Task 3b: Theories Relating to Networking

“Professional Networks and their effective engagement could produce benefits for you personally and the things that matter to you” (Reader 3, 2013).

Within the work place, especially in the performing arts, it would almost seem it’s part of one’s instinct to ‘get to the top’ no matter what that takes. ‘Co-operation’ and ‘Affiliation’ are two different networking theories exploring how different people will take what they want from a given situation to get where they want to be. 

Co-operation

When  think about ‘co-operation’ and how I use it within daily life, and particularly my working life, I think about getting on with people (whether I like it or not). In most cases, it is just something you have to do and without yet thinking about ‘game theory’ you will co-operate to achieve something. For example, working in a dance company, each member would work together as a team to put on the best performance possible. Robert Axelrod is an influential researcher in this field who identified the benefits of “co-operating fully, until you reach a point of maximum benefit, and then defect” (Reader 3, 2013). A representation  of this can be seen in “Prisoners Dilemma” which involves two contestants who each must make a choice without knowing what the other will do. From this game theory, Axelrod inferred, “The temptation is to defect. But, the dilemma is that if both defect, both do worse than if both had co-operated.” (Axelrod, 1984). From this, I came to the conclusion, that whilst eventually, one would defect in order to gain the most one can, equally, it pays to cooperate and consequently, the longer you co-operate, the more you can achieve. Arguably, co-operating for too long, can leave you worse off if the opponent defects before you. Within the theory, Axelrod also points out that a “tit-for-tat” pattern is created and we should “take advantage of networks for our own benefit and that of the wider network”. (Axelrod, 1984, p. xi-xiv).

It could be argued that the usefulness of the actual game, on the other hand, could be that this model is fundamentally flawed. It is based on a scientific scale, few social situations could be modeled accurately by a single transaction, and as the reader states, it’s “a very simple model”.

When reading through other blogs posted about this task, one opinion I saw was that Axelrod’s game theory, to them, was just ‘using’ someone. I could relate to this as I thought this too at first, however, I would challenge this by saying; it is very rare that a person will give without gaining something themselves. For example, within my workplace, I will co-operate because I gaining from the experience to support my PGCE application yet at the same time, the department is gaining from me, new choreography that the students have used for their assessment. I believe, in order for co-operation to work, all persons involved should be getting something out of it and benefit from it, whether that be for themselves or someone else. There may be situations, for example, in auditions, where people follow Axelrod’s theory and co-operate up to a certain point, and then defect.

Affiliation

Although I can see it sharing similarities with the traits of ‘co-operation’, in terms of ‘getting on’, when I think of ‘affiliation’ I associate it with friendships you make and this theory would seem a lot more intimate than that of co-operation. As humans, it is in our nature “to form close relationships” (Crisp and Turner, 2007). Everyone has affiliations and some rely on them more heavily than others, which links to the affiliation theory of ‘homeostasis’ where we each seek to balance our affiliations to a preferred level (O’Connor and Rosenblood, 1996). In other words, finding a balance of associations which is right for you at a particular time. Within this concept comes the idea of ‘having friends in the right places’, and is all part of professional networking. 

Another key aspect of ‘affiliations’ is trust. Those you affiliate with, both professionally and socially, are people you trust and trust information and knowledge they pass onto you. With this also comes the risk of putting trust in the wrong person and with that, the ethics behind that information getting leaked. 

References:

The Evolution of Co-operation, (Axelrod, R, 1984)

Essential Social Psychology (2nd ed), (Crisp, Richard J. and Turner, Rhiannon N, 2007)

Task 3c: Sources of Information

There are many different sources and networks that we all use both professionally as well as socially. All networks are appropriate and valued for different reasons but there are some I would tend to turn to more frequently.

Google

Whether it be for BAPP, a new teaching idea or even what time a shop opened, I would most commonly just type it into google. Most of the time it will provide me with the information I was looking for, however, with it offering thousands of options, there is always that question of the authenticity of the site you on are on and the accuracy of the information it is offering. This is why it is always a good idea to to cross-check the information with another source.

