Sharing good practice...

This may be something those of you on Module Three would like to consider? The call is out for proposals to share your research, give it a go...

NDTA Annual Conference 2014

Pedagogy, Practice and Partnership: the future for dance education

Saturday 22 November 2014 / Birmingham Ormiston Academy

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS

Making a difference to dance education through research

This year’s NDTA conference will focus on delivering high quality dance practice in and beyond the curriculum. Through keynote presentations, panel discussions, workshops and seminars the day offers a stimulating professional development opportunity to support and inspire dance teachers working at all levels.

In collaboration with DanceHE, Pedagogy, Practice and Partnership will again feature research by and for dance teachers. Focusing upon or related to children and young people's dance education we invite proposals for research led presentations that address (but are not limited to) the following areas:

·       Approaching dance education pedagogy, including through partnership

·       Dynamics of dance learning

·       Dance education research methodologies

·       Professional development for dance teachers

We hope the sessions will represent a mix of researchers at different points in their careers. So whether you are researching at M level, as part of a CPD initiative, a PhD, an early career researcher or experienced researcher we would like to hear from you.

Presentations will be 30 minutes within one of two research sessions followed by time for questions and debate. The two sessions will be facilitated by Dr Kerry Chappell and Professor Vida Midgelow.

Application process

Send an abstract of 400-500 words detailing the research you wish to share. This should include a short statement as to the relevance young people's dance education and the NDTA conference delegates. 

Please also include the following details:

•       Name /address /contact telephone number/email address    

•       A short biography of no longer than 100 words.

Proposals should be sent to:

Debbie Poulton NDTA Conference Manager: debbiepoulton5@btinternet.com

Extended Deadline for applications : Monday 27th October

Successful applicants will be informed by end of October.

Proposals will be assessed by the small team involved in co-ordinating the research sessions.

Further information for Pedagogy, Practice and Partnership www.ndta.org.uk

Hearing from others...

A series of guest speakers in dance at Middlesex University this term.

Take a look at who's coming, there may well be some of particular interest to your research projects.  You are most welcome to attend any/all you can make, do let me know if you intend to come, it would be great to see some of you there!

Dance at Middlesex

2014/15, term 1

presents

Tuesday 14^th October 2014

Professor Sherril Dodds, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA

FACIAL CHOREOGRAPHIES AND SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE

1-2pm, Grove Dance Theatre (G190)

Tuesday 28^th October

Robert Cohan, CBE, Founding Artistic Director of The Place

A CHOREOGRAPHIC IDEA – ITS BEGINNING AND POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENT

1-2pm, Grove Dance Theatre (G190)

Tuesday 4^th December

Prof Fátima Campos Daltro de Castro, Universidada Federal da Bahia

EDUCATION PRAXIS IN DANCE IMPROVISATION

1-2pm, Grove Dance Theatre (G190)

Wednesday 10^th December:  Inaugural Professorial Lecture

Professor Mark Franko, Temple University, USA / Middlesex University

EPILOGUE TO AN EPILOGUE: HISTORICIZING THE RE- IN RE-ENACTMENT

Drinks on 2nd Floor Mezzanine from 5pm. RSVP to MPASLO@mdx.ac.uk

5.30-6.30pm, C211 Lecture Theatre

At a date to be confirmed, David King, International Theatrical Producer and Founder of Spirit Productions, will also visit to talk about how to be a successful show producer.

In February of Term 2, we look forward to welcoming Prof Janice Ross, Stanford University, who will talk on Leonid Yakobson's use of ballet as a cultural weapon in a totalitarian state. Date tbc.

All interested members of the staff, faculty and students are welcome to attend. Please contact Dr. Alexandra Kolb if you wish to bring small groups of students.

email: A.Kolb@mdx.ac.uk.

Directions: http://www.mdx.ac.uk/get-in-touch/directions-london

Mountains...

MAPP DTP term starts here!

September, always feels like a good time to say 'Happy New Year' to everyone for me, as new terms begin in teaching, old students flying the nest about to embark on new adventures, new students starting out on a new journey...So, fair to say a fair amount of apprehension in the air this week?  

I'm not going to overload you with more to think about or to do right now, but ask you to just take a moment with the following quote.

You don't have to see the whole staircase.  

Just take the first step.

(Martin Luther King)

One step at a time, bite-size chunks...

Module Ones - taking a look at your CV, beginning to think about how you got here.

Module Twos - taking a look through your AOLs, beginning to hear what they're saying to you about your next step.

Module Threes - taking a look through your Research Proposal, beginning to ask those questions now through/of your research.

Blog addresses are all updated on UniHub (Learning Community folder) share your experiences, check-in with others...

Have a good first week : )

Being a student...

Following another great Skype chat with many of you on Sunday, I said I would post something here about being a student, looking not so much at the academic side, but your new status as 'a student' and what they may afford you in terms of identity, money saving, access to events etc..

So, first point of call is getting your Middlesex University Student ID card:
Once enrolled you can send a passport sized photo of yourself to me via email <h.kindred@mdx.ac.uk> and by return I'll send you a form to complete and return and you'll be issued with your Middlesex University Student ID card.
If you're local and want to call into the Hendon campus let me know and I'll happily meet you for a coffee and we can get your ID card, form filled, photo taken while you're here, it takes about 10minutes.

This card proves your status as a student at Middlesex, allows you access to the library on campus and to check out any books you may want to borrow,  but is not a recognised Student Card for obtaining wider discounts/student benefits.

