A useful Iquiry tool?

Hi All


This maybe worth a look if your not aware. I haven't put it in my Inquiry plan yet but may be worth using;


 http://www.outcomesstar.org.uk/about-the-outcomes-star/

To be or not to be................a CIC?

During the course of my studies at Middlesex I have continued being part of the day to day running of a Theatre Company (The New Community Arts Academy) as Artistic Director.

Administering (not the most exciting part of the organisation but important) 

Over a number of years of being a solvent but an unconstituted charity it became evident that due to a lack of volunteers, with time to spare. In addition a key member of our management team and the voluntary treasurer became seriously ill. After tremendous canvassing through questionnaires, meetings , word of mouth – we had no alternative to move the group into thinking about becoming a CIC (Community Interest Company).

The process this took for me, as the person tasked with looking into it and reporting on it took a number of forms;

I downloaded all the appropriate literature available and immediately canvassed the opinions of people and organisations we regularly have dealings with and are familiar with our work.  Namely The Chamber of Commerce, Gumptions Centres (John Sims & David Robertson – Brown) who advise and locate businesses and have previously helped with sponsors.

I contacted Childuk an organisation used as a positive case study by the Government department of a successful CIC. I spoke to one of the two Directors there. He told me the pro`s and con`s and felt with there model they had made the right decision – he also felt that perhaps we would be too, in allowing two to three Directors the ability to make decisions in the best interests of the organisation.

I presented my findings on both options to our board meeting and it was carried unanimously.

I then went to all our members/parents  individually and explained the rationale behind looking at a change of  model for the group.

I had also looked at an alternative option, which was to become a committee managed  registered charity. I used as a case study The Chicken Shed Theatre Company. It was apparent that the board at The Chicken Shed was made up of very highly experienced and recognised figures from the business world and theatre, a lot of them. Our situation was quite different with only two or three committed and qualified leaders to take us forward.

We called a vote on the whole thing at our AGM which was carried 100%

I took in all of this an impartial view, although it could be argued I had an interest, there simply wasn’t anyone else to take it on.

The Group goes from strength to strength and we have as large a membership as we have ever had. We evaluated our last production and the satisfaction rating was higher than for anything else we have done.

We continue to attract bits of sponsorship and funding  that is required to be evaluated and meet set outcomes. Ive lost count of the number of meetings ive attended, garnering support from bodies such as The Rotary Clubs (I presented to them using a powerpoint package similar to but better for video clips slidedog).

Just food for thought for anyone thinking of embarking on such a journey – its frequently rewarding but a hard and thankless task at times.

 

Good Luck

Can Secondary Learners be challenged through the mediums of aspects of performing arts and one off projects to engage and progress in English & Maths

Please could you take time to look at this set of questions to help a potential inquiry. All responses, unless you give express permission, or chose to publish your answers, will be treated in confidence.

I am looking at using Survey Monkey https://www.surveymonkey.com/ as the means of communication, this is because our Deputy Principal used the same method recently on something I participated in and it seems relatively straightforward, perhaps you could give it a try.

I would like to do two surveys, aimed at adults and students, I wondered about the thinking around this In relation to the student element.

Would you describe yourself as;

Creative Practitioner
Performer
Secondary Education professional
Parent/carer of a current Secondary student

What is, in your opinion, the most disengaged year group;

Yrs;
7
8
9
10
11

Most disengaged gender;
Male
Female

In relation to English and Maths, what are /is the biggest bars on learning?

Would a focussed holiday activity/project in October half term (not many families can afford to go away then) help?

Would students gain from working solely within a group from the geographical area they are familiar with or engaging with young people from different socio/economic and located environments?

Would students gain more from working within a mixed ability setting (ie including some special needs) or from working within a group roughly at a similar level and facing similar challenges?


...These questions, I hope to add to but would welcome some initial feedback

Thanks loads

Russ






















I explored themes around my inquiry recently by attending and speaking at a Rotary event. This worked on a number of levels, namely;

It got me up in front of people from all ages and walks of life in an informal and not threatening environment.

I was able to actively canvass their thoughts on issues raised by the kind of partnership work I do. It enabled me to hone further my thinking on the way forward in this sector.

Nearly all were actively engaged in working or volunteering in a school setting, in particular Secondary and/or had past experience and the results that could be achieved through positive interventions.

They were very supportive and positive to the Presentation.

I chose to use slide dog http://slidedog.com/ as my presentation aid, due to short research through the internet. I needed something that was free due to lack of funds on my part and due to the nature of my presentation being very visual around performance, this particular facility allowed me - after a prolonged period loading - to play longer and many more video clips to highlight aspects of the success and development of my work within a voluntary organisation, engaging school students.

I found I was able to use images and clips as an alternative to cue cards, hopefully in an engaging way for the audience.

Developing questions for a professional inquiry

I am seeking to organise some questions in relation to my professional inquiry and through discussions during campus sessions with Paula using a mind mapping exercise, I hope my potential inquiry is forming a sharper relief.

I am aware, as a participant, on a professional basis of using survey monkey, this seems a safe, anonymous and secure meaning of doing a survey such as this and I wondered if any of my peers had used it? what thoughts their were on it, as a medium of communication?

