Skype call-The way ideas can be communicated

My idea for an artefact is a choreography piece which demonstrates how my perception of re-enactment changed as a result of the inquiry.However,my big question for this Skype call was how long should the choreography be?

The answer we developed throughout the discussion is that it should be long enough to communicate the ideas. However, longer does not always mean better or clearer. In addition the length should be an appropriate representation of the usual artefact within my practice.  Adesola made a good example of a performance when the audience claps at the end not because it was good but because it finally finished. 

Thinking about the length of my artefact also made me think about the way I communicate my findings within an essay. I always find myself going over the word limit and then struggling to cut things out.

As a result of this conversation I feel that I need to revisit my essay and check the clarity of my writing . 

Creativity and Culture

In our last Skype call, we talked about how ethical considerations of different cultures address our practice.
In this post, I would like to focus on culture as an influence on creativity.
My inquiry topic is around creativity (where creativity is a product or process of creating novel and effective work), throughout my literature review I discovered that ethical considerations of a specific culture group will influence this groups interpretation of creativity. In particular, this refers to criteria of effectiveness.
Within the dance world, these are some of the examples that come to my mind straight away:
-Muslim religion does not support controversial dance styles such as twerking, dance hall, any dance styles that include close partner work between a male and female;
-Male belly dancing is common in Egypt and Turkey, however, is not perceived in the same positive manner around the rest of the World;
- For a long time, hip-hop was considered as an art form for lower social classes and therefore did not appear in theatres.
- Vogue was once danced only by the LGBT community.

Although I believe that the modern world is a lot more tolerant and influence of culture on creativity interpretation is not as strong, it is still present. Within my practice, I have to consider my students' background/culture and ethical considerations that are associated with it, as these will address the choreography and costumes. For example, some male students would not tolerate too feminine choreography or girls would not be prepared to wear a certain costume.

Research terms.

In tonight's Skype call we discussed research terms, in particular, analysis, triangulation, and qualitative research.

Analysis- detailed examination of something. When we analyse we look at a range of elements. There was a great example made of analysing your journey home, it is not just the route you take, but also time, transport used etc.  Another example that comes to my mind is if you would analyse cake making you would discuss ingredients, the order of adding ingredients, time and so on. 
It is also important to remember that ethical considerations will impact the analysis.  If I go back to an example with the cake, my preferences in product brands, preparation techniques will impact my analysis of this specific cake.
 Within my inquiry, I am in the process of gathering data from YouTube videos that demonstrate the re-creation of a choreography piece.
 First of all, I noticed that I am already analysing videos in terms of ethical suitability for inquiry. I am looking at the age of participants, whether comments are allowed to be made and the total amount of views. These criteria have been discussed in my proposal as important ethical considerations when collecting data from YouTube.
My next step is to analyse videos in terms of background, participants, purpose, development of original choreography. This data will allow me to get a better understanding of whether re-enactment can stimulate creativity/creative performance.

Triangulation - putting all elements of the inquiry together, where all elements have the same value. Triangulation increases rliability of results. Within my research, I will analyse a range of sources, such as literature, Youtube videos, my personal reflective account. Data from these sources will be synthesized to create meaning. 
Qualitative research- focuses on depth rather than numerical data. In qualitative research data is collected considering thoughts, experience and feelings.

Starting Module 3. Defining my inquiry.

This post is in response to activity 1  in module 3 handbook. This activity asks to describe my practice and my practice-based inquiry.

I work in further education sector as a lecturer in dance and physical theatre. This involves planning, delivery and assessment of relevant units.
My inquiry topic developed out of frustration that often students would use YouTube platform to re-create choreography instead of  developing it themselves.
My initial thoughts were that not only this is unethical it also prevents them from achieving higher grades which require demonstration of creativity in performance.
However, module 1 taught me to always raise questions and look at the subject from different perspectives to create new meanings. Therefore, in module 2 I decided to question my own perceptions and propose an inquiry which will explore potential of YouTube as a creativity development tool within dance.
I am hoping that this inquiry will help me to develop lesson activities, which will stimulate students  to use YouTube in a thoughtfull manner that will assist their creativity development. 
Although, I work with specific grading criteria for each unit, the awarding bodies don't actually explain what is a definition of creative performance making this criterion a subject of assessors personal interpretation. Therefore,I am also aiming to develop my own understanding of what is creativity and how it can be assessed within a performance?.
The more I researched into the topic in Module 2 , the more questions arose for my inquiry and the more I changed my personal  perception of creative performane. The nature of  this subject is quite difficult,because  of its subjectivity, a lot of questions are underexplored or are subject of a huge discourse in literature.
For example, use of re-creation  for creativity development. Bandura(1977) suggests that re-creation supports creativity development as it generates knowledge required for creative work. However, this raises questions of ethics and plagiarism in dance. In addition, there are researchers that see imitation as a barrier to creativity development (Zhao, 1989; Stinson, 1993). This question will form one of the main discourses within my inquiry.
Other topics of exploration are:
-Characteristics of creative performance.
-What is re-enactment within dance field? Is it the same in all genres of dance?
- Relationships between re-creation and creativity development.
- Links between YouTube and re-enactment in dance.
-  Ways of utilizing YouTube as a creativity development tool within classroom.

