AoLs 1st conversation with Adesola
Tuesday 20th AoL Skype conversation
Yesterday I had a useful conversation with Adesola regarding the Accreditation
of (Prior) Learning (AoL). The initial conversation included Adesola saying that - the aim by the end of
the conversation is that I feel ready to research theories. By framing it
in this way the conversation and direction was clearly shaped.
We managed to discuss 3 or possibly 4 of the areas that I had listed.
Adesola was able to draw my fragmented thoughts and anecdotes together to help me clearer
understand my learning areas and journey, this was mainly achieved by, asking questions
and then summing up.
There seem to be a number of stages to the process in terms of producing the
AoL for the course. From my understanding
of the conversation the list below is one format that could be used.
ME - My professional Practice/experience
- What is it that I have actually taken
and learned.
OTHERS – Wider context - Methods others
use within dance or another art form or area of life – Others theories
ME AND OTHERS – Compare and interrogate
my practice and original learning with theories/others ideas or practice.
ME – The claim that I am making
for AoL
One thing that I need to engrave in my thoughts is that I do not need to
find evidence of other practitioners supporting my methods. Instead, I am using the methods of
others to better understand my own practice and my own learning. Their methods
may be similar or completely contradictory to my own.
I feel ready to begin reading and writing now but know that this process is very new and different, so I need to give myself space to retry without judgement (from myself) I think once I have the hang of one AoL, the others will fall into place more easily but at the moment I need to get into a way of thinking that is a little alien.
I find the areas that I have chosen, interesting and the more I spoke to
Adesola, the more depth each area seemed to hold. After the skype call, I felt
really excited and just wanted to get started i.e. reading and researching
theories! (This was last night) but I am now also feeling apprehensive, knowing
just how much work is involved with the ever-looming deadline!
I would be really grateful if anyone on any of the modules could add/takeaway or develop further the needs (above) for the AoL. It would be really useful to hear if anyone else has 'a take' on the a way forward, a format or anything else you have found useful during your journey.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello Tara-Jane! Thank you for your post –It’s really helpful to hear your thoughts and response to the conversation you had with Adesola, especially in regards to how to approach writing up an AOL. I have some ideas for titles and content in terms of my experience but have difficulty in getting my head around how to contextualize this learning in terms of current theory and practices. I also thought that I would have to look at other practitioners’ work/theory in order to support my learning/methodology but it’s great to hear that a comparative approach is favourable.
ReplyDeleteI have made many notes for one AOL, identifying main aspects of that learning, reflecting on key learning experiences and the development of this learning through my career, from project to project and between my performance work and formal teaching work. I have also thought a bit about transferability of these skills. I feel that reading and researching theories is very important and a key concern for me at the moment especially as I am not able to make it to a library and searching online sources are a bit intimidating to me. This is going to be my project for the weekend! If you have any advice for researching online I would appreciate it greatly and of course any support you need, I am very happy to offer time, although I’m also fumbling my way through!
I saw your response on my blog – it was lovely to hear from you. I’ve been away from my computer for a few days because I’ve been travelling and working but I am trying to keep up with the blogs.
I wish you happy study!
samantha
Hi Samantha, great to hear from you. How are you getting on? Like you, the tricky part is 'other theories" etc. Also as I am reading more, I am looking at what I have written and am wondering if I am still being seduced into justifying.
DeleteHope you have seen Sarah's response re library. That was really helpful for me. I am in the Caribbean on one of the smallest islands. There is no access to the sorts of books that we need so I have begun using the university library online. I prefer a book in my hand so have had a couple sent to me but its VERY expensive.
Stay in touch. Its good to have people to communicate with!
Tara
Hi Samantha, dare i ask how its going?
DeleteHi Tara-Jane and Samantha, it has been really interesting reading your thoughts, I can remember having exactly these same thoughts and feelings from this time last year. I'm probably a little late coming to this conversation now as you're probably further down the road however I remember there were a couple of things that Adesola said to me that really made me think about identifying and researching learning in a different way and I thought I'd share them just incase they are still useful. One was that learning is something that occurs 'without a given template' in other words we ascertain the skills we have now, we look back to a time when we did not have those skills and the learning is what occurs experientially in all the space that exists in between, that stuck with me and really helped me identify where these themes and areas of my practice were. The other was that the research is a way of observing how existing theory 'has manifested itself in your life' she encouraged me to look at literature as a means of further understanding in depth what it is I am already doing and then incorporate this within my AoL essays as a means of explaining it with greater knowledge and understanding. As well as looking at the learning theory I found that it was very interesting to use comparative sources surrounding my topics from both inside and outside of dance literature.
ReplyDeleteI also remember feeling very overwhelmed by the quantity of what I needed to do and sometimes still feel like this now, however, I try and remind myself to work on a task by task basis, just do a bit at a time and try not to think of the 'final product' too much. There were many occasions in both modules one and two when I thought that I was never going to 'get' or understand something and I'd never have enough time or it wouldn't get finished, but...guess what it did! Now in module three I think I trust the process at least a little more and remember to breathe more often!
Samantha, you mentioned intimidation over online research. I use the learning resources on MyUniHub a lot. Do you know about it and how to use it? It's under the 'my study' tab on your home page and there's the library catalogue, summon (which is a bit like academic Google) and a selection of ejournals too, I don't want to bore you but if you have questions please feel free to ask and I might be able to help a little.
Not sure if any of this was helpful but thank you for sharing your thoughts. Take care and enjoy!
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
DeleteYou don't know how helpful you have been!
Since you posted this I have written up one AoL and sent it in as a draft. Although I know there will be gaps in my understanding of what I need to do to complete this first task, I feel that I have definitey got some of the elements. How theory 'has manifested itself in your life' makes sense and I have heard it said in different ways but your 'take on it' works for me. Thanks.
I know it takes ages to respond so I am really grateful for you taking the time out to help.
Thanks Tara