Monday 5 September 2022

Changes to your Programme Team this academic year

We hope you have all had good restful/busy/productive summers as needed!

As we approach the start of the new academic year and your next term of study (week 1 begins on Sept 12th with Welcome and Welcome back sessions Tuesday Sept 6th) we wanted to let you know that we are really pleased to have Dr Sam Murray taking over the role of Programme Leader for the BAPP programme for 2022/23. 

Pedro De Senna will remain as module leader for ACI 3611 and supervisor on the programme and I will be focusing more on the MA programmes for this coming academic year and my own studio choreographic practice, so supervising only module three students this term.

We are also pleased to have Dr Astrid Bernkopf continue with us as component leader for DAN4630 ETHICS, and we welcome Sarah Sulemanji and Kate Rogan, both experienced lecturers in our dance dept to the BAPP team this term. Sarah and Kate will be taking on the supervision of some of your research projects in module three. You will get to meet everyone at your Welcome / Welcome back sessions this week and we all look forward to a great term ahead with you!


Who to contact :

For Programme Updates please get into the habit of checking Sam's blog weekly.

For issues related to admissions, progression and finance please contact Sam.

To arrange supervisions, send drafts of work (as outlined on your schedule) please email your supervisor.

To discuss your Ethics process, status of your MORE application, please email Astrid.


Thursday 26 May 2022

WELL DONE!!

 

Well done to everyone on a great term's work

and to module three students on completing your BA (hons) Degree!!


As you will appreciate now we have to work with the External Examiners and then go through the university assessment boards to confirm all grades, you will see your grades published on Unihub by mid-June. Finalist students you will receive your final degree classification (1st / 2:1 / 2:2 / 3rd) the week after module grades are published. 


Module Two - Ethics Approval is due by the end of June, please remember you do not start your field research for your inquiry until September. 

Module three - graduates!! We look forward to celebrating with you at Graduation on July 4th if you're able to make it to London for this. Any queries about graduation or your certificates please contact the graduation office graduation@mdx.ac.uk NOT your supervisor!!

 

We look forward to working further with returning students in September. 


Term starts back September 12th.

 

 

Deferred submissions are due in by July 6, the folder and turnitin boxes are open now and close 23.59 July 6, you can submit anytime until this deadline for consideration for progression to the next module in September.

Monday 23 May 2022

 
 

Module Three - As you prepare for these presentations please consider the following:


You have 20mins in total, this time includes sharing your practice-based artefact with us. It will depend on how you are presenting as to how this happens, please practice to time!


You are not required to use a powerpoint or similar presentation tool. You may wish to include visual aids and prompts but consider how you do this, why and how the visual aids contribute to what you want to communicate - ie: don't read directly your slides to us. If using slides use as prompts/aids only.

Please ensure you are confident with sharing screen, including sound if needed for any element of your presentation/artefact. We will enable this, but should not be doing it for you as you present.

Please remember to talk to your learning through the process of the inquiry,  tell us what you have done this past 12 weeks and what you learned from the process, and overview your learning across the three modules of BAPP.  Please try and move away from 'findings' as the focus of the presentation. We want to hear about the process and your experience as a practitioner-researcher.

Ensure you have the schedule and double-check times if you are not in the UK - all times of the schedule are given in BST. You are strongly encouraged to be there for the whole session to support each other, not just deliver your own presentation.

Practice, breathe and celebrate the work you have done by sharing it with others!




Sunday 8 May 2022

Finalist Presentations May 23rd and 24th

 Well done to all those submitting work on Friday!!

 

An invitation to all to attend the presentations of research from our Module Three students

 

BA PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE ARTS AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

FINALIST PRESENTATIONS

 

May 23rd / 24th 2022

 

ON ZOOM (same link both days)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://mdx-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/97242044326?pwd=bUxTV1lIWHlhVGZsR0VmRHNnT3BCdz09

 

Meeting ID: 972 4204 4326

Passcode: 557057

 

 

All times are given in UK/BST

 

Monday May 23rd

0850 Welcome and house-keeping for the smooth running of assessments

 

Programme One    

20mins sharing research including artefact with 10mins questions from supervisors                 

0900 Emily Forder

0930 Jessica Lee

1000 Shannon Webster

1030 Gabrielle Young

 

