Monday, 10 June 2013

Summary of My Professional Inquiry


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

For my inquiry I looked at using the Internet, You tube, video feedback of students own work, power point, DVD clips and Cinema. I strived to discover the effectiveness of using technology and media in the dance and education sectors.

Reading literature brought new ideas to my attention about how technology can be used effectively in dance training. I managed to find some good evidence to support my arguments for my inquiry. For example I observed a dancers working day at the Royal academy of dance that they had posted on YouTube. (See RAD link). This gave me the idea to post my own students work onto the schools website (under the secure learning section). Students can then observe and evaluate their own performance, catch up on work missed and self-reflect to make further improvement to their own work.

I completed two surveys, a student survey and an on-line survey for other professionals to take. On-line survey - Results from this survey showed 95.7 % of people (twenty two out of twenty three people) believe that media can distribute dance to a wider audience. Such media could include cinema, the worldwide web and dance films. The same number (twenty two people) agreed that showing students a DVD clip of professional dance work would be beneficial to their learning. A large percentage of nineteen out of twenty three people (82.6 %) also think that video feedback can benefit the training of students in a dance class.  

As predicted technology tools can help support teaching and learning in dance, when used appropriately. Showing a DVD clip was a good use of time management as my students could observe and analyse professional dance works promptly. Through use of video feedback they had greater opportunities to improve their dance work. Every student could recognise their own strengths and weaknesses from the video footage of their own performances. From this, they were then able to set individual targets for each individual pupil to achieve in the lesson.

From my inquiry findings I have decided to devise a scheme of work for my sixth form groups called “Creating a pop video”. I have chosen to use a Power point for my Artefact as I can add links to ‘You tube’ clips, add photos of my dance students and upload video footage of their dance performance, to clearly show my target audience examples of how technology can support dance learning. This style of Artefact will be suitable for my target audience and to benefit my students and other teachers at my institution. Also it can be distributed to a wider audience through the Internet, being loaded onto my SIG groups and social networking sites to share among a broader audience of professionals.

I took on this inquiry, as it will encourage me to continue to use the technology tools, which I find most successful within my own practice, securing greater student progress and increasing student’s grades within my workplace. I will be using evidence for the positive outcomes of using technology in class to request new resources to be purchased for my dance studio at work.




Artefact Workshop Intervention


Artefact Interview


The end of the road!

Sadly, it is the end of the road having worked hard to complete module 3. It has been an intense 18 months. I have enjoyed it and I have felt moments of stress! I have learnt and I have grown! Thank you to everyone for the continuous support, especially Paula Nottingham - you are a wonderful tutor - always giving your time when needed, it really has been appreciated!

Friday, 24 May 2013

Oral Presentation

Finally, Module 3 completed after many days, weeks, months of hard work. Feeling pleased, relieved and sadly slightly deflated. Looking forward to the forth coming oral presentations and hearing about the findings of others professional practise. Hope to see you there!

Gemma

Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Critical Reflection


Critical Reflection

Having completed the BAPP course I have acquired new knowledge and understanding about myself. I have realised that I am keen on self-reflecting on my own practises in order to strive to further improve my teaching and my students learning. I know more about using technology in the classroom/studio, which technologies work better to assist particular learning objectives and also that some students learn better using different strategies, visual, kinaesthetic, audio etc. Therefore it is more important to know your students, to understand their individual learning needs and to plan for differentiation. I would like to look further into Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences to evaluate other teaching methods. I found my blogs to be a helpful way to voice ideas (however sometimes disappointed with the lack of response I received on some topics).

Wright, G (2013)

Reading literature brought new ideas to my attention. I managed to find some good evidence to support my arguments for my inquiry. For example I observed a dancers working day at the Royal academy of dance which they had posted on YouTube, giving me the idea to post students work onto the schools website (under the secure learning section). Students can observe and evaluate their own performance, catch up on work missed and self-reflect to make further improvement to their own work.


From exploring different ideas I have gained a greater understanding to implement my skills to the beneficiary of the pupils that I teach. My inquiry has also changed my view of teaching dance in schools. An important part of teaching dance in a school is to differentiate tasks to suit individuals learning needs. The lessons are often formed of mixed ability students from versatile backgrounds. Technology has enabled me to make dance more appealing to those students who struggle with the subject by engaging students through visual aids, increase student progress in terms using video feedback prior to assessment, helping to maintain their interest using the internet for research material and offers an alternative option of cameraman, director, choreographer roles.

Unfortunately, while away on maternity leave my current employer decided to remove dance from the timetable due to lack of funding. The head teacher has not realised the true value of the creative arts for the development of its students. I am being made redundant and feel saddened after all of my efforts that my organisation will not benefit from my inquiry findings as much as I had hoped for. However the inquiry has helped me to develop my own teaching practise to become a stronger teacher. I will continue to use appropriate technology tools in future to aid support student progress.

While doing the work on module 3 I have continued to take a professional approach to using networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and my LinkedIn account (which has now become my CV in my search for a new career opportunity).


The course also encouraged me to engage in discussions in My SIG groups, which were interesting and useful. People commented and shared ideas regularly.


I have learnt about the importance of ethical issues surrounding my teaching practise. I worked with my sixth form students for my Inquiry so did not need parental permission just a signed disclaimer from each participant. I do however work with children on a daily basis so must keep up to date with Ethics and this will now be a consideration when planning and delivering my lessons.

I have chosen to use a Power point for my Artefact as I can add links to ‘You tube’ clips, add photos of my dance students and upload video footage of their dance performance, to clearly show my target audience examples of how technology can support dance learning. This style of Artefact will be suitable for my target audience and to benefit my new institution. Also it can be distributed to a wider audience through the Internet being loaded onto my SIG groups and social networking sites to share among a broader audience of professionals.





Saturday, 11 May 2013

An example of how media promotes dance work.

Another example of how media can share dance work to a wider audience.

Here is my link to 'Flickr" to view recent photos/video see:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79321269@N06/