Contemporary with me at James and Alex!

My first upload from my classes at James and Alex.  I want to show the progression over a few weeks with this group.  This is week 1, so I appreciate it's kind of messy (and I'm marking it) but I wanted to give everyone a bit of insight into what I am doing here.  I am happy with the development of the choreography and it was so great to see everyone happy to freestyle on the spot at the end.  I will share with you all footage of the showcase we are working towards in June, and any feedback is welcome!

My thoughts on the downfalls of a connectivist era

Connectivism and affiliation, both important components for a networking professional.  However, in an era where so much of our professional networking is undertaken online, has the immediacy of talking directly with professionals taken a hit?  Has this change in learning affected my practice?

A concern arose when I was reading other BA PP bloggers posts on their top 5 forms of networking.  Nearly everyone listed the online tools as their most important sources.   I gave thought to professionals I know of that are experts at online networking and often create and sustain employment largely by the effort given in this area.   An example of this is my brother,  he is a software programmer.  He books work through LinkedIn and other sites he is on through his professional association more than he does through direct contact with employers.  This makes sense.  He works 100% of the time on a computer and so it is important he has a clear online profile to project his expertise within his networks. 

The difference between myself and my brother is that while I am at work I don't have the buffer between computer screen and human being.  I thought about how we are all getting used to being able to write, spell check and post our thoughts but how this is not reflected while I am at work.  I have to think in the moment and project exactly the teacher I want to be.   I thought about the BA PP and how although I can see the importance of connectivism in this time, it is a different type of learning from the immediacy of the teaching I do.   I researched the idea of connectivism against direct affiliation and found some interesting articles.  

The idea of non-verbal immediacy is significant as I am new teacher and looking for ways to keep students engaged.   I found this paper written about research into teachers non-verbal immediacy behaviours and the reflection of this on students' motivation to learn.
http://asian-efl-journal.com/PDF/Volume-12-Issue-4-Hsu.pdf

Also, another consideration and interesting read was this research into the challenges of a connectivist learning community (such as the BA PP).

http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/882/1689


 

Sources of information 3C

I moved 2 weeks ago now to Dubai, for a contract teaching at a large dance school in media city called James and Alex Dance Studios:  jamesandalex.com.  It has been a challenging two weeks so far, and I've been thrown in at the deep end teaching around 20+ hours per week for children and also courses for adults up to advanced level.   My main style is contemporary, which I am enjoying a lot but I am also teaching ballet, tap and hiphop to kids.  

One of the studios and the view from concord tower across the marina



Today I've been thinking about this experience and how it relates to some of the points arisen from this professional networking section of the course.   One of the hardest thing so far has been that I haven't had my support network here and I am the newcomer.   I have questioned my own ability as I haven't really had a lot of feedback.   Everyone is so busy doing their own classes, I'm always wondering if I'm on the right track.  I haven't had any bad feedback and students are coming back to the classes so I assume I am doing ok but it has made me think about how my professional network is smaller here as I know less people.   I  want to expand my network, and therefore have more resources to gain knowledge and also constructive feedback on my work.

What are my top 5 sources of information?

My most important resources is my network of dancers and teachers who I have worked directly with.  Here, it is my colleagues at the school and also my boss.   It is in their interest for the school to succeed so I watch them teach and learn from people more experienced than myself, and also ask a lot of questions.   I have also been taking videos and asking for their feedback.   As a businessman my boss seems pretty laid back as to what I do with each class just so long as students are happy, so it's up to me to ask sure I ask for opinions.  I also take classes myself and absorb good points of teaching that I could use.   In taking class I also maintain the sense of what it is like to be the student.

Equally I look online to see what other choreographers are doing.   I subscribe to dancers and teachers that post on sites like Youtube to get ideas for choreography and themes.  This has ethical implications however;  I would never steal a piece of choreography, but I do think it's important to look for new ideas, music, themes and stay current.

For technical points I think being a member of a professional teaching body is invaluable.   Although I'm not currently teaching a syllabus, because I am registered with the ISTD I can still use their syllabus to help me to gauge what level a group of children are at and where they should progress to.