YouTube

To me this is a sort of “visual google” and something on which I rely heavily on both inside and out of the teaching environment. YouTube is perfect for giving me inspiration when choreographing, but also, showing the students performances of different dance styles. For example, the other week we were studying the jazz style of, ‘Fosse’ so I used YouTube to show them a clip of professional fosse dances. While this visual aid is highly beneficial would always watch the video before showing it to the class as ‘YouTube’ is a site where anyone could upload anything so I like to check it is appropriate before showing it. Also, with a site like this available, especially in dance, it makes it very easy to just copy someone else’s work so another thing to be aware of.

Networking in the Workplace

The information I gain from other teachers and staff members, with whom I work with in the school, is invaluable to me. Being new to this profession, there is know better way to learn than from people who have years of experience in this field, in my opinion. Equally, I currently spend a lot of time with a girl who is undertaking her PGCE at the moment, so it’s very interesting to see what she is having to do, what her course entails, and also her opinion of it. One thing to bare in mind is that this information is entirely opinionated and possibly biased and so not necessarily ‘the truth’ about this profession. This idea of networking within the workplace is not something I had considered a ‘network’ until reading other people’s blogs (based on task 3a). It was only on completion of the task that I reflected and thought, why? I had just decided in my head that networking meant only connecting via online sites. Looking back this now seems silly but enhances the importance of sharing ideas.

BAPP

This links in nicely to the point I just made above. Whilst undergoing this course, I am forever flicking from blog to blog, reading what other people have written and from what angles they have approached the different tasks. On one hand, this is a good way of sharing ideas across a wider network (like I learnt in task 3a). As well as this, it would seem that many BAPP students are all hoping to go down the teaching route and this is another way in why the blogs useful because you find a lot of relevant feelings and ideas. Yet, on the other hand, something I often feel, is reading a task and feeling like I have done it wrong. I am aware that on a course such as this, there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, but I still find that it puts doubt in my mind of my ability. Although I sometimes get concerned with regards to the blogging, I find when everyone comes together for the BAPP campus sessions really helpful. Everyone sharing ideas and ‘bouncing’ off one another really helps me to develop own ideas.

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

I probably would not regard these as ‘important’ for me personally, however, I still wanted to discuss them because they are sites I use a lot and I am aware that for some people, they are relied on for a different source of information. I know on Facebook, there are groups such as, ‘The Hustle’ from which people can gain knowledge of upcoming auditions or events. I personally, do not tend to write status’ or ‘tweets’ or upload pictures very often and tend to go on them more because I am nosey. So while I can gain information about different people by doing a bit of “stalking” this is also a downfall of sites like these. They are not particularly private and you have to set any of these privacy settings yourself. This is why when I do post, I have to be very careful of what I put on. I think this is also especially relevant within the teaching profession because, let’s be honest, we have all typed in a teachers name on Facebook thinking it will be hilarious to see what their page is like..! For this reason, all my privacy setting are on on all my social networking sites.

Task 3a: Current Networks

It took me a while to understand the concept of this task and how it differed to tasks set as part of the first section, particularly 1b. I broke down the question and picked out the key words which I believed were, “current”, “professional” , “networks”. 

‘Current’: belonging to the present time; happening or being used or done now

‘Professional’: engaged in a specified activity as one’d main paid occupation rather than an amateur 

‘Network’: a group or system of interconnected people or things

(Oxford English Dictionary)

Networking is very important in any profession but I would argue that it is even more relied on in the performing arts industry. There is a particularly strong sense of “it’s all about who you know”, and often teachers in college would tell us how they had just been speaking to a choreographer or director asking about how a past student worked and whether they were reliable etc. So if we are using this as an example, the network used here was most likely to be via phone or email.

When I think about my own networks that I use professionally I would initially think about my blogging site which is obviously important to help me develop throughout my studies, but also if a prospective employer was to type in my name on ‘Google’ this would come up above social networking sites and (hopefully) show me off in an intelligent manner. When I first started thinking about this as network and how it fits in with task I thought that despite it being a ‘Current’ and ‘Professional’ , it lacked the aspect of communication that you would expect in a network. But then I realized that, actually, me commenting on other blogs and others commenting on my blog, is communication, thus making it a very useful ‘Network’. 

