Friday, 19 November 2010

Reflective Theory

Last week, I was asked to choreograph a dance to for a pilot for a new video game. The game is to be aimed at non-dancers of all ages and the idea is that they can play it in their living rooms. Therefore, the choreography had to be simple to follow and relatively compact in order for people to play at home. Yet, it also had to be fun and challenging enough so that people have the desire to play the game. This was like nothing I had ever done before, I knew it would require a lot of research into similar, pre-existing games in order for me to deliver what the client was looking for.


John Dewey describes 'reflective thought' as 'active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge' (Dewey, 1933)


When choreographing this piece I used 'active consideration' primarily to reflect on existing dance games. I viewed and played many of these games before I got to work on my own creation and considered what I liked and didn't like about each one. I was 'persistently' reviewing what I was creating while I was creating it, I changed the piece from its original form many times before I was satisfied. Finally, I had to 'carefully consider' every movement in order to ensure it fitted the brief I was given.


I can also clearly see Lewin's notion of the spiral steps reflected in my learning process.
PLANNING (Researching existing games)
ACTION (Creating the routine)
EVALUATION (Reflecting on what I thought worked and what I wanted to change)
PLANNING (More research and brain-storming ideas)
ACTION (Changing the routine and improving it)
and so on....
Lewin's 'steps' refer to having an experience as a continual or 'persistent' upward cycle finally reaching the finished result. In my case these 'steps' lead me to a routine I was contented with.


Lewin and Dewey's ideas on learning inspired Kolb to create his 'Learning Cycle'. His cycle consists of  the different stages we go through when we are having an experience.



It is easy to see how Kolb developed his ideas from Lewin's 'spiral steps' the stages are similar:

CONCRETE KNOWLEDGE  - Doing something (Action)
REFLECTIVE OBSERVATION - Reflecting on what you've done (Evaluation)
ABSTRACT CONCEPTUALISATION - Learning from what you've done (Evaluation)
ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION - Trying out new ideas (Planning/Action)

What makes this an expansion on Lewin's 'steps' is the idea is that everybody's way of learning is different and depending on who you are and your particular learning style determines at what point you enter the learning cycle and gain new knowledge.

After much deliberation I realised how my experience of choreographing for the video game fits into Kolb's cycle. My learning process went like this:

CONCRETE KNOWLEDGE - Watching and playing dance video games for research
REFLECTIVE OBSERVATION - Reflecting on what I liked and didn't like from the games
ABSTRACT CONCEPTUALISATION - Evaluating what I learned from reflecting on the games
ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION - Putting what I've learned into action and coming up with my own creation
CONCRETE KNOWLEDGE - Doing the routine I created
REFLECTIVE OBSERVATION - Reflecting on what I liked and didn't like from my creation
ABSTRACT CONCEPTUALISATION - Evaluating what I've learned from reflecting on my creation
ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION - Putting my evaluation into action and changing parts to make it better
and so on...

I think I entered Kolb's 'Learning Cycle' right at my first bout of 'concrete knowledge'. By actively watching and physically playing the video games myself I learned exactly what kind of routine I was aiming to create. Next came the 'reflective observation' where I thought about what aspects of the existing games I wanted to incorporate in my routine. Then, using 'abstract conceptualisation' I evaluated my reflections. I already knew it had to be simple enough for non-dancers to follow but from playing them myself I found they often used some harder steps to keep players interested. Then I used 'active experimentation' to put my evaluation into action and create a routine which incorporated what I had learned from the previous three stages of learning. Then the entire cycle was repeated several times but with reference to my own creation.

