How I learn and how this has changed...

I have been thinking a lot about how I learn. The way that I best take in new knowledge. Honestly, for me, I have learnt that it really depends on the task that I am doing at the time… 

When I was creating my blog it was something that I had never done before and really didn’t know anything about. I utilised the knowledge that I have about the Web and other Social Media sites such as Facebook to help get me started. Having experience using similar sites did help and I managed to navigate my way around ‘Blogger’ pretty quickly. Posting a blog was kind of like posting a status, and commenting on someone else’s blog is similar to commenting on a Faecbook photo or post. All of that felt very familiar and came almost naturally. However when actually creating my blog - personalizing it, figuring out how to change the display and order of things, well that took a little more time! On the Unihub there are videos showing us how to set up a blog and I know that if I had searched on google I would have found a step-by-step guide too. But if I’m being honest…I didn’t use these resources! I’m not quite sure why I chose not to…I definitely saw the video on the Unihub and was aware that if I watched it, creating my blog may have been a much simpler process. But instead I wanted to play around and figure things out for myself. Explore the different links on the site and see where each one took me and what I could achieve from that. Although confusing at first, I found this really helpful and it wasn’t long before I had pretty much figured out how to make my blog just as I wanted it. 

Looking back on this now, it really surprises me! I like to think of myself as a very organized person – someone who likes to feel prepared before going into a situation. I like to know that I have all of the tools and knowledge needed to be able to complete a task without struggle. And I even have a touch of OCD; everything has to be perfectly in order!! If you had asked me what my preferred learning style is when it comes to learning a new skill, I would have said ‘abstract conceptualisation' without a second thought! I need to work things out in my head and gather information before I complete a task. But I totally proved myself wrong with this one! It seems that I went for ‘active experimentation’. I just tried different ways and explored the ‘blogger’ site until I had figured out how to use it. 

Because I was so surprised by this, I stopped to ask myself why I had initially assumed that I would have taken the time to work things out before attempting to create my blog. And I realized that this dates back to when I was in high school. Completing my school work, preparing for exams and writing course work, I always took the time to prepare. I didn’t like to go in blind, I liked to work things out in my head first and feel ready. But high school was 7 years ago now! I have come a long way since then and grown not only as a person, but also as a professional. I think that my experience in working as a dancer has helped to mold the way in which I think and learn. As a dancer we have to think quickly and on our feet (literally)! If I am in the middle of a show and a dancer gets hurt, I need to figure out how to fill that spot so that it is not noticeable to the audience. There is not time to sit and prepare and think up the best possible solution. I have to make quick decisions, on the spot, and trust that it will work out. 

I didn’t make a choice to adjust my learning style – it developed itself as I gained more experience in my profession. Not only did I not realise that it was happening, but I was also unaware that it was affecting areas of my life unrelated to my practice too! For example; creating a blog. This isn’t a live performance like when I’m dancing on stage. I don’t need to think quickly and make decisions based on my experience. I have time to work things out and think things through and look at other people’s experiences. But because I was so used to just getting on with things and figuring it out as I go and as things happen, that is what I subconsciously decided to do when creating my blog!

I think that this shows that the type of profession that we come from, what we practice, has a huge impact on how we learn and more importantly how we reflect. If I had chosen a different career I may learn now in a very different way or reflect on myself very differently. 

I am now realising that if I had started to create a professional journal a long time ago I may have seen this progression happen and realised the exact experiences that caused this change which would have been very useful in learning about myself and my development. This realisation has inspired me to be even more committed to writing in my journal and recording my experiences – even the small ones that I don’t think are relevant at the time. Because when all of these experiences are combined it creates change and development and I am excited to have documentation of this. 

Has anyone else noticed a past change in their professional development that they didn’t know about?? 

I’m interested to hear your experiences and thoughts! 

Meg

Initial thoughts on Reader 2...

This is an old post that I have only just need able to publish due my poor internet connection!

