Award Rationale

My Rationale for my award title

The award title I would like to receive is a BA Honours in

Professional Practice (Human Movement & Education)

The study of Human Movement traditionally incorporates areas of Physiology (living systems), Psychology, Biomechanics (analysis of athletes) but also includes other topics such as Diet, Nutrition and Performance analysis.

There are a number of influences that have helped me to determine my choice of award title. I have thought about all my previous qualifications, knowledge and work experience. I have considered my highest previous qualification which is a Trinity National Diploma in Musical Theatre. I obtained this award after I studied at the Northern Ballet School for three years and gained this rewarding qualification when graduating in July 2004.

I then went onto Preston College where I studied my Foundation in Dance Instruction award and my Certificate in Dance Education in Modern Dance and Ballet qualification. To complete these I had extensive learning of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance syllabus, I was required to demonstrate understanding and learning of Health & Safety and Lifespan Development. I had to demonstrate my capability of teaching my chosen genres (Ballet & Modern Dance) considering different abilities and conduct a class in front of an examiner. Upon completion this now means I am qualified to teach people how to dance and educate them about the dance environment whilst entering people for exams.

Upon completion of my dance qualifications I teach children/students and adults how to dance, I have choreographed many dances for performances using my experience from the Ballet school, I have educated A-Level Dance students from a Grammar School about the dance environment and entered many children and students for exams where they have all gained extremely good results because of my dance knowledge. I have also been working for Monarch education recruitment for four months where I am a teaching assistant, I educate children and assist teachers in primary schools all over Manchester.

Whilst studying these dance qualifications I also completed an A-Level in Physical Education, I have always loved sport from an early age and played for all the sports teams at school, however it was whilst studying the A-Level where I became really interested in sport history, diet and nutrition. During the two years I learned about sport promotion, sport performance, sports science and sport psychology all of which I use my knowledge and experience when teaching.

My proposed project title is another influence for my chosen award title. I wish to study “The public’s perceptions on Pole Dancing as a Sport”. I will be using my work experience, knowledge and previous qualifications to help me to study this. I feel that my project and previous experience and qualifications are related to Human Movement. Human Movement is a related scientific discipline that studies human movement in all contexts including that of sport.

I have strongly considered my title award as after my degree I wish to do my Postgraduate Certificate in Education. I feel that my award title is justified by my past experiences, my present professional work and research and my future aspirations, goals and qualifications.

Whoop

At last, no more stressing about this module. My hard work is on it's way to Middlesex as we speak.

No more writing, sleepless nights, stupid printers that don't like printing, folders that aren't big enough and countless amounts of reminder notes..............................for now!!!! Bring on the project!

:-) xx

Literature

School gets pole-dancer to perform for pupils
January 29, 2009 4:51 PM

Education bosses have been bombarded with complaints from teachers after inviting a pole-dancer to perform for school children.

The pole-dancers were invited to give demonstrations as part of a 'Be Healthy' initiative at South Devon College in Paignton.

But after 1,000 pupils aged 14-19 watched the demo the complaints started to roll in - from teachers who hadn't seen the act - claiming it was inappropriate and indecent.

Isn't it odd that the complaints are coming from teachers rather than the 14-year-old boys?
Dancer Sam Remmer - who teaches pole dancing as fitness classes - said on her blog: "On querying the nature of the complaints I was told that most of the complaints had come from members of staff who had not actually seen our displays but had just assumed that they were inappropriate for their students.

"I was annoyed to think that mainstream pop group such as the pussycat dolls seem to promote inappropriate behaviour far more than my pole dancing classes.

"If anything my classes empower women and therefore encourage them to be in control of their bodies."

http://newslite.tv/2009/01/29/school-gets-poledancer-to-perf.html

Literature

Mon Feb 22, 2010 3:02 pm EST

Will pole dancing be the newest Olympic sport?

By Chris Chase

If the founder of the International Pole Dance Fitness Association has her way, an activity popularized by strippers will one day become a medal sport in the Summer Games.

