Task 3D: Critical Questions & Issues That Emerge

Do some very specific ideas emerge about your networking and sources? Does your engagement to date seem appropriate? Limited? Focused? Planned? Unplanned?
Being a 'networked professional' in my industry is vital. I feel like I need to keep on top of my networking in order for me to always be developing my skills in this area. Most of my sources have been taken from ideas that I found on the internet and looking back at this now I think that I could make a bigger effort in future to use other resources such as the library. When I begin my teaching job in the new year I am going to try and include references in my blogs to myself as both a performer and a teacher as this will help me develop my learning in all areas of my professional practice. I feel that my engagement with the BAPP course so far has been focused and I have tried to devote any spare time that I have had to my studies in order to achieve the highest possible outcome. I did not make a plan of when I was going to complete each task and this is something that I could look into changing in my studies in the future, however I have not fallen behind at all and I think that my self motivation and determination to succeed has helped this a lot. I have also been able to attend a few of the Skype sessions with Paula when I have not been working and these discussions have really helped me when completing the tasks for my blog.

Are your ideas, position or concerns shared by others within and/or beyond your professional area of work?
Definitely! It has been helpful for me to read a few blogs from other BAPP course members who have now progressed onto Modules 2 and 3 or who have even completed the course in full. It is very interesting to read different view points on the same tasks and seeing what each individuals take on each task is like. Writing a blog is very personal and as I have mentioned previously, when I begin my teaching job I am going to try my best to apply some of the theories that were discussed in Reader 3 into my own personal professional practice.

Does sharing ideas and communicating with others shift your thinking, planning or practice?
Sharing my ideas with others who are also like-minded does shift my thinking as it allows me to compare and contrast my ideas. Being well connected to others in my network will only improve my professional practice. I haven't changed my planning at all but the way in which I am being conscious of time management shows that I do not need to share these ideas with others as my method is working in a positive way for me.

Does critical reflection help you decide what really matters and the actions to take?
Critical reflection has been a very useful tool for me to use throughout this module because I am a perfectionist. So rather than reading back my work and only having negative thoughts about it, I am now in a position where I can critically reflect on my work and not feel discouraged by it, looking into the positive areas of my work and what actions I can take to improve it, rather than just seeing the negative points which doesn't allow me to develop my reflection skills at all. As I said in a previous blog, I used reflection a lot in my training and this module has shown me the importance of using reflection in my professional practice too. Reflecting on my work so far on my BAPP journey, I would love to start blogging more about other subjects and not just focusing on the tasks set in the module. I think this would give me more confidence when blogging and I could use my blog as an extension to my Twitter page which I referred to in my previous blog as a platform for venting. A tweet can be a maximum of 140 characters in length and that is nowhere near enough to discuss a topical news story in the arts!

To what extent do concepts and theories assist you in thinking about your professional networking in different ways? And do these different ways of thinking have some purpose for you?
Theories assist me in thinking about my professional networking in different ways as they have forced me to research my ideas about each theory and back up my opinion. The theories go hand in hand with my networking and make me really think about my current networks. I had never thought about networking in any other industry before studying this part of the module, but by reading the example about the Prisoner's Dilemma game I was able to widen my knowledge to a subject that is not directly related with the arts. The different ways of thinking have definitely challenged me to think deeper into my networking and give my networking purpose.

Are you left thinking differently prior to this part of the module? And if so, how?
I am definitely thinking differently prior to this part of the module as it has made me really think about and understand the importance of developing my networking skills in my industry. It has made me aware of my current networking but also given me room to think about how I would like to improve my networking and the end goal I would like to achieve in this area.

There are ethical issues that arise when communicating with others and these include being respectful towards the other individual and understanding the difference between constructive criticism and verbal abuse or bullying. The other individual has obviously made the comments that they have because they believe strongly about what they have said and it would be demoralising to put them down and may result in them doubting themselves. This negativity might also stop them from developing their networking or professional practice if they have lost all hope after a comment that has been made.