Task 2d: Inquiry

Common themes and possible lines of enquiry to take forward from my Blog and reflective journal.

I found so many of the points that came out of my review interesting. I asked myself the questions which were suggested in the Module handbook:

What in my industry do I Love or what makes me Excited, Sad, Angry, Confused.

This is what came out, although it may look a lot it has been condensed already.

Excited:

Finding my own voice

My new daily planner

Being the front runner or trend setter

Love:

Helping others and the idea of teaching others to better learn yourself

The Beliefs that people hold true

The “Another point of View” writing style

Angry:

Being told what I can/can’t do, being limited by people/situations

Sad:

That I still let thinking/over analysing get in the way of doing

That I’m still making the same mistakes as last year

Not always being honest with my feelings/self

Confused:

Why I think that being busier is better, Quantity over Quality?

What makes me push so hard/discontented?

Why do people self sabotage?

Why do I have Academic writing issues?

What do I want? What would I regret not having done if I died?

Why do people link self worth with failure/success, why are mistakes bad to some, not others?

Why am I resistant to change/close minded, why must I have all answers before I start things?

Why am I all questions and no answers, What does this mean, How can I use it?

Living in the now compared with planning for the future and controlling your present?

From this I have a leaning towards:

Finding my own voice – Who will listen, What do I want to say, How will I use it?

My new daily planner – How it developed, how it works, how to improve it, if it works for others.

Why do people think that busier is better - busy fools as the expression goes, rather than productive.

Why are some people more affected by failure and why does failure/ success define some people and not others.

Living in the now compared with planning for the future and controlling your present? – The balance of these I have wrestled with all my life.

The people who inspire me/I admire in these arenas are:

Anthony Robbins – Life coach and international motivational speaker

TED talk on Why we do what we do

Richard Branson  - Entrepreneur and visionary

Interview - How to get over failure

Simon Zutshi - property expert and friend

A short talk on What you want

Ekhart Tolle – Author of “The power of now”

Web Site

Oprah Winfrey - business woman and talk show host

Inspirational talk

I hope to find other people who inspire as I explore these fields further.

Let me know if you are interested in any of the topics I have mentioned above or any of the material you see/hear on the above links. I would love to know if you like any of it.

Stay safe – Phil

Assessment Task - Clarification

Alan went over the Assessment task at the end of the Campus session. 

It really helped a number of us so thought I'd post it for any of you wanting more clarification.

I have written below the notes that I took but they are key points that helped make the objective of writing the assessment clearer to me. I hope that they help you to, read them alongside your module handbook, page 7. They are generally a series of leading/prompting questions. 
What key themes have emerged, are you more or less sure about, which do you intend to pursue. It should not be - I know X or Y. Consider your engagement thus far in the program and the things you have done as well as not done. It's just as valid to say - I wish that I had done more of X or Y. You can say - I cannot get my head around, I need to find a better way to understand this. You need to show that you have taken a more distant and critical/reflective view - where does it leave me, why, what do I intend to do about it. X was an instrumental moment for me, now I need to explore that more. 

Everything up until now, the tasks, only provide the experiences to learn from. People in professional practice will not tell you that X is right or Y is wrong, you are your own manager. You must find your own voice, manage you own professional practices. 

Hope this has helped in some way

Stay safe - Phil

Campus session 3

Hi all. Here's a quick summary of yesterdays Campus session for anyone who couldn't make it, or those who did. 

