the art of asking

Following on from a very stimulating and interesting discussion with BAPP Arts students last week and in relation to developing inquiry questions, I wanted to post some thoughts on the making of questions …

So what is a question?

If we were to visualise a question in the most general sense, then we could liken it to a torch. It is a tool we make and use to reveal new insights into the half-dark gaps in our knowledge. It is a tool in that we fashion and craft questions so they are the best tool to reveal the deepest insights and understanding. And in fashioning our questions, we seek to capture qualities in the question that illuminate and direct the searching within those half-dark gaps.

So what are the qualities or attributes of ‘questions’ that make for ‘better’ questions?

Firstly to recognise our own starting point, motivation or need. Why precisely do we want to know something? What would that knowledge enable us to do? What value do we attribute to that knowledge (or better still, who would value it and for what reasons?). Within this attribute lives the notion of bias. Bias is at one level the recognition that our questions are coming from somewhere, a need, a want, an interest. Bias to a question is like the beehive to the bee. It is where the bee comes from; its perspective is a hive-perspective. The hive gives the bee meaning in is constant search for nectar. To be biased is to be normal. To understand that the questions we ask are by their very nature, biased, provides us with a basis to understand where the questioner is coming from.

Agency is another attribute and is, probably, a category of bias, but worth mentioning separately. I think of agency as the ‘who’ or ‘what’ the question is asked on behalf of. So when we ask ‘is ISTD or National Curriculum a better framework for teaching dance’ we ask a question sanitised of any agency. We think, or imply, that there is some natural ‘truth’ out there, which this question hinges on. Untrue. This question is simply nonsense. However, were we to ask ‘what qualities to do KS3 dance teachers attribute to ISTD and National Curriculum’ we add an essential ingredient. That is, the agency in terms of teachers’ views’. 

Pragmatism is another worthwhile attribute of all questions. Pragmatism focuses our attention on what the question is being used for. What is produced or intended by the question? What is the question driving at? A question lacking purpose lacks both meaning and the means of producing an answer.

The next attribute that comes to mind is scope. This is about the appetite of the asker. When forming a question, what is the dimension(s) of the question? and number of issues? Connections? Variations? similarities and contrasts does the question imply? The question can simply be too big to answer given the time, resources and ability of the questioner. Recognising that within the limits of a given resource (time, ability of the questioner etc.) that a broader question will most likely lead to more superficial results. Depth of understanding, of quality of answer, of knowledge, will come with more focused questions.

So lastly I come to the attribute of the question making process itself. I see this as about crafting, honing and refining of questions, and through this process, the value and meanings themselves develop and become more concreted in our minds. As in all human endeavours, sustained engagement with any process helps to clarify where we are coming from, what we value and what we are trying to do. Asking questions is no different.

From Ink to Click

Imaging a world without books, without newspapers, without any basic form of mass media. A world where subversive, new ideas are spread by clandestine individuals ever fearful of the dominant and controlling influence of state and church. Where word of mouth was the main medium to transmit ideas, and that any digression from the authorised ideas were deemed heretical and a special police force existed precisely to hunt down any ideas that challenged that of the central power of state and church. Imagine a world where ideas were prevented from spreading in order to maintain the existing hierarchies of a few powerful individuals and families.

This apparent alien world was the world of 15^th Century Europe just prior to the invention of the printing press by Johannes Guttenberg.

This single technical development laid the foundation for mass media and in Europe heralded the sweeping away of 1500 years of church hegemony as Europeans for the first time had access to the Christian bible and could read the teachings of Christ for themselves. The printing press produced an explosion of ideas that fuelled the renaissance as classical Greek, Roman and Arabic texts were distributed and read by a mass audience. This spawned a vast array of technical and scientific developments that catapulted Europe from the medieval into the modern world.

Now, in the early 21^st century, many would argue the world wide web may reveal itself to be a seismic event no less significant than the labours of Johannes Guttenberg labouring in his workshop by candlelight back in the 15^th Century.

The connections made through the early developments of social media may well foretell a change of the most radical form. A change in how we work, trade, play, communicate and think. A change that might transform our thinking from the national to the global and carries the potential to democratise ideas at least as powerfully as the Guttenberg press? 

I would be really interested in your thoughts on this topic.

Web 2.0 in Higher Education

If you are interested in the principles and practices of using Web 2.0 for learning and teaching in higher education / work based learning you might wish to look at the following two publications:

Moteleb, A. & Durrant, A, (2009) ‘Using Web 2.0 technology in work based learning’, Proceedings of The 8th European Conference on e-Learning (ECEL 2009), University of Bari, Bari, Italy edited by Dr. Dan Remenyi. http://www.academic-conferences.org/ecel/ecel2009/ecel09-home.htm (2009) [pp. 391].