Creativity topic is definitely more challenging than I thought, however I do believe that this exploration will be very rewarding for me as well as my students.
I often feel anxious about clarity of my explanations, therefore I will appreciate if you post any questions that might assist in developing definition of my inquiry or any other ideas on the topic itself.

What if you can't interview anyone?

The Skype call on the topic of central place of analyses was very helpful to understanding alternative data collection methods . In fact it made me realise that my previously chosen method was not right for the topic of my inquiry.
First of all we discussed that qualitative data collection methods are more appropriate for artistic fields (i.e. dance). As creative arts practitioners we should be focusing on what people think rather than how many people think. Adesola provided a good example linked to pirouette performance:

Knowing that 100 dancers can perform a double pirouette, doesn't mean that I can perform it and it doesn't help me to understand how to execute it.

We also discussed reflective journal as a data collection method. This was quite interesting to hear and made think of the ways I could use reflection on my practise for the purpose of my inquiry.
My inquiry will be based around potential of YouTube in influencing creativity within dance. Before the Skype call I was considering using a focus group, interviews and perhaps even creativity tests for data collection.
This discussion made me think about time about different factors that may impact results of my inquiry if a go down the route of focus group:
Time constraints- I only have 4 weeks to collect my data, this time frame is not sufficient to make valuable assumptions regarding the subject (within the focus group). One cannot judge change in artistic creativity within this time.
Motivation- links with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, if student doesn't feel motivated on the day of creativity test or observation this may impact results. Linking this back to the previous argument, students performance is more likely to be affected by motivational factors within shorter time frame. A project over a longer period of time would demonstrate a more consistent performance.
Considering the above mentioned limitations, it is more realistic for me to explore existing literature and artefacts. Adesola mentioned looking at what other people are doing with YouTube videos. For example how people use the same choreography but within a different context (adding their own meaning).  Are they being creative?
Also, I am going to use  reflective account as a means for collecting data. I will establish how YouTube influences my performance and what impacts I have observed on student's work as well as how this links to creativity.

05/02 All module discussion and 07/02 Research as mapping

It was great to hear everyones ideas around research topics and where to start.
The main objective is to look for gaps in research of the chosen topic,look at deepening knowledge not finding definitive answers.

Skype call on 07/02 (Research as mapping) supported previously discussed ideas in Tuesday conversation. Here are some additional things that I found useful to understand before starting proposal:
--- Module 2 &3 we are mapping research, not trying to prove the point or change opinions.
-Mapping means understanding the context of the subject,main ideas,theories,discourses.Looking at the subject in a broader context.
-Don't pinpoint what you want to find out,instead look at different views.
- Focus more on research methods, look for a variety of approaches and side-roads of research.
Overall both Skype sessions changed my perception of how I should approach Module 2. Before I spent a long time trying to find the perfect research question, whereas now I see that this is not what the module is about. I will now spend more time on researching methodologies to  find a range of ethically correct and creative research methods that would be suitable when working with young adults.

Addiction to phones

https://youtu.be/sL8AsaEJDdo

Phones in lessons is a big issue within my workplace. It is also a subject of discourse, as some lecturers will allow the use of phones for research, recording, note taking;whereas others will ban phones completely. For some teachers, with limited access to computers, it is the only way of meeting with IT requirements. Which makes me wonder if we are supporting development of this problem ourselves.

It would be interesting to see if anyone else has a similar issue. 