Theories relating to networking - Task 3B

'A work related community held together by either close working affiliation or more distant but common work interests or needs' is our given definition of a professional network.   However, researching the term online I found that many organisations and websites define the term as an activity to further relationships to achieve professional goals. Upon understanding further the concepts on networking, it is apparent to me that this is not the determining factor defining networking.  Networking is more importantly an acknowledged tool for learning.  Learning as a professional depends on networking to learn from collective experience and knowledge;  accepting that all knowledge is not held in the mind of one person and harnessing collective intelligence. 

A significant theory is the idea of Connectivism.  The sense that the 'know-how and know-what is substituted by know-where'  (Driscoll, 2000).   Learning environments are realised as changing.  Aside from learning by being told, it is apparent it is just as important to understand more the pathway to find knowledge.   George Siemens (2004) explains there is a 'half-life of knowledge' , as universal knowledge is ever expanding and therefore has a 'shelf-life' shorter than ever before. A change in knowledge creates a ripple across a network.   I enjoy the thought of a dancer or choreographer who could be distantly apart from me discovering something new and this expanding our network's intelligence.

Reading about Affiliation struck a cord with me on a professional and personal level.   It was interesting to read the study into the importance of affiliation in teenagers and children and the negative impact of not enough social contact when children are developing
(Crisp, Richard J. and Turner,  2007).  This is a strong argument for the importance of dance and physical education in schools.
 I am currently abroad to teach and help produce a show in Dubai and I have found that although the work is demanding and interesting I have been quite lonely as a newcomer in the workplace and to the country.   Therefore my desired level of 'homeostatis' is not fulfilled.  It prompted me to look at happiness in the workplace and weigh up whether fulfilment in a job is enough if the social life is effected.  I think that ultimately on a short term basis it is ok but that ultimately if I am not content in my personal life this would affect my working environment.  Overall lack of affiliation would have a negative impact on creativity.

Thinking of myself in Dubai, I would describe my situation here as being in an 'individualistic' culture
'...in individualistic cultures people develop social relationships in many and varied settings, but these relationships tend not to be particularly close. In collectivist cultures, on the other hand, people develop relatively few, but deep and long-lasting, relationships.' (Hofstede, 1980).  I am meeting many people and learning a lot, but I sense that my Dubai network is filled with many people that I have a passing affiliation with and who will be there for the length of the project and perhaps not for the longevity of a career.  I think this could be another way to define different networks.  There are professionals with whom you have a lasting relationship and learn a lot from.   There are also others  here you have been a part of their network in a strategic sense to get a job done but who pass in and out of contact.

 

This thought links to the idea of situated learning.    'Participation in the cultural practice in which any knowledge exists is an epistemological principle of learning' (Lave and Wenger, 1991).   As we are experiencing in the BA PP Arts course, learning is being acknowledged more so now than ever as coming from participation in a professional body / network.   Furthermore,  learning within our networks leads to ethical appreciations such as changes in codes of conduct.   This is an area I am interested in thinking further into in terms of dance.   Dancers as a professional body I think lack a professional code of conduct and clear guidelines on some pressing ethical issues.  Perhaps if we communicated within our circles we could understand and overcome some of the difficulties dancers are faced with today.

 

 These ideas have made me think of my work, my creativity and how I learn.   I think many people have the opinion that if you have a creative or arts based job, that you are creative and everything you do comes from you.   This idea of 'tacit' knowledge talked about in professional reflection. This is unrealistic, I constantly learn and get ideas from other people in my networks.   I am always looking for new choreographies and ideas for themes and pieces from people I admire or know personally.  I am passionate about dance and choreography, but my knowledge comes from experience and learning from people who have done the same before me.  When I was training one of my teachers said that the best dancers are not always the most talented but those who are hungry to keep learning,  I think this echoes the importance of networking.