Another site that I had heard about but never looked into, was “LinkedIn”. When I first came across it I just thought it was like Facebook and so discounted it but after discussing it with family friends I became aware that, although a similar set-up to Facebook, it was, in fact, a networking site used by professionals to articulate there skills and achievements and connect with past, present and potentially future employers or employees. Like on Facebook, in order to connect to people you have to send them a request which can either be accepted or ignored. Furthermore, if you wanted to get in contact with someone, you have to do it through the messaging service ‘LinkedIn’ provide and the persons email does not show up so you would have to personally ask for it. This makes it a safer environment to display information as you only have to show details that you are happy to be seen and only with the people you accept.

Sites that are more commonly known to me are ‘Twitter’, ‘Facebook’ and ‘Instagram’ and as well as used socially to share pictures or thoughts they are both used by the majority of celebrities as a way of promoting themselves. These sites, however, are very informal and you do not have as much control over them as you would with ‘LinkedIn’ and as a result you tend come across a lot of spoof accounts and often you hear about “hacking” going on. Whilst you can make your page ‘private’ (and that does seem to be happening a lot more) you have to activate this setting yourself, posing a risk to the safety of private details.

More and more people are joining these examples of current networks but equally, I hear of more and more people deleting there accounts as they don’t want people they don’t know looking at their site. However, for professional use they are an ideal way of making contacts and networking and there are even examples of professionals being offered jobs through these sites or sharing job opportunities/auditions through ‘open groups’. Especially with the way technology is advancing and the majority of people owning a smart phone or tablet, an increasing number of people are using the internet and online networking sites to connect.

Task 2c: Reflective Theory

“We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started 

And know the place for the first time”

(TS Eliot, Four Quarters, 1943)

I came accross this poem whilst studying A Level English and thought it suited this task quite nicely!

For me, being a teacher heavily relies on me to constantly critically reflect on everything I do, whether I realise it or not! In this profession you have to keep up with changes in the curriculum for one but also, working with children, I feel it is important to make sure what you are doing is relevant to them. For example, being a young and recent graduate, I feel that the choreography I bring is current and and challenging, not an “old school” jazz piece to “Jamirioqui” that has been taught to the 20 years prior to them.

When researching online about 'Existing tools for reflection within Professional Practice' I got a link to a file, Improving Learning Through Reflection where it discussed how “Reflection is a way of maximizing deep learning and minimizing surface approaches” (Hinnet, 1997). It also looks at how reflection is a key component of the artistry in performance-based subjects (something I feel is very relevant to all those participating in the BAPP course). It then goes onto say, “Writing in the form of learning journals and reflective logs is often used as a way of capturing reflection” (Hinnet, 1997). We then use these journals to learn something from the experiences we wrote down. 

This leads me on to Kolb’s Learning Cycle. 

Concrete Experience: This is where Kolb’s cycle begins. This could perhaps be an individual or team task that has been assigned to them. In a teaching environment, more specifically, it could be ice-breakers, a practical exercises, or even a discussion or debate. In Kolb’s model, the individual or team member must actually “do” in order to learn.

Reflective Observation: This is stage two in the cycle. A time to step back from the “doing” part of the task and review (reflect) what has just happened (what they have just experienced). Again, from a teaching perspective this could be, peer evaluation, self evaluation or in the form of a journal. I know in the school I currently work in, through-out both the dance and drama BTEc courses, the students are asked to keep a log as part of their learning. For Kolb, it was very important for the individual/team to communicate to one another and discuss their learning.

Abstract Conceptualisation: This is the process of making sense of what has just happened. The individual/team makes comparisons between what they have done and what they already know and reflect upon this. When teaching, this would be the point where the students “give something”. Fore example, the theories or facts they have come up with based on the information they have been provided with, or more formally, present their findings to the rest of the class.