Although such an event would make rappers, athletes, and bachelor-party guests very, very happy, there's no chance it will ever happen.

As the Associated Press reported Monday, some members of the pole-dancing community (yes, there's a pole-dancing community) are dreaming of one day showcasing their ability to hang upside-down on a metal pole in the Olympic Games.

To call their pursuit an uphill climb would only suffice if said hill was Mt. Everest. Pole dancing isn't recognized as a sport by the IOC, doesn't have any uniform judging regulations, and, most important, is pole dancing.

This doesn't stop IPDFA founder Ania Przeplasko fromdeluding herself hoping that the sport could get into the Summer Games as soon as possible. "There will be a day when the Olympics see pole dancing as a sport," she told the AP. "The Olympic community needs to acknowledge the number of people doing pole fitness now. We're shooting for 2012."

That the schedule for the 2012 Olympics has already been set is only the first of thousands of things wrong with this statement. The next three that come to mind are: A lot of people do yoga for fitness and you don't see Denise Austin lobbying the IOC; it may be tough to envision Olympics where Derek Jeter can't participate but Savannah can; and, again, pole dancing.

How would you even judge such an event? Would there be a compulsory routine set to "Pour Some Sugar On Me"? Could competitors earn deductions for not getting a tip from the creepy guy with the mustache? Will the U.S. trials be held at Crazy Girls? And would Pacman Jones be allowed to judge?

We appreciate all that pole dancers do and respect the moxie of its community to set such lofty goals for itself. But we sadly don't ever see the activity in the Olympics. Unless, of course, Scotty Lago ever gets put in charge.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Will-pole-dancing-be-the-newest-Olympic-sport-?urn=oly,221369

Critical Commentary

The idea of this module was to learn and understand different research methods and techniques for our next module which is our project. We have been asked to learn about the different methods of research and understand, what they are, advantages and disadvantages and if they are useful for the title of our projects.

During the module I have been unable to attend the campus sessions due to work commitments so I have relied a lot upon good solid information from other students such as Danielle Stacey and Sophie Gilbert as well as posts from the advisors that have been very useful. I have also relied a lot on the module book that we were supplied with as this has a wide range of information about the different methods of research, and it gives you many other websites to look at for guidance however in certain areas such as putting the module together for assessment I found confusing. The book that we were advised to get “Doing your research project” 3^rd edition by Judith Bell I found extremely useful and I have used a great deal of information from the book as its very relevant to what we have been asked to do and I found the structure of the book incredibly handy.

At first my main focus of this module was about the title of my project. I spent days on end thinking about what I wanted to base it around knowing that my degree title was going to relate to it. When I toyed with the ideas of titles I decided on “The public’s perceptions on Pole dancing as a sport. Once I had decided my title I started to learn some of the different ways to research as part of my research and development notes.

Throughout this module I have had to keep reminding myself that I wasn’t actually doing the research and that I was just finding out how to research. This sounds easier than it actually was as it was easy to start piloting interview questions and writing down lists of what I wanted to do for my project, rather than just writing about all the different methods of research. I found that the research methods started to make more sense as I started to understand what methods would be useful to complete my project. I have understood that there are many different research methods and techniques some I already knew about like interviews, questionnaires and surveys and many I had never heard of before such as deskwork, fieldwork, reliability and they all have advantages and disadvantages depending upon what you want to research.

Through the research process I found the activities fairly easy to complete as the handbook equips you with plenty of information of how to do them. I found the internet helpful for other ways of describing key words throughout the handbook which helped me through Activity 1. I understand the role of a worker-researcher and have explained my role as a worker-researcher in my project proposal as previously I had never heard of the term. Since designing and completing my own survey on www.surveymonkey.com which I found incredibly enjoyable as I like to see results.

Before starting this module I had not studied or considered the importance of ethics. As I will be collecting data learning about ethics has been especially important for me as it is essential. I believe I have the knowledge to proceed with my proposal after understanding the ethical considerations within my work based learning study.