I will be seeking to actively engage with my peers through social media, joining and initiating a SIG group as I have identified, in particular, a number of students with similar interests and lines of inquiry.

Please feel free to message me and I hope to likewise do the same.

In anticipation

Russ

Campus Session Hendon Tues 25th March 2014

Hi All

This was a very useful session, particularly as I was reconnecting face to face with people after some family illness issues and other considerations.

I would particularly like to thank Paula for giving me some more intensive one to one time at the end of the session, brainstorming ideas around the question and how to closely define what that question for the professional inquiry will be. In addition the fact that determining several different lines of inquiry before picking one in particular, can in itself be used as evidence of learning.

Alan made an interesting contribution that struck with me within the session and made me think, when we were discussing gaining knowledge, as a concept.

Do we gain knowledge by, for instance, reading and taking in someone else`s perspective on a given topic and perhaps recounting it to ourselves or is knowledge something unique to each of us gained by individual unique experience in whatever sphere of interest, that may mean our understanding is enhanced on something for the first time. I hope what I have just written makes some sense and that I haven't taken Alan`s comments slightly out of  context of the point he was making.

I enjoyed a blog link on working with special needs students I have just read http://teachinglearnerswithmultipleneeds.blogspot.com/    

Hopefully I will be able to overcome my technological limitations and post more regularly now.

Russ

Elevator Pitch

Paula published on her blog details on the "elevator pitch" I found this very interesting and confirmed some principles i try to work to

Russ

3a Current Networks

This is for me a very interesting exercise, in considering the various ways in which we network, consciously and subconsciously, every day of our lives.

It is something vitally worth being aware of and I guess performers need to be near the top of the list when it comes to being able to do this. It is a very necessary skill of the trade.

My experience is as someone who has moved away from looking for acting work but I find whilst sometimes the networking isn't "make or break" and worrying totally about where the next job or food is coming from, it has had to develop, like branches of a tree that go off in different directions, taking many different twists and turns to accommodate slightly different ambitions. It has had to become ingenious and had to accommodate sometimes more, sometimes less rewarding interactions.

What I am really hoping this course will help me achieve, is an understanding of different methods, particularly on line, where I know my adaptability and my abilities are definitely challenged. 

As a part time Artistic Director part of my task is ensuring the group remains financially solvent, for without that it is impossible to sustain as practitioners, this kind of a theatre company and move forward to exciting and ambitious work. So part of my current networks will reflect my situation as an artist, in education and being involved in the running of an arts organisation. In mentioning these networks I am not seeking to put them in a definite order of precedence, because at different times it alters, given the situation.

Friends

As we all know, its difficult to describe on paper, the value this has and sometimes in the most unlikeliest of situations. Other bloggers have mentioned bars/clubs/theatres and other social get togethers or, quite often bump into`s.

There is nothing like bouncing and exchanging ideas off friends, who quite often share the same aspirations, maybe teach you a different approach, enrich you artistically, opening up opportunities you never thought existed. They are sometimes able to finance some of these ideas  and are not all necessarily from the performing business. These are face to face interactions, which I think from experience are to be highly valued, partly because positive body language is harder to read from a text and can be a powerful tool, if used effectively.
These are all networks that can build with the years, become very important artistic sustainability wise and be great fun! 

Phone

An essential networking tool, when leading busy lives, I still rely greatly on my address book of contacts and I do send numerous group messages by text/email and am increasingly using iphone capabilities.

Organised/agreed Meetings

I have to attend many, some I have actively instigated or been invited along to. I tend to be very proactive in setting these up but try and focus on whats to be achieved. Can be the bane of a lot of lives, if not organised well. I find though that very little would happen without them. I am talking agents, business funders, charitable sponsors, performers. Some seriously good results can happen if the right environment is created. You can also quickly be able to find who you can work with.

It could be I am planning working on a project in a certain community, so I meet with relevant people there and enlist there help. I can join up different agencies to come together and we are a stronger body.

Definite Minutes and action points are important., for memory, as well as moving things forward.

Rehearsals

Again, networking is happening all the time, between performers. There is a saying that you need to be aware of the next generation of performers, because as with other professions, they could be your future employer. A lesson for any particularly difficult Director.

Now on line media

Through various channels, including Spotlight, The Stage and other audition notifications.

Your own website, which leads onto;

Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Flickr, You tube channels etc, where definite Web 2.0 principles are brought into play. My weaker area and one I really want to get a grip of. We have a website developed by a friend of a friend and it proves to be problematic in updating quickly but essential to do so.

Letters

Less frequently, but still appreciated in certain quarters

Paid for Adverts Banners, posters, adverts in paper media and google/facebook

Supermarkets I have literally unfortunately taken a group to perform in one and publicise a production. Although it did raise awareness and was financially successful perhaps not again, as a line should be drawn.

In Summary

I frequently enjoy networking and find it rewarding, although I would still consider myself shy.

One final thought on communication in general. We have found to our cost, in our small organisation that taking away proper channels of communication can lead to problems that will take even longer to resolve than if communication had been there in the first place. After all, it tends to be if the first misinformation has gone out unchallenged or unable to be effectively challenged, mud tends to stick, regardless of if its true or not, an example being certain tabloid disclosures.