Although I can see how my process fits into his work, some critics have voiced problems with Kolb's learning cycle. Tony Jeffs and Mark K. Smith (2005) wrote,

"(Kolb's) steps are shown as a circular movement. In reality, these things may be happening all at once. Furthermore, if learning has taken place then, as Kurt Lewin put it, such a process could be seen as a spiral of steps,"

From my own experience with the dance video game I must disagree with their first criticism that all the steps may be happening at once. I feel that I found each step to be separate from the last and that I gained further understanding with each step. However, the second part of their argument, that Kurt Lewin's spiral steps is more in keeping with the idea that learning is taking place, I find to be quite true. As I have already said I found that I repeated the 'learning cycle' a few times before I was satisfied with what I had created.  Therefore, I visualise this as more of a steady progression upward like spiral stairs rather than a continuing cycle because each time I completed a cycle I felt closer to achieving my goals. This idea of there being no sense of achieving goals links to another critics work. Rogers (1996) writes,

"learning includes goals, purposes, intentions, choices and decision-making, and it is not clear where these elements fit into the learning cycle'

I must agree that within Kolb's cycle there is not really a sense of reaching goals. However, I feel that his cycle does in fact incorporate intentions and choices. Particularly in the evaluation and planning steps i.e Abstract conceptualisation and Active experimentation where I looked at what needed to be done to improve my piece and why. Therefore, I had both intentions and I made choices. 

I found each step of Kolb's cycle to be important because with each step I learned something new. This now opens the door to to idea of 'Multiple Intelligences' (Gardner 1983) because each step of the 'learning cycle' is a different approach to learning. Gardner introduced the idea that people can engage in learning from many different view points or 'lenses' (Gardner 2005). 'VAK' is an abbreviation of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning. In terms of my project I think I most definitely learned using all three intelligences of 'VAK':


VISUAL - When researching (i.e viewing existing games)
AUDITORY - When listening to the music I had been sent and deciding on what choreography would fit to it
KINAESTHETIC - When researching (i.e playing existing games) and when choreographing the piece

Dewey, mentions the idea of 'present' and 'future' reflections in his work (Dewey 1934). However, Donald Schon took this a stage further and developed the concept of 'Reflection-In-Action' and 'Reflection-On-Action' (Schon 1987). The difference being 'Reflection-In-Action' is reflecting in the moment as the experience is occurring and 'Reflection-On-Action' takes place after the event.

Below, is a post I made to my blog on 11-11-2010 about 'Reflection-In-Action,

"Reflection - In - Action

Today, I was taking a dance class at Amsterdam Dance Centre, which is like the version of Pineapple here. As I was following the class I was very aware of how I was learning in a way I had never considered before. Every time I corrected myself I knew I was engaging in what was named 'Reflection-In-Action' by (Schon 1984). I would never have thought before that I was reflecting at this point. We often think of refection solely as something we engage in after an event and this is why it is thought of as tacit knowledge. Our careers are very physical and if we say fall out of a pirouette we have to reflect there and then using our bodies in order to improve. Leaving it and thinking about it later or even writing it down later would not work because next time you go to do that pirouette then chances are it won't work again because we 'think' with our bodies."



In this case I was aware that I was using 'Reflection-In-Action' while taking dance class. It is common for dancers to use this type of reflection as we need to correct ourselves on the spot. However, in the video game project I was doing and indeed all types of choreography I think that 'Reflection-On-Action' is used a lot too.

While I was creating the routine I would correct myself while I was dancing because ways to improve the piece would come into my head during the process, an example of 'Reflection-In-Action'. Yet, I would also use 'Reflection-On-Action' afterwards when I wasn't dancing through the routine to think of ways to improve it. I think a mixture of the two was essential to me being contented with my creation.

There has been some criticism on Schon's theory. Eraut (1994) wrote,

"when time is extremely short, decisions have to be rapid and the scope for reflection is extremely limited.'

I understand what Eraut is saying but the fact is that that is what Schon's theory is all about and understanding that you are in fact reflecting even when time is short is the break through Schon made. 

So, when I am creating a piece it is vital for me to write things down because often a rush of ideas will come to me and I need to jot them down before I forget them. However, if I were to learn a routine that isn't my own creation I wouldn't consider doing this. Once I have learned the steps, through repetition of the movements, I no longer need to think 'whats coming next?' as my body knows what is coming next. 