We broke into groups and discussed Networks. The whole point was to Start exploring this word, as a first layer of thoughts. This is why the outcomes were so broad, no less interesting but very diverse. 
I will try, to cover the points as I understood them below for you, but keep in your minds as you read that these are nothing more than first explorations for you to begin your own personal thinking on the subject. 
We covered THE Network being different from MY Network again being different from PROFFESSIONAL Network. I would post a picture of our groups mind map on our discussions but it is quite abstract and without having been there at its conception, it would probably confuse rather than help. 
Types of networks; family, friends, social, corporate, work, artistic, academic, BAPP, colleagues, tutors, mentors, students, parents/children of any of the above etc you get the idea. 
The following have an influence over networks; social media, casting forums, YouTube comments. 
Other interesting points; you must make decisions on your network they don't just happen, you can look at your network from past, present and future as well as in the frequency, method, context of your contacting them or indeed by category. Category could be; you know them through a common interest such as kite flying (?!?) or through common location such as school chums (likely to have a variety of different interests). 
Also discussed was the amount of energy or time spent on a certain area or group of people amongst your networks and how this grows and shrinks depending on what you are doing at the time or what need them for. In addition we covered the give and take of relationships within networks and how this changes as your position/status within that same network grows. 
As well as this we discussed if you only have a finite amount of energy, time, resources to share or spend on your networks. One of the groups came up with a time line, project planning model, which they compared to being a bit like snakes and ladders. Alan picked up on this and added to it saying that as you learn and develope through your network it causes you to grow so if you were to hit a snake, sacked or injured, that you are able to start higher up on the next ladder you start to climb. 
I know that this is awfully vague and a bit general but it gives us all a chance to 'puzzle' our own way through using it to begin the thinking and questioning process. 
I truly do hope that even just one of the ideas mentioned above gave you cause to think, hmm interesting, not thought of that. If not... Then... (shoulder shrug)...sorry(?!?)

Let me know if this has been of...ANY help at all. 

Lovely to see those of you who were there at the session.

Stay safe - Phil

Task 2c: Critical Reflection on Reflective Practices

After much over analysing and much getting lost in the project, despite constantly reminding myself that it is the process that is most important.
Here it is, I hope you enjoy it.

Critical Reflection on Reflective Practices

Wow!! "Another View"

Hey everyone

Really quickly, I have just finished my Journal entry trying the "Another view" method.
If you have not yet tried this or are not keen (as i was not as it seemed a bit...wanky) then put all your concerns, fears and preconceptions aside and TRY IT!!!

I just had an incredibly insightful conversation with my sub-contious mind via writing about my day from the point of view of my car keys (i know i know...cheese-arama).

If you have tried this technique already PLEASE let me know how you found it, if you have not yet tried it, PLEASE do, and let me know how it goes.
WOW!!!

Stay safe - Phil

Task 2b: Journal Writing Experience

Which of the 9 suggestions have really made me think and is there one i'd use again? What have i, been surprised by, returned to, and have there been any common themes?
When i started my Journal "Description" was the natural style i fell into without even knowing it at the time. My journal was, and still is to an extent, a bit of a log rather than a journal, merely noting the activities of the day and where they took place (despite my best efforts - I'm getting better though).

On occasions i would also touch on "Reflection" in terms of mentioning thoughts i was having and how i was feeling about everything.

On one of my last entries i have tried "Evaluation". I remembered about this technique just at the end of writing, and on reading back over what i had written, I ended up adding a number of useful points. These additions were related to my daily to do list and how i was managing it. The learnings i made really helped me realise the adaptations that would be of most benefit to adopt, to improve the system i was employing to get the most out of the next day.

I don't really want to try "Graphs, charts & diagrams" as i don't think that it will work or help me. Saying this though i have just started using colour coding on my daily planner to more easily see where I'm spending my time. In a few weeks i will be able to go back and review the number of hours spent on work (earning money), fun activities, BAPP and my business etc. Perhaps this, when combined with my journal, I'll be able to see the recipe of the above that make me feel most productive, happy or otherwise. I do use charted information to motivate and monitor my fitness, business stats and budget monthly money. So in actual fact, after thinking, and writing about it, I have just convinced myself that maybe this method could be of some use.

I have not used the "What if?" technique. After reading through Jo Bradley's Blog I got the idea of using my journal pre-emptivley. I can use the "What if?" to predictively reflect, and thereby form insights, on events i am about to have (I'm sure that this will have a name which i will discover as i further read up on this subject) before they happen. Although you cannot predict future events, having clearer objectives and given reflective thought to those you know about, will most likely mean that you will be able to get more out of the experience and be in a more resourceful/tuned in state for those that are unexpected.