Active Experimentation: This is the final stage of the cycle and a chance for the individual or team to out what they have learnt into practice. It also leads them onto make predictions of ‘what happens next’. This is key part of both learning and reflecting because it is reflecting upon your learning that leads you onto where you will next take your learning and then cycle would repeat. In teaching, especially in say drama, give the learner the opportunity to use role play to express what they have learnt throughout the lesson. Or more simply, homework!

Looking back over my ‘Reflective Practice’ in both my online blog and private journal it would seem that I am reflecting on reflections.

“Reflection can happen while you are in the middle of it; reflection-in-action, 

or,

 reflection can happen looking back on it; reflection-on-action” 

(Schön, 1987)

When teaching, I often find myself adapting choreography to suit the capability of the children. This is a prime example of me ‘reflecting IN action’ in order to make the most out of the lesson and also get the most out of the pupils. One argument could be that I should know the standard the class are at before entering the room and so therefor should have planned an appropriate class, but everyone knows that there are always “off-days” or just wanting to push the class that bit further and this is why I feel, particularly in the teaching profession, reflection-in-action, is a vital part of the learning. I say “learning” because at the end of the day or lesson, you go away and use reflection-on-action and see what it was you had to change. You then use the experience for the planning of the next lesson.

“A reflection in a mirror is an exact replica of what is in front of it. Reflection in professional practice, however, gives back not what it is, but what it might be, an improvement on the original” (Biggs, 1999). In other words, reflection is not simply acknowledging the events that took place and where we might go next with the information we have and what may become of that, but it is a transformational process.

Task 2b: Reflective Writing Task

So it’s been quite a while since my last blog and although it has slightly hindered my blogging process a lot has happened recently which has somewhat aided my journal writing experience. One of the main things being that I have been asked to choreograph a dance for a national schools dance competition. Whilst not the next ‘Ghost Dances’ it is a still “A new and exciting learning process for both me and my students” (Amy, 2013). 

The first style of writing I tried was ‘Description’. I did what was asked and “described” the day in quite a detailed narrative, saying what had happened and what the main events had been, however, my account seemed to contain very little self-reflection of my own reactions. I would touch upon fragments of my emotions but would not continue to explore them further. As I researched more into this style of ‘Reflective Writing’ I found a quote that summed this up precisely, “There may be references to emotional reactions but they are not explored and not related to behavior”, (Moon, A Framework for Reflective Writing). This text further explores different methods of writing and separates, ‘Descriptive Writing’, ‘Descriptive account with some reflection’, ‘Reflective Writing (1)’ and ‘Reflective Writing (2)’. 

Although I criticized the lack of reflection in my ‘Descriptive Account’, I do feel that out of all the styles, this is the one that came most naturally to me, as would it appear in many of the other blogs I have read on this topic. That being said, it could be further developed as a reflective method by incorporating more of my emotional reactions throughout the day.

The next style was ‘List’. This was a quick and straight to the point account of the day but consequently lacked detail you would get from a ‘descriptive’ journal entry. Looking back and reflecting on the journal entry I made in this particular style, I seemed to include lots of small occurrences that happened through the day. I did the lists in bullet point form and found that one bullet point would lead to several more. In some ways this would be a good choice of layout, for example, for an inquiry, but in terms of detailed account of my day, this method would not suffice. From reading the Handbook, I ‘googled’ the site www.listography.com, this is a site you can join and upload lists of whatever you want. One example I read was just a list of movies someone put up entitled, “Movies to watch”. This is a nice idea and another expansion of ‘Web 2.0’ with everyone sharing their opinions/views with, well everyone! However personally, this is not something that wold interest me because I do not feel that I would have a particular use for it.