1100-1130 short break

 

Programme Two

1130 Ruby Sage-O’Connor

1200 Rosanna Smith

1230 Becca Everitt

1300 Kimberley Shauna

 

Break 1330-1415

 

Programme Three

1415 Larissa King

1445 Sally Sharp

1515 Eloise Sheffield

 

 

 

Tuesday May 24th

 

0850 Welcome and house-keeping for the smooth running of assessments

 

Programme Four

20mins sharing research including artefact with 10mins questions from supervisors                 

0900 Hannah Thickett

0930 Lizzie Burder

1000 Charlotte Yates

1030  Sam Doyle        

 

11.00-11.30  short break

 

 

Programme Four

1130 Jasmine Gardner

1200 Ellie Owen

1230 Melissa Tan

 

 

 


Tuesday 3 May 2022

Ethics MORE Process

 There is some confusion over the MORE process in Module Two. 


To clarify:


March - April :

You should have all shared your MORE form with Astrid Bernkopf (a.bernkopf@mdx.ac.uk) and received feedback comments to attend to and re-submit, requesting a signature to sign off your form. 

 

Early May:

Astrid will sign off, or offer further feedback as needed. 

 

Mid-May:

ALL MORE forms then get reviewed by the Programme Team before being sent to the Ethics Committee for final approval. 

 

End May-June:

You will receive final approval, or possible some final amendments suggested by the Ethics Committee before beginning your research data collection in September. 


Please note, that this process falls outside of your submission of work for this term - May 6. 

This is not a problem. 

 

Please note that beyond reading, you are not permitted to begin any data collection (interviews, surveys, observations etc) until the start of term of your Module Three study - September 12, 2022.

Sunday 1 May 2022

A reminder of Presentation Guidelines for Written work

 

 

As a guide, please adhere to the following in terms of presentation of essays. For more detailed understanding of academic protocal, learning more about citation and referencing and general conventions of academic writing PLEASE do use the Academic Writing Centre (online) and/or contact the Learning Enhancement Team as outlined in Peter Thomas's sessions earlier in the term.


Presentation of Essays

 

Guidelines

 

 

Essays should be typed, 1.5 or double spaced. 

 

Please justify the margins on both sides. Fonts: use Arial, font size 12. 

 

The first page of your essay should include at the top; 

-       your name

-       student number and link to your blog

-       year and term of study (ie: winter 2022)

-       module title and code

-       module tutor

-       full title of assignment

-       date written 

-       final word count (this excludes your cover page bibliography and any appendices but does include all in-text citations)

 

 

Please do not use bold type or underlining in your essay, but italicize any foreign words as well as book titles and titles of choreographic works, plays or films.

 

For direct quotes in your essay use single quotation marks ‘…….’ followed by a full citation (author, year, pg). Please do not italicize quotes.

 

For quotes of 3 lines or longer please indent the whole quote and citation from the body of the essay text (1cm margins on both sides).

 

 

References in bibliography: NOTE ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST INCLUDE A BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

A bibliography is a list of all source material you have used, whether or not you have quoted from it. It is important to show that you have extended your knowledge by referring to other texts/works. A bibliography should be presented in alphabetical order of author’s surname. There are various ways of setting out a bibliography, but the details should always include:

 

Book:

Surname, Initial(s). Date of publication. Title in italics. Place of Publication: Publisher.

 

ie:

Fraleigh, S.H. 1996. Dance and the lived body: A descriptive aesthetics. USA: University of Pittsburgh Press.

 

 

Edited book:

Surname, Initial(s). (ed.). Date of publication. Title in italics. Place: Publisher.

 

ie:

Fraleigh, S. ed., 2015. Moving consciously: somatic transformations through dance,

yoga, and touch. University of Illinois Press.

 

Book chapter:

Surname, Initial(s). Date. Chapter title. In Name of editor (ed.), Book Title. Place of Publication: Publisher, pages in book.

 

For example:

Akinleye, A. and Kindred H. 2018. In-the-between-ness: Decolonising and Re-inhabiting our dancing. In Akinleye, A. (ed)., Narratives of Black British Dance: embodied practices. London: Palgrave, chapter 6

 

Journal articles:

Surname, Initial(s). Date. Title of article. Title of journal volume (issue no.), page numbers.