I have found this module challenging as my work commitments have increased and have had less time to complete this module than the previous one. I also feel that I have quite often been confused in what was needed from me in certain tasks and how to actually put the whole module together as I don’t think the handbook is very clear in certain areas, I do feel that others felt the same. I have had contact with my advisor through email on many occasions and a phone call to discuss my project proposal and rationale for my degree title. I think I would have benefited from a clearer understanding in the exact criteria and maybe if I was able to attend the campus sessions then this would have been clearer.

I am a perfectionist and getting an average result is not acceptable. I have worked extremely hard on this module and put many, many hours in to ensure that I get the results I have been achieving. I hope that I can maintain my results with a good mark for this module.

Ethics Statement

To complete this module and start my project I have to demonstrate that I understand what ethics are to be considered, and that I understand the procedures and information required to go about asking for permission to collect any data.

I have learnt about lots of different ways to collect data and have understood that data collected by conducting interviews, holding a focus group, performing an experiment/case study and any observations need to have consent from the person it involves. From an ethical point of view the person wishing to collect the data will be required have consent via a contract that is signed by the person giving/releasing the data and the person collecting the data. Anyone who is under the age of 16 would need to have consent in writing by a parent/guardian. Consent needs to be authorised before any action takes place as this will not only be respectful to the person giving the data but also will protect the person collecting the data in case any problems arise during the process.

I wish to conduct a focus group, the focus group will have a minimum of ten people, me and someone taking notes. It would take place at my house as I have access to a pole where my demonstration will take place. To make sure that I don’t miss any of the conversations and topics been discussed I wish to record my focus group and video my demonstration to see any body language or facial expressions as this will prompt further questions towards the focus group in the next session. To do this I will need permission. To get this permission I will provide all of the focus group with a contract. The contract will include everything that is going to take place in the period of time that was agreed. It will state that the data is been collected for my university degree and a general interest/passion, that it will all take place at my home address. It will clearly state when it will take place with the agreed dates and times, importantly the contract will explain how the data will be collected which will be the asking of questions for perceptions in full detail. Finally it will state everyone that is involved and this will be all the people including themselves, me any anyone who is videoing or writing notes for me. These things are essential and the more information about the process, the clearer it is for the person reading and signing it. My contract will lastly include how the data will be recorded and how it will be stored and deleted. It will also include that at any point of the procedure even if the contract is signed that they may withdraw any information covered in the focus group.

It is important that these regulations are put in place, if they are not followed then my project could face illegal problems and could cause huge confliction between me and the people involved, this could then limit the depth and facts of my project. I am fully aware of the regulations and processes I need in order for me to collect data for my project and have put great time and thought to consider all of the ethics that are involved in completing my project properly and professionally. I have researched numerous websites to find examples of contracts that would be required for my focus group and will use one of them as a guide.

As you could be videoing, observing a person or any of the above methodologies the contract must include everything that is going to take place. It should state why data is been collected, where it will all take place, when it takes place with the agreed dates and times, how the data will be collected in full detail and who is involved and this should be all the people including themselves, yourself any anyone who is videoing or writing notes. These things are essential and the more information about the process, the clearer it is for the person reading and signing it.

From what I have researched all contracts should include how the data will be recorded and how it will be stored and deleted. It should also include that at any point of the procedure even if the contract is signed that they may withdraw any information or future interviews, videos ect from taking place.

If these regulations are not followed then any project could be illegal and could cause huge confliction between yourself and the person involved, this can then limit the depth and facts that any project requires.

I am fully aware of the regulations and processes I need in order for me to collect data for my project and have put great time and thought to consider all of the ethics that are involved in completing my project properly and professionally.

How to do a Perceptual Map

Perceptual Mapping is a data analysis tool that is used to represent the varying relationships that exist between one or many marketplace competitors. The mapping attempts to measure the factors that consumers use in making their purchase decisions. Using a perceptual map has become a popular tool for data analysts to use when briefing upper management on complex issues because it can represent complex relationships graphically.
Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Step 1
Select a product or service and pick three or more companies that produce the material or provide the service.

