A note on drafts and feedback

 

 As we move into the second half of the term it is great to start receiving drafts of work (Module Ones - AOL), moving into more fleshed out discussions of your inquiry plans and literature you've engaged with (Module Twos) and talking about your data collection, how it's been going and what has surprised you (Module Threes). 

A note moving forwards to consider in relation to drafts of work and feedback - that this is intended as an opportunity to move your work on through discussion. The feedback discussion form is designed to help facilitate this discussion of your work, please do consider how you use it - when you send a draft of work make sure you accompany it with the form outlining the questions you have on thie piece of work, where you would like to direct your Supervisor's attention and what you would like to discuss about the work. Particularly at MA level, the value is in discussing your work, questioning, critically engaging with other perspectives outside of your own. It is not helpful at this level to simply as if the work is 'on the right track'. The value is learning is that it is a transaction between us, ask questions, your Supervisor can probe more questions, open a query over a line of thinking, your Supervisor can offer an alternative perspective for you to consider. This is how the process is developmental to your learning and strengthening the integrity of the work you will submit for assessment.

You have the opportunity to submit one draft of your work (Module one's for example this means one AOL for the RPL claim, plus one draft of the Reflective Essay). Please make use of the feedback exchange and then trust yourself to go ahead and write the other AOLs, develop the whole RPL claim and continue the Reflective essay ready for submission. The aim of a draft and feedback is to develop the work further, not to 'correct' it. Please do not send multiple drafts of the same piece of work this moves away from the point of feedback. 

Trust yourselves to be in the process.

Mid-term

This coming week is our Mid-Term break (Oct 19-25)

This means there are no scheduled sessions via skype and no supervisions available - It is not a 'week off' however for your study. See it as a chance for you to really focus on the work at hand now. Take some time this week to gather together and organise notes from your reading so far, sketches of ideas, thought patterns, comments from your supervisions in order to begin to tackle to work that is needed for submission at the end of the module (Dec 11).

Dates for drafts of work are coming up across the modules from late October and submission dates for RPL claims (module one) and MORE forms (module two) in November. Make a plan to work back from these dates to prepare the work needed now. 

Our availability for supervisions are being updated on UniHub this weekend, and you have your Mid-Term Supervision week Nov 2-8. Book in a time to talk with your supervisor during this week. At this stage you should be coming to a supervision to discuss your work, talk through the theories you're engaging with, the thoughts emerging from your practice to help you move forward in shaping your work for assessment in December.  

Focus reminders at this stage in the module:

Module One: RPL claims

Module Two: MORE form

Module Three: Data collection coming to a close, preparing for analysis

 

Do book your supervision time in.

We look forward to taking with you further about your work soon...

Ethics

 On Wednesday we had a discussion group with a Module Two focus. 

We talked about Ethics with people offering examples from their practice. I noticed how different perspectives give us so much to think about around the notion of Ethics. 

I outlined the need to see Ethics through two paths, one is the ethical procedures - the processes of attending to policies and information gathering in order to safe guard people that are participants to your research (data protection, consent etc), the other is ethical considerations - these are the broader conversations to be having with yourself around your actions and their possible impact on others, the questions around respect, responsibility and care. It is vital that you attend to both Ethical Procedures and Ethical Considerations through the planning of your researh inquiry proposal for Module Two. 

The Ethical Procedures are what you are addressing through the ethics application you make via the MORE form on the portal through UniHub. I am uploading our talk through this for you for reference. Please do make a start on this as it will help you to shape, structure and question your proposal as a whole. 

Use your blogs now to share your questions, think aloud through your ethical considerations with each other.

Week 4

 As we meet week 4 of study this week a few notes on 'what am I doing?' 

The handbook for your module outlines what you are working toward submitting for assessment in December.

The reading lists offer you routes into some of the theories and frameworks that we are introducing in each module.

Your practice continues in ever changing and responsive ways. 

The blogs offer points of discussion between you and others on the programme - stimulating thinking and your questioning further. 

It would be good this week to observe what you are reading, thinking, noticing through these modes and note your responses through your blogs. How might you see these different parts in connection with each other and so feel a more holistic sense of what you are doing? Trust that what you are doing is not a 'thing' to tick off, but a process to engage with.

Available appointment times for me for the next two weeks are on DoodlePoll - access this through the Tutorials folder on your Unihub Programme Page

Module three focus discussion

Last night we met for a module three focused discussion. Those working through this module this term shared insights into their fields of inquiry and their was some discussion of different approaches (methodologies) people are taking to their research (qualitative, ethnographic, phenomenological) and the different ways in which people are gathering data ( research methods) these included interviews on zoom, walking-talking interviews within specific environments, workshops in different locations live and online, observations. It is important in module three to be able to talk about what you are doing and why you are doing it the way you are - there is no 'one size fits all' in research. There are different approaches you can take, different methods you can use to learn more about your research area. These different approaches and methods are well documented and discussed largely through other researchers experiences of using them. 

At MA level it is important to acknowledge this as you build and frame the structures of your own research. This is in the same way that it is important to acknowledge the work of other artists and practitioners in the field of your own inquiry. You are contributing to what's there through your research. Offering another perspective, a way of coming to and seeing the field of your inquiry, but others have also been there and offered their experiences so it is important to recognise this and it will in turn help you to see where your own contribution sits.

It would be great to read your blogs around this discussion and your thinking further on research terms in relation to your own inquiries. Please comment below with the links to your blog on this topic.