From here, I went on to explore the style of ‘Evaluation’. What I thought went well. What I learnt/discovered. When writing this felt very similar to ‘Description’ and upon reflecting on this I think that when I wrote in the descriptive style, I was perhaps doing it in a more evaluative style anyway. I read some blogs of past students and one in particular stood out where he had stated that he was strict on himself in terms of what he wrote in his journal in order to stick to the style. I think I should have done this too. I found this style a lot more fluid as it enabled me to include how I felt the day went in both a productive and constructive way. “Today I taught a new warm-up involving different timings and change of direction. The students found this challenging at first but in a positive way and after doing it a couple of times, there was already a huge improvement. It also made me feel good as a teacher because I could see I was pushing them, but they were enjoying it at the same time”. (Amy, 2013). This is just one example of how, in my journal, I was evaluating the point I was making.

Moving onto, ‘Graphs, Charts and Diagrams’. For me, this in no way helped me reflect on any part of the day and when I look back, it hardly even makes sense! I wrote on one blog that I could perhaps use a graph or chart to represent my energy levels or stress levels in comparison to what it is I am doing, and on another blog I noticed they had drawn pictures and diagrams describing what had happened in their day. But to me, this just seems a very time consuming approach and would leave little in terms of detail when they go back and look at the events had taken place. On the other hand, many people find it soothing and relaxing and sometimes easier putting how they feel into a picture rather than writing down the words, there is also the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words” but I shall leave that one to your own interpretation as to whether or not you agree...

The idea of ‘What If’, was almost like writing a fairly tale as my brain seemed to forget about the bad side of things and always just wandered to what could be the best possible situation with the perfect “happily ever after” ending. As nice as it was to use my imagination and let my creativity flow, unfortunately, I was soon brought back to reality and well, that was the end of that!

Finally, writing in the style of, 'Another View’, I found very, very difficult. It’s hard to imagine how another person could view your day or, on a bigger scale, life and it felt really strange trying to see it from a different point of view. As I am currently teaching at a secondary school, I thought it may be quite interesting to write from the perspective of one of students. Or from one of my colleagues. On doing this it came to my attention that the majority of my day would be spent alone (when I am not teaching that is) and although that is not necessarily a bad thing, on a social front, perhaps a could make more of an effort to speak to people. This sounds silly writing it down but I think I could try this particular method again as it helped me learn something that I wouldn't usually even think about. 

I think learning something about myself was definitely the main outcome from this task. Taking time to sit down and reflect is a huge part of learning and moreover without trying something new like this, I wouldn't have learnt anything. Out of all the styles, O would try ‘Another View’ again just as a kind of experiment but in terms of the style of will most regularly be writing in throughout my journal, I think would be ‘Evaluation’ just because it is what I am most used to and how I would naturally tend to write. I do like using lists and so would use them if making short points I wanted to remember but at this point in time I cannot see myself thinking to use the other styles of writing.

A Framework for Reflective Writing

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CE8QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tawasol.org%2Fdownload%2Ffile%2F340%2F&ei=tqiKUtWYFY2qhAfBsIGYAg&usg=AFQjCNGxKUXQzt9EpokIh2651ShkEDyOkg&sig2=fXKJaLr_DVcP5qyjS7wYBw&bvm=bv.56643336,d.ZG4

Listography

http://www.listography.com

Task 2a: Reflective Journal

For me this task is very confusing. Surely with it being about your own thoughts and experiences it should be simple and well.. Easy!? Keeping a journal is never something that has appealed to me purely because I don’t feel I would have anything put in it. You could argue that social media sites such as twitter and Facebook are somewhat a ‘public’ journal but I can’t see a status such as; “Excited to go to the cinema later” being particularly beneficial for my own professional development, nor would it be riveting for another reader. Another issue I had is that throughout my three years of training, as part of ‘IPS’ (Integrated Professional Studies) we were asked to complete “weekly reflections” looking back and what we had learnt and corrections we had been given etc. These were the bane of my life, especially at the end of year 3 when I was sat writing 43 in a row and consequently having no effect whatsoever on my development at that time! So, despite my pessimistic approach it was time to give it a go! 

