.

Discuss drafting the ‘thinking’ or ‘theoretical’ points that you have explored for your inquiry with others via your blog. You will be sending off a written draft to your adviser – it may take several drafts before you have said what you want/need to say.

Use ideas and theories from your literature to underpin your arguments or explain your findings.

Effective Writing ExerciseJohn Berger (1977) Ways of Seeing, British Broadcasting Service, p. 10.

Read this sample of writing from Berger out loud to yourself…

Images were first made to conjure up the appearances of something that was absent. Gradually it became evident that an image could outlast what it represented; it then showed how something or somebody had once looked – and thus by implication how the subject had been seen by other people. Later still the specific vision of the image-maker was also recognised as part of the records…  No other kind of relic or text from the past can offer such direct testimony about the work which surrounded other people at other times. In this respect images are more precise and richer than literature. To say this is not to deny the expressive or imaginative quality of art, treating it as mere documentary evidence; the more imaginative the work, the more profoundly it allows us to share the artist’s experience of the visible.

 

Effective Writing Exercise

Berger’s argument is quite specific… what is it? What main points is he bringing out? That images are important to communication?

Reading aloud what has been written is a good way to understand it. This can be done with your own writing…

Ideas about this do not always come out in an orderly fashion – but your job is to reorder them (like Strunk and White suggest) to make sense of the argument.

In you own drafting and editing processes – reordering and ‘shaping’ the text strives to make it more meaningful and more concise.

 

Effective Writing

Strunk and White example on the issue of wordiness (1959, p. 19)

Macbeth was very ambitious. This led him to wish to become king of Scotland. The witches told him that this wish of his would come true. The kind of Scotland at this time was Duncan. Encouraged by his wife, Macbeth murdered Duncan. He was thus enabled to succeed Duncan. He was thus enabled to succeed Duncan as king. (51 words)

Encouraged by his wife, Macbeth achieved his ambition and realized the prediction of the witches by murdering Duncan and becoming king of Scotland in his place. (26 words)

Part 1: A Critical Review

• Introduction - relevant to the context of the inquiry and how it relates to your workplace or community of practice

• Evaluation of the Inquiry Process - practitioner research tools used (observation, surveys, interviews, focus groups), the literature review, the ethical implications and other activities undertaken as a part of the process (e.g. performances, workshops, trying out new strategies, etc.)

• Analysis: your findings (what you found out from the data you gathered) and your analysis of the findings compared to your literature and earlier perceptions of the topic, conclusion of this stage, what implications/benefits/impact did your inquiry have? Did you conduct any activities/events/interventions that used what you found out in your practice?, and possible further inquiry topics…

• Critical Reflection - a critical self-analysis of the learning journey based on your learning journal

Thinking it through group exercises

• In groups - listen to the accounts of someone’s Introduction and Evaluation of the Inquiry.

• Take notes that concentrate on key words about what the person is saying - help them decide what elements of their explanation are significant. Key words are also good when considering literature and analysis as subject knowledge (i.e. dance or graphic design) and key words like ‘confidence’ or ‘inclusive’ need to be defined.

• Doing this oral exercise will mean that you have started to draft your critical review through an oral process.

The Critical Review structure

• Title Page• Introduction – 500 words Indicative • Evaluation of the Inquiry Process – 2500 words• Analysis of the Findings – 2500 words• Critical Reflection – 500 words• Bibliography and Appendices• Supporting Evidence could consist of appendices

including: blog texts, visual evidence, blank consent form, blank questionnaires, interview questions, observation grids, etc. Please note: each appendix should be cited (e.g. Appendix 1) in the Critical Review. Any online materials must be accessible (compatible format) or available for download (dated prior to submission date). A digital version of this document should be sent to the WBL Administrator, with your Academic Adviser cc’d.

Date for submitting this semester

Submission by 14th May 2012 – paper copy posted to Avni Shah at the Trent Park campus and a digital version sent to the new BAPP@mdx.ac.uk address. DO NOT SEND TO AVNI.

This is for the Critical Review and Professional Artefact as the Oral

Presentations will be due the 28th May 2012 to be attended by advisers and BAPP (Arts) peers – you can ask for an am or pm slot

(if this is not possible – you need to discuss this with your academic adviser so that they can help you decide on the best course of action)

Digital Submissions: Refer to the module handbooks and/or Addendum sheet for any specific assessment criteria – send by midnight on the 14th May.

Please label these with your name and module code when sent as attachments. Also make sure these are in a readable format (like Word).

Plenary

Final points…

Blogging and using SIGs are a part of the assessment for the course and the learning strategies you are developing through your interaction with the BAPP (Arts) network. The act of sharing, receiving and giving, discussion commentary with your peers is important.

See Adesola’s Oct 2011 blog about the artefact.

A 4th Campus Session has been requested for after Easter - date TBC

The critical review is a more structured reporting of the professional inquiry, but it should be written to present a lively critical argument about your topic and point of view. Because it is reporting on primary ‘research’ or inquiry, it has certain conventions that are spelled out in the handbook.