2. Step 2

Take a piece of paper and draw one vertical line that splits the paper vertically and another line drawn horizontally which also splits the paper so that they visually look like a 'plus sign'.

3. Step 3

Create two questions about the product or service to ask consumers. The question should directly ask questions about how company a's product compares to company b's to company c's. A minimum of six people should be asked the questions. The vertical axis of the paper drawn on in step two will represent one of the two questions and the horizontal axis the other question. This represents the perceptual map.

4. Step 4
Plot the answers to the two questions on the perceptual map labelling the company's name where the consumer's answer to the question best fits the perceptual map questions. For example, a question might be, do you find Ford or Chevrolet vehicles sportier? The top of the vertical axis would be labelled sporty and the bottom labelled less sporty. You would label the top of the axis Ford with the number of answers that were that manufacturer and put the number of Chevrolet answers in the applicable spot on the perceptual map.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5038528_make-perceptual-map.html

Research methods learning diary 7

Overall Reflection

I have learnt so much over the past few months and have recently just researched focus groups, perceptual mapping and designed my own survey all are really important as they will be the main body of my project. I have often fallen in and out of love with this module as at times I have loved doing all the research and writing up my findings and then hated it when I can’t find words for my proposal. There has been many times where I feel I have been on top of my work and so many times where I have stared at my computer waiting for a miracle.

The last few weeks I didn’t feel very confident about my work as my project proposal feedback hit me that it wasn’t very focused, this was a knock to my confidence as I realised how much more work I had to do hence falling out of love with the module. However the last few days I have been able to focus and fall in love with it again as I do feel very confident about my work, I have worked very hard to complete this module and have put in many hours to get it to the standard I now feel happy with.

The area I found the hardest was actually writing my proposal as I thought my first draft was good however my feedback proved that it lacked focus, after editing a lot of my word count I then struggled to write anything as I constantly reminded myself not to write anything unnecessary. If I am honest, on many occasions I just wanted to actually start the project as I am so interested and passionate about my title. I took a few days off from my proposal and when I got back to it the words came flowing. This is something that I have learnt, I need to take time away from an area I find difficult so that I can start again with a clear head.

It has only been recently that I have been thinking about the rationale for my degree title, I always wanted it to have education in it somewhere and it wasn’t until speaking to Peter that we agreed on Human Movement & Education. I have to be honest, I had no idea what human movement was but Peter explained what it was and I also researched it and I have to say I am very happy with it.

If I could do it all again I would defiantly try and get time off work to get to the campus sessions as being able to discuss things with people is a way that I learn. I like and feel comfortable when I write lists of things that I need to do or ask and this then benefits my work. I have gathered that the campus sessions have been very helpful as people have been able to do this.

Overall I have mixed emotions of this module but I defiantly feel ready to start my project.

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Analysing my survey, what I have read and understood!!

Perceptions

The two male recipients said they don’t see it as degrading however everybody that agreed it was degrading were women!!!

Male’s pole dancing?? Would this change the perception of pole dancing? Do a survey!!!
Agree confidence but need the confidence to do?? Agree but if you saw a demo would you change your mind?

Mainly dancers/dancers between 19-29 that agreed with pole dancing, Others didn’t agree, is this because they don’t understand?

Not for the 30+? Why not I have many in my class, do an interview of them and then see if it changes peoples mind!!

Depends what context it was in (club/class)

Sport/Olympics

Do see it as a way to keep fit and why not an Olympic sport.

Don’t want to see it as a Olympic sport, need to find out why!!

Similar to gymnastics, however said they don’t see it as a sport? Is gymnastics not a sport??

Why don’t people think it should be considered an Olympic sport, answer rather than yes or no!!

What I need to find out.....
What do people know about pole dancing?

Do they understand why pole dancers wear little clothing?

Find out why they say gymnastics is a sport but pole dancing isn’t when they agree it’s similar!!!

If it would change their mind it males did it?

If they were to see a typical class demo would they change their mind?