Getting Back in to the swing of things

It's been awhile since the last term and it's now time to get back in to the swing of studying and work towards completing Module 2!

So Campus Session 1 for Module 2 - Professional Inquiry

First of all it was nice to meet those who are tackling module 2 at the same time as me, and Good Luck to all!  Last Tuesday was a good day, and an informative opening to Professional Inquiry. 

It is time to think about our own roles, it is about me and what I do!  Which is a big aspect to WBL.  As we were shown yesterday we have a link that goes round in a circle between ourselves the learner, Middlesex Uni our tutors, and our workplace and colleagues.  It is now time to use this circle in our research for our plan for our Professional Inquiry and then take it forward in to Module 3 when we undertake the Inquiry.

We now need to consider 'whats ahead', lines of inquiry that interest us, that we will enjoy and what we want to know more about.  We now need to consider lines of inquiry that are within what we study and the content of workplace.  In the first campus session we also looked at an article on Professional knowledge that showed us the separate sections from your particular role at your work place to the role you play as part of a bigger section.  We also talked about our own competency and capability within these roles.  Within professional knowledge we can actually take knowledge and look at it in further depth splitting it in to 3 types:-

1. Personal - Knowledge from your own experiences and own learning's. 
2. Tacit - The knowledge that is within ourselves. 
3. 'Know How' - which is knowledge of knowing how to do something. 

Looking at a profession that I am working myself towards I looked at what I need to know that is relevant within my practice. 

Dance Teacher
Generic Skills  -  Communication
                             Observation
                             Listening

Knowing What  -  Dance genres/styles - Tap, Modern, Jazz, Ballet etc
                             Rhythms
                             Techniques
                             Health and Safety

Knowing How  -  Physically Demonstrating
                            Breaking it down
                            Teaching methods - Mirroring, groups for improvisation

Looking at Professional Inquiry I now need to consider within the area of my own Professional Practice what do I need to develop.  What are my own capabilities and what interests me so I can develop these thoughts further, delving in to them and exploring in greater depths to help me work towards my professional inquiry.  I need to know what I am a 'beginner' in and look at those areas for possible inquiries. 

At the campus session we also talked about the advantages and challenges we could be faced with during an Inquiry based around WBL within our own workplace:-

Advantages

• Your own experiences, easier to tackle problems. 
• Better access to tools and research. 
• Confidence.
• Networking, more access to contacts within the industry.

Challenges

• Your own experiences, you have already created opinions and know the downfalls/flaws. 
• You can't look from the outside in. 
• Possibly be impaired by what you already know, limits new methods. 
• Could already have a fixed idea of possible findings. 

'Beauty is the eye of the beholder' 

During the professional Inquiry I need to learn and make sure that I differentiate between Subjectivity and Objectivity.  Being an inside researcher has more risks of being too subjective and I need to make myself aware to be objective which I can make possible by setting criteria. 

So............taking on everything that was discussed in the first campus session I can now take this forward and start to develop and brainstorm my ideas for a Professional Inquiry then start my plan.