Homework!

Two short pieces of 'formative assessment' are due in in the next few weeks. For the research skills module a 500 word academic book review, and for the methodology module a similar length reflective essay outlining research skills acquired to date, gaps in skills and knowledge and how the course in the first few weeks may have broadened or deepened those skills.

So far as the book review is concerned I am thinking about basing it on Owen Hatherley's A New Kind of Bleak. The review is due in on the 18th October, not so long ahead; I'd better start re-familiarising myself with Hatherley's book straightaway as well as reviewing a few reviews to see how they are structured and how they are pitched in terms of tone and style.

Last Wednesday, Jo dished out two sheets of self assessment questions to get us thinking about research interests and a personal development portfolio. Even though the reflective essay is not due in until the end of November,  I'm going to be diligent - so let's have a look at them.

MA Knowledge Analysis

1. What is it about the Humanities that interests you?

Two aspects I suppose. Firstly, as a field it attempts to draw together themes across related subject disciplines linking  the arts with philosophy history and geography as well as newer subjects such as cultural studies and socio-linguistics which, when I did my first degree in the 1970's were barely recognised as separate diciplines. In a sense even back then I was drawn to mixed disciplines which is why the modular structure of the Open University suited me better than the more traditional approach at Manchester. So, more by accident than design I suppose you could say that my undergraduate degree these days would probably be regarded as a joint honours in history of art and English.

The second aspect of why I wished to join the degree at Derby is that it allows for the possibility of combining academic research with a creative writing project. Since I began writing poetry again about twelve years ago, with increasingly serious intent, then a considerable number of poems have explored ideas and various aspects of culture. Although I live in the middle of a National Park, enjoy walking and nature, I'm not a 'nature poet', actually, I suppose, I'm a 'culture poet'!

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to Laurie Taylor's Radio 4 programme, 'Thinking Allowed'. Usually it takes a magazine format dipping into three or four interesting snippets of current thinking from the social sciences. This particular week, unusually, it concentrated on just one topic - the work of Michel Foucault. I was particularly taken by the discussion around Foucault's notion that his theoretical work provided a 'tool box' for others to use. Afterwards I was straight into Google to try to re-capture the original thought:

'I would like my books to be a kind of tool-box which others can rummage through to find a tool which they can use however they wish in their own area... I would like the little volume that I want to write on disciplinary systems to be useful to an educator, a warden, a magistrate, a conscientious objector. I don't write for an audience, I write for users, not readers.'

Michel Foucault. (1994) [1974]. 'Prisons et asiles dans le mécanisme du pouvoir'. In Dits et Ecrits vol. 11. Paris: Gallimard, pp. 523-4. (This passage trans. Clare O'Farrell).

Reflecting on the way I have developed my writing through involvement in the Sonnet Board over the past decade, I have tried to utilise the sonnet's essentially dialectical, Hegelian capacities as an analytical tool. A good example of this was my attempt to analyse Manet's Olympia by purloining the rhyme scheme of Shakespeare's twentieth sonnet, his bold foray into the complexities of sexual identity, and applying it to a discussion of the ambiguities of being a male observer of the female nude.The poem was published in Shit Creek Review's edition themed around fetishism in 2010.

So, to conclude, it's the interdisciplinary nature of the humanities which interests me and the opportunity to explore ideas and theories through creative writing as well as academic research.

2. What fields of research are you most drawn to?

In terms of subject areas, then my knowledge base is strongest in literature, particularly English and American poetry, and history of art. Recently through research relating to the PgCert in Education, I have become interested in how mass connectivity through social media is having an impact upon the development of a sense of self, particularly notions about the 'co-creation' of self being put forward by theorists such as Amber Case, who describes herself as a cyborg-anthropologist. Lastly, I am a traveler, I enjoy going on journeys and reading other people's accounts of their own journeys. I'm interested in what is going to happen to travel in the age of global, electronic interconnection. What is going to be the fate of all our elsewheres?

3. What do you know about the methodologies of that area of research?

One of the challenges in doing the MA is that in terms of methodology I am actually more familiar with research approaches in the area of education rather than the humanities. My awareness of key theorists and current thinking in the humanities is a tad amateurish, derived from listening to 'In Our Time' or being co-opted as a 'critical friend' when my two elder children pursued MA research in History and English Literature. I have not undertaken the kind of sustained, structured 'reading around' the subject that would equip me with a comprehensive grasp of different methodologies.

That said, the reading I have undertaken over the past ten years or so has not been without purpose. In fact you might assert that it has had too narrow a purpose. Given the demands on my time from my work as a senior manager, then what little time for reading I have had was spent almost exclusively supporting my development as a writer. So I've mainly read poetry, particularly  British and American poetry from the last century. During this time I have enjoyed being connected to fellow writers through the internet, at first through web-boards such as the Sonnet Board and Eratosphere, then more latterly through Facebook. As a moderator at the Sonnet Board I supported the workshop aspect of the site encouraging positive critical comment and feedback on the work posted, and this activity has encouraged me to develop a more self critical and developmental approach to my own writing.

4. What new areas/fields interest you?

The ones outlined above - poetry, creative writing, travel writing for a digital age and the impact of social media on the private realm and the development of self.

MA PDP

1. How confident are you at communicating with others (orally and written)?

I am confident communicating both in writing and orally. One issue which I touched upon in a previous post is that I need to develop prose writing skills to a professional academic standard. Just glancing at various academic 'style guides' leads me to conclude that I have a bit of a technical challenge on my hands to acquire the skills to enable me to conform to accepted subject specific conventions and to reference correctly and consistently.

2. How comfortable are you working with others?

An interesting question! In terms of my work, being successful in a senior leadership role is all about working positively with others. What happens though, is you get used to being in charge! In the course of professional development over a long career I have ended up having 'Belbins' done to me on more occasions than I care to remember. What is interesting is how my profile changed over time. In the first half of my career I very much came out with 'plant' and 'resource investigator' as dominant roles. More recently, after a few years in a leadership role, 'shaper' replaced 'resource investigator' as an imperative. I'm hoping that seven months of self imposed solitude since I left work may have blunted my enthusiasm for trying to take charge of any situation I find myself in. I need to rediscover the collaborator in myself.

3. How able are you to work independently and take responsibility for your own learning and performance?

I think this is an area of strength. As Director of Curriculum and Quality it was my job to shape the college's curriculum offer in Higher, Further and Community Education, balancing the sometimes conflicting demands of funding and finance, educational policy and market and community need. There was no 'template' to do this or framework to follow, so it was up to me to develop the policies, systems and procedures to deliver a vibrant, inclusive and successful curriculum for the people of the Staffordshire Moorlands. There was no option but to take responsibility for this as its performance was measured systematically by both Ofsted and QAA, giving plenty of opportunity for reflection and improvement!

One of the delights of involving myself in the MA is the opportunity it offers to develop something innovative and original in a discipline which is is more in tune with my personal rather than professional interests.

4. How do you anticipate that this module will help you (in relation to 1, 2, & 3)?

I hope with the support of my tutors I will be able to use the transferable skills acquired in teaching and senior management to develop a high standard of professionalism in relation to academic research and writing.