Since enrolling on the BA Honours Professional Practice course in September 2009 I have learnt and experienced a variety of things. The course has taught me a lot about myself, the way I learn and respond. I am a kinaesthetic learner however throughout the course I have been allowed to develop and my confidence has increased and now feel I have more to offer in the academic field.
When I graduated from the Northern Ballet School in 2004 I went on to Preston College to complete my dance teaching diplomas with the ISTD. It was at Preston where I developed an increasing passion for teaching. I soon realised that I could not develop my skills or future in teaching without a PGCE which requires a degree. This is the pure reason for enrolling on the course and I feel it has given me the skills required for teaching in the future.
Looking back to September 2009, I had no idea what the course would consist of and I was concerned that it would be to demanding as it had been a while since I had undertook any academic writing. I had no idea what long distance learning would actually be and I was surprised how easy and enjoyable it was to learn from home and to deliver work within the specific deadlines.
On the first Cat Hill Campus session we met the advisors and other students on the course. We were informed that we would be required to set up a Blog. At the time I did not know what a Blog was and was unsure about whether I was going to be able to use one. However after a shaky start to the session I set up my blog and started “blogging”. I appreciated that work could be posted and shared with advisors and peers. This contact is how we would all communicate and learn about each other over the duration of the course.
In the first term, we were tasked to write a CV and write about people who inspired us. This was really helpful as I got used to writing again. The lectures were very helpful and it created opportunities to meet the other students and have discussions about the work, these I feel enable the tasks to be carried out to a high standard as they had been discussed.
Later on in the year I learned how to write indifferent styles. The main styles practiced were academic, descriptive and marketing. Academic style was the style that I needed to practice the most and I feel that I have come a long way from my previous writing style as when I look back at my work over the year I can see how I have improved. This has been beneficial outside of university as I have recently had to write a personal statement for my PGCE application and an essay on my teaching experiences.
The second term was focused on a project proposal in preparation for my research project. It was this term where I had to decide my project area and come up with suitable titles for my project. The module was designed for us to research different types of research methods; once we had learned different types of research methods we could decide what methods would be appropriate for our research project.
The project proposal was the base for my research project, and the feedback from advisors and peers enabled me to produce my research project to the best of my ability.
The third term was a very different term; it was the term where everything I had learnt over the duration of the course would come together. Writing my 12,000 word dissertation was a rollercoaster of emotions. I had moments where I loved writing it for example conducting my focus group, and them moments where I was frustrated with it, when I had applications for PGCE courses and an increased work load and couldn’t find time to do it.
I found the third term the toughest as time management and organisational skills were really important, and even though I did take time to plan my dissertation I did not realise how easy it was to go off plan. I was however able to discover findings that will benefit my work and found that I would like to do some more research on women and body image.
I have learnt a vast amount on the Work Based Learning course and I feel that it is a course designed for very type of learner; I also think that it is cleverly designed in which it accommodates people in the arts and students that are rarely in the country. I am grateful for the support from my advisors and fellow students and I feel that I have developed as a person and as a learner. I feel my progress through the course has been consistent as I aimed to improve in each module and get the desired result I wished for the day I enrolled on the course.
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Log 3- Summary of main findings
The main findings are that pole dancing is riding a wave of popularity as a form of exercise to increase fitness. Within the classes and competitions there seems to be a mutual understanding that different women want different things out of pole dancing. Pole dancing burns calories, tones body muscles, increases flexibility and improves fitness. No matter what shape, age, size or fitness level, pole dancing is for everyone.
However its place as a sport is not yet clear, there is no clear definition of what constitutes a sport and people’s views are varied and often dependant on their personal experiences. Even so due to professed ideas, pole dancing continues to be seen as somewhat injurious to women, whether this is due to inappropriate endorsement or old fashioned views, pole dancing is finding it difficult to dispose of its reputation. Nevertheless, women are still willing to participate with belief that it can build their confidence.
However its place as a sport is not yet clear, there is no clear definition of what constitutes a sport and people’s views are varied and often dependant on their personal experiences. Even so due to professed ideas, pole dancing continues to be seen as somewhat injurious to women, whether this is due to inappropriate endorsement or old fashioned views, pole dancing is finding it difficult to dispose of its reputation. Nevertheless, women are still willing to participate with belief that it can build their confidence.
Log 2-Reflections on working collaboratively using Google Docs
Google Docs is a great way to store and share documents, and in that sense it is very similar to Delicious. You can choose what you wish to upload whether it’s saved work from your computer, USB or simply from the internet. Once you have chosen what you want and completed the upload into Google Docs it stays safe in your own library.