For that, if you're UK based, you need to apply for membership with the National Union of Students (NUS).
The NUS website has a lot of information about life as a student, support, study, social life...and you can buy an NUS card online for £30, which will allow you to access a range of discounts on food, days out, clothes, cinema, exhibitions etc..  Follow the links to check it all out for yourselves and see if it is something you could use, there are lots of advertised discounts here, and you'll be surprised how many more you can get just by asking and showing your NUS card even when not advertised.

http://www.nus.org.uk

http://www.nus.org.uk/en/nus-extra/discounts/


For those of you not based in the UK, check out the NUS International Students page

http://www.nus.org.uk/en/who-we-are/how-we-work/international-students/

and look into the benefits for you of getting an International Student Identity Card;

http://www.isic.org/get-your-card/

Recognising your student status and allowing you access to a very similar range of discounts and benefits.

See how you get on with these and do blog yourselves about any other benefits you find to share with each other.

Helen

Skype for you...

A warm welcome to all of you joining us on the MAPP DTP this term!

It was great to meet so many of you at our Skype Induction this evening, and I look forward to talking with you all again soon and working with you on your journeys through the MA.  If you didn't make it onto skype this evening, don't worry, if you're reading this you've connected with us in some way and they'll be another opportunity to meet everyone on skype again next Sunday.

Given our growing community on the MAPP DTP, in number and location (which both Adesola and I are really excited about!) we thought it may be good to offer 2 skype sessions per month, one at a UK morning time, the other at UK evening time, to give you the choice to check-in at a time that suits you, and so that we are not too many voices in one epic call!

The skype sessions scheduled for this term are as follows; feel free to join when you can, put the dates in your diaries now and if you're online be a part of the call : )

All times are given as UK (London) time:

Sun Sept 21; 19.00 - all returning students to check-in and newly enrolled students welcome
Sun Oct 5; 19.00  
Sun Oct 12; 11.00
Sun Nov 2; 19.00
Sun Nov 9; 11.00
Sun Dec 7; 19.00
Sun Dec 14; 11.00

We won't hold a group skype over the winter break (Dec 19-Jan 5) but appreciate that Jan 5 is your submission date at the end of this term, so we will blog the week of Dec 29, with a hand-in check list and you will be able to contact your advisor that week via email also.

So, plan now for all new students ahead of our first week on Sept 29;

• Set up your blog and share something of yourself, your thoughts as you start on the MA (fears are good to share too!)  Email me with your blog address so that I can add you to the list on our Learning Community on Unihub.
• Think about your work/home environment and maybe try out where/how you think you can work effectively, be it out at a coffee shop, at a quiet time of day for you at home, getting an early start on your day before work...whatever works for you.
• Read through the Module Handbook, note down any questions you may have.
• Check-in with your advisor to make sure you are in contact, have the correct emails, discuss how contact may work best for you, be it email, phone, Skype...

Have a great week!

Helen

New directions...

A short interim blog to begin to get our thoughts into MAPP mode again before the start of the new term.  I hope everyone has had / is having some kind of break this summer and feeling refreshed for the next study period!

Adesola and I have been looking both at dates and scheduling for MAPP for the coming year and also at accessibility of resources and building our MAPP community online and we have now made a move over to integrating the MAPP DTP with the university's UniHub system.  So, before the start of term take a few minutes and visit our new page.

http://unihub.mdx.ac.uk

login to MyUniHub
Click on MyLearning
Go to MA Professional Practice Dance Technique Pedagogy page

NB: please don't follow the guides allocated under the module codes (WBS4510, 4630, 4760) these are generic Work-Based Learning guides, which although helpful, are not geared to our subject specific learning on the MAPP DTP

On the MA Professional Practice Dance Technique Pedagogy page you will find folders headed simply;

Handbooks & Resources
Learning Community
University Resources
Submission - January
Submission - May

Take a look through, your new handbooks for the modules you'll be starting in Sept are there for you, along with reading lists and supporting materials.  We've made a Learning Community folder to give you direct easy access to everyone's blogs, our Linked-In discussion group and offered a guide to the support you can benefit from on the MAPP DTP, how to use tutorials, when to submit drafts of work etc... University Resources offers you links to the library catalogue and advisers, finance and disability support services should you need to contact someone there, and the Submission folders are where you'll now submit your work at the end of the modules - we'll talk through all of this during our Skype chats beforehand so don't panic, it is very easy to upload/submit.

Take a look and please do comment on here and let us know of anything else you think would be useful to have on the page - it's for you!

Some dates to share for you all for now:

Welcome back Skype group call for all will be on SUNDAY SEPT 21 at 19.00 UK time
The shift to a later time on Sundays for our Skype calls is to accommodate all MAPPers and find a time that hopefully works wherever we all are in the world!

Start of term 1- Monday Sept 29, 2014
Holiday period runs Dec 19 - Jan 5 (we will have a pre hand-in skype on Jan 4)
Submission at the end of term 1 - Jan 5, 2015
Finalist presentations (Module Three) - Jan 19, 2015

Start of term 2 - Monday Feb 2, 2015
Holiday period runs March 27 - April 19 (limited access to advisors during this time)

Submission at the end of term 2 - May 11, 2015
Finalist presentations (Module Three) - May 29, 2015


So...dates in diaries, check in on MyUniHub to the MAPP DTP page, have a read through your next module handbook, of course feel free to blog anytime and enjoy the rest of the summer!


Helen

Presentations tomorrow!!!

Just a reminder that Gill and Hopal will be presenting their Research Projects and sharing the final part of their MAPP DTP journey with us tomorrow from 11.30am.

A room change to note:

Theses will take place in  the College Dance Studio (CG60) now NOT the Upper Forum as previously posted.

The College Dance Studio is in the main college building.  From reception head straight over towards the Costa area, our the door to the left of the counter, past the Ladies on your right, through double doors and you'll see a sign overhead for the College Dance Studio (CG60) pointing you right.

Look forward to seeing lots of you there!

Best
Helen