 

ie:

Nelson,L. 2006. ‘Fragment of a tuning run’, Contact Quarterly, vol.39. no.1

 

Videography / DVDs (a list of videos /DVDs you have used):

Name of choreographer. Date of work. Title of work in italics. [DVD/video, etc]. Place of distribution, distributing company.

 

ie:

Khan, A. and Cherkaoui, S.L. 2008. Zero Degrees [DVD]. Sadler’s Wells on Screen. Axiom Films International Limited.

 

Media broadcast, e.g. television programme

Title. Year. Type of media. Originator (e.g. channel). Exact date and time of broadcast.

ie:

TEDTalks. 2018. https://www.ted.com/talks. TED conference Boston July 2002

 

Live performance:

Choreographer. Year of premiere. Title in italics. Company (optional). [Location. Date seen].

 

ie:

Morris, M. 2018. Layla and Majnun. [Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London. 8 November 2018].

 

 



Tuesday 29 March 2022

Open discussion group CANCELLED


 A note to let you know we have had to cancel the Open Discussion Group scheduled for this evening.

 

Do connect with each other through your blogs, social media groups and of course contact your supervisors for further discussions as you move forwards with your work to submission.

Friday 25 March 2022

Performance Workshop next week!

A great opportunity open to all MDX performing arts students next week if you are close to, able to get to our Hendon Campus, London. 

 

please do get in touch with Pedro via email if you have any questions p.desenna@mdx.ac.uk


 

Performance for Futures Workshop

 

Wednesday 30th March 10:30am – 12:30pm

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/futures-tickets-300884442467 

 

GROVE Building, Studio 4   (it’s in the third part of the Grove building – over the glass walkway bridge and past the dance studios)

 

View Map

 

This workshop will be run by two performance practitioners, who are very keen to work with students in other disciplines, and will create a safe space for non-performers and performers alike to explore and express themselves.  

 

The objective of the workshop is to stimulate you to consider your potential futures in ways that will support your personal and professional development. This will be done using techniques from drama to help you imagine your own future possibilities and feel empowered to start thinking about reframing your assumptions and embracing the complexity of your (im)possible futures in the real world.

 

For any of you who are thinking forward to what you might do next year, or after graduation, this workshop will give you some wonderful tools for self-development and creative exploration - and you will get to mix with students from the other programmes!   

 

If you would like to learn from the tools and techniques of another discipline to help your creative self-development, do sign up by 7:00pm on Monday, March 28th on Eventbrite (here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/futures-tickets-300884442467) for Wednesday 30th March 10:30am – 12:30pm (only if you are available and do not have scheduled classes).

Thursday 24 March 2022

Feedback

 

As drafts of work come in this week - please do ensure you take time to engage in the feedback process thoroughly by instigating feedback using the feedback discussion form. 

 

Sending simply an attachment to an email with no feedback form and no email text in some cases, is both unprofessional and shows a lack of engagement with your learning/feedback process. 

 

A reminder for Module two's you should be sending in your draft proposal - Your Supervisor does not need your participant info form, consent form, ethics form etc, these are all uploaded as part of your MORE application and Astrid will be feeding back on these to you.

Tuesday 15 March 2022

ETHICS - REMINDER

 A note on the MORE application process 


You should all be sharing your completed MORE applications with Astrid Bernkopf this Friday - this does not mean it is finished and ready to submit to the ethics committee, it means you have had a go at completing the whole application and shared it with Astrid for feedback.

After Friday Astrid will feedback on your MORE applications (NOT INDIVIDUAL EMAILS) with comments for you to attend to and re-submit the application - if needed Astrid may contact you to discuss something further before you re-submit. 

 

Please consider the ethics of your own actions in this process - should you be asking someone else which boxes to tick? Or asking yourself the questions the MORE form is posing and taking time to consider what your response may be in relation to your proposed inquiry.

 

Please note that Astrid's name should be given as the PI/Supervisor on all of your MORE applications as it is Astrid that needs to see your application on Friday and oversee the Ethics process with you. 


Please do refer to the recording of the ETHICS session Astrid gave in week 5 - this was very thorough and is on unihub for you as a guide to refer back to.