I have been using Google Docs to store my personal data and excerpts of my own work e.g. copies of my dissertation chapters and PGCE applications, whereas I have been storing information not directly from myself on Delicious. Why? Well to be honest I am more than happy to be bookmarking and sharing work that has been published by somebody else, it was their personal choice to make it accessible to people worldwide and benefit someone else’s learning. After all I have personally learnt a lot from bookmarking and sharing myself, however I’m not entirely comfortable with sharing my work. Reasons being I feel that my work is something I have created and spent many hours writing and is a reflection of me and my capabilities. I therefore am not comfortable with sharing examples of my work with people that I don’t know when I can’t guarantee that it’s going to benefit them. My work is not at a stage where I am completely satisfied with it yet, it is still developing because I am still developing my skills. I am a perfectionist and a performer; I think it’s natural not to want to submit anything that isn’t perfect to a public I don’t know.
I have however shared my personal work with Danielle Stacey. Danielle and I started collaborating via our personal emails as this was more personal than commenting on the blog and our hotmail was something that we both accessed on a daily basis, as we both agreed that visiting our blogs took more time than reading personal emails as we both tended to start visiting other peoples sites which is time consuming.
At the heart of Google Docs is a wiki a collaborative or shared document that people can edit, add, subtract or contribute to the development of a document. The most popular wiki is Wikipedia and this online encyclopaedia brings together users from around the world, therefore there is no one editor as it is edited by the community. I recently contributed to a wiki shared by some members of the BAPP course about “What does professional practice mean?” This was a way of reading how people define professional practice and broaden the minds of others.
Overall I was dubious about setting up Google docs because of time however If in the future I carry out further research, I will endeavour to use Google Docs and I will use the time to make the most of the applications.
I have been using Google Docs to store my personal data and excerpts of my own work e.g. copies of my dissertation chapters and PGCE applications, whereas I have been storing information not directly from myself on Delicious. Why? Well to be honest I am more than happy to be bookmarking and sharing work that has been published by somebody else, it was their personal choice to make it accessible to people worldwide and benefit someone else’s learning. After all I have personally learnt a lot from bookmarking and sharing myself, however I’m not entirely comfortable with sharing my work. Reasons being I feel that my work is something I have created and spent many hours writing and is a reflection of me and my capabilities. I therefore am not comfortable with sharing examples of my work with people that I don’t know when I can’t guarantee that it’s going to benefit them. My work is not at a stage where I am completely satisfied with it yet, it is still developing because I am still developing my skills. I am a perfectionist and a performer; I think it’s natural not to want to submit anything that isn’t perfect to a public I don’t know.
I have however shared my personal work with Danielle Stacey. Danielle and I started collaborating via our personal emails as this was more personal than commenting on the blog and our hotmail was something that we both accessed on a daily basis, as we both agreed that visiting our blogs took more time than reading personal emails as we both tended to start visiting other peoples sites which is time consuming.
At the heart of Google Docs is a wiki a collaborative or shared document that people can edit, add, subtract or contribute to the development of a document. The most popular wiki is Wikipedia and this online encyclopaedia brings together users from around the world, therefore there is no one editor as it is edited by the community. I recently contributed to a wiki shared by some members of the BAPP course about “What does professional practice mean?” This was a way of reading how people define professional practice and broaden the minds of others.
Overall I was dubious about setting up Google docs because of time however If in the future I carry out further research, I will endeavour to use Google Docs and I will use the time to make the most of the applications.
Log 1 - Commentary on sharing resources using delicious
Delicious is a social bookmarking site, social bookmarking allows you to share the
bookmarks you would normally keep to yourself on your internet browser. Delicious
enables you to store, and best of all share useful resources and information that you
have chosen to bookmark. Once you have bookmarked the sites they are visible to your chosen network of friends. Delicious makes it quick and easy to access as there is a clear, direct link to the websites that you have stored; you can also personalise your bookmarks with tags so that they are organised into categories for example Research Methods, Dissertation & Literature.
At first I was slightly apprehensive about setting up a Delicious account as anything that requires me to set something up on a computer scares me as without a demonstration. I personally think I am hopeless with computers, however the module handbook has a guide on how to set a Delicious account up and Danielle Stacey attached a video link on her blog with a video off you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeBmvDpVbWc. I was apprehensive about setting up a Delicious account because in order to have one you have to have a Yahoo account. I didn’t wish to have another email account as I already have two email addresses and I didn’t think it was necessary to have three as it was going to be another username and password that I needed to remember. Nevertheless regardless of my initial negative thoughts I set up my Yahoo account and chose my Delicious username.
To begin with I felt that the majority of my network were bookmarking their specific project topics like “Confidence in children” and “Social skills in children” so I started to bookmark my own dissertation subject, I realised that although I find peoples dissertation subjects interesting to read I didn’t find it directly relevant to my learning. I started to find myself indulging and spending too much time reading articles and documents on topics that are nice to know, but not relevant to my learning. However, recently I feel people have started to share some really useful documents such a Michelle Wallbanks who has shared many documents on “Mixed Method Approach”, I have found these really useful as although I had done sufficient amounts of research on mixed methods what she found read a lot easier which is perfect for my learning style as complicated text I find harder to digest.
