Task 4b: SIG

Hi Bappers!

I have just created my SIG on LinkedIn.

I will be recruiting for it soon, but in the mean time have a look and if you think the group is relevant to you feel free to join! Dance within Secondary Education

Task 4a: Questions!

It's taken me quite a while to get started with this task. It's a very daunting concept, focusing such a broad area of interest to one specific question!

I decided to start by doing a brain storm on where I am professionally now, and where I want to be, hoping that questions would arise from trying to work out how to get there!

What does the education of dance in public education require that doesn't apply in private? 

How can I create a professional package that appeals to secondary schools?

What direction is secondary dance education going in and how will this effect my attempts to get involved in it?

Will marketing myself as a freelance teacher able to do one off workshops in secondary schools help me to get my foot in the door or public education?

How can I break down the lingering prejudices towards male dancers and performers in order to get more boys involved in dance in general, not just the "cool" styles i.e street/breakdancing?

How can I contribute towards a more organic educational system?

These are just a few questions that have surfaced, and it seems clear to me that dance in secondary education is the umbrella under which my  enquiry will be sheltering, so that's progress at least!! I will just keep chipping away and hopefully a more specific direction will begin to emerge. One thing I think I should certainly start doing is building up a knowledge of the history of dance within public education. When did it start being introduced? How far has it come? etc.

I know that there are others on the course that already work within public education and if any of you could offer me some advise as to how I should go about trying to infiltrate it I would be extremely grateful!

Student Representative

Hello everybody!


For those of you who haven't yet seen the notice posted on LibGuides, I’ve volunteered to be your student rep! In order for me to effectively communicate your views, issues and feelings about BAPP, I need to hear from you! I myself am in my second module, but as I am currently the only student rep I need to hear from all modules. So if you aren’t following my blog yet, please do, irrespective of module! This is because from time to time I may post blog entries specific to my role as student rep, and this way everybody will see them.

My role will be to communicate your views, issues and feelings about BAPP to the university at the Board of Studies meetings. Please email me at liamconman@gmail.com with anything you wish to be brought up at these meetings.

Just to get the ball rolling, here are a couple of topics for you to consider:

• UniHub – Any issues with the use of UniHub, any difficulty accessing resources, any confusion or lack of knowledge as to what’s available, ways it could be improved, things you really like about UniHub etc.
• Communication – Are you happy with the level of communication with your advisor and the course in general, is anybody struggling with keeping in touch with the course, is there any way you think communication could be improved etc.

These are just two areas we have highlighted, but if you have any subjects (great or small) you wish to be addressed please email me at the address above; my role becomes pretty redundant unless I hear from you guys, and this is how we can get our points of view across! So please, it would be great to get as many people involved as possible!

Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you. Please help to spread the word as much as you can via the blogs!!

I have returned!!

This blog is going to officially mark my return to the blog and the start of my journey through Module 2. Does it seem daunting? yes. But I plan to follow the same plan of action as I did in the first module:

I will throw myself into the deep pool of water. I will be disorientated, panicked and breathless at first, but eventually I will right myself and begin to float smugly on the surface wondering what all the fuss was about!

I am excited about conducting an inquiry and already I can think of a short list of people I will want to interview regardless of the specifics of the inquiry.

I've begun my first day back working on BAPP by catching up with my google reader and commenting on a few posts, as well as reading through the module handbook. It's got me going, and I'm sure I'll soon be back in the full swing of things!