Campus Session - 30.10.19

On Wednesday 30th October I joined Laura Ferrin from Module 1 for a campus session with Adesola. This is my second campus session in the process. On my first session I had hoped it would be a chance to get 'Help' and direction and basically be told how to write my essay, but it is an opportunity to take away so much more.

At first Adesola asked me to talk about what the process had changed in my thinking. I really struggle with 'getting my words out' especially when I am so deep into my inquiry that I have 100 thoughts swimming around at once.

However I managed to string together that...

Previously I would have sort an 'answer, into what I was researching, hoping it would give me knowledge. Now I understand it's about finding information to change my thinking and opening new pathways for learning.

Adesola asked us to think about the 3 words

Knowledge               Information                 Learning

And what the differences are between them. I used to think that information was knowledge if it was on the TV or in the newspaper it was worth remembering to give you knowledge. Through this process, I have discovered that information is there to INFORM your thinking and has to be looked at from different perspectives. What you then take away from that thought process is Knowledge. And in that process, you are learning.

Adesola than asked me to apply this idea to my Inquiry Topic. Throughout my literature review, I have found many articles were the Theory of Multiple Intelligences has been misinterpreted. The theory (Information) has been implemented without a full range of ethical and practical considerations, leaving the method questionable. 

This lead us to talk about where the information is coming from, usually, we look to the centre ( an established organization, notable scholars) and take their word for it, but what would happen if we flipped it and looked at the discourses on the edge. The people asking the questions?

Are we questioning if the Right & Wrong applies to all cultures, societies and within a relevant timeline?

From this conversation, the same themes were emerging for me, and I found significance in the term Information.

We have to find a range of information on our topic and not take the first answer. Just because a theory has been well published it is not always true and right. We have to look at things from a number of perspectives. The right and wrong only applies in certain situations. 

My inquiry is an overview of what I found significant. Someone else may find or take away something different from the same information. Mine is applied to my experiences and where I am in the world culturally, socially and at this time. 

Adesola then asked what themes I had found in my research, saying it out loud really helped me confirm my thoughts.

Educational Perspective - Many of my sources discussed a need for change in education, I am going to apply this educational perspective to my practice alongside its relationship to Multiple Intelligences.

Interpretation of Theory - Not one size fits all is the basis of the Multiple Intelligence Theory, but it's not only Howard Gardner that is saying this. How is this interpreted in my practice?

Application of Theoretical Framework in Dance Practice - The headings above have motivated dance practitioners and scholars to create frameworks using a number of different theories. How are these similar or how do they differ? What are the ethical and practical considerations?

Adesola then tasked us with looking through our learning communities blogs with the idea of themes. Are people saying the same thing? Are they talking about the same topic but from a different perspective? 

And then could we find relevant information in the educational journals in the library through Unihub that linked to our thoughts. I will conclude this task on another blog.

But for now, I would really recommend looking at the blogs to see if someone is thinking the same as you. But did they word it differently or is their practice different from yours? Get involved and start leaving comments, a conversation is sometimes the best way to help unpick what is significant to you.