Bryant, P. Durrant, A. & Akinleye, A. (2012) Educating the Early Career Networked Arts Professional using a Hybrid Model of Work Based Learning in The Journal for Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning. Emerald Publishing.

I can also highly recommend Stephen’s Web which has consistently high quality and up to date information and evaluation of the use of Web 2.0 for higher education:

http://www.downes.ca/

Mapping our Professional Networks

For Module 1 students (Part 3)

At the 22nd March Campus Session we discussed our current and future professional networks.

We firstly looked at how people out there in the WWW had developed their professional networks. One example was William Greeves professional network using the LinkedIn tool. Chris Butler explored ‘Mapping your professional network’ from the perspective of how often he was in contact with individuals on his network. These are interesting models and many more are easy to find using an internet search.

We then split into groups and discussed our networks, how they were constituted, and where they may go by building ‘maps’ to explore the networks. This built on Professional Network Maps created by students from previous years.

Luke, Kelly and Gemma produced a ‘stellar cosmos’ map, thinking about the relative distance to people in their networks, some closer, some on the periphery.

Simone, Hayley and Anya used their map to look at a different configuration of their networks, especially thinking about the connections between these networks.

Jo, Ahmet and John in their map also looked at the connections between the different ‘nodes’ on their networks.

You may like to view the Blogs of attendees who have or will be posted on this topic.

Module 2 - What the Inquiry Plan might look like

 I have produced a document that sets out some Inquiry Plan Headings that I think might help.

Module 1 Assessment - The tasks and how they relate to assesment at the end of the module

I posted this short explanation of assessment for module 1 on our YouTube Channel. I hope it assists you. I am happy, as are your Academic Advisers, to assist you with any questions on assessment.

Critical Reflection on the developing ideas of ‘Structured Improvisation’

MAINLY FOR MODULE 1 STUDENTS but of interest to others perhaps ...

This is my account of the campus session today, 28th February 2012. Please look at student Blogs for other takes on what happened.


At the campus session we explored the topic of critical reflection. We decided to raise and discuss an issue … in effect to practice the process of critical reflection. The topic that quickly emerged was the issue of reconciling the necessary structure (of curriculum, learning outcomes, learning objectives, lesson plans) with the need to react in the moment to the needs of students. (while this was an issue about teaching, the group thought it also applied to Choreographer-dancer and director-actor realtionships).

We coined the phrase ‘Structured Improvisation’. 

“Structure’ was seen as curriculum, learning outcomes, learning objectives, lesson plans and representative of standards and the manifestation of control. 'Improvisation' was seen as adaptive in the moment, drawing upon your own ‘memory bank’, reactive to students’ needs, a spontaneity, instinctive, and perhaps non-verbal or text based approach or practice. On reflection, this seems unecessarilly ‘opposed’ as an idea, but that is how it emerged in the session. Both aspects were seen as important, and toward the end of the session it was suggested that Structured Improvisation represented an attempt to create different balances between controlling and instinctive teaching practices depending on the needs of learners.

We also discussed some of the underlying reasons for the state of national curriculum and the diverse range of learners in a school setting and how the teacher can respond to both ‘delivering’ national curriculum while responding with more versatility and adaptability to the needs of students.

The most important outcome for me was to be a participant in a session where everyone was contributing to the process of critically reflection. The key points that came out of the session for me were:

a.    critical reflection is a process to be engaged and can be honed as a skill (likened by one participant to ;’muscle memory’);
b.    the reflection element is natural to us humans – we all do it – but to be ‘critical’ is to not accept the obvious or easy first thoughts, but to stay with the questioning, asking better and deeper questions;
c.    I thought that critical reflection is best structured around honing better questions.

When thinking about the initial proposition of ‘Structured Improvisation’ in teaching, I had the following questions:

1.    What is it?
2.    How did it come about?
3.    What is its purpose?
4.    Who does it?
5.    Are there different approaches?
6.    Who has previously commented on it – what did they say?
7.    What other ideas are associated with it?
8.    What relevance does it have to me?
9.    When does it occur?
10.    How is it engaged?
11.    What does it look or feel like?
12.    What does it mean?
13.    What value do I attribute to it?
14.    What values do other attribute to it?

Finally, it should be borne in mind that the idea of Structured Improvisation is a bit of theory making, but the session was really about the act of critical reflection in action. Structured Improvisation was simply the idea we were reflecting upon. Nevertheless I think all participants went away thinking about teaching in a slightly different way?  It would be interesting to know if they do and in what ways?

I will post some podcasts to BAPP YouTube made at the session.