First on the list was ‘how am I going to do this?’ At a past campus session I heard that some people had tried recording a diary to camera. Considering I seem incapable of recording a 45 second video for ‘Task 1c’ I did not need to ‘“try it out” I know this method is not for me. Another suggestion was to perhaps record a diary of pictures. I think this is a nice way to do this because when you reflect back, for me especially, visual images will trigger a greater memory and thus make it easier to evaluate. You can then annotate it the pictures giving you a more detailed account. I tried this for a day but I never seemed to have a camera with me at the time I wanted and it just wouldn’t be practical, for example, to make my class “re-pose” for a picture. 

The third option was just to simple write it down. My immediate thoughts was just to use good old-fashioned pen and paper, however, with the way technology is going everything is being done on either a table or laptop, or even your phone! From reading other blogs I learnt of apps that could be downloaded that were basically a journal for your laptop or other device you were using. This seemed very useful because you are always carrying one other round with you, well I know I am anyway and by saving it ti ‘iCloud’ for example, it can never be lost. I used this for a few days - although I did not download an app I just used pages - I still did not feel this was the easiest way for me and so resorted back to scribbling down my thoughts into my notebook. Although typing out a private journal did not work, I find it very useful typing out my blog onto a pages document before posting it very beneficial. I feel this way I can take my time doing it and find it easier to play around with before I am happy with the final piece.

Anyway, back to the journal. I am just starting the 9 day reflective writing task but before then I would either write down short summary’s of what had happened in my day or just write down thoughts that popped into my head as and when. As I said in my previous blog about the 2nd campus session, the small things I am currently jotting down, may not have much relevance now but further down the line I can evaluate the experiences and as it explores in ‘Reader 2’, “Turn experience into learning”.

Campus Session 2

Unfortunately I arrived late to this session so missed out on the start of the first exercise, but I soon picked up that it was all about the method of thinking and essentially what the whole course is evolved around. For those who were not there, we were given a diagram of three circles, one inside the other which was "Mapping Professional Domains". I missed the first words that the rest of the group had done but I was there for the key word "knowledge".  Personally I thought this was a very interesting word to use because in my opinion, knowledge is the key to everything because without it, nothing can be achieved. The inside circle was 'My inner world' which represented what certain words or events meant to just you or how they affected just you. For me I just put down that it was knowing something (obviously!) but Alan brought up a good point that it is all about memory making because at the end of the day, we only know what we know due to memories we have of things that have happened. The next circle out was 'Tools, technologies and methods'. This section immediately made me think of Web 2.0 and how we can use this and other tools to help expand or develop what we know. But also, how is it, that the 'knowledge' is put across to us. Finally, the outside circle was 'The outside world'. And was what other people bring to your learning and what you may learn from other people. This caused quite a big discussion amongst the group and everyone gave a really good input of their ideas. The one that stood out for me was that in the outside world it is "everything we don't yet know". On top of this, the outside world can offer you a different way of thinking which will also help develop you as a practitioner.

For the second part of the session, the group was split and the Module 3 students went away to work together and the Module 1 students got a chance to work with some of the Module 2 students. This was really nice to get the opportunity to meet and work with people who had already experienced what we are now working on and could give us some much needed advice and encouragement! Furthermore, we were able to hear their chosen topics for their inquiry and then were able to have a group discussion about where they were going with the inquiry and questions they were going to ask and how they were going to do.

This then led into another discussion about "Learning". For me especially I am struggling to get to grips with part 2 of this module 'The Reflective Practitioner ' and so this really helped me. I couldnt understand why I would benefit from writing, what I felt was trivial information, in a 'personal journal'. However, Alan, along with the rest of the group, helped break own that essentially, learning is an "experiential process" so by me writing something down that may not mean much at that moment in time, I will then be able to reflect on it in the future and the take something from it. We also learn from experiences we have, and this links back to the discussion of knowledge earlier in the day, we reflect on that experience to gain new knowledge.

I hope that this helps those that were not there on Tuesday as it greatly helped me and I am happy to go into more detail is there are any questions!

Visual Aids in Teaching Blog Site

After looking at the comments people are leaving on my blogs regarding the audio visual tasks, it seems that many of you, like me, are interested in going onto a career in teaching. I was just looking on the internet and came across a blog site; http://visualaidsinteaching.blogspot.co.uk/ It's quite old (2011) but it was still quite interesting to browse at and I also thought it was good to see how a blog was being used on a much greater scale. Anyway, it's there for anyone who is interested!

