tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32270819884534686342024-02-19T01:52:05.726+00:00Exploring Film LiteracyA PhD journey in Film and EducationUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-5154765970855661052016-03-10T09:11:00.001+00:002016-03-10T09:11:53.886+00:00PhD submissionTwo weeks ago I submitted my PhD!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8pJ434znn79908AAeBPpO2zshAvbvCPXdLbms6_8g29d53H315u725vFjJPF9SAQdXQpHYy4UDkCBOLVAAFLJenjo0rZRExCZnRzq5wTwSPuICWKJLMcNR9QXPO4_0gusDjc9WsRh4t4s/s1600/IMG_20160222_105224_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8pJ434znn79908AAeBPpO2zshAvbvCPXdLbms6_8g29d53H315u725vFjJPF9SAQdXQpHYy4UDkCBOLVAAFLJenjo0rZRExCZnRzq5wTwSPuICWKJLMcNR9QXPO4_0gusDjc9WsRh4t4s/s320/IMG_20160222_105224_3.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
It's been a crazy couple of months and I am glad everything is done now. My viva is currently scheduled for April, but unfortunately my external examiner dropped out due to health reasons so my supervisors and I are currently looking for someone else you might be suitable.<br />
<br />
After feeling very deflated at BERA, I started to turn my mind more towards my local community. Founding and running the <a href="http://www.mkfoodrevolution.org/" target="_blank">MK Food Revolution</a> (and its food festival FEAST) has been immensely rewarding. I am about to open my own shop in Wolverton and look forward to collaborating even more on a local level over the coming months.<br />
<br />
Although my PhD has not been directly relevant to my work of the past months, I have used lots of skills I improved over the last three years: perseverance, organisation, documentation and many others. I also still work as an online postgrad tutor for Leeds Beckett university and education consultant for NotDeadFish in London to top up my income. I have also produced a few resources for NotDeadFish and look forward to working with other film organisations in London soon.<br />
<br />
Not having an academic post (or rather: being paid to write) means that I have not had a chance to invest more time into publications. I would like my work to be read (by anyone who wants to, not just academics at universities which pay for journal access), so I have approached a few film education organisations to see whether they would pay me to produce a summary for them. After 3 1/2 years of a minimum (or no) salary unfortunately I can't afford to work for free any longer.<br />
<br />
In the end, the PhD showed a change in motivation and attainment of the Film Literacy groups, but unfortunately I was only able to use it as a case study of one particular area, rather than the comparative study I had hoped to produce. Too many factors inhibited the collection of comparative data and pointed towards the uniqueness of Bradford as a whole. I am proud of the work I have produced but have also become much more realistic about the needs of such an extensive study (and its collaborators).<br />
<br />
I will continue adding to the blog when I have news about PhD-related publications- wish me luck!<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-19146738632197639022015-09-18T07:03:00.002+01:002015-09-18T07:03:33.154+01:00BERA 2015 and the last monthsIt's been a very long time since my last blog post. In late spring I had to take a few months off from my PhD because of family matters, a move and several new projects. However, I am back on track now and my first full draft submission is only a month away. I am looking forward to finishing the analysis section and concluding with a flourish!<br />
<br />
Unfortunately the last months have shown me that my heart is not that of an academic after all. I am very proud of the research I have done over the last years for my PhD, Cambridge, Manchester and Durham Uni, but often hundreds of hours of work simply flow into a report or a journal paper which very few people are going to read and which is not actually going to make a difference on the ground. I am determined to make the time I have invested in the PhD count and I am trying to make connections with people and organisations who will then be able to use my work to advance the cause of using film as a tool in education.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivlWtBrIsPJ3Njobd92R5jPZelVJ3G_5bvXYPv4nwP3ybfpH4RiVCEZo_QjTAmtFsSIRJPwqoaC3oZNKVRD9lZDqs7QdwYNP7N16ZMv8BwdbHRYJO03cKKpQ9PITDoNAxGEk-e8c0W1MIv/s1600/IMG_20150916_182905.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivlWtBrIsPJ3Njobd92R5jPZelVJ3G_5bvXYPv4nwP3ybfpH4RiVCEZo_QjTAmtFsSIRJPwqoaC3oZNKVRD9lZDqs7QdwYNP7N16ZMv8BwdbHRYJO03cKKpQ9PITDoNAxGEk-e8c0W1MIv/s200/IMG_20150916_182905.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
This week I was able to attend two conferences: My own, the <a href="http://www.holisticeducationuk.org/" target="_blank">Holistic Education</a> conference, and the conference of the British Education Research Association. At the first, I was able to present a paper about some real life experience to 50 delegates, spend £40 for a two day conference and met some outstanding people who loved to connect. BERA on the other hand cost me £350 fees plus flights and accommodation and in the end TWO people listened to my paper. The conference had up to 27 parallel slots, allowing only a very small audience per session. I did meet some interesting people and got to discover Belfast (which I am very grateful for) but I can't but help walk away disillusioned. This is not the kind of community I feel connected to.<br />
