Campus session 3

We began the campus session with a debate based on the question posed by Lizzy Rowden;

“What, if any, relevance does the performing arts have in society?”

 

Paula also added the sub question;

 

“Who supports the arts in today’s England?”

 

Everyone brought some very interesting points to the fore front for example;

·         T.V. reality talent shows encourage people to pursue a career in performing arts but give a false image of the industry, short fix solution.

·         Performing arts helps children develop confidence overcome bullying/ self-confidence issues.

·         Keeps people active.

·         Gives people escapism from the stresses of life, e.g. theatre, cinema, concerts etc.

Then Leon raised a valuable point about what does relevance mean? How do we differentiate society? This made us look at the question critically and break down the words:

REVEVANCE:

·         Information

·         Value; who? How?

·         How is it important?

·         Social issues

·         Increase likelihood of a goal.

·         Significance

·         Why it matters?

·         Importance

·         A voice through theatre

·         Retrieve data appropriate to user’s needs.

 

SOCIETY:

·         Social circle

·         Country

·         Community

·         Up bringing

·         Audience

·         Status/class

·         Beliefs

·         Where we live

·         Cultural background

·         Public

·         Who’s saying what? Why they are saying it?

 

This process was very interesting in discovering our critical thinking skills. We thought about the sub question and came up with many  ideas of who supports the arts in today’s England here is a few;

·         Public (Theatre, art galleries etc)

·         National Lottery

·         Arts councils

·         Foundations

·         Parents (shows, musical concerts)

 

We moved on to discuss why some subjects i.e. maths, English are seen more important than others like art, music etc. Geri brought up a point that was relevant to my professional practice how schools want children to take particular subjects to benefit the schools exam league tables, but these changes don’t help the children develop their learning for future careers. (please see Geri Masucci blog for more details.)

 

Second part of the Lecture we broke up into 3 groups and were given a sheet of words that encourage critical thinking skills. Within our groups we had to choose 4 words and create a definition for each one. My group had Georgie, Ruth and Chiara the words we brain stormed were:

·         Argument

·         Rehearsal

·         Deconstruction

·         Communication.

(Please see Paula’s video on campus session 3 for descriptions)

 

The final part of the session we broke into module groups, so we could discuss any concerns about the module’s tasks. Alan answered our questions and gave us some advice about approaching the critical reflection. He emphasized about keeping your critical reflection focussed and direct, write about a section that’s relevant to your personal professional practice and sections you learnt the most from during the tasks. Particular points he brought up were;

·         Raise questions from previous experiences.

·         Think of processes we apply to our experiences/professional practice to move forward.

·         Think of tools we use for critical reflection.

·         Craft an explanation on significant insights on the 3 themes.

 

Alan also pointed out that the best time to submit a Draft of your critical reflection to your advisor is around the 9^th December. 16^th December is the end of any feedback from advisors, just to warn you other advisors dates may vary. I really enjoy attending the campus sessions as it helps me talk through the tasks with fellow students and brain storm ideas and get some confirmation that I'm on the right lines