I am intrigued by the "Another view" as I'm sure it will be an interesting exercise, if not a little challenging, and I look forward (dread) to finding out the results. I shall try this one tonight.

The suggestion I am most reluctant to try (but i will anyway) is the "List" approach. I spend every minute of every day following lists (never ending lists) and i am concerned what effect this will have on my, newly forming and fragile, free creative and reflective self. Also what will be the outcome if it is merely a list of thoughts, suggesting that it will be nothing more than a series of un-answered questions or noticing. Again I have just answered my own question. I have just realised that it is likely to be in the reviewing of the Journal, and its many different types of writings that the connections will be made.

I'm glad I did not let myself be closed minded towards these technique as they could, on "reflection" (check me out reflecting), turn out to be very useful tools.

You can't see the wood for the trees. 
By capturing these thoughts, yes, i may make some connections and learn about myself whilst doing it, but it is much more likely to be in the overview of all the entries that proves most helpful.  Consistency of journaling and time will at some point afford me the ability to step back and see the overall/whole picture that will make sense and hopefully see the answers I'm looking for - as clearly as when the camera zooms out from Rolf Harris's seemingly random brush strokes to reveal the whole painting and therefore its subject.

Common Theme?
The common theme that i keep coming back to suggests that I can, despite feeling that i am very open to new ideas, be quite resistant to new ways of doing things. I know that having conviction in your decisions is important to success, but there is a line i was not aware of before, that crosses into being more of a hinderance, than a helpful character trait.

Final thoughts.
Interesting how the very writing of this Blog is actually acting as my Journal and helping me reflect - ask questions, challenge my current thinking/ ideas and connect the dots.

However there has been no "How can i apply or how have i applied this to my own practices" certainly none that i am aware of. I will be asking my self this question at the end of each Journal writing session from now on to see if i am able to tap into this untrained section of my task orientated brain.

I am still struggling to dig down into my thoughts to ask what does this mean and how can i use it. To be honest i did not really know that that is what we should be doing until reading for the 12th time the module handbook. Maybe now i have identified that i am missing something (and that i can at times be a bit closed minded) i can start to look for it (and stop doing it).

Stay safe - Phil 

2a: Reflective Journal Task

I Started my Journal on the 23/10/11 and have made 7 entries and tried a couple of different ways of writing.

I don't think that 3pm every day worked well for me as my mind was either blank or full of what ever i stopped doing to write the journal. I am now writing at the end of each day (most days) and yesterday re-read the Module hand book and found the 9 suggested ways of writing. I applied the Evaluation suggestion and found that it helped clarify my thoughts a little.

I think like everyone i am struggling with seeing that what i am doing now is going to be useful in the future (or in any way) but am trying to persist.

A lot of my thoughts have been open questions (without me being able to answer them) about myself rather than being directly to do with professional practice. However i am persisting in the hope that with my future business being me presenting to people that this self/character reflection will be useful, and still in some way linked to my professional practice.

I am struggling with the consistency required to get the most out of this exercise. My life contains so many different hat wearing jobs/tasks that i am struggling to find a consistent way to approach the writing: Event Management, Property Business, Starting my Lecturing Business, Planning my Wedding, Normal day to day stuff, Buying and renovating a house, Panto rehearsals as well as the BAPP work on top of this too.
All these hats are the different parts of me so if i continue writing my thoughts, despite which hat i have been wearing that day, it will all be linked.

I have so many questions and not enough time/resources to explore them.

These are my first Blogged thoughts on keeping a reflective journal.

Stay safe - Phil

If you didn't make Campus Session 2 - Read this. Notes & Reflection

After reviewing my notes from Adesola’s great last campus session I compiled my thoughts below to clarify in my own head but in case they were useful to others also.