<br />
The more I engage with the local food scene in Milton Keynes and spend time thinking about the difference I really want to make to my community in terms of creating a sustainable culture, the more I feel that research is important, but only if it has a real application. I love finding out about things and using the new knowledge to bring together components and create something, but I will never value theory for theory's sake. This feeling really made me struggle at BERA.<br />
<br />
Now that the end date of my thesis is drawing nearer, I have decided not to apply for further academic posts but will instead start working as an on-and-off education consultant and project manager. The next big goal is starting the <a href="http://www.mkurbanfarm.org/" target="_blank">Milton Keynes Urban Farm</a> and building my own horticultural business. I am sure that my research skills and connections will continue to help me in the future and I might return to a full academic post one day, but until then, the world of activism is waiting for me!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-50651450213676521842015-04-14T13:51:00.003+01:002015-04-14T13:52:18.946+01:00The first draft...... is almost here! Yesterday I spent some time formatting my chapters and putting them in one document. I am now 76,000 words in and with the double spacing of what has been signed off so far, the thesis is almost 300 pages long! The first draft should be all done for mid June, and I can't wait to look at it.<br />
<br />
This is what my cover look like on the iPad. Pretty swish!<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8SPCATlgtlD5hqrjQHCf5wthqSrDeATXnNyFV1ZGVrRtkJPzrHwGtUpv98XKOKBfb81_PED91JUeZ2M70k_yDCTiqnfzrZXcB30Zrn4mqwlecbqmvYObDGqy8Xr2gPTJ8flFS3WIFt8KP/s1600/IMG_20150414_084948.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8SPCATlgtlD5hqrjQHCf5wthqSrDeATXnNyFV1ZGVrRtkJPzrHwGtUpv98XKOKBfb81_PED91JUeZ2M70k_yDCTiqnfzrZXcB30Zrn4mqwlecbqmvYObDGqy8Xr2gPTJ8flFS3WIFt8KP/s1600/IMG_20150414_084948.jpg" height="320" width="237" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I had a quite frustrating time over Christmas, trying to understand the statistical part of my data, but after finally finding someone who could help me with SPSS, everything is coming together. Now there is just three further chapters on my list: The analysis (of which a draft already exists to some extend), the conclusion and then the introduction. Great stuff!<br />
<br />
I have also had some further good news that I have been accepted to the<a href="https://www.bera.ac.uk/beraconference-2015" target="_blank"> BERA conference</a> in Belfast in September. It will take place the week after our own <a href="http://www.holisticeducationuk.org/" target="_blank">HEO conference</a>, so that is going to be an exciting month. BERA is a proper 'grown up' conference and I am chuffed to be speaking there.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-44720487397312153342015-03-13T12:34:00.000+00:002015-03-13T12:34:08.867+00:00PhD paperwork and the last deadlinesIt is difficult to believe that my last blog post is already almost five month old now- how time flies! <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Since November, I have used my new research skills working for the Manchester University on the <a href="http://www.culturemetricsresearch.co.uk/" target="_blank">Culture Metrics</a> Research Project and have also picked up various bits and pieces of work at Leeds Beckett University. A colleague and I founded the <a href="http://www.holisticeducationuk.org/" target="_blank">Holistic Education Organisation UK</a> in January and we are planning our first conference for September- there is much to do!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My PhD viva date has now been set to the 7th October and my external examiner is going to be <a href="https://www.shef.ac.uk/education/staff/academic/levyr" target="_blank">Dr Rachael Levy</a>. The title of the thesis is now also confirmed: It's going to be called '<i>Nurturing writing skills in the primary literacy lessons of the 'City of Film': The impact of using moving images on attainment and subject perception</i>'. Fingers crossed the next weeks promise good progress!<br /><br />I have a couple more deadlines between now and June, when the first full draft is due. The data chapters needs to be reviewed (and has been giving me a great headache because of its statistics), and there are still three chapters to write: the analysis, the conclusion and the introduction. I can't wait for everything to come together soon. It's going to be a very high pile of paper in print!!