Learning Dairy 6

Critical Commentary on learning in this module

When reflecting back on my journey through the Module 3835 - Project Planning and development (research methods) I can really see a development and also a change within my learning process. Not only have I developed my knowledge in work based learning and as a worker-researcher but also within my literacy skills, vocabulary and confidence about the degree. I have become very passionate and excited about the project I have created and look forward to practically researching, doing some fieldwork and devising a new outreach project. I feel this is shown through the five learning diary entries based on the campus sessions at cat hill.

At the beginning of this module I did not have a clue on a project idea; it was only in the last five weeks that everything has come together. The booklet did not make sense in the beginning and I feel this is shown through my early entries. I sent myself things to start thinking about which gradually turned into targets and aims for the project before the next session. This structure within the entries developed and repeated, with how I felt I was getting on, what was discussed in the campus sessions, then ‘things to do’, I felt this structure made the information clear and gave more of a fluent order when composing the entries.

I used the learning dairies (blogs) as a BAPP network to ask any queries and give and receive comments on other student’s project, from reading other students personal entries it helped me understand and also catch up on information that I had missed due to not attending the campus sessions because of work duties. Every campus session I attend helped so much in concreting information and discussing in more detail on the task.

My learning diary entries consumed activities I had completed, Chickenshed Learning Set (CLS) and also research into my project. CSL has become a support network for around ten BAPP students who all work in the same organisation, these meetings lead by Paula and also students has given me space to put this module into context into my workplace. Trying to explain my project was the hardest part, finding the vocabulary and order of details about the project was at first very confusing. I found myself having to question the project thoroughly. I have now achieved a definition of my project as I worked through my proposal; this has brought me belief and confidence within my project.

Writing about things like what is ‘Outreach’ in entry 4 has giving me a deeper academic understanding of ‘Outreach’ and also a bit of a head start when writing my proposal draft as I used this to explain what outreach is in the draft.
In the latest few entries I have noticed a development in my academic writing skills, and confidence within the project this is shown through my writing, for example, “Since this meeting I have been full of enthusiasm to develop my proposal, the project just seems to click with the module which has drawn my knowledge to a deeper understanding of the proposal.” (Entry five of Learning Dairies)

By undertaking this module I can now fully appreciate what is involved in worked based research, the research tools, methods, considerations and ethics. The preparation through this module has allowed eliminated the room for error, thinking in detail about what I want to achieve and find out and by choosing a specific method and tools to use, this gives the project structure which will also not waste time, working things out through trial and error.

This module has tooled me with the knowledge and guidance on how to create and follow through my project. It has been a hard journey but I think half of the process was understanding the booklet and creating the project concept. I look forward to the next part of the project.

Learning Dairy entry 5 – Campus session 4

30th March 2010

I am so glad I was able to attend this campus session as I could not attend the last two. The campus session was used to explain and learn more about data analysis and ethic, two things I was a bit unsure about. From the slide shows and talks giving by Peter, Rosemary and Paula my understanding of these was made clearer, I decided to research into ethics more and found some very clear definitions and examples of good and bad ethics. Just Google ‘research ethics’ to find academic literature, there is hundreds of papers and websites – it really helped me to connect and think about ethics within my research project.

My thoughts of where I am in the process is that I feel a bit behind, I think I have neglected the guidance of deadlines e.g. by week 6 complete activity 7 and publish it on my blog. I started to feel at the begin of this week (week 7) my project was starting spin out of control as in I had not organised myself correctly and felt that time was not on my side. But through this session I was able to make an order of things I needed to do and fairly quickly;

• To design a survey on SurveyMonkey that I can test and analyze results – practice my data analysis. Cleaning, Summarising and Interpreting data.
• To write a letter to my place of work to get the ‘go ahead’ for my project.
• To write a document to present to research participants, along with any research instrument. Explaining the purpose of the research and about the project and myself, stating any confidential and privacy protection.
• To start my project draft proposal using Paula’s slideshow and pages 12 and 56 in the handbook for structuring my project proposal.

Chickenshed group learning set

Over the past couple of weeks myself and other members of chickenshed who is also on the work based learning course have arranged meetings and working times to work through the booklet and discuss any quires or concerns. From this learning set I have been able to narrow down on some research questions, some of these are;

• Can Inclusive theatre broaden a young person’s perceptions of sexual awareness?
• Should students have a say in sex education to how and what they are taught?
• Is theatre in education a good device to teach sexual awareness?
• Is it a good idea to explore young people’s experiences using workshops to create a piece of theatre to use within a T.I.E setting?
• Will inclusive theatre in education help explore and make young people aware of sexual awareness?
• Can developing a new area within Chickenshed’s outreach programme address sexual issues which are accessible to all young people in a T.I.E environment.
• Developing a new outreach programme within Chickenshed to address and educate young people on sexual awareness through an inclusive theatre performance workshop.
• Can T.I.E educate and help explore sexual awareness through an inclusive method?

I’m still not sure of what yet to defiantly choose as I feel that maybe I should develop more of a statement or hypothesis. I would appreciate any ideas or suggestions. I am defiantly in a much better place within my project now.
Working through the booklet at home made me realise that how some of the questions are written make it hard for me to understand or spark interest within the answers. So I rewrote the questions which freed up my head to be creative. I then brought these to the learning set which I received good fed back to how it helped people.

Literature

I keep finding pointless literature that does not really mean a lot to my project. I have been looking into Theatre in Education, Sex Education and Outreach. I know this will happen but it is just so frustrating and time consuming. I need to stay positive and keep searching hard.

My aims for this next week

• Find relevant literature
• Chose a research instrument design by professionals and critique it - Write up activity 7 – 500 words
• Write 500 words on Ethical research issues that may arise when conducting my project, e.g. working with teenagers.
• Analyse the data from my test survey
• Structure a pilot interview and survey which I will test on a teacher and a teenager within the age range I am going to research
• To keep on developing my draft proposal