I have read through Reader 2 and have lots of thoughts buzzing around my head about Reflective Practice, and more specifically, learning from experience…

I think that learning from experience is such a valuable tool. The things that we experience first-hand in our own lives are things that cannot be taught in the classroom. People can spend hours explaining things and trying to make you understand but I think that when you experience it for yourself, that it when you truly get a grasp on something. For myself at least – experiencing something is the best way for me to learn. I agree with Dewey that experience is key and about the necessity to be fully engaged, to fully experience things, in order to get the full benefits. I really need to push myself out of my comfort zone and do things that don’t come naturally in order to make sure that I don’t just stay in one place but that I grow as a professional. It is easy to just continue with our day-to-day lives, with our job and our practice. But taking that moment to look back at what has happened and ask ourselves ‘what can I take from this?’, is what I think will make that difference between continuing on in my profession at a comfortable level and just ‘getting-by’, or really pushing myself, questioning and challenging things in order to progress and grow.

These days BTEC’s, internships and other on-the-job learning styles are so popular, and I can definitely see why! It seems to skip that middle step and gets you straight out there - enabling you to get stuck into experiencing for yourself the very thing that you are trying to learn. I am not disregarding the need for classrooms and books and all of the benefits that are gained from learning in that way too. But the opportunity to get to do things for yourself, learn as you make mistakes, grow as you figure out for yourself how to fix these mistakes and then maybe go onto teach and show others how to avoid these mistakes -  well that is something that not only helps you gain knowledge but I think it also helps you to learn important life lessons and develop personality traits that would advance any career. This can link back to our resumes and CV’s. One of the main things that an employer seems to look for is experience, and now I have a much better understanding as to why. Experience = Knowledge!

But how do we know that we are experiencing something useful, something that is going to help us to learn and develop? I think right now for me that is a case of trial and error. But I definitely think that keeping a journal is going to be a really useful way of recording my experiences and seeing what was a beneficial experience, what was an experience that I had already had, and which experiences are different and can teach me different things, but are also linked in a way too. I have started my reflective journal and even from just a couple of entries I can already see that it is so useful in gathering and organizing my thoughts. I think there is always that worry of doing something wrong, writing something unnecessary or unrelated. But for me, getting my thoughts down on paper is a great way for me to organize them. It is helpful in seeing when I have experienced something in my profession or even my personal life that has taught me something new, or when it was something that I already knew- I maybe just didn’t realize it yet. I definitely think that taking that moment at the end of the day to just write about what has happened or what I have experienced is so helpful in collecting my experiences and thoughts and seeing what I have learnt and what I have still yet to learn. Getting these thoughts down on paper and seeing them in black and white is really helpful for me. They seem to make more sense when they are written down. Maybe this suggests what kind of a learner I am? Anyway, for some of us I think that realising that you don’t know something can be scary. Personally I don’t like to feel overwhelmed or taken-aback by something that I don’t know. But I have started to realize that this is a huge key to learning and growing. It is not a bad thing to not know something. It is actually a huge help because it highlights the areas that I need to give extra time & attention to in order to improve on my weaknesses and fill the gaps in my knowledge.

I plan to continue with my journal and see if this sparks more thoughts and opinions on my Reflective Practice.

Meg

Task 1a

So today I spent time looking at my professional CV as part of task 1a for this module. I realised that my CV is something that I haven’t put any time into for far too long, it hasn’t been update for a while and definitely needs a bit of TLC!

I have been working for the same company for a couple of years now and they have never asked for an updated version of my CV. Well why would they I guess?

This has made me realise that I should never get comfortable. I should continue to stay on top of my own development and my own profession, pushing myself because I want to, not because someone is telling me to. Striving to improve to ensure that I am always employable within my profession.

After evaluating my CV I realised that it is very basic with very few words. I have talked about my education & my work history in a brief factual way. There is nothing where I talk about myself as a person, my attributes and what I would bring to a job.  I think I definitely need to add a bit of personality to it so that it is more relatable and stands out.

Looking back on my CV I can see how I have grown over the years. I think I avoided going into personal details because I wasn’t sure of who I was and what I could even bring to my  profession. I am grateful of my education and my training as it has helped me to become the employable dancer that I believe I am today. But there are some things that school can’t teach us… we need to learn and figure things out for ourselves over time as we develop and gain real experience. 

I feel that I now know more about my profession and what it involves so I can get a better idea of what I can bring to my profession in order to be successful.

I also decided that setting up a LinkedIn account would be a great idea. It is something that I have never thought of doing, for the same reason that I haven’t updated my CV for a while. But I realise now the importance of networking and how having a professional social media profile could really help me in connecting with potential employers or other professionals. I plan to have this set up by the end of the week.

I have thought about my CV and written an about me section for my blogger account profile. Feel free to check it out!

Meg

My thoughts so far on Web 2.0…

I have now read through the Reader 1 pdf about Web 2.0. I am definitely no where near done with this section…reading it through has sparked a lot of questions and things that I want to look into. I have written down a lot of names and books and links that I want to spend  time browsing through and gathering more information about. 

My ship is currently in South America, I was in Guatemala yesterday and Nicaragua today…not the best places to go hunting for a quiet internet cafe. And then we have 3 days at sea coming up as we cross over to the Caribbean. I have been making the most of my journal to jot down the things that I want to spend time looking into when I finally get the chance to get online!

Being out of touch and not having the web constantly available at the touch of a button has  made me realise what an important and useful tool it really is. It is definitely something that our generation seems to take for granted, and its being without it that you start to understand what an asset it is…especially when you are looking at trying to develop yourself professionally. I can do without checking up on my Facebook newsfeed for a couple of days, I am sure I won’t miss out on anything life changing there! But when you are trying to push yourself, learn about new things, and develop thoughts and opinions on new and exciting topics… not being able to access the web and spend hours browsing through blogs & articles and search engines makes things really tough!

Web 2.0 is something that most of us use every single day. We browse through things & get lost following link after link as we find things that interest or excite us. Whether it be something personal like internet shopping or something more professionally related like browsing for upcoming auditions or reading articles relating to our practice. Either way, we go onto google or any other website of our choosing, just expecting to find answers for what we’re looking for, and rarely taking the time to appreciate what a remarkable tool it really is. 

For most of us the web is so easily accessible. But being on a cruise ship where this is not the case, I have realised that I don’t always make the most of the internet. There is so much out there, so easily available, that I should spend more time using this to my advantage to grow and gather as much helpful information as possible. Especially while trying to develop myself professionally.

(Shearlaw 2014) said that connectivity is a basic human right. Personally I agree. I think that we should be connecting with each other, making the most of communication and connecting in any way that we can. And for me this is the key thought…any way that we can. The web may not be so easily accessible to everyone (as I am experiencing myself right now) and there are so many other forms of communication & ways of connecting with each other that can be utilised too. The web is definitely one of the most time effective ways; it is quick and easy to connect with someone on the other side of the world which is a huge advantage, and there is so much information available if we make the most of Web 2.0. But what if we don’t have access to the internet…to blogs, Facebook, google? How can this affect our learning and development? I plan to spend some time looking into this to see if anything has been published or if anyone has similar ideas…looking into what other forms of communication are helpful when the big web is unavailable. Which ones work better than others and why. Also…is it necessarily a bad thing if we don’t always have access to the web?  Shearlaw’s thought about connectivity being a basic human right got me thinking. What if by interacting with people mostly online via blogs and comments and written discussions we hinder our ability to interact with people in the most basic way…talking face to face. We spend so much time connecting via written words, do we risk loosing our confidence to be able to approach people in person and debate about our thoughts and ideas in that way? Speaking with the people around us, asking their thoughts and opinions and having an exciting, passionate face to face discussion. I think that this can be very beneficial too, especially if you make an effort to meet and talk to people out of your usual group. People who have different interests, different backgrounds, from a different profession or a different generation maybe. Do we need to make more of an effort to balance the use of Web 2.0 with other forms of communication too? 

I am not doubting the abilities of Web 2.0, I appreciate every way that it helps us to learn and grown professionally and personally. But do we need to balance this out with other forms of communication to ensure that were not limiting ourselves to only one resource? I don’t know about you guys but if I want to know something my first thought is to google it. Is this a good thing, or something that has become a habit due to the web being such an ‘easy’ resource?

I would love to hear your opinions about this and whether you have come across any published work that may be helpful with my thoughts? Ill keep you posted if I find anything!

Meg

Monday 9th October - Online Skype Session

On Monday I attended an online Skype session for Module 1. I was at the later session of 5:00pm.

I almost didn’t make it, with the time difference and it being a sea day I thought I wouldn’t get connected! I was about 10 minutes late but I am so glad that I was able to attend as it was such a beneficial session!

Firstly it was so comforting to see that people were still figuring the course out for themselves too. I haven’t studied anything so academic in about 4 years and with this course having so much freedom for us to learn in our own way I was worried that I wasn’t necessarily doing it ‘right’. I realised that there is no right or wrong way, as long as we really make the most of all of the resources available to us & commit time to our studies. This thought led to a discussion of the idea of push & pull within learning. Most of us are used to being sat in a classroom and having information pushed at us. But this course has so much freedom for us to use all of the tools and information available to us and pull out as much (or as little) as we want. I find this a more mature way of learning and is a really good way of developing self-discipline.

We heard from everyone in the group and we all spoke about where we are at so far in the module. Most of us are looking at Web 2.0 at the moment. 

We spoke a lot about reflection and interestingly, the difference between reflection & criticism. I have found personally that when I reflect on myself or how I have done something I am usually critiquing myself and focusing on what I could have done better. As performers I feel that we are our biggest critics and so naturally we see the negative things first. Adesola asked me to think about teachers or directors that I have had in the past and whether this may have had an impact on why I am so harsh on myself in this way. I found that so interesting and it made me think back to many different teachers and situations. I also started thinking about ballet and how it is such a disciplined practice, maybe this has caused me to be so critical. 

It is easy for reflection to slide into criticism and this is something that I am really going to work on. If you’re struggling with this too there are a few things that we spoke about in the session that really helped me and the way I think about reflection…

• Firstly to critique ourselves in a more constructive way. Rather than focusing on negatives, think about how we fit and what we did right, not just what we would change.
• Looking at ourselves from a different perspective. Not just as another person but maybe as an object or an article of clothing. This will help us to step away from the situation & look in at ourselves, causing us to go further in and to reflect more deeply.
• To spend time questioning ourselves, looking at WHY we are making the choices we are making. Not just noticing what we are doing in our practice but asking why we are doing them.
• Not just looking at what we’re doing but looking at what we’re learning too and how this is helping (or hindering) our growth and development.
• Looking at our essence and what we bring to our practice, instead of focusing on how to improve.
• We also spoke about feedback. Not just giving it but receiving it too and how this can help with reflecting on our practice. 

We did speak about the importance of our blog too. How it is a great way to note everything and store evidence of our studies, creating an overview of how we’re growing and what we’re learning. Not only is it a good way to keep a track of our thoughts but its useful in sharing ideas and learning from each other which will help us to get the most from this course.

Over the next week I plan to complete all of the tasks in the first section and also spend time thinking about my practice and defining what it is.

If you’re struggling with reflection too and how to reflect constructively without focusing on negatives, and have found other ways to help please comment and let me know as this is something that I am finding very interesting & really trying to work on. 

Meg

Getting used to blogging...

I really need to get better at posting on my blog. I have so many things jotted down in notebooks and journals but I need to commit more time to getting comfortable with publishing these thoughts on here. 

A blog is something that I had never really considered having, I have friends that post blogs all of the time but the thought of a part of myself being out their on the big wide web seemed a bit daunting at first. I am much more used to the idea now and after spending time looking at Reader 1 from our first module I have realised that it can be a very useful tool in ways that I would have never even contemplated. 

The thought that a blog is an online network where you can post your own ideas, read other peoples thoughts, comment, learn and grow is so intriguing to me. I realise that I need to commit more time to really submerging myself in the blogging world so that I get the most out of it. I need to take more time to read through all of the interesting posts on other students blogs and see if this triggers any thoughts or ideas of my own. 

As I currently live on a cruise ship, an internet connection is a bit of a luxury that costs obscene amounts! Finding wifi in various ports is always an option but its hard to focus when your in a busy cafe or restaurant and reading through blogs always seems to get lost in the hustle and bustle of everything. 

However, the first thing that I always do is check my emails which is why I found the link on Adesola’s blog so exciting! Its a way to subscribe to receive an email every time that she posts something on there. This is such a useful tool and I just wanted to recommend it to you all. If alike me your not yet in the habit of checking the blogs as often as you should, receiving an email is an easy reminder to get you on the blogger site and reading through posts.

I just wanted to share that little bit of information as I have found it really helpful so far. And also to recommend that if your having doubts or concerns about having a blog to spend time looking at Reader 1 about Web 2.0, as this answered most of my questions.

Hopefully over time I will get more and more comfortable with posting blogs and it will become second nature, just like we all naturally scroll through our Facebook feed or Instagram posts. I feel excited to be pushing myself out of my comfort zone and trying new things!

Let me know if any of you are still getting used to the blogging world too and what you think! 

Meg