I have found Delicious useful, as before I knew about Delicious I was copy and pasting the URL address next to text about the site which of course is time consuming and easy for errors to occur. Whereas Delicious won’t delete any sites unless you physically request it to. I also find it efficient as I can access all of my bookmarks and those created by other people via any computer or phone providing there is an internet connection. This has given me the freedom to access all my bookmarks in one place without the need of being directed continuously to a number of different sites.
On the whole I think Delicious is clever and it is easy to use when you learn how to set it up! I think it will be a site that I will start to love when I get totally clued up on how to use it to its full potential. For now I will use it as a work library and give my USB a holiday for a little while.
bookmarks you would normally keep to yourself on your internet browser. Delicious
enables you to store, and best of all share useful resources and information that you
have chosen to bookmark. Once you have bookmarked the sites they are visible to your chosen network of friends. Delicious makes it quick and easy to access as there is a clear, direct link to the websites that you have stored; you can also personalise your bookmarks with tags so that they are organised into categories for example Research Methods, Dissertation & Literature.
At first I was slightly apprehensive about setting up a Delicious account as anything that requires me to set something up on a computer scares me as without a demonstration. I personally think I am hopeless with computers, however the module handbook has a guide on how to set a Delicious account up and Danielle Stacey attached a video link on her blog with a video off you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeBmvDpVbWc. I was apprehensive about setting up a Delicious account because in order to have one you have to have a Yahoo account. I didn’t wish to have another email account as I already have two email addresses and I didn’t think it was necessary to have three as it was going to be another username and password that I needed to remember. Nevertheless regardless of my initial negative thoughts I set up my Yahoo account and chose my Delicious username.
To begin with I felt that the majority of my network were bookmarking their specific project topics like “Confidence in children” and “Social skills in children” so I started to bookmark my own dissertation subject, I realised that although I find peoples dissertation subjects interesting to read I didn’t find it directly relevant to my learning. I started to find myself indulging and spending too much time reading articles and documents on topics that are nice to know, but not relevant to my learning. However, recently I feel people have started to share some really useful documents such a Michelle Wallbanks who has shared many documents on “Mixed Method Approach”, I have found these really useful as although I had done sufficient amounts of research on mixed methods what she found read a lot easier which is perfect for my learning style as complicated text I find harder to digest.
I have found Delicious useful, as before I knew about Delicious I was copy and pasting the URL address next to text about the site which of course is time consuming and easy for errors to occur. Whereas Delicious won’t delete any sites unless you physically request it to. I also find it efficient as I can access all of my bookmarks and those created by other people via any computer or phone providing there is an internet connection. This has given me the freedom to access all my bookmarks in one place without the need of being directed continuously to a number of different sites.
On the whole I think Delicious is clever and it is easy to use when you learn how to set it up! I think it will be a site that I will start to love when I get totally clued up on how to use it to its full potential. For now I will use it as a work library and give my USB a holiday for a little while.
Thursday, 14 October 2010
Dissertation Diary 1
So, I haven't written any posts recently as my surveys were live and I didn't want to confuse people who were accessing my blog to complete them. Many thanks to all of you that did take time to complete them the results are very interesting.
I have also been very busy recently juggling my dissertation with my PGCE application, student finance forms, ISTD applications and two jobs. This whole semester is really teaching me how to manage my time and I personally think I could do it better. I have had to prioritise whats more important and unfortunately everything had a deadline before my dissertation.
Now everything else is pretty much out of the way I have more time to focus on my dissertation. I have sent chapters 1 & 2 and my analysis from my surveys to Peter for feedback, as I am doing two part research I have had to analyse my surveys so I can come up with further research questions for my focus group that takes place on Sunday 17th. Im looking forward to my focus group as I really want to know in depth answers to what I found from my surveys. I have secured the venue, bought refreshments, advertised the session and drafted contracts for ethical purposes. So, until my focus group I have to draft the questions that I want to ask and check my audio recorder as I will be audio recorded for future reference to my dissertation all of which is explained in the contracts. I also need to write up chapter 3 as soon as my focus group is complete as this also needs to be sent in by the 19th October which is the deadline for these chapters. I hope to get this written by the 18th so I can ask questions about all of my chapters at the campus session with Peter on Tuesday 19th October.
I am unsure how I feel about my progress so far, at first I didn't know where to start, I found it very overwhelming as I knew what I wanted to write, and what I needed to include. This is something that i'm passionate about so you would think it is easy to sit down and get on with, however I found it difficult to start as I felt like everything sounded like I was repeating myself and this put me off writing anything, then I felt bad when I didn't do anything at all. Finally I found my way and words became to flow because of Peters feedback on the literature review. This got me going as I had already got a decent amount of literature reports from last semesters project proposal.
