This post is intended to direct you to student posts that I thought worked well. It is meant to be generic group feedback, so please do not be offended or worried if I have not mentioned you by name. What you should do is visit the posts I mention and see whether you understand and agree with what I have suggested. Its fine for you to have your own perspective, and you should post that as a comment to this post, or the students posts I mention.
Some students are commenting on Blogs. It is very important to take advantage of all the work of others, to read it, reflect on what others are saying, and to consolidate that thinking in a comment. Do read other peoples’ comments. Yu will need this as part of the assessment, but the point is that this dialogue builds good practice. With the current WBS3002 students and the previous group, you have about 80 practitioners taking the same questions as you. Why wouldn’t anyone want to benefit from the ideas and insights of others? It might be worth noting that some of the best Blogs are coming from individuals who are also commenting frequently to the Blogs of others.
On Journal Writing and Reflection…
I thought Nicole provided a very honest and self-reflective post on ‘Journal Writing Experience- Conclusions’. We each approach reflection in different ways and I though Nicole’s post represented a very honest attempt to get to grips with her overall thinking approach. This is the real power of reflection as a process it can open up implicit ways that we think and act to greater explicitness. This is a process of realising our mental processes (its called meta-cognition if you would like to follow up on this theme). I agreed with Stephanie’s comment that ‘you (Nicole) found some unexpected reflections when you asked yourself certain questions from the framework’. I think the use of the framework in the Reader very useful. It is worth reflecting on the fact that we mostly use tools to get a job done. So when tackling the approach we are taking to our own mental processes, it makes sense to ask ‘which tool will help me do this most effectively?
More on the Journal Writing Experience …
I was very impressed with the overall quality of Stephanie’s post on Journal Writing Experience
I thought some of the strengths were:
- Exploring the potential of Kolb’s cycle within her own practice;
- Structuring her thoughts using sub section titles to focus ideas;
- Describing and analyzing experiences.
Likewise, I thought Leanne’s Post on looking outward was of a high quality throughout.
On Ethics ….
I thought Akin posted an excellent post on Design Ethics that takes a very strong moral stance on the responsibilities of Design as a field of practice. Akin very effectively explores the issues of ethics in an industry that does not have the established ethical code compared with say medicine or law. However, Akin sets out some ethical concerns that reflect my thinking on the issue – that is that ‘codes’ emerge ‘from’ the way we think about ourselves as a society. Nicolas reiterates this idea in his comment to Akin’s Blog … ‘Do you believe that society has already dictated what is ethically acceptable’. You may want to revisit my post on the topic of Ethics, Codes and Philosophy?
On Reflection …
I was very interested in Sophia’s post titled Using Reflection to turn experience into learning to find my own Artistic Vision.
I though it was a really good example of how theoretical models can apply to how we practically think about ourselves in the world. Well of course, everything we think is a ‘model’ in the sense that the world is out there, and we are inside our heads and bodies. The ‘sense’ we make are the models we construct to explain the world so we can operate within it. Sophia demonstrates within her post the ability to make connections between the theoretical and practical, and a confidence in taking the ideas of others (Howard Gardner; Sonal, Stephanie, Paula and Adesola) to help her make sense, in this instance, the process of learning and the Kolb learning cycle.
On this same theme, I thought Leanne’s Post on ‘looking outward’ explored Kolb’s and Gardner’s ideas very effectively.
And more on Reflection …
I thought Sonal’s post on Reflective Graph was really good. Its strength is that Sonal demonstrates her tool for reflectively exploring her student class through the use of mind-maps. I have a strong conviction that we do not have different ‘learning styles’ form each other … you know, ‘so-and-so is a visual learner, that other person is a kinaesthetic learner’. I think we all learn using all the means of interacting with our environment, it is just we get good at using certain approaches at different times for different purposes. What Sonal does here is to show that she has found a really good visual method for thinking reflectively – not because she is a ‘visual learner’ but because we are all designed (notwithstanding a specific disability) to use ALL methods.
I have Blogged on a very wide range of visual tools you might like to visit my post on Visual ways of thinking
Even more on Reflection ...
I thought Robin’s ‘Reflecting On Professional Attitude’ was a really good example of a post which carried a very powerful message about professional standards of conduct and attitude.
We all create or adopt ‘personas’ in our daily lives; it is in our nature to do so. However, Robin takes his colleagues to task because they do not always carry the same high standards of professional behaviour that Robin believes are correct. And for me, that’s right. Operating in a professional way is a complex mix of behaviours, attitudes, responsibilities and role-making and role-taking. I think one of Robin’s concerns is that all practitioners in a particular profession both represent themselves as individuals and the profession as a whole. So a lax attitude to a choreographic routine by a dancer gives the impression that all dancers are lax?
On the Inquiry task …
I thought Verity’s post on the Inquiry task very effectively summed a very familiar picture of the difficulties of progression from training to professional work in dance, musical theatre and acting. However, I think Verity does a good job of setting out her ‘thoughts in some kind of order’. It is this intention and capability that I believe makes such a big difference. The ‘intention’ to be systematic underlies good professional and academic work. It means working to a plan, being clear, recognising all the features of an issue or question, and working through in a clear and structured way. Verity’s post does this well.
I was very impressed with Daisuke’s Inquiry Task post. Daisuke demonstrates a clear and consecutive way of thinking through an issue. He also shows how he challenge’s his own practice and that of others, and where appropriate, using the practice of others as an exemplar. This level of questioning and intention to challenge the ‘current conventions’ is central to good practice in ALL disciplines.
On Professional Communication Technologies …
I thought Kazuka’s post on Professional communication technologies explored a very important theme that was picked up by Peter’s comment and which Kazuka tackled effectively. That is that social media might have started as a clumsy add-on to our professional lives, but are now becoming a core part of what it means to be a professional. To manage your links and professional relationships, to gather and organise information, to represent our ideas, and present ourselves to our target professional audiences is a key function of the web.