Twyla Tharp explains how a dancer can falter if she tries to think about the steps she is dancing because, "Her memory of movement doesn’t need to be accessed through conscious effort" (Tharp and Reiter 2006). This muscle memory is a form of tacit knowledge i.e knowledge which is hard to put into words.

I remember when I was performing in a show in Spain last year. We did the same two hour show five nights a week for six months. One night towards the end of my contract I just 'forgot' a step. Now, when I say I forgot it wasn't my brain that was in control but my body, and so it was body that 'blanked'. When I came off stage and tried to recall what I had forgotten I couldn't. I couldn't do it because I was forcing myself to think about it. Then I asked a friend to see if she could help me, she couldn't remember either because I was forcing her to think about something which normally came naturally to her. In the end we had to physically go through the entire routine and the 'missing' step just flowed back into our bodies. It took us doing it physically to remember because it was all in our muscle memory by that point. 

(Moon 1999) and (Osterman and Kottcamp 2004) have written of the importance of articulating tacit knowledge in order to gain understanding from it. Moon particularly has written a lot about how journals are a good way to help professionals in the area of the arts to reflect. It does not have to be written. It can be drawings or poems. Anything that will help us to tap into the underlying understanding within tacit knowledge. A journal is meant to help us use 'critical thinking'.








Thursday, 11 November 2010

Journal Writing Experience

From doing the reflective writing (task 2b) I learned some valuable things about the day that I didn't notice on first consideration. I found that the best way of reflecting for me was the 'list' because it meant I just threw down events, thoughts and feelings from the day. Then, the 'evaluation' method meant I could expand on what I had listed. I am going to continue to use this technique when writing my journal and see if it suits me. Also, I started writing my original journal entries on in Microsoft Word. I have now changed that and opted for old style pen and paper. There is something raw when I write this way which I feel I miss when using the computer. I feel my thoughts need to be in my hand writing complete with crossings out and misspellings.

Today, was a very ordinary day. I did normal everyday things which I would have thought of as not really worth reflecting on. however, by doing so I learned so much! For example, although I really enjoyed my dance class this morning I wasn't paying attention as well as I could. Sometimes, I think it is hard to criticise oneself in this way but we can learn a lot from it. I wasn't engaging as well as I should have because my mind was on other things. When I considered what I was distracting me I realised that I am feeling stressed about this getting all the work done for this course. I am also nervous because I have to present my dance for a video game tomorrow.

Before doing this exercise maybe I'd have just said I wasn't feeling 100% and may not have really pin-pointed why. This task made me really look at how I was feeling and why and now I can see it objectively and find ways of preventing stress and nerves.

Reflection - In - Action

Today, I was taking a dance class at Amsterdam Dance Centre, which is like the version of Pineapple here. As I was following the class I was very aware of how I was learning in a way I had never considered before. Every time I corrected myself I knew I was engaging in what was named 'Reflection-In-Action' by (Schon 1984). I would never have thought before that I was reflecting at this point. We often think of refection solely as something we engage in after an event and this is why it is thought of as tacit knowledge. Our careers are very physical and if we say fall out of a pirouette we have to reflect there and then using our bodies in order to improve. Leaving it and thinking about it later or even writing it down later would not work because next time you go to do that pirouette then chances are it won't work again because we 'think' with our bodies.

Monday, 8 November 2010

Learning Styles

While reading the course reader on Reflective Practices I was fascinated by the different learning styles we all have. When considering how I approached my blog, with regard to Kolb's 'Learning Cycle', I realised that I entered the cycle at the stage of Reflective Observation because I viewed other people's blogs and decided what I liked about theirs and what ideas I'd use when doing my own and what I wouldn't choose to use.

