Skype Chat on 8th March with Lisa and Lara

Lisa, Lara and myself decided to arrange a Skype chat to discuss our how our inquiries were going and to ask a few questions to help us develop our inquiries. Last night, we had our Skype chat and discussed the literature review, interviews and artefacts and this was a really valuable talk for me.

Lisa's inquiry if focusing on drama exams and testing
Lara's inquiry topic is German Theatre in London
My inquiry is about 'engagement' in Drama and English

Both Lisa and Lara have written their reflections on this conversation too.

Literature Review

We discussed that the literature review can sometimes feel a little disjointed. I am feeling like I have looked at a wide variety of sources but I am finding it hard to link these ideas together because I often gain inspiration for new reading from bibliographies of articles and books that I am reading. We all felt that you end up looking at literature that you didn’t think would directly link to your inquiry.

We also discussed the idea that the literature review should be critical and that it should ensure that you make comment on the literature you have read. Lara said that she wasn’t sure how critical you could be as a BA students on a published paper. Lisa then talked about the fact that you could still say how the paper is relevant to your inquiry but the critical thinking comes from identifying the limitations in the paper. For me this was really important because I have found that although my topic is engagement I have found myself looking at books and articles on effective teaching and learning as the arguments in the literature identify that these two topics are inextricable. I feel I need to make more of the connections any possibly do further research so I am able to defend my reasons for including these articles in my literature review

ACTION POINT: Start to identify links between the literature I have reviewed and identify similarities and differences between theories and arguments

ACTION POINT: Ensure I discuss the main arguments in the literature and comment on my opinion

Interviews

Lara discussed her concerns that she wanted to make sure she was prepared as possible for her interviews, as the opportunity to interview will only arrive once and she wants to ensure she gatherers sufficient data; however at the same time completing the interviews in the inquiry time. We discussed the idea that we found the interview questions had changed slightly since our inquiry plans because of the influence of literature. Lara also discussed the length of the interview and how long this should be. I thought it was a fine line between finding all the information you need and giving the interviewee too much information and unintentionally letting your bias and opinions from the literature guide them towards a specific answer.

In my own inquiry, I have found that much of the literature argues that teachers do want to plan engaging, creative lessons, but are unable to do this due to constraints and pressures in the curriculum and assessment. I plan to carry out my first interviews next week, so I want to make sure I am able find out information about if or how their planning is influenced and effected by constraints (as this seems to be very significant argument in the literature) without letting my research and ideas influencing the questions so they become bias.

ACTION POINT: Discuss my questions and new inquiry ideas in my tutorial with Paula on Thursday

ACTION POINT: Post my proposed altered interview questions on my blog and SIG for feedback from BAPP students

Artefact

We each discussed our initial ideas for our artefacts and how these would work in practice – especially in the time constraints. We all expressed concerns that our artefacts wouldn’t meet the assessment criteria and what the true purpose of the artefact was. I said that Paula described it as a way of communicating your ideas to a professional audience in a creative way.

We also were concerned with underestimating the amount of time creating an artefact would take, finding that there must be a balance between your creative ideas and intentions and what technology, resources and time are actually available to you. I have been speaking to my colleagues at work about the ideas for my artefact and one member of staff said that it would be a good idea to ‘trial’ the artefact first to see if the ideas would work in practice.

ACTION POINT: Spend time thinking of a concept for a ‘trial’ artefact and preparing a sample foe this

ACTION POINT: Arrange a time with my colleague to create a ‘trail’ of this and reflect upon this process

Reflection

I found our discussion helped me to voice my concerns and consider the problems I have experienced with Lara and Lisa in a supportive environment. We all shared feelings of anxiety and stress over completing so many different elements alongside a full time job. It also gave me the opportunity to reflect and create ‘ACTION POINTS’ to move my inquiry forward. I am lucky to have the opportunity to discuss these with Paula on Thursday also.

In the meantime I will keep following these important steps: continue to carry out my observations; continue literature reviews, particularly solidifying the links between and across literature; blog and post about my inquiry questions; continue my discussions with colleagues about my artefact; keep compartmentalising and using my Gantt chart to organise my time effectively.

Thanks for all your help Lara and Lisa!