Blog writing

Wednesday 15th November

This blog session is held by Dr Rachel Marsden who specialises in creative health, working freelance and as both a Research Fellow and a supervisor for PhD’s across Ual, teaching as a Senior Lecturer on both the PgCert and MA in Academic Practice. This session is fantastic, helping me to think about writing & my ARP in a different way, I could definitely use some of these activities with my own students. She shares a slide deck to help us as a visual resource. Mentioning Pat Francis book – Taking a Line for a Write.

Today is about blog writing and sharing

• Rolling reflection
• Data sources
• Experimental
• Discovery

We limber up with a list exercise, free writing lists as an everyday method. Creative lists to generate ideas and inspire creative work. I am asked to write a list of everything I did since waking up this morning, we all have 5 minutes to complete this. I’m amazed at how many things I have achieved this morning. We also write a list of what colours we can see around us. This is so light, fun and thought provoking.

The task helps us to think about how we document, using observation as a method. See in different ways, what we hear or feel. Workshop – focus group, participant facing, observation as a form of reflection. A period of time – concentrated. Unit brief – check the criteria eg. data collection etc What have I got? Write a list.

Our next 5-minute task is a memory making tool. We are asked to create a pattern in letters, to act as a device in memory making. We create Mnemonics using the letters from our names to create a list of keywords as a summary, that define our Action Research Projects. This exercise helps me enormously, to consider what are the key points of importance for both my research & my intervention.

Our tutor shares;

R – Researching
A – Arts
C – Care
H – Health
E – Ethics
L – Lived Experience

I write;
S – Searching
A – Answers
R – Research / Reflection
A – Analysing
H – Hearing

M – Making / Methodology
A – Art & Design
N – Number / Nature
S – Social Responsibility / Students / Staff
E – Ethics
L – Looking
L – Learning / Lived Experience

How could I take this further? Other words that come up in people’s poems include: variety, group, creativity, observation, insightful, brainstorming, emotion, reflective, inclusion creativity investigation – methods. We are asked to really think about ‘what are your priorities as part of your APR?’ I must make sure I can define what my research is and then invite my participants. This will help with co-production. Think about the reading I am interested in as part of my APR. Create a concept map. Think – are the words appropriate in the context of my research? Go further with each word – position in context. Action or active verbs – doing words. The experience made me think about what the key elements of my Action Research project are, along with a wider reflection on the activity. How would I define each activity? What reading should I do on it? Does this identify any gap I’m missing? Participants? Can a numeric reveal senses and emotions?

We are given a proposal of ‘to do exercises’ – promoting the approval to write. These are to do in our own time. The Reflectionnaire (Francis 2009:83) – the way, the how and what of writing. Consider – how do you write? What are the hurdles? Time and space? A framework? How might you create ­a Reflectionnaire for the Action Research Project? How do I write? Lists, post it notes, untidy handwriting. Take pleasure in writing as reflection. I write too much, about what I need to do to formalise it in my own mind. I need to read more reading. I reminder myself to look at the workshop three resources on Sunday. Rachel tells us that if you do a PhD there is a lot of reading & research, but the writing is hard. We are reminded to think about what we find hard and easy to do.

Time – idea generations.

There is no perfect time to write, there are times that we are better. Rachels tells us – give yourself the time to write, time boxing as a daily practise. For example – after breakfast, every morning. Write at the kitchen table. Time box, same time, every day. Short or long? Use dictation? Talk to word or just my iPhone? Investigate how the pomodoro technique works – 25-minutes on, 5-minute break but longer breaks throughout the day. Use time boxing – schedule a time. I tend to think about my work for a long time and then write with the pressure of a deadline! APR – engage in an interaction continuously. We can’t leave this to the last minute because it requires blogging & a presentation. It’s fine to work offline and upload it later, which is what I tend to do. Writing up my handwritten notes from each session. Find what word works for me.

ASAP

• Blog posts done before Christmas
• Make my cards
• January 9th plan to do the workshop & collate feedback
  Sadly my US students will be gone by then
• Need to do in December?
• Design and write a presentation of where I am
• Homework for session 3

• Idea generation – content bank
• Look at Lindsay’s blog post suggestions etc
• What should I focus on?
• Make sure I are meeting all of those areas
• Free write about my ideas
• Acknowledge any gaps eg. Research Methods

Find more literature & theory to underpin

• Definition – feelings & emotions
• Look at the Unit brief
• Data collection – analysis, integration, quotations, add into my text. Lines that resonate or are challenging. A diagram of five legs responding to a question with links, agree or disagree. This can also include anecdotes, statements or quotations – extract a quote and sit it in that space, generative to create a paragraph around it, that is analysis. Generative – value & power – reading / listening can form a pivotal moment for you as an approach. Have a set of criteria to identify – thematic analysis. Criteria to select quotations for analysis. A generative process, repeated process – I am interacting follows the Action Research cycle. Our third session in person will go over this.
• Summary – what I’ve got out of the project.
• What changes did I make in the project / did the project go through? An honesty task. Attitudes, ways of working.
• What brought me joy? Inspired me? An achievement?
• Blocks & barriers – What did I overcome?
• Reflect on my tutorials, the advice I have been given, feedback on my ethics form etc.
• How did I manage your time?
• Is my APR experimental enough?
• What skills have I gained? For me, learning how to collected & distil data. The practical workshops, learning how to use the digital print space at LCC, how to pay for my printouts, a Risograph induction and how to print my cards using this technique.
• What next? Using the cards I create, develop a workshop. I would like to be part of a responsible design practice – creating a unit for my students (This will happen as our course is currently under revalidation with the new course beginning in September 2024)  
• What I found challenging? I sent questionnaires to staff members I had engaged with for my project, the lack of response made me realise that I needed to make the experience less formal. I evaluated what I had created and made significant changes. I invited my participants to meet me and conduct interviews with each where the questions I was posing could be asked and we could discuss those themes together, I found this incredibly rewarding.
• Attend 12:00pm session about our presentations
• 29th of November 2:00 to 4:00pm Cross-programme event
• Blog post – a visual plan of my work
• I am reminded to capture new, raw material – write notes, capture the energy. Edit later not as I go. Drive the idea, think about the focus later. I could give my questions to another colleague on the PgCert for feedback. Check – are my questions clear? Are there different ways to say what I am asking? Refinement of writing. WIDEL – write it down, edit later. (Francis 2009:207) Capture the raw material.
• Look at Rachel’s references
• What next for me? I love Graphic design, the English language & History – apply for the MA? One day, a PhD? Design, writing, research.