We covered:

Learning through mistakes

Seeing familiar as unfamiliar

Looking at things differently

Action of doing it is more important than context

Notice when I'm learning/my own noticing’s

If you have not yet visited Aicha's blog i suggest you do as she has done an excellent job of capturing the days teachings/learnings and of corse Adesola's. 

For me the whole session was explaining and opening our eyes to the fact that information is only meaningful once you apply it to an experience.

Experience without noticing it will be wasted and never turn to knowledge. This is the point that Kobe discusses; “At what point do you start noticing experiences”.

Knowledge is just a current opinion / belief, you must open yourself up to new information/experiences and consider them to form new opinions, deepen your knowledge.

I'm very task orientated. So was falling into the trap of trying to make my site the best and visit and comment on the most blogs possible. After this last session though I realised that “sometimes the activity/process is more useful than the story/content” – Quoted from Adesola

The experiences we are currently having, is the setting up and the use of the various web 2.0 platforms. However the work we will get marked on, is the thinking part, reflection, noticing this process.

Campus session 18/10/11 - Viewing the familiar as unfamiliar

Hey guys

Well the last campus session was very enlightening again. 

We took part in a number of different exercises to illustrate different parts of this next task from Module 1. 

As we took part in each activity we were asked to look at (observe) what we had just done, to think about (notice) it and finally to evaluate it (reflect).

An example of this for me was a game where if we failed at the task we had to clap and jump up and down. It was not until afterwards when thinking about Observe, Notice and Reflect that i realised that i really have a problem with failing. 

I internally observed the game we had just played, noticed that i felt uncomfortable with the celebrating when we messed up and reflected. Leading me to a greater understanding of myself. I do not feel it is OK to fail, and definitely do not believe that it is something that should be celebrated.

What to do with this? - We all know that making mistakes is another very valuable way of learning. Indeed some say that you learn more from your mistakes than from you successes. So the feelings of mistakes not being OK could be quite an inhibiting belief to harbour. 

How to use this? - Now I am aware of it I can put an action plan in place to start over riding these feelings. 

What's my action plan? - Not sure yet...but I'll get back to you.

Our final task was to split into groups and attempt to illustrate one of the many points we discussed throughout the course of the session.

Our amazing group decided to tackle the aspect of viewing the familiar as unfamiliar from the Cumpus session. We did this through a series of thought provoking photographs. As you look through them, please take a moment to register your feelings, thoughts and evaluation of the image. Then when you read my own views on it note any differences as this, in part, illustrates how what is obvious (familiar) to you can be un-noticed (unfamiliar) to someone else and visa versa.

I would also encourage you to look at the views of the other three members of my group Charlie Ballard, Hannah Kenneally-Muir and Rhonda Parker as theirs will undoubtedly be different again (visit them again if they have not yet had a chance to post). 

Picture number 1

The first picture is actually on Adessola Akinleye's Blog and involves the four of us sitting on a bench. 

Before reading the next paragraph (My thoughts on picture 1) have a look and think, what are they looking at then come back to read MY thoughts.

My thoughts on picture 1

On the bench I was looking at the stone work on the university buildings roof and the gorgeous blue sky being broken up into different in natural yet smooth shapes in-between the struts. All four of us on the same bench with the same view yet, i'm sure, very different experiences.

Picture number 2

What is this building, what does it mean to you, what do you think of, feel

My thoughts on picture 2

I see a beautiful old period property that looks like a setting for a presidential home or a dolls house. A bit stark and soulless, square and uninteresting.

Corinda Hall: Professional Communication Technoliogies Further ...

Hey guys

Just read a great post on Corinda's page. It contains some very interesting views and some further avenues to explore for your own education.

Corinda Hall: Professional Communication Technoliogies Further ...: I am familiar with some web 2.0 tools but since starting on the BAPP course I have learnt about Google Mail, Google Docs and Blogging. I w...

This Blog is thanks to Aicha and the help she gave me on the use of the little B bog at the bottom of each post (it does the above, try it out to share great points others have posted). This is the power of the network.

