Powerpoint Presentation

Here is a Powerpoint Presentation containing some of the findings of my inquiry. :)

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8sVd_4CV5ECUDBGRC1LTjNpdlE/edit

Thinking Time

Here I am, back in the blogging world. I took two days "off" from blogging, to go over my findings so far and to re-read some of my literautre.

I was playing the interviews and dicussion groups I've concucted so far, over and over again ... my dictaphone is basically my best friend at the moment. Can't live without it ;)!

But at one point, suddenly one thing jumped at me. It was something one of the students had mentioned.
One of my questions I asked the participants was "What is the most important thing to you in a dance class, in order to learn the most?" And one of the students answered, "I need a feeling of to togetherness:"

This was when it struck me ... I was looking at my inquiry from a completely wrong angle. Instead of treating the students and teachers as two seperate groups and assessing the differences they have, I have to look at them as one union and find the similarities they share. At the end of the day, both teachers and students share the same goal. Teachers want to pass on their professional knowledge to their students in a way that the students gain the best technical ability from it. And students try to absorb as much of it as possible because they aim to achieve the best possible technical standard.

As soon as I started to read through my notes again, with that thought in my mind, I found many similarities between my two inquiry groups.
By the end of the week, I'll definitely update you on what I have find out from my findings so far and I'll fill you in on one of my books from my literature list. It's called 'Teaching Dance - The Spectrum of Styles' by Elizabeth Gibbons. This book has helped so much, not only for my inquiry but a teacher in general. If you ever get your hands on it read it. But more about it later this week.

Finding the right track!!

This afternoon, I had my first set of student discussion groups and I have to say it was really interesting.

It was great talking to all students and actually having a productive discussion about a topic that concerns their teachers and themselves.

Before talking to them, I had them fill out a questionnaire to gather information about their points of view and their opinions. That was already helpful and I have to say, I learned a lot from it. I realised, surveys are great in order to get a first insight into people's opinions and especially, to get them prepared for further interviews and discussions. Therefore, I was already looking forward to having a personal discussion with the participants.

Luckily, I wasn't disappointed. All of them shared their opinions and ideas they had and nobody was put under pressure. We really had a great discussion!

I got so much information from the discussion groups but at the same time, just as many questions emerged. Right now, I have to sort out all my thoughts and find the right path for my inquiry.
Tonight, I'll definitely have to sit down and sort out my thoughts. Getting everything down on paper and having a good nights sleep always helps ;)! Tomorrow is a fresh start and I can dive into some more researching, so watch this space :)!

Getting ready for student interviews

Today I'm having my discussion groups with the students that are participating in my inquiry. I'm just doing some final preparing and reading so that I can get most out of it. I'm excited to see what they have to say on the topic of teaching.

I've already handed out a survey last week which was about their opinion on teaching methods and teachers themselves. It's already super informative but I'm sure I'll get much more out of it when talking to all of them.

I'll definitely let you guys know how it went later today. Fingers crossed everything goes the way I planned ;)!!

Skype session!!

The other week I had a skype session with Paula to discuss my inquiry and I have to say,  "Thank god!". I would recommend it anyone who hasn't had one yet - it's super informative and helpful!!

I was feeling rather lost before talking to Paula; I wasn't sure where my inquiry was heading and I lost my focus.
After discussing my inquiry with Paula, I feel back on track and it also opened up new possibilities for the way my inquiry is going to head.

I'm feeling much better now about my work and can't wait to dive further into my research!! :)

Inquiry tools

Before starting to my inquiry proposal I had to determine the inquiry tools I was going to use in the course of it. It was very helpful reading through reader 6 as it gave me a great insight into all the possibilieties I have and the pros and cons of them. I realised that I had to use multiple tools in order to achieve the best possible way of gathering information for my inquiry.

First of all, I decided to create a survey which I let fellow BAPP bloggers fill out. I found it very helpful and it was an easy way to collect data.

http://de.surveymonkey.com/s/MHLKF8J

The great thing about it is that you can see trends in questions very clearly and gives you an overview over the general view of people. The downside is that it's very impersonal. You can discuss answers beyond the point of what is written down, you only get what you ask for in the survey. Another issue is that people might be unwilling to fill it out and not take it seriously, so it's hard to make people participate in the survey. I will definitely use a survey as a tool of inquiry because it's the best way to collect general data and to see what trends there are.

Next, I conducted a pilot interview with one of my colleagues. I have to say it was far more difficult than I've imagined. It was hard for me to stick to the questions I've prepared because I other questions kept on popping into my head. I realised that I had to be better prepared for an interview and plan it more. Otherwise, I will not get the information I want and need from the interview. WHich I found really helpful was using a dictaphone. I made notes but only a few because I wanted to focus on the interview rather than making notes. Having the interview recorded helped me afterwards when I completed my notes because I didn't have to worry whether I forgot something. Also, it's great to have footage of the interview as evidence.

Conducting a focus group was a bit tricky. I did it with only a few people because eventually I'll do it groups of 4-5 people anyways. I prepared a set of questions but in the end it turned out to be more of a group conversation. I did quite enjoy it because I felt that everyone was more relaxed rather than at the beginning when I was asking questions. I think it will work better when I let the group members talk amongst themselves with me only inoutting questions and encouraging them to talk about it.

Finally, I also observed a class. I didn't participate in it but looked at it from the outside. It was difficult to the it because people in the class were distracted by my presence at first even though I've explained it to. I think the problem with observation is that everybody behaves differently ones somebody from the outside joins in. I will have to do another observation as a part of the class rather than just an outsider in order to see which one does actually work best.

Trying out all these different tools was a great experience and it helped me a lot when in terms of my inquiry. I decided, I will definitely use survey, interview and focus group as inquiry tools. I will probably also do an observation, I'm just not sure yet, how I will go about that.

Helpful research guide =)

Hi everyone,

For everybody who's interested in research and maybe needs a guide, I found this workbook really interesting and helpful. It basically explains research, different forms of inquiry and ethics.

Have a look ... it's definitely worth it ;)!

http://www.brad.ac.uk/management/media/management/els/Introduction-to-Research-and-Research-Methods.pdf

x