dissertation grade!

just thought i'd write a blog to share my grade...i goty a 2.1 for my dissertation!very very happy :) hope everyone does well good luck! enjoy the sun :)

Blog four: critical reflection.

Looking back on my time on the BA professional practice course, I feel I have changed my views on learning as a worker-researcher. I have grown to confidently understand how to complete a project to a high standard. The key factor I feel I have grown to learn and appreciate in doing a project, is the importance of the research in the beginning stages of the project. In implementing the research in various ways, the data and information collected by your target group is the key-factor to the later stages, as well as being a tool which allows the worker-researcher to compile priceless research and information. Personally, I have never had a strong affection towards researching past reading and finding already available data in the field of the subject or topic I require. When I realised in order to competently conclude the project I would need to seek-out my own information, it was not the part of the project I was looking forward to achieving. However, in creating my own project and knowing exactly what I was looking for and why I was doing the interviews, observation, and questionnaires, it all became clear how I needed to complete my research and I grew to really enjoy doing it. This project has enabled me to understand the importance of setting-up a project before delving into it. I understand how knowing your target group’s experience and views on a topic, can be used to your advantage as to see what part of the subject-manner needs to be covered. In learning to enjoy research, I have also really started to enjoy finding any information linked with my topic to educate myself on my field.

I have definitely enjoyed this latter part of the course, as the modules I felt perplexing at times and I didn’t always gain the understanding as to what needed to be achieved from conversing with others. I found some of the tasks slightly pointless at the time, however, now looking back I fully understand why certain aspects of modules were implemented upon us and I feel I could not have gotten to this level of understanding without having completed those modules.

I do feel when picking my project, I should have taken more time to settle-on an idea I was really happy with. The project has changed a lot since I determined its function, however, for a long while I felt caged-into the first project idea I could think of. When I started really getting my teeth into the project though, this all changed and I became very interested in my research.

I am very proud I achieved this project without the help of others, and that it was a success in that the achievements students.

I think the majority of the group if not all of us, started the degree not knowing what to expect. It was so different to the learning we had maintained at Chickenshed that at first I struggled to enjoy learning, I felt I was back at school making such an extra effort with learning and not particularly seeing myself reach any amazing strengths. When I had started learning at Chickenshed, I had learnt in a completely new way which was perfect for me to retain information and push myself to achieve personal goals. I feel this is properly the subconscious reason I wanted to research into the teaching methods implemented by the company on their BTEC national diploma.

To be completely honest, I don’t know what the future holds for me inside professional practice. I would love to stay with Chickenshed, supporting sessions as long as I am cable to do so. I am currently looking into an agency that facilitates individuals in schools as support to children with learning difficulties.

Blog three: summarise of project findings.

My project was to look into Issue-based teaching using an Inclusive ethos within theatre, and applying “alcohol awareness amongst youth” as the issue for the source of research and theatrical workshop with my target group in the company in which I work. The idea was to gain an understanding of the ethos and method’s used on the BTEC national curriculum within my company, and then by creating a workshop based on the issue of my choice, put into practice the teaching methodology to see how the course method’s benefit the student’s learning, and could be improved. Through using observation- both on the outside of the target group, and actively within the group supporting and experiencing how the students work, interview, and questionnaires, I gained an understanding of how the course is run, and the methods implemented, combining edexcel criteria with the inclusive ethos. With this, I also maintained the knowledge and experiences the students have in the subject; so to apply the data collected from the students into the workshop activities.

• Through doing this project I have found in using Inclusive issue-based theatrical methods in an “alcohol awareness amongst youth” workshop, 60% of the students felt their views had changed positively on the subject, and had more of an awareness on the subject.

• By using a more practical approach to a subject with which awareness needs to be spread, teenagers/youth are more receptive.

• They gain the meaning by balancing this out with discussions on what an activity was about, how it made the students feel, and why it was done enabling students to show understanding verbally and through their own point of view. This also allowed students to explain if they felt an activity was executed in a good way, or if they felt it could improve or changed.

• By implementing the use of theatrical text/script, improvisation activities, devising activities, and data on the subject, students gain an understanding of the topic through various teaching inventions.

In doing this project, I have gained an understanding in professional practice as to how to maintain and execute, with high-quality, issue-based learning in the theatre. This is a project I feel can go on to be re-visited and altered again from the findings I collected in doing the project.

Blog two: reflections on working collaboratively using Google Docs.

Through doing my project, I haven’t had access to a computer/laptop whenever I required it. Not having the luxury of the access to my documents wherever and whenever I need them usually means I’m rather stressed about finishing work, as well as losing sleep trying to get work done and to a decent standard. Now like anyone in a similar situation who has found and been using Google Docs, I am very happy to report back it has been a god-send for me!