Part 3 The Networked Professsional - 3A My Current Networks

My current professional network consists of different types of circles;  virtual networks (online), close working relationships and more extended affiliation.  I use social media and virtual networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to stay in contact with people I've worked with and also to shop around for future opportunities.   Social media is invaluable as a performer as many of the contacts I have made through dancing professionally are not now people I would come into contact a lot with.  This is accentuated because so much work is offered abroad so I have to be online to keep in touch with people who have gone away with shows.  Also, the high competitiveness of performing and the lack of jobs means many roles are cast online.   Casting directors know they will get many responses within an hour of posting a job on Facebook for example, meaning up keeping my virtual network is a large part of my job.

One of the most important ideas that arose after reading Axelrod's research in 'The Evolution of Cooperation' (Axelrod, R) was that of cooperation, furthermore what others gain from having me in their network.   It is so interesting to me that cooperation was mathematically proven to have the best result when both parties cooperated up until the maximum benefit for both parties and to then defer.  So am I cooperative?   I think what I offer to colleagues and my friend network is experience on many different jobs (not all necessarily great ones!). I am also very relaxed with passing on contacts I have to other to help them out.  For me it is most important to keep people in my network rather than distance them.  This relates back to the idea of longevity of career, in my previous blogs on professionalism.   

How I would like to see my network progress is to build contact with experts in the fields and therefore build my network up in the hierarchy of the arts.  For example, there are a few people that I know of who run youth dance companies in my area.   A couple of which are really successful and have Arts Council Funding to produce touring works with their company.  As a less experienced dancer and teacher, I will look at what I can offer them in return for learning some of their expertise.  Running a successful dance company is an example of something that could only be taught by someone who has experience of doing it.  Also,  I have seen that there are a few blogs and online communities that offer expertise and experiences,  so my virtual network has expanded through this inquiry.   This echoes the idea of Connectivism and that 'knowledge is no longer acquired in a linear manner' (Stephenson, K in Connectivism: A learning theory for a digital age).   Strategically, I can only learn the logistics of launching a company from someone who has done it.   Furthermore, as performers our knowledge in the sense of changing ideas and resources for creativity is ever expanding.

On a practical level I have thought of ways of expanding my networks and therefore my resources to learning and also gaining employment.  Firstly,  I have researched some companies and dance schools that I believe to be successful.   All of which use their online tools to a greater extent than I am doing at the moment.   If I wish to expand my teaching and one day launch my own company or school I I need a website.   A professional blog  connected to this would also help to keep me connected with people I admire and also generate publicity.  More regular use of video sharing on Yotube for example would connect me to a wider community and allow for criticism from people outside my current network.

Talking about communities of practice and thoughts on reflection - Part 3 online session

We spoke this evening about 2 main themes; firstly any further thoughts we've had on reflection and our reflective practice and also on one of the theories of professional networking, and that was communities of practice. 

Upon hearing how others are getting on with the module,  we did touch on the in-action on-action and how people are using it in their working life.  I thought about whether anything has changed on my professional reflection and what I thought of was Kolb's learning cycle.  Over the past week I have moved to teach full time at a large dance school in Dubai.  It's been a daunting experience and I've been thrown into taking a lot more classes than I ever had before.  I've prepared as best I could for it and made lesson plans, and yet, when it has come down to it I think I still won't feel like I've done the best job I can at teaching all the groups until I've had more practice.   I thought that I entered the learning cycle normally in experimentation, but the past week has proved to me that practice is crucial in learning - practice based research.

 

 

 

These was my diagram displaying my communities of practice.    The obvious ones are the companies I work for and colleagues.   Tom came up with a good point, which was that our 'other jobs' the ones to pay the bills when we aren't performing are also very useful often in networking with other professionals.   As well as this, we touched on how difficult it can be keeping communities separate.   I know that if I am working another job (I used to work as a receptionist when I wasn't dancing) I didn't enjoy it when someone I knew who thought of me as a dancer or teacher saw me working the other job. I think I wanted to keep the circles separate, and as Tom put it, it's about compartmentalising areas of you work and life.   Conversely,  our networks often overlap and often when I have been offered a job (such as the one I'm in now) they will do their research on me and my background by looking at my other circles of contacts, be it online, or by word of mouth.   It works to maintain an extended network as likewise I can find out about employers through extended communities of practice.