In one way I feel like I am ahead as I am writing my analysis from my surveys, however in another way I am behind because I can't write chapter 3 because I haven't done my focus group yet. Doing two part research I feel is very beneficial to my learning and my research, however I don't know if this could also hinder my deadlines or my word count until I have got further into my dissertation. Only time will tell and I don't like that I don't know the answer to that yet.
I feel for now I have done all that I can, I could start to edit and add to my previous chapters but think it would be more beneficial to receive the feedback first. So until Sunday I am going to plot my questions and cross my fingers that Sunday goes well.
I have also been very busy recently juggling my dissertation with my PGCE application, student finance forms, ISTD applications and two jobs. This whole semester is really teaching me how to manage my time and I personally think I could do it better. I have had to prioritise whats more important and unfortunately everything had a deadline before my dissertation.
Now everything else is pretty much out of the way I have more time to focus on my dissertation. I have sent chapters 1 & 2 and my analysis from my surveys to Peter for feedback, as I am doing two part research I have had to analyse my surveys so I can come up with further research questions for my focus group that takes place on Sunday 17th. Im looking forward to my focus group as I really want to know in depth answers to what I found from my surveys. I have secured the venue, bought refreshments, advertised the session and drafted contracts for ethical purposes. So, until my focus group I have to draft the questions that I want to ask and check my audio recorder as I will be audio recorded for future reference to my dissertation all of which is explained in the contracts. I also need to write up chapter 3 as soon as my focus group is complete as this also needs to be sent in by the 19th October which is the deadline for these chapters. I hope to get this written by the 18th so I can ask questions about all of my chapters at the campus session with Peter on Tuesday 19th October.
I am unsure how I feel about my progress so far, at first I didn't know where to start, I found it very overwhelming as I knew what I wanted to write, and what I needed to include. This is something that i'm passionate about so you would think it is easy to sit down and get on with, however I found it difficult to start as I felt like everything sounded like I was repeating myself and this put me off writing anything, then I felt bad when I didn't do anything at all. Finally I found my way and words became to flow because of Peters feedback on the literature review. This got me going as I had already got a decent amount of literature reports from last semesters project proposal.
In one way I feel like I am ahead as I am writing my analysis from my surveys, however in another way I am behind because I can't write chapter 3 because I haven't done my focus group yet. Doing two part research I feel is very beneficial to my learning and my research, however I don't know if this could also hinder my deadlines or my word count until I have got further into my dissertation. Only time will tell and I don't like that I don't know the answer to that yet.
I feel for now I have done all that I can, I could start to edit and add to my previous chapters but think it would be more beneficial to receive the feedback first. So until Sunday I am going to plot my questions and cross my fingers that Sunday goes well.
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Dissertation Surveys
Ladies please take a few minutes of your time to fill out my surveys. They both must be completed, please be as honest as possible.
If you know other ladies between the ages of 18-35 who will be interested in these surveys please feel free to direct them to my blog to take part.
Take my Perceptions of Sport Online Survey
Take my Perception on Pole dancing in relation to participation Online Survey
If you know other ladies between the ages of 18-35 who will be interested in these surveys please feel free to direct them to my blog to take part.
Take my Perceptions of Sport Online Survey
Take my Perception on Pole dancing in relation to participation Online Survey
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
Project Diary 1
So, I have finally started to make progress on my project.
I have designed my two questionnaires and will be sending the link within the next day or two. I have also started to write up my literature review, as I found a lot of literature for my proposal I have just got to write why it is useful and of course why it isn't.
I am struggling with my introduction, as i am unsure if I am writing it as something I want to do, or if I am writing it as something that I have done? So if anyone can answer this then progress can be made here to.
The next few weeks will be difficult as Peter is away so he will be unreachable, therefore I will be requiring the help of other advisors and the rest of my fellow blog buddies.
I plan to get my questionnaires up and running so I can collect and analyse the data so I can start to plot questions for my focus group session.
So far I am pleased with my progress however I have barely scraped the surface of what is expected of me.
I have designed my two questionnaires and will be sending the link within the next day or two. I have also started to write up my literature review, as I found a lot of literature for my proposal I have just got to write why it is useful and of course why it isn't.
I am struggling with my introduction, as i am unsure if I am writing it as something I want to do, or if I am writing it as something that I have done? So if anyone can answer this then progress can be made here to.
The next few weeks will be difficult as Peter is away so he will be unreachable, therefore I will be requiring the help of other advisors and the rest of my fellow blog buddies.
I plan to get my questionnaires up and running so I can collect and analyse the data so I can start to plot questions for my focus group session.
So far I am pleased with my progress however I have barely scraped the surface of what is expected of me.
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