Group Skype 4th April: Lara, Lisa and Jodie

Lara, Lisa, Jodie and I decided to have another online session to discuss where we are at in our Module 3 work. I really appreciated getting together to discuss how we were all feeling and what we are currently working through at this stage in the inquiry process. We discussed a variety of aspects from Module 3 including the artefact, the write-up process and planning.

Artefact

Firstly, we shared our ideas about our ‘work in progress’ artefacts. I said that I found it useful to think about incorporating what I had found in my inquiry into my artefact. For example, I have found that visual sources and collaboration are important strategies adopted by teachers to engage students, so I wanted to create a possible video artefact that made use of an audio-visual format as well as giving my the opportunity to work collaboratively with the creative team in my school. We also discussed the idea of creating something that was useful to your professional practices. Lisa had a fantastic idea of creating a resource that students could use to practice their skills that she and other teachers would be able to use in the future. I found that I have been thinking about the artefact as something that would be both useful to my professional audience (teachers) and to myself (in my future teaching practices). Jodie asked the question about whether we talk about our artefact in the oral presentation. Lara said that she believed that we would, but if anyone knows the format for this, please comment.

Write-Up

I was concerned about when to start the write-up of the critical review so I found that today was a good opportunity to see how others were getting on with this process. Lara talked about giving yourself deadlines so that you can make sure you complete the work needed. She gave the example of making sure you move on from the literature a little bit in order to give yourself time to analyse data and write the critical review; I found this advice really useful. We also discussed writing the critical review in sections, for example maybe writing the introduction and evaluation of the inquiry process, whilst we are still analysing data. I feel that I now need to go back to the Module 3 Handbook and start to make a bullet point plan of my critical review. At this stage, there will be clear gaps in my write-up but I feel, after this conversation, that it is important that I start to make myself more conscious of this process, especially where there are ‘gaps’ so that I can focus on filling these in. Again, I feel making use of bullet points and mind maps will help me to not feel overwhelmed with the task.

Planning

Another part of the conversation that I found really useful for my reflective practices was discussing how we plan our work for the Module. We were all in agreement that sometimes Module 3 can feel overwhelming because there are so many elements to think about. I said that when I am not spending time on BAPP Arts work for Module 3, I feel guilty for this. As Lisa pointed out, it is important to take a step back to give yourself time to think about things properly. I feel this is really good advice because I sometimes feel that I am ‘too close’ to the work to reflect upon it properly. This links to my tutorial with Paula when she was explaining that the artefact is like a ‘hot air balloon’, if you are too close to what is going on you can’t give an overview or solutions. I now know that this is something to keep in mind when analysing my data. As Lisa and Paula have identified if you are too immersed in the action then you can get ‘tunnel vision’ with the inquiry process.

For me, I have discovered that breaking tasks down into much smaller ‘chunks’ and planning these out in my Gantt Chart has allowed me to be able to work through tasks that I would struggle to do when looking at the bigger picture. As Jodie said, the Module work shouldn’t feel so separate from your work practices and I need to keep that in mind now that I am approaching the data analysis, write up and artefact creation stage.

Reflections

I found the group Skype chat really useful today. I had a few technical issues with my Skype, so thank you to the girls for being patient with this (I think I have sorted this now so it shouldn’t be a problem when we decided to talk again in a few weeks)! Through the discussion I have realised that I may have to approach the write up for this Module slightly differently and start to write-up my first draft before I have completely finished my Data Analysis process. Taking Lara’s advice, I am setting myself some Action Points to complete by the end of this week to make sure that I am on track:

ACTION POINT: Begin thematic analysis of observations and interviews

ACTION POINT: Write a sample of my inquiry analysis to send to Paula for formative feedback

ACTION POINT: Bullet Point plan the critical review and begin to draft this (even if I do not have a ‘complete’ picture of my work)

ACTION POINT: Send a one-page summary of the Artefact to Paula for formative feedback

Thank you so much to Lara, Lisa and Jodie for the conversation today. I now feel much more positive about taking my studies into the next stage on the inquiry process!