Task 1d: 2d Images

I already use ‘Instagram’ although not very often but ‘Flickr’ was a new thing to me. I wanted to keep my BAPP work separate so decided that I would sign up to ‘flickr’ rather than just use my ‘Instagram’. For some reason I seemed to have difficulty getting on as it was telling me I had to merge my google account? I didn’t really understand but eventually I got there! (Like I have said in a previous blog - I’m a bit of a technophobe!) Anyway, once I got it up and running, it was pretty straight forward with regards to actually uploading the photos.

The photos I’ve put up are mainly of myself and friends in various shows and also my graduation. Unfortunately I could only upload a couple of my work due to safeguarding. For the pictures I have got of my students, I had to ask permission and even though the children and signed consent forms, I still had to be careful of the images I chose and use ‘distant shots’. This raises an ethical issue of the use of Web 2.0 and affects what you can and can’t put on these kind of sites. These can real risks to both yourself and the people in the pictures so you always should check with whomever it may concern.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/104458618@N03/

As you can see, there is the link but when I looked back over past students blogs on this task, some of them had managed to get the pictures up as thumbnails on their actual blogs which I just thought was really nice and a small insight into what was there before clicking onto the sight.. Does anyone know how I do this?

When I think about the use of images in todays social media, I would usually just think about advertising and the little pictures that seem to pop up when using sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The majority of us now will easily spend several hours per day, of not more, using a computer and with that the internet (which again links back to the expanding world of ‘Web 2.0’) this is why the use of online adverts; whether that be a still image or an audio-visual; is growing so rapidly and is also so important. Also, a good picture can so easily grab your attention or entice your target market so having a picture that once you click on will take you to a full site, is a very clever and modern way of marketing and could not be done without the technologies of Web 2.0.

Due to the fact that I am wanting to do a PGCE and become a teacher after completing this course I wanted to focus on why the use of images and audio visuals is useful with in teaching as well as just online and in social media. I did some research online and found a very good website from which I quote; “The importance of audio visual (AV) technology in education should not be underestimated. There are two reasons for this; one, learning via AV creates a stimulating and interactive environment which is more conducive to learning; two, we live in an audio-visual age which means that having the skills to use AV equipment is integral to future employment prospects. Therefore exposure to AV technology is imperative.” 

Personally, I very much agree with this entire statement, a good picture, or even a bad one, will always grab your attention get you talking and debating about one thing or another and as far as the technology is concerned, I can say that I have learnt more about using online networking (e.g. Blogging) in these past couple of weeks than I have my entire life and everyone can accept that technology is rapidly advancing in this modern society so learning how to use it can only be a positive thing. 

I struggled to find negative views on the use of online videos and images - other than for obvious ethical reasons but would love a counter argument so all comments, good or bad, are welcome!

Task 1a: Professional Profile.. Re-done!

After reading through many of my peers profiles, who are also in module one, I noticed that there was a lot of discussion on this first task. Many of them seemed to have been posting there CV's which confused me because I didn't think that was required but after reading several more, it was clarified that the idea was just to re-write your CV in your 'About Me' section.

I felt that my own 'About Me' section did give the necessary information about myself and why it was important to me to do this BAPP course. However, upon reading everyone else's I thought that mine could perhaps be slightly more detailed. So, I went back over my CV and 'filled in the gaps' so to speak, although being a recent graduate, I did not have so much to say I had done... Yet!

This is a good example of 'Reflection' - a relevant topic throughout this whole scheme of work and something that I still relate to our very first induction day at Middlesex - and how I reflected on something that I had done, and then went back to do it again better. I hope that this is just the start of how my work will continue to develop over the next 15 months.