Sunday 13 March 2022

Change of Schedule - MODULE THREE session this week

 Module Three students 

there has been an unexpected change to schedule this week


Please note that the session scheduled:

 

Tuesday March 15th  

ACI3633 Module Three focus

The central place of analysis, synthesis of information through reflection

5pm (UK)

 

 

Will now take place on 

 

Thursday March 17th 9am (UK) 

The session will be recorded but please make every effort to attend live in order that we can have a discussion about your reflections on data and buidling analysis

Feedback Exchange

 

As we approach the time in the term when you are preparing work in draft form to email to your supervisors to initiate a conversation on that work in order to support you in developing the work further and ready for submission in May, I wanted to share this established Feedback Response process pioneered by dance-artist, maker, scholar Liz Lerman - if you are not familiar with her work do look it up!!


Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process is widely acknowledged and used in dance and making contexts but also in practice-as-research, oepn dialogue and scholarly conversation. 


Do, take a look and consider some of the principles of this process in relation to the process of your draft work submitted for feedback and how we advocate on this programme for a Feedback Exchange between student and supervisor...

REMEMBER this course is about developing your independent learning and you finding your own voice in your work and practice - feedback is not about asking if your work is 'right'



https://lizlerman.com/critical-response-process/

 

do share your thoughts...



Tuesday 1 March 2022

Literature Review

 We had a great session with Sam, talking us through literature reviews for Mdoule two this week

 - the recording is on unihub for you now if you missed it... 

 

 sharing this snapshot reminder of what we mean in academic terms by Literature and Literature reviews...  

 Look at what has gone before you...who else has been interested in and written or spoken about the same topic you are interested in??



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry_54WleO7Y

Tuesday 22 February 2022

Ethics

 

Some thinking on Ethics ahead of our session on Thursday March 3rd, looking in detail at the Ethics Applciation process within Module Two (MORE)


Ethics are central to our lives and practice, not something only addressed through research (just that ethics become neccesarily visible then perhaps)

Ethical considerations, address how we are mindful of our actions, words, practice and the potential impact is has on those around us, and how these considerations cannot avoid the social, cultural and historical contexts from which they emerge. 

Ethical procedures, address the ways in which we may go about informing and 'safe-guarding' others of our practice-research. The MORE application process we use in Module Two is just this, the ethical procedures that the university requires you to undertake in order to approve your proposal for a research inquiry.

 

Within the framework of designing your research project in module two you are asked to attend to the Ethcial Procedures of your proposed research project by completing the MORE application online (dates as indicated on your schedule - note that this has an earlier deadline than the submission of the rest of your work for module two this term). 

You are asked to discuss the Ethical considerations of your proposed research project within the body of your written research proposal. 

 

You can use the MORE application - the questions asked, your responses to them, to help you to frame the research proposal as a whole. The questions asked around the Aims of your research, what methodologies you will use, what data collections methods, who your participants will be, are all to be addressed in your proposal. 



             Consider these ideas in relation to the research you are proposing:

What hierarchies exist, 

what stereotypes, 

exclusions, 

expectations, 

what do you think about these as you design a research project proposal (Ethical Considerations) 

and 

what actions do you take to recognise your own privilege and minimise potentially negative impacts on others as a result of your research (Ethical Procedures).


The thinking leads to the actions you take. 

The ethical considerations of your research (discussed in your research proposal) lead to the choices you make about the ethical procedures you will engage with (outlined in your MORE application).


What are some of the ethical considerations of your research at this stage?

 

 

 

DANCE UMBRELLA PANEL DISCUSSION TODAY

 

Middlesex University are hosting an exciting and timely panel discussion as part of Dance Umbrella 

 

4.30pm (UK) details below, 

 REGISTER FOR FREE TO ATTEND ON ZOOM



 

Pivoting Your Practice: A festival and artist’s perspective with Freddie Opoku-Addaie, Tania Wilmer, Sarah Golding & Yukiko Masui 

Tuesday 22 February, 4.30pm (90 minutes) 

Zoom | BSL interpreted & captioned 

 

An exclusive in conversation with artists Sarah Golding and Yukiko Masui and Dance Umbrella’s Artistic Director/CEO Freddie Opoku-Addaie and Executive Director Tania Wilmer. Aimed at final year students, the panel will discuss how a dance company and festival have adapted to make, produce, present work and survive during the pandemic, and what the future looks like for the sector. This will be followed by Q&A. 

