Online Session (09/04/15) - Discussing Module 1 Part 3: The Networked Professional

This session was to be my first for one of two experiences; the first being an online discussion with the rest of the BAPP students and the second being my use for the web 2.0 platform that is ‘Skype’. The prospect of sharing ideals with other students in such a manner was one of excitement. As with the campus session, this post comes a few weeks after its occurrence. Since then, I have had time to read and develop views further via engagement with the third reader and conversations with other students via blogs. The session was held by Paula and included Catherine, Jessica and Laura. They have uploaded posts since with their own views on the session that are worth looking at.

We began the session with a recap of part two of the module, with particular regard to Schön’s theory of ‘reflection-in-action’ and ‘reflection-on-action’. After having appropriate time to evaluate its uses, there was a group consensus that reflection-on-action served as the best method for logging professional practice. We further agreed that we often enter Kolb’s learning cycle through ‘reflective observation’ or ‘abstract conceptualisation’, sometime after an experience has occurred. I was at this time still working through tasks for the second part of the module. Whilst I had started my journal I had yet to explore the writing style, informed by Moon’s framework, of ‘initial reflection’. During my entries utilising this approach I came to find more clarity, and that by use of adjectives and other literary devices for what I noticed around me that this was inflected on the overall outcome of an experience. This provoked me into thinking how environment informs my reflection and that perhaps reflection-in-action can be used to a lot effect than previously thought.

Paula then brought our attention to the next and final part of the module, ‘the networked professional’. She asked us to begin thinking about our current networks, where they exist and how they interplay to inform practice. We were then introduced to practitioners Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger and their theory of ‘communities of practice’, the belief that learning is conceived by the maintaining of social relationships as opposed to the individual gathering knowledge serving themselves by no other influence. We were then asked to carry out an exercise that would best demonstrate how our own networks, as vague or as distant as they seem from one another, work in cohesion to allow us to carry out our day-to-day practice. This took the form of a diagram that illustrated this process. We were given five minutes to carry out the exercise.

 

Although I drew the diagram again for presentational purposes, the layout featured is one of complete spontaneity within the time of the task. I knew my part-time retail job would be at the epicenter, not so much for its importance over other areas but for its grounding in allowing me to shape other activities around it. All other areas of networking have either presently or at some time previously co-existed around this constant network. Looking at the diagram as a piece, it is strange to see so many aspects of my practice and how much they overlap. These seemingly separate communities are manipulated to perform tasks that overlap with each other. My manager at my retail job, for example, will be asked if I can take time off for an audition, for example. His response will significantly affect the way I deal with replying to the individual who offered the audition. Neither parties will be actively aware of each other’s existence but they share an interlinking bond. We compartmentalise these communities and call upon them to perform a number of tasks that directly affect others. From looking at the diagram, a comparison could be made to that of a puzzle; each piece has its place, it is deciding how to where to fit each piece. We summarised that it was important to maintain relationships within communities in order for our practice to function as we would like see it.