Tuesday Skype discussion

Skype discussion on Tuesday 25th September provided a great opportunity to talk to students from all modules.
Although, there was not a set theme, majority of questions  were aimed at module 2&3 students and their experience in passing module 1.
We discussed importance of scheduling and setting milestone tasks in order to meet deadlines. It was interesting to hear that there are no right and wrong answers, hence you are encouraged to express your own thoughts based on practical experiences and research.
Web 2.0 was also explored in terms of how it can assist with studies as well as professional practice. Personally, I intend to use my blog as a research and reflection log .  Within our discussion there was a mention of reflective models; from my previous experience I would suggest everyone to explore these before writing reflective accounts.
Personally I find myself using:
Schon's (1991) reflective model in-action and on-action when delivering and reflecting on my dance sessions.

I find Gibb's (1988) reflective cycle very useful when reflecting on a specific event. My students also tend to use this model in their evaluations.

Kolb's (1984) reflective cycle is similar to Gibb's(1988), however the last stage of the cycle requires practical experimentation. According to Atkins and Murphy (1993) this model does not require the same amount of analysis as other theories.

Theoretical concept-collective intelligence

Social media has become an integral part of our lives. People use it for many aspects,including education,networking,strategic communication and advertisement (Noor Al-Deen,Hendricks,2012).
Many dancers use YouTube and Instagram for promotional purposes. With the help of Web 2.0 it has become much easier to get noticed by choreographers, companies and brands (Clarke,2013). It is also being used to advertise performances and dance classes. My personal experience with Facebook advertisement is highly positive. There was a 40% increase in student numbers within my dance school.
YouTube is also being used as dance education platform. Choreographers and dancers such as Matt Steffanina and Aliya Janell to name but a few; are posting dance tutorials,not only to advertise themselves as dance instructors,but also to popularise their dance styles. In this way people from all backgrounds and locations can  learn about the latest trends in dance.
However,despite the obvious positives,  this aspect  does provoke the question of whether dance schools will diminish as primary dance education establishments in the future?

Al-Deen, H. and Hendricks, J. (2012). Social media. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books.
Clarke, S. (2013). The Social Media Dance. [PDF] ISTD. Available at: http://www.culturehive.co.uk/resources/using-social-media-to-develop-dance-audiences/ [Accessed 22 Sep. 2018].

Adesola's post about beginnings, made me think about a dance piece I performed quite a few years ago in Latvia.
The piece was actually called 'Nachalo' (translates as beginning from Russian). It was the 1st part of  choreography series called ''Life'. The concept of the project was to show stages of human life, so 'Beginning' was about being born.
The performance began with dancers standing on stage in complete darkness, as the music progressed each dancer one by one was revealed by spotlight.
I believe this resembles the way this course started for me.
At the start I was in complete darkness, I didn't know where to look for things or who to contact for assistance. At present,one by one my "dancers" are coming out. I am getting to know staff members, UniHub,library resources, module and course handbooks.
I can definitely say that now, if not the whole "stage",then certainly the "front stage",can be clearly seen for me.
To conclude with,we are always in the dark before any beginnings;but as soon as we start, bit by bit everything becomes clearer.

Induction Skype session-16th September

Starting a new course is always daunting.
Starting a new distance course after 4 years break from education -TERRIFYING!
Where do I start? Where do I get all the forms? Where to look for research? Who to contact?

All these very important questions were answered within our induction skype session.
First of all, we got introduced to all the staff members on our study programme. For me this was very important, as it showed how much support is available and that I will not be left on my own battling assignments.
After that,we explored UniHub  and the  course page. It was great to see that you can find all the required information in one place.This includes handbooks, academic calendar, submission link, templates, library support and much more.

A special note about library:
Not only you  can access a lot of  journals and books online, but you can also order books to be sent to your house! What else could  a distance learner ask for:-)

Overall, this session definitely gave me more confidence and reassured that distance learning was the right choice for me.