Then, after reading Howard Gardner's (1983) ideas on different intelligences I wanted to learn what kind of learner I am. http://www.ldpride.net/learningstyles.MI.htm points out that people who choose to be dancers, such as myself, are likely to be Bodily/Kinaesthetic learners. However, when I took a learning styles test on http://www.acceleratedlearning.com/method/test_flash.html. I found that I learn using a number of Gardner's said intelligences. My top learning style being Linguistic followed by Musical, Inter personal and Intra personal. After Linguistic I scored the same for the following three methods.

What I found interesting was that the Bodily/Kinaesthetic method of learning for me was very low so I asked my boyfriend who is an actor (another profession which lends itself to the Bodily/Physical learning style) to take the test and see what styles of learning he uses the most. His outcome was Musical first, followed equally by Linguistic and Visual/Spatial and then by Bodily/Physical. So he uses the Bodily/Physical method more than a lot of other learning styles but it still isn't the main one he uses.

I wonder what learning styles other entertainers use? I understand that it is only a guide line that dancers and actors are Bodily/Physical learners but I think it is interesting that a group of people in the same profession can learn so differently. It is interesting, when in a rehearsal process, how different dancers need to learn things. Some dancers have to write what they have learnt in the session down right away, others have to film the routine just learned to practice at home.

Thursday, 4 November 2010

LinkedIn

I created a LinkedIn page a couple of days ago and I have already found it useful to connect with companies and employers. I would have never thought to use this website before this course began but I now realise the more you put into into these Web 2.0 platforms the more you get out of them!

The link to my profile is:
http://nl.linkedin.com/in/eleanorsykes

Web 2.0 in the workplace - Harnessing Collective Intelligence

This is the final of O'Reilly's core competencies to look at with regard to Web 2.0 in the work place.

Collective collaboration is the idea of users working together to build a better Web 2.0 platform. It is the basic notion that two parts on their own can come together to create something better as a whole.

Without this collaboration social networking sites would not exist. Reading the statistics for Facebook is very thought provoking. I can look at it in the form of numbers, for example, the leap from 1500 users in 2004 to the 400 million that use it now. Or that 160 million objects that people interact with such as groups and events (http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics). However, how I'd like to look at is that how in 2006 I had no idea what facebook was, and nor did possibly 50% plus of the people now using it. I didn't even get a facebook page until late 2007. Now, everyday I check my facebook along with millions of people around the world who are all collaborating to the information shared on the website to create a massively intelligent Web 2.0 platform.

Gruber (2007) 3 components that help to harness collective intelligence are:

1) A Social System
2) A Search Engine
3) Intelligent Users

All three of these components help make Facebook the powerful information tool it is today. It is a social system with billions of interactive objects and pieces of content with masses of information to look at. It has an intelligent search engine which recommends pages, friends and photos which it calculates you may be interested in due to other information you have viewed. No wonder a user can spend hours clicking away on facebook when it keeps predicting objects you are going to want to view and interact with. Which is, in fact, the exact point and brings us to the final component of 'Intelligent Users'. Without users logging on, interacting (commenting, posting photos etc.), using the system on a regular basis it wouldn't work nearly as well. The more interactions a user makes with a Web 2.0 platform the better it becomes.

The collective intelligence that millions of users have put into facebook via groups and events means that we all benefit from a system with more information and easier links.

When considering how this benefits my life as a performer. The best way I can describe how is through a recent occurrence in my working life.I met an Estonian girl while working on a job here in Amsterdam. She has worked here for a while and knows the dance world here far better than me. Also, I felt we had a good 'neither-of-us-are-from-here' connection. I wanted to find her through facebook because not only did I think she would be a good contact to have, I also liked her very much! However, all I had was a first name. I thought I'd give it a go anyway and she popped up right away. The reason? We both had updated our 'current location' to Amsterdam and we had one mutual friend. The combination of the intelligent search engine plus myself and the girl plus our mutual friend updating our profiles (being intelligent users) made the process very easy indeed.