 

You will be contacted on the day of the event with the Zoom link. 

 

Friday 18 February 2022

KORTEXT - your FREE text book per module

 STUDENTS WANTING TO GET YOUR FREE KORTEXT BOOK - WHEN IT IS NOT AVAILABLE ONLINE -  

MODULE THREES!!  

PLEASE COMPLETE THIS FORM ONLINE AND THE BOOK, I AM ASSURED WILL BE SENT TO YOU THE NEXT WORKING DAY. 


https://mdxl.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a9sEXCE0ZoSaTga

 

 

 

 

 

 

THERE ARE OF COURSE OTHER TEXTS DEALING WITH TRANSFORMING QUALITATIVE DATA THAT YOU CAN ACCESS ONLINE IN THE MEANTIME...

 

 

THESE TITLES ARE ALL AVAILABLE ONLINE THROUGH AN MDX LIBRARY SEARCH AND OF COURSE YOU WILL FIND OTHERS THROUGH YOUR OWN RESEARCH

 


Qualitative data analysis : practical strategies

Bazeley, Patricia.
2013
 

Tuesday 15 February 2022

Research Methods - why interviews??

As you are planning your research inquiry (Module two) or embarking on it (Module three) you may be considering using interviews as a data collection method. 

This TEDTalk with Dave Isay offers a great example of the value and power of interviews, the role of the interviewer, the ethics around interviews for you to consider and think further on as you develop your research or approach interviewing people. 


REMEMBER THE AIM OF THE INTERVIEW IS NOT TO GET PEOPLE TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS!!!




https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=dave+isay+ted+talk

 

 

what are your thoughts? 


Reading Lists

PLEASE PLEASE DO GO TO THE READING LIST FOR YOUR MODULE OF STUDY EACH TERM AS THE FIRST PLACE TO BEGIN!!


TALKING WITH MANY OF YOU, PARTICULARLY IN MODULE TWO THAT ARE GETTING CAUGHT UP IN READING ABOUT YOUR AREA OF PROPOSED INQUIRY - WHICH IS GREAT, BUT YOU ARE  MISSING THAT THIS MODULE IS ABOUT DESIGNING THE RESEARCH PROJECT YOU WILL UNDERTAKE IN MODULE THREE. YOU ARE NOT DOING THE RESEARCH THIS TERM...

 

MODULE TWO READING LIST MATERIAL COVERS HOW TO DESIGN A RESEARCH PROJECT, ETHICS, METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION ETC... THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO BE ENGAGING WITH IN ORDER TO GET A SENSE OF HOW YOU WILL LOOK AT AND LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AREA YOU ARE INTERESTED IN. 


WATCH THE RECORDING OF SAM'S SESSION, TALKING THROUGH CLEARLY THE MODULE AIMS AND WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING THIS TERM. IT IS ON UNIHUB FOR YOUR REFERENCE.



Wednesday 9 February 2022

Programme Voice Groups - Meet your Student Voice Leaders (student reps)

 

A notice to invite you to connect, share feedback, offer positive learning experiences, express concerns as we continue to review and improve the BAPP ACI programme


The Programme Voice Groups (PVG’s) are one of the main formal channels of communication between staff and students. in order to support the programme. They are a forum in which students (through the Student Voice Leaders) and staff working and talking together can constructively discuss areas of good practice as well as areas needing improvement, with the collective aim of enhancing the student experience. Student and Staff should both be given assurances they will not be penalised for raising issues at a PVG.

PVG’s occur each term and your Student Voice Leader will ask for programme feedback from you to report to staff at the pre-meeting to develop and agenda, for the issues to be addressed at the main meeting. You will also be given feedback from both staff and the Student Voice Leaders on the outcomes of the feedback.

 

Your Current Student Voice Leaders

Logan McQuillan email: LM1412@live.mdx.ac.uk

Ellie Owen email: EO716@live.mdx.ac.uk


The next Student Voice meeting is  March 21st 2022

 

Do get in touch with Ellie or Logan no later than March 7 for your views to be heard and represented at this meeting.