Google Docs has allowed me to access my documents from any computer easily and with organisation and clarity. As well as this, it means I can just forward my documents to another person, and get feedback straight from them in the document rather than in a new file. I haven’t used the services to its full potential and allowed people to view my work as really anything saved using Google docs is unfinished when I save it, and there for me when I next need to pick-up the work where I left it. If I got to the stage of viewing other peoples work on it and allowing my work up on it, I can see how this would be very beneficial to help each other out with tips on improving others work, as well as receiving ideas from class-mates as to how to progress your work.

Networking and sharing ideas and tip’s on work is a part of Google Docs service which I am yet to really properly experience, but I definitely will keep it in mind for future potential opportunities and projects worked on in and around a group environment.

blog one: commentary on sharing resorces using resorces using delicious.

“Delicious” is a bookmarking web services, which you can share with friends and work colleagues, like a social networking site for sharing websites you have tagged that are of useful to your work or interests.
Having used delicious only briefly during my project, I mostly used the service to merely collect useful websites for my own project towards the appendices. I found the service very useful, as I could save the bookmark and write notes on the content as briefly or detailed as I wanted. Then when going back to my bookmarks, I could view who else uses the same bookmark and see if they had saved any bookmarks/sites of a similar nature which I could find of interest to my project.
In previous projects, creating an appendices has meant copying and pasting every site mentioned in my work which can be quite time consuming, and equally has taken up the same amount of effort, stress, and time as writing the work due to having to back-track through every saved website without the helpful notes you can make with delicious.

Delicious has also allowed the class to view what each student is working on, and to the extent the individual has been researching for their project. As the class are all working on completely different projects we have a variation of websites, which can over-lap when two or more students have a similar area of study. With this in mind, it means we have been able to help each other out with sourcing certain aspects of our examinations and studies. At the best of times, it is hard to find the ideal website for exactly what you want to say with your reasons, in the past it has taken me days to find a site that links immediately with my work and the point I want to make, or to find the précised knowledge I need to acquire to gain an understanding of a particular aspect of my work. This allows us to find them and share them with each other, and also search to see if any have found what were looking for.

In general, I found using delicious made the collecting of research easier to obtain and maintain for my work, as well as making the implementing of an appendices additionally far more organised then in previous projects.
I will definitely keep it in mind for any future projects I have as it makes the aspects of retaining information from the web plain and simple.

learning diary 1

Hello everyone! I felt I should just give an update as to how my project is going and a small run-down to remind you all of what exactly my project includes.
I have felt for a while that theatre has explored a lot different issues that are apparent in society as of late. The theatre I work in, for example, has produced pieces such as “crime of the century” in which through different characters looks at topics such as gang culture and knife crime. “Hairspray” is a well-known musical which, as well as being loved for its catchy musical numbers, looks into racism during the 1960’s and body image issues. An issue that has not been delivered by many theatres is alcohol awareness/abuse which is on the up-rise, particularly in youth. “There is a sharp increase in drinking from the ages of 11 to 15. In 2004, 4 in 100 pupils aged 11 had drunk in the previous week compared to 45 in 100 15-year-olds.”
I feel it’s a strong issue that, through being theatrically workshopped with 17-25 year olds (people about to embark into the world of alcohol or already drinking), could develop awareness to youth.
After liaising with the head of education at my work placement, I developed a workshop to be delivered to the Btec second year students in the building (17+ years) and foundation degree first year (18+ years) including activities on the lack of brain development on underage drinking, manipulation on the body, and text about the subject creatively talking about the point of view of an individual with a hangover. This morning (Tuesday 2nd November) I delivered, with a small team of students, the workshop that I produced from my preliminary research (questionnaires and interviews) to the Btec second year students in the building. It went really well, and I will be uploading pictures very soon! Some activities were better received by the students than others, but for the slightly older students in the foundation degree I will be re-working the activities that didn’t go as well as they were quite confusing.

learning blog five

its last week leading up to handing all the work into the university. i have touched on all the work in each part of the portfolios, but i feel i am still being too vague with my information and need to go into that extra bit of detail with all of it. a small group of us met with paula this week, talking through any problems we had with various aspects of the module. i feel doing the work and liasing with others in the year has been a very positive part of completing pieces, as well as, understanding why its part is vital.



everything is starting to fall nicely into shape.i feel the work is like a cake and i jsut need to put the icing and cherries on top now!



i have found some really interesting research on the internet about alcohol abuse which has made me feel like its very important for me to go ahead with this project.



if anyone is interested check out: http://www.alcohol-stuff.co.uk/ www.mentorfoundation.org/brain www.niaaa.com