#projectinformation

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Project Rationale

The impetus for the project is that existing resources to support the delivery of choreography, both in print and online, focus on either the specific processes of an artist, or generic processes and methodologies. Online archiving is an increasing trend in dance, including Synchronous Objects, the Siobhan Davies Replay archive, and the on-going MotionBank project. Although useful in the teaching and study of dance and choreographic practice, they are focused on documenting an individual’s practice rather than developing an individual practice. Similarly, the majority of texts on choreography teach generic processes and methodologies (such as Blom and Chaplin, 1995, Smith-Autard, 2010) or give guides to established practitioners (such as Spier, 2011 or Burrows, 2010) which tend to be idiosyncratic. As such, this presents teaching and learning challenges, as students are encouraged to regurgitate the practices of others rather than identify a practice for themselves through these learning resources. The DECO project addresses these challenges by producing an OER using tumblr to support the development of an individual practice. This may include tasks to explore choreographic practices and approaches, strategies for reflection and examples in practice, to facilitate students in understanding and developing their own practice.

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Aims and Objectives

The initial aims and objectives of the project were to:

Create an OER that can be used to support the development of choreographic practice

Involve students in pedagogical research, and the development of OERs/blended provision

Explore the use of tumblr as a platform to develop and house OERs Investigate how ‘tagging’ can be used to catalogue, arrange and rearrange materials to create an interactive, non-linear OER

Promote dance research at the University of Northampton through the organisation of a conference 

Contribute to my CPD by continuing my research in to educational uses of social media, and exploring, documenting and reflecting on my choreographic practice

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Outputs and Deliverables

Project outputs will include:

The OER

Organisation of and paper presentation at one day conference ‘Instigating, Creating and Responding: Revisiting the roles of the dancer and choreographer in the choreographic process’ on 3rd July 2015 at the University of Northampton co-organised with Senior Lecturer Matthew Gough

Public performances (including Open Studio at Isham Studios on 12th December 2014, NN Gallery on 31st January 2015 and Newgrounds at The Core, Corby 19th-20th June 2015)

A film documenting, reflecting on and evaluating the research process, filmed and edited by BA Dance graduate Mary O’Brien

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Dissemination Plan

The research will be disseminated informally through:

A tumblr blog to document the process of research, and to house digital reflection outputs and auto-ethnographic writings

Twitter accounts @Preece_Kelly, @dance_he and @DanceUoN and Facebook pages Kelly Louise Preece, DanceHE and Dance Northampton

The research will be disseminated formally through:

The OER (promoted via DanceHE website and networks, and Dance Teacher Hub and Open University Dance Group networks)

The choreographic laboratories, which will disseminate knowledge/work to students throughout the project

Choreographic work, presented at Open Studio at Isham Studios on 12th December 2014, NN Gallery on 31st January 2015 and Newgrounds at The Core, Corby 19th-20th June 2015

Organisation of and paper presentation at ‘Instigating, Creating and Responding’ Conference on 10th July 2015 

Film produced by Mary O’Brien to be disseminated through the OER, Screendance Festivals (such as Light Moves at University of Limerick, Ireland) and conference presentations (see above)

After the completion of the project:

Use of the OER in my teaching to facilitate blended learning on DAN1007 Foundations in Choreography - to be piloted and evaluated in 2015/2016 delivery

An article in refereed journal (such as Research in Dance Education or Journal of Choreographic Practices)

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Project Evaluation

The project will employ various mechanisms related to reflexive practice (Kinsella, 2001) and digital reflection (Kirk and Pitches, 2013) as part of its evaluation. 

These include ongoing methods:

Documentation strategies such as auto-ethnographic writing to elucidate embodied and experiential knowledge (after Barbour, 2009) accumulated during my studio practice (carried out by KLP)

Digital documentation and reflection strategies such as video diaries, blogging and digital stories (after Bannon and Kirk, 2013) will be used as part of the research process, and will become content for the OER (carried about by KLP)

Studio observations by mentor Matthew Gough (carried out by MG)

Independent evaluation:

Students will be asked to reflect and comment on choreographic laboratories using auto-ethnography and digital reflection strategies, and to take part in focus groups/interviews (student participants, collated by SRA)

Critical discussions with staff, students and artists following studio observations, scratch showings and public performances (collated by KLP)

The film produced by Mary O’Brien (carried out by MOB)

This data will then be collated, analysed and evaluated as part of the preparation of:

A paper presentation at ‘Instigating, Creating and Responding’ conference (KP and SRA)

The OER (KP and SRA)

The OER will be formally evaluated as part of the delivery of the module DAN1007 Foundations in Choreography in 2015/2016 - therefore the impact of the research will reach beyond the formal end of the project.

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Project Team

Student research assistant (TBC)

Role in the Project: Administrative Assitance

Contribution to the project: Administration assistance with conferences and OER