Task 1b: Professional Communication Technologies

When I first read the words “Web 2.0” and “Professional Communications Technology” my brain went into overload and shutdown and I switched to stalking fellow ‘Tweeters’ and ‘Facebookers’. And then it suddenly clicked, I was currently using ‘professional communications technology’ and had been using it for as long as I can remember both socially and professionally. It then made me realise just how important Web 2.0 is within modern day society in the ways we communicate, collaborate and share with others.

I read the reader twice and felt the next place I should look would be Tim O’Reily’s “meme map”. This was developed at a brainstorm during a conference at O’Reilly media and displays how ideas spread from the core of, what is, Web 2.0. 

From here I still felt I needed things clarifying so I turned to ‘YouTube’ - another feature of Web 2.0 that I use nearly everyday without even thinking about it. Here I found an interesting video explaining how it’s us making Web 2.0 what it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

Not only did I think it was informative but I also found it aesthetically pleasing and clever how the information was presented throughout the video. The video ended with, “Web 2.0 is not just linking the internet, it is linking people”. From the information I have gathered, I feel this sums the professional communication technologies up well because I couldn't imagine this modern day society without Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. Could you? As a tool of both networking and communication, Web 2.0 not only encourages, but it also enables participation.

These social networking sites are a perfect example of how we are socially connected through the use of Web 2.0, but what about learning? How does it affect that? Well, like we saw in the video, “Think of the 100 billion times a day humans click on a web page, teaching the machine what we think is important and each time we forge a link between words, we are teaching it an idea. So simple tasks as ‘googling’ a topic of interest is, in itself, expanding Web 2.0. For me, and others just starting out on the BAPP course, it would not be possible without the use of Web 2.0. It acts as a platform to other forms of communication, particularly in the industry we are all entering (or have already experienced) and helps us get connected to each other. 

However, whilst it is good that we can so easily see how everyone is getting on and give feedback in relation to the blogs, it also raises other issues with regards to the ethics involved. Everyone these days; including perspective employers; can type your name into a google search bar to find out that extra bit of information you may not have included, or wanted, on your CV! This is why it is incredibly important to make sure your ‘twitter’ or ‘facebook’ or ‘blog’ shows you in your best light and that you only disclose information you’re happy to be seen by other members of the public!

Embrace the confusion!

After many discussions at the last campus session it seemed that the majority of us in module one felt like we were missing something. A vital piece of information that would make everything clear and simple. However, what, in fact, was missing, was the content that is individually relevant to us.

From my own personal experience of spending the last fourteen years of my life in full-time education and having everything spoon fed to me, and even more so, the last three years being trained in a way of “it must be done like this and you will do this to get this”, so to speak, makes this new process of internal learning is quite a daunting prospect because, like the others, I want to be told what to do.

I think it was a good opportunity to be able to talk this through together and learn that we were not alone and in fact, everyone was feeling the same. To quote Alan Durrant, “You won't learn anything worthwhile if you are not in a confused state”. I completely agree with this because otherwise, you would already know everything and there wouldn't be a point in doing this course and with what we learn over the next 15 months, we can then carry with us in our future careers. So we all need to embrace the confusion to develop our own practice in order to succeed throughout the rest of the course and our future!

The First Blog!

It would seem I have spent the majority of my evening working out how to even use this! This whole 'blogging' process is very new to me and already being the technophobe I am, just makes this even trickier.. I am however, slowly but surely getting the hang of it (I hope)!!

Now.. What to write..

So I have just graduated from The Hammond with a Diploma in Professional Dance and I am now currently working at a local high school helping teach GCSE and BTEc dance as well as an after school dance club for years 7, 8 & 9. From leaving The Hammond I decided that secondary teaching was the path I wanted to take and this is why I applied to do the BAPP course - I then hope to go on to a PGCE in Performing Arts.

Yesterday was our induction down at Middlesex University and a chance to meet not only Paula and Alan but also the other people starting the BAPP course too. With Alan particularly, we discussed how an important aspect of this first module is about reflection and how we can use it to find meaning to what we are doing. It is also key to our own professional development as it involves active thinking ultimately helping us improve the way we think.

I welcome any comments as to how this could perhaps be improved? And I hope to meet you all again at the next campus session :)