Thanks for taking the time to share your learnings by post this Corinda

Stay safe - Phil

Task 1d Images

If anyone can help with advice on uploading photos to actually showing on your Blog page like Emily Benchleys (have a look if you haven't yet as she has a great looking site)? Same with the Youtube clip.
Anyway below is the link to my new flicr account (a selection of photos over the last 10 years)

Phil Carroll Photos

I'll put some more on there later when i learn the ropes a bit more and can make them a bit flashier.
Any light you technical geniuses can provide on the above would be greatly appreciated (I'll buy you a drink next time i see you)
Stay safe - Phil

Task 1c: Audio-Visual

Hi Guys.

This is only my second ever upload to Youtube (the first being yesterday for a job audition) a testemony to the skills I'm learning on this course.

I wanted to do this all in one take, no cue cards, warts and all, simply on my iphone at home. The reason for this decision is partly as i do not yet know how to edit things, but primarily because i am a huge perfectionist which easily leads me to procrastinate and I felt it was of the utmost importance, with my intended career in professional speaking, that i get used to people seeing me as i am, with no frills and spills, and doing it in one take as i will have to do in a seminar or lecture.

I hope you enjoy

Phil Carroll - Starting out on BAPP

Stay safe - Phil

Professional Communications Technology (draft one)

I feel like I've just given birth

Please, as a suggestion, keep in mind as you read this if enough references have been given. Does the discussion hang together and flow or go off on tangents. Let me know your thoughts so i can re-work & improve it as a piece of work. 

Professional Communications Technology (draft one) 

Hope you enjoy (stay awake through) my thoughts. 
Please do take just a second and leave me yours. 
Any of you have similar views on the Reader 1 or think that everything i've said above is a pile of poo. Things can only get better with your help. I won't cry for long i promise.
Thanks for your time and i look forward to reading yours.


Stay safe - Phil

Hands up who else feels a little lost!

Just a little thought to those other souls feeling as lost as me.

It’s really quite frustrating just how much I get in my own way. I am taking this Task 1b by the horns and just getting “something” down. I will “then” reflect on it and improve it, rather than trying to do all these steps at the same time and produce the final polished article. I know that this is the whole concept  of BAPP, certainly of this first module, but a life time habit is hard to break. 

To any of you others out there worrying, second guessing yourselves, procrastinating, over analysing (anal-lysing), sweating over producing something that is anything other than “perfect” GET OVER YOURSELVES as the Australians say and just do something, start, go on (I’ll try and listen to my own advice). In the words of Doctor Pepper – WHAT’S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN.

Alan hit the nail on the head (I would expect nothing else) the other day in his post titled Starting out on BAPP Arts - Confused? If you have not yet read it is a very reassuring Blog. At the end he says “At the core of all learning is the unknown.”

The unknown by very definition is out of your current circle of understanding, things you do not yet know. And the unknown is always scary. That is great though, because that journey into the unknown and what you learn/feel along the way is what this course is all about. Blog it, we are all in the same boat. You are most definitely not alone in any of your fears/ doubts, you can guarantee that many others are feeling exactly the same.

Just some thoughts that may help someone (to myself as much as anyone else). 

Campus Session Review - 4th Oct

Hi every one

I thought I would briefly discuss yesterdays Campus Session as I certainly found it very helpful and hope you will/did too.

Those of you that weren't able to make it, you were sadly missed but here’s a brief overview of the main stuff that was covered.

Firstly Allan went through the Module handbook pointing out in particular pages 7 and discussing how we would be assessed and that by comparing each of the tasks you complete against the Success criteria on pages 8 & 9 you can better reflect on their format, appropriateness and adjust them your self to better fit what is expected from us.

The rest of the day was spent on looking at Task 1b and the Reader 1 as an exercise.

We discussed in groups each of the different sections from the reader1, with 5 key points in mind. Alan also suggested that these same key points could be used for examining other pieces of writing too.

