Course Reader 4

Are there any ideas from work based or organisational knowledge theories of learning that could be used to understand your own professional inquiry?

I think that understanding some of the theory will help me with my critical reflection, comparing planned or theory with actual and evaluating why and how changes made me feel.  Also what the advantages and disadvantages were of the consequences of any changes.    I am not a theorist so as I am reading I am constantly finding real examples from my professional practice, which helps me understand what is being described

The theory from Argyris and Schon of single and double loop learning helped me understand some aspects of my professional practice.  The main example I could think of and have witnessed as a dancer is when the choreographer’s ideas are affected by the ability of the cast.  In one of the contacts I had, the original boy dancer was injured and he was hastily replaced.  The replacement was skilled in different areas, so the original choreography didn’t work as well.  So the constraints were the cast because it was too late to change again, the strategy (choreography) was now being reviewed and had to change (single loop) so the consequence was not what the choreographer wanted.  If the management had thought about the real long term consequences and adopted a double loop, remove the constraint and change the cast the outcome would probably have been the desired one. 

The other thing that really made me think was how; despite, wanting to learn and grow, some of the actions don’t actually help me do that for example when Senge talks about mental modes and how people make assumptions which may stop them getting the best from a situation.  So I will try to be more abstract in my thinking, look at others and think outside the box.

Do you work within a disciplinary context in the arts?  or is your situation more transdisciplinary

I think I work in all of them according to the role I am fulfilling at the time

·         When I am purely a dancer in a cast I am disciplinary.

·         When I am a singer dancer in a cast I am multidisciplinary because I use several skills to perform

·         When I was a company manager I was Interdisciplinary because I use many skills including management, health and well being, etc

·         When I work for the SPX props company I am trans disciplinary because I still consider myself a dancer working in a new environment crossing the boundaries into new sectors of the entertainment business referring to and building on existing skills and competencies.

http://www.hent.org/transdisciplinary.htm

What do you know, how do you know it

Skills
Many genres of dance	Education & experience
Singing	Education & experience
Acting	Education & experience
Costume making	Education & experience
Theatrical makeup	Education & experience
Teaching	Education & experience
Choreography	Education & experience
Back stage support	Experience
People Management	Experience & coaching
General
How to organise an event	Experience
Business admin	Training & experience
Holistic Therapy	Training

What knowledge and skills do think you will need for the future?

Short term I want to stay in the entertainment industry, so all the knowledge and skills listed above I will need.  For the future I want to learn about new sectors so whatever direction I move to, will influence what skills I will need.  The truth is I don’t know what knowledge and skills I will need for the future but what I do know is I want to continue to increase my existing knowledge and learn new skills as opportunities arise.    Depending on the career path I choose I will take any opportunity available to learn about the industry or the role I am fulfilling.  In fact if I can, I will learn about anything that interests me.

The points in the reading that will I will use to develop my topic:

‘we enter without knowing , in order to discover what we need to know to lead us to what there is to know.’  Penelope Hanstein (199,23)

This statement said it all to me and made me feel much more at ease about not knowing at this stage what my line of enquiry is.  I know the subject because it is the topic which is a key element of the big picture, something I take for granted and want to know more about.  So I am going to start exploring without knowing, so I can learn, discover, compare and question which will help me find out what there is to know.

As the topic is complimentary to my professional practice I will question knowledge and skills in, complimentary to and out of the workplace.   What the reading has done is broaden my initial scope to help me evaluate why and how different things might be in the scope of my professional practice.

The use of academic literature has always been a burden to me but now I see how complimentary it can be to practitioner research in particular Penelope Hanstein (199,23) “It is a way of thinking and acting; a way of posing and responding to questions; a way of expressing and communicating ideas”  In some situations the richness of the questions and challenge could be greater if you have some academic knowledge.

I will use primary research as much as possible and I will give some thought to the experimental knowledge.  The reading gave me a much broader idea of some data sources e.g. journal, case studies, policies, web, trade periodical, internal non published papers only available in the work place

Starting points I might use for my questions are to talk to the art directors, set and costume designers in my current work place.  Talk more with friends, colleagues and contacts who are involved in performance and costumes.  I also want to find out from people who are involved in costumes but outside of my professional practice.  I will look at courses that might include this subject and what resources are available.  They are going to be mainly questions to help me explore but more importantly refine my topic.

My expectations are:

·         Use my professional network

·         To highlight what I don’t know

·         To build on what I do know

·         To find some people are unhelpful

·         Keep open minded about my strategy (single loop & double loop approach)

·         To test out being more abstract with my thinking

·         To start challenging things