Literature

Just finished reading this book :
Costly, C.,Elliot, G., Gibbs, P. (2010) Doing Work Based Research. Approaches to Enquiry for Insider-Researchers.London:SAGE.

I found it extremely useful for understanding  all the elements of proposal,but I feel that it can also help students on Module 1  and Module 3.
The best advice I got from it is to discuss subjects of interest/concern within my workplace with my colleagues. This helped me to pinpoint some topics that I could explore within the enquiry.

Module Two- beginning.

After looking at module two handbook ,it became clear to me that one should  begin this module by identifying the research subject/question. There are multiple strands to my practice including teaching,project management and choreography,therefore I will begin module two by creating a mind map of questions that are relevant to my practice. I will then review these questions in terms of existing research, employer preference and potential benefit to my practice. Hopefully,this exercise will allow me to find my focus question. From previous experience and from the information in the handbook, I recognize that I need to remember to keep it small and  not to try to "change the World".
Have you got any other ideas on how to find your inquirie's focus?

Cake baking and Gibbs

Today, in our Skype discussion, we focused on the synthesis of ideas through reflection.

Perhaps this will sound a little bit confusing, but I see process of synthesising ideas as cake baking. Your practise (cake) comprises of different ingredients. Each of these ingredients will influence your cake (taste, colour, texture) and link with each other ( flour and eggs). All the ingredients are in my diagram (theories,influences, artifacts), within my essay I will link these ingredients to create the final picture of my practice (the cake).

(Fergusson Plare,2013)

With regards to reflection, I find Gibbs reflective cycle very useful.

                                                              (Gibbs,1988)

Our discussion showed, that one should always connect the experience with current practice.

My influences

My biggest influence in teaching dance, was my University lecturer Fred The Realness- current member of "Old Men Grooving".

(therealnessdance,2016)

Whilst studying Popping and Locking genres, Fred travelled the world learning from the creators of the styles. The above interview with Don "Campbellock" Campbell demonstrates his vision of dance which is also promoted by Fred to his students. 

"Once you learn the basics-you want to put yourself into it"(Campbell, D.,2015)

This is what made me fell in love with street dance, the fact that you can be yourself. Today, I try to pass this idea to my students-I can give you the steps,but you got to make them your own. This approach reflects ideas described in cognitivism teaching and learning theory.

References:

PacificRimVideoPress (2015)Don "Campbellock" Campbell on the history of "Locking" at HHI 2015. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qROnQORvHHc (Accessed:27th October 2018).

The Realness Dance (2016) Fred Realness. Available at: http://therealnessdance.com/about-us/ (Downloaded: 27^th October 2018).

Tutorial

My first tutorial with Maria was very helpful for my assignment development. The main focus was on the diagram,however we also discussed how my diagram will link with the essay.

We discussed how one topic within the diagram may lead to the other. For example, one of my artefacts is a lesson plan which connects with theory section,where I discuss teaching and learning theories . It also links with my discourse about behaviourism vs.cognitivism in behaviour management.

We also spoke about influences,it was established that it doesn't have to be just well known practitioners,it could be anyone or anything as long as you are able to explain how it influences your practice. For instance, a lot of my practice is influenced by the students. Because my course is performing arts not just dance,each year we will get a different number of learners specialising in dance. These students will have their own specialist style i.e. street dance or ballet. It may also be that there aren't any dancers within the group. All of this will influence my practice in terms of choreography, technique lessons,projects that we are working on. On top of level 3, I also teach HNC. This course is fully tailored around students ,which means that they are allowed to pick their own units (apart from cumpolsary).

Within our tutorial, I was also given some feedback about my chosen AOLs. We discussed them and established that perhaps not all of them are relevant to my current practice. However,within the discussion I was able to identify some other,more relevant areas of learning that would allow for deeper investigation. One of them is being a dance captain. This position taught me how to organise and lead group rehearsals; on reflection, it also helped me to develop some teaching strategies and although, I was not aware of it at the time, introduced me to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. My current practice is influenced by the knowledge gained within this position. I can connect my experience to my current practice and theories identified earlier.

I would say that the main phrase that would reflect on the whole discussion is "Dig deeper".
If you haven't booked your tutorial yet,I would highly recommend to book it earlier rather than later. It will really assist with linking all aspects of the assignment and give you some starting points for potential research.

Discourses

Operant conditioning could be an interesting topic for a  behaviour managment discourse.