1-the principle concepts within the discourse (the core idea)

2-the names of key researchers/commentators/originators of the concepts (good to attribute work to persons with the idea)

3-practical examples of how you think the concepts apply in practice (where have you seen it done well or inspirationally)

4-arguments about the limitations of the concepts in practice (where are the down sides or dangers)

5-any further thoughts stimulated by the concepts (any relevant points I could share)

We sat in our groups and discussed the text for an hour then all came back together to present our findings and thought. I believe that Paula will be uploading brief videos covering the main points from each group.

Hope that is of some help to one or two of you.

Have a look to see if it sill helps you in either your first or re-draft of Task 1b. Certainly everybody that I spoke with afterwards found it very enlightening.

Great to meet all of you today and with some of you put a real person to the blog.

I hope to see you on the 18th

Keep Blogging and commenting.

Stay safe - Phil

Task 1a: Professional Profile (draft one)

I really struggled with this task as I was unsure of the style of writing to use, or the intended reader. In line with the required task I have rewritten my CV (which I previously posted on Google Docs), and hopefully improved upon its quality by choosing the style I felt most comfortable with and one I thought would best fit my Biog. 

I hope that it is now a passionate, personal and inspiring profile as opposed to the clinical, concise and factual document it currently is. 

Any feedback or opinions would be greatly appreciated and welcomed. Is it too long, conversational, does it achieve the above goals, how did you feel reading it. Please feel free to give me both barrels, don’t hold back, as things can only get better (I keep telling myself). Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this.

(I even figure out how to rename the link...i think...if it works that is).

Phil Carroll - Professional Profile (draft one)

(I checked it and it works - WOOHOO!)

My CV

Hope you all had a great weekend. Here's the link to my current CV

Phil Carroll - CV

The photo has gone funny as it was uploaded to Google Docs. If anyone knows how to rectify this, or has any other suggestions, opinions on the CV its self then please do let me know.

Keep on Blogging!!

Stay safe - Phil

Test Blog from my iPhone

If this works then I have to give a big shout of thanks to Kenneth for making me aware of this aps existence. If it doesn't work then... Kenneth is a swine... Only joking mate, and anyway if it doesn't work you will not read this. Ok here goes the moment of truth, I feel like the first cave man to use a bone as a tool.

Can anyone technical shine some light on this please...Anyone?!?

These symbols:

are at the bottom of each post but i wondered what "click here to publicly +1 this as Phil Carroll" means. Is it not already public being a Blog. Also the "F, T M" are relatively self explanatory but whats the purpose of the "B" again is this not already Blogged, and if clicked where does it "Blog this" to?

1st Post

Hi everyone


Well it feels so long since the orientation day on the 15th and I am only now getting round to setting up THIS... my 1st ever Blog! Sorry i did not get a chance to meet more of you, but those i did, it was great chatting with you. I really enjoyed that first day and am really excited at how much I know that we are all going to get out of this course. Please drop me a line and lets all pool our thought/ knowledge and have a laugh.

This is something i always wanted to get started but never made it enough of a priority, thanks BAPP for the push. I feel so grown up (and hip/down with the new technology).

Rather than over analysing things and never actually starting, for fear of it not being; perfect/ interesting/ clever and terribly witty, i thought I'd just start somewhere and it can only get better!?!

Today i set up my Google mail account and got this all synced up to my iphone and this blog site too. Watched all the Youtube tutorials and tomorrow i shall sort out the RSS and wikis (maybe even upload a video onto Youtube!?!) and continue to play around/ familiarise myself with all this new fun stuff. Also have a proper look (only briefly flicked through a couple so far) through all the awesome blogs and, hopefully, get some ideas for tweaking my own to improve it.

As yet i still don't quite have faith in what blogging will bring, but i am 100% ready to have my eyes opened and will no doubt become addicted to it before the months out and finally see the use and power of these social media tools.

I look forward to BLOGGING with you all shortly (just have to figure out how to find you all now...I'll get there).


Stay safe all of you - Phil


ps - Let me know your thought on the set up of the site (what feelings does it conjure up, happy/ free/ unease) and if theres anything you think i could or should change (and... of course... (critique it) say WHY?)