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Last week, I spoke at the <a href="http://bradford-city-of-film.com/summit/speakers/" target="_blank">Bradford Film Summit,</a> and have also been accepted for a conference in Sheffield and one in Marseille together with my colleague Abi Gilmore from Manchester Uni. Have a look at the <a href="http://exploringfilmliteracy.blogspot.co.uk/p/papers-and-conferences.html" target="_blank">conference page</a> for details. It is my hope that the conferences will also help me to finally get pen to paper and draft at least one more journal article. I about to start applying for work for September and it would be great to have a few more publications under my belt before trying to enter the scary world of professional full-time academia. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-72216354879295958832014-11-20T11:36:00.001+00:002014-11-20T11:36:35.304+00:00First presentation of the resultsHello from Prague and the Media Education Summit 2014!<br />
<br />
Two exciting months have passed since my last blog post: both the data and the methodology chapter have now seen a review and I am looking forward to getting started on the deeper analysis before Christmas. This afternoon, I am presenting some first insights of the attainment site of the project at the MES and hope to convert the presentation into a journal paper before too long.<br />
<br />
In other academic places, October and November have also seen a couple of short term and part time research and teaching positions at the University of Manchester, Durham University and Leeds Beckett University. It's exciting to get stuck into the different areas of education, cultural analysis and policy. The Manchester project is particularly interesting, as I am working for another report for the NESTA R&D project fund. This time, I am looking at common quality metrics across arts projects.<br />
<br />
25 months into the PhD, I feel much more comfortable amongst the different academic tribes I dip in and out of and seem to find my own corner more and more. There are just two more chapters to go for my thesis and I am really pleased about my progress. Fingers crossed all this researching, writing and lecturing experience will help me to find an interesting position next summer.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-90800672928692914982014-09-17T17:00:00.001+01:002014-09-17T17:00:40.667+01:00Bam! The data presentation chapter is doneWow, this one was long in the making. After getting (happily) distracted by the Cambridge live coding project in June, it was really only two weeks ago that I returned to my PhD and started to summarise and code the rest of the questionnaires, interviews, observations, writing levels and photos. Working through this absolute TONNE of data has been quite scary but as the days went by my headlines and appendices became clearer and things came together.<br /><br />I found word's automatic labelling tools for chapter headings and tables absolutely invaluable this time around and it helped to me 'slot in' my data under different headings rather than write in a linear narrative- which would have been impossible! Overall, the whole chapter now spans 22,412 words (71 pages) plus another 22,000 words appendices- it's massive.<br /><br />My supervisor is currently on holiday and so I will probably not receive feedback until the end of the month. However, I am feeling super that I have finally concluded a big chunk of work and that I am now certain about the differences the scheme has made to the students! <br /><br />My Analysis chapter will now consider the following research questions:<div>
<ol>
<li>Can watching films have an emotional impact on students? If yes, what kind of impact becomes visible in the classroom?</li>
<li>Does the watching of film increase students’ motivation for learning? If yes, how does this become visible?</li>
<li>Does the students’ engagement with the film literacy scheme impact on their writing scores? If yes, how so?</li>
</ol>
These have changed quite a bit since the <a href="http://exploringfilmliteracy.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/research%20questions" target="_blank">beginning of the research process</a>, but I am hoping that this is just a natural development. Finally I feel like the end is in sight! I understand that the Analysis and Conclusion are still going to take a bit of time (and that I will have revisit previous chapters, too), but I am definitely beyond the writing summit now!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-79095639929703877392014-09-11T16:21:00.003+01:002014-09-11T16:22:48.154+01:00Interview case studies<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am just in the process of coding my interviews with the teachers and came across three lovely case studies of students' progress which I wanted to share with you. I think they illustrate brilliantly why the scheme has been such a success this year. (Please bear with me on the shoddy transcription.) Enjoy!</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 462.1pt;" valign="top" width="616"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Teacher 1:</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"At the moment, we’ve been looking at <i>Joseph</i> the musical. So rather than looking at a feature film,
we’ve looked at something filmed on a stage, that’s all told through song.
