Critical reflection learning across the BAPP course

When I first enrolled on the BAPP course back in September 2009 and started my journey towards studying for my BA Honours Professional Practice qualification, I did not expect to achieve and learn as much as I have done and to also grow as a person as well as improve my professional practice and they way I think and act as a work based researcher.

Throughout the process of the course I have learnt alot about myself and about the direction and way in which I want my future career to go and it has helped to make clear my chosen path to take in the next chapter of my life.

Since graduating from The Northern Ballet School in Manchester in July 2009, I have been on a journey in a chapter of my life which involved a lot of work and research and once enrolled on the degree course this gave me focus and direction and through working on a long distance degree course it gave me the chance to continue working and develop my professional practice and my passion and determination for making a career of dance teaching.

The reason for me enrolling on the BA Honours course was to allow me to continue in my development as a learner whilst continuing to work and gain valuable works and life experience at the same time, and also with my passion for teaching I want to continue to pass on my knowledge and experience to other young dancers and teach Dance in educational environments and for this I am required to have a PGCE which you cannot obtain without a degree.

September 2009 seems so long ago now when we first started studying towards the course and I had no idea what to expect throughout it but I can say that it has managed to change my views and opinions on work based research and it has taught me many new things which i find fundamental in the day to day running of my life now.

For example using the blogs and starting to make a diary and reflective learning journal of things that i would be doing, although it did take time for me to get used to this it became a valuable habit that i acquired and helped me to manage my time and process information efficiently.

Also with work commitments throughout the period of the course and the distance between me and the university campus, I struggled to attend the campus sessions that were held throughout the course which talked through the modules and gave help and guidance, so instead of me feeling like I was missing out on anything and losing my way on the BAPP course, I could stay connected with University advisors and also my peers who were on the course as well to help keep me on track and share ideas and opinions with. It made it so much easier over the duration of the course that we could communicate with tutors and read other peoples blogs and not feel like we were going through the course alone just because it was a long distance course.

The first module allowed us to get a better understanding of different writing styles which i myself had not come across before and gaining an in depth look into academic, descriptive and marketing writing styles which were extremely useful throughout the project and also becoming introduced to Kolbs learning cycle.

The second module had us creating and exploring the ideas of our project proposal which was to be compiled in order to prepare us for the third and final module and our research project.

We had to go through a process which was very different for me to find an area that we would like to focus on throughout the rest of the research project, choosing a project topic was difficult at first as i had to decide on area which i could then use for my research project in the third and final module it forced me to make decisions and to narrow down areas within my professional practice.

The third and final module of the course was our research project, this was the module which i found the hardest to work on, the ability to manage my time effectively and also give full dedication to the research was hard fitting in around work commitments however it needed to be planned precisely from the beginning of the project in order for it to be successful.

Everything I had learnt over the duration of the course would come into fruition in the module and would lead up to me writing a 12,000 word dissertation.

I have learnt so much over the duration of this course and it has taught me things about myself and benefited my work as a dance teacher and also helped towards how i will deal with projects in the future with my findings and discoveries towards working as a work based researcher.

I have been extremely grateful with the support given to me throughout the BAPP course and I will take away with me so many things that i have learnt throughout the duration of the course, and I hope to continue my studies onto a PGCE course which I feel that I am ready for upon completion of this course.

Summarise Main Project Findings

The main findings of my project are that within different areas and sectors, dance attitudes and motivations are perceived differently by students and teachers and the experience that students have within a dance class depends on the surroundings of their class and under which circumstances they are doing the class, whether it be compulsory for example with a National Curriculum School, or whether they had chosen to attend the dance class voluntarily.

Nevertheless dance still maintains itself as having a positive effect on people’s attitudes and emotions and the results from my research clearly show that dance benefited both study groups and enabled them to express themselves freely through creative movement, however it still showed a divide between the dancers who had to take part in the dance class as it was compulsory

Reflections on working collaboratively using Google Docs

Google Docs is a free program from Google which allows its users to share, write, save and edit documents online anywhere! Like when I first started to use 'Delicious' after reading in the handbook that I was to set up on Google Docs for somebody who is not a computer genius like me this also was daunting at first! I have to say that since using Google Docs my life has been made much easier! As I am always on the move and may not always be at the same computer to do my work or add to my research, without my usb pen I was lost until now as I can use Google Docs and always have my work available at the touch of a button no matter where I am! Sharing documents allows me to gain feedback from peers and tutors aswell as sharing and giving my opinions on other peoples work.

Using Sharing Resources

At first the idea of using any other social networking media site other than the usual 'Facebook' and 'Hotmail' seemed like a daunting prospect, we all seem to have this hidden fear of stepping out into 'cyberland' unknown and trying out new things to enable us to keep intouch with friends, colleagues and in this instance fellow students and tutors. So at the start of this module when we were asked to create an account using 'delicious' I was unsure what to expect or even what or where to begin with it all! I never though I would understand how it all worked and after a couple of attempts I had a breakthrough and managed to find lots of useful documents and links to articles and work related to my subject of looking into dance in education and many other dance related items which have saved me so much time reading through endless pages of books to find just one sentence that could be useful! 'Delicious' and other bookmarking websites has been extremely helpful towards giving my research project a bit more of a direction and looking into other literature or texts out there that are related to my project. There are also online instant messaging and communication tools and programs such as 'Skype' and 'MSN Messenger' to name just a few that I have used and which have allowed me to easily contact co-workers, tutors and peers to discuss issues and topics relating to my research project. I found this site particularly useful when I was first starting to use the site and it really helped me alot to get started on 'Delicious' http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-use-delicious-like-a-pro/