And I really thought, when I started it, although it’s a good story, and it’s
about betrayal and people getting murdered, and thrown down wells and things
like that, and someone ending up in jail and lots of things like that – I
sort of thought, that because it was a musical interpretation, the boys might
really, sort of, not like it. […] </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But I went with it anyway any and one of
the boys who really, really struggles to concentrate, he’s all
over his chair. He’s a nightmare to try and get him to write anything. I
often scribe for him to get his ideas down because he has got the ideas, but
he just can’t, physically, you know, put his brain in gear to pick up his
pencil. And he has been really into it and asking, you know, to watch the
parts of the film again. And the main aim at was for them to retell - to
write from Joseph’s point of view, the story, because obviously the musical
is from a third person. And we did lots of drama around it and things like
that. And that’s really up Adam’s street - drama type. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Where he normally
falls behind when he tries to write it down - and his was amazing: it had
dialogue in it. It was fantastic. It was all punctuated perfectly, and things
like that. So I suppose that’s one of my success stories that I was really
happy with that. Because normally he would just not be interested in the
final piece. He would do all the drama, do all the activity. But in this, <b>he
was really keen to get all the whole story written down</b>. And he really
enjoyed being Joseph, and he had lots of ideas of what he would feel like,
what he would say -yeah, what he’d actually experienced. Because a lot of the
children found it hard to disconnect from the musical. We had Elvis in our
last stories and things like that. It’s like no, its Faro, not Elvis.
Whereas, Adam really got the gist of his. So that was nice."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; page-break-after: avoid;">
<br /></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 462.1pt;" valign="top" width="616"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Teacher 2: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"One particular boy, in fact was interviewed the other week – a lady came in to speak to us – she sent me a quote from him, she was just talking
about - I was at the other side of
the room so he wasn’t saying it because I was there - she was looking at the media literacy
display, and he came up to her and was like “we’ve got another media display
in the hall if you want to go see it, of our awards ceremony from last year.” And she said “All right,” and he said,
“I’ve become a media leader this year.” And then he just started telling her,
he said, <b>“I like literacy. I wasn’t very good at it. I found it really hard,”
he said, “but now, I absolutely love the lessons,”</b> he said. “They’re really
good fun,” he said, “and I can now write in paragraphs, I can put speech into
my work,” he said, “and my levels are going up through the roof,” he said.
“I’m just doing so well,” he said. “And I enjoy coming to literacy now, it’s
my favourite lesson." And he has gone from level two and he is up towards
level four now. And he does have Dyslexic tendencies, but he has just really
run with this. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And another particular boy, who has made progress in his
writing and I think he has made eight points in his reading, he again hated
literacy, with a vengeance, and I chose him to come to the session with the
filmmaker here, and he just turned around to the filmmaker and he went: “<b>I
used to hate literacy, but I love it now</b>. I love doing all these films.” <b>And
we recently had Ofsted</b>, and I was doing some comprehension around a film when
they came in, and he shone. And the Ofsted Inspector afterwards asked me
about him and I said: “he is one of my special needs children.” And he said
“you would not have though it the way he was firing questions,” he said, “and
challenging you as well, as a Teacher.”[…] “And challenging your
discussions.” And then he was sort of arguing with some of the higher ability
children as well, about the film. I just find it fascinating – the effect
that it has had. The first thing that all my class have asked, because I
won’t have them next year - - when they went to transition day, apparently
all they kept saying to the year six Teacher was, “we will be doing films
again, wont we? We will be doing films."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 462.1pt;" valign="top" width="616"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Teacher 3:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"We were doing myths, and myths are quite difficult to do and we
watched a short film, just from the BBC short films clips – and it was where
Perseus was heading towards the cave of the Minotaur […] and it had a
voice-over, but you could also see what was happening. There wasn’t - - it
wasn’t a massively impacting film, I didn’t think. There wasn’t many sound
effects, there wasn’t much extra animation going on. <b>But the kids just loved
it and the actual work that they brought out from it was just amazing.</b> And
they felt - - I think they felt like they were heading towards the Minotaur.
You can sense in the room when they’re all like, “oh what’s coming on next,”
and all that kind of thing. So yeah, that was just one example of a film that
really geared, particularly the boys up. And get the boys interested to
write. I actually used it as an observational lesson, and the lady who came
to see said I can’t believe that that child particularly, who normally
struggles – doesn’t want to write – was just literally writing. He kept
coming over to her and saying, “read mine, read mine,” and he put his own
slant on it, as he always does, but she couldn’t believe how enthused he was
with writing."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-1802243041856987982014-09-08T21:54:00.003+01:002014-09-08T21:54:55.906+01:00First data analysis and mastering SPSSGood evening everyone!<br />
<br />
After spending most of the last two months on the live coding project for Cambridge Uni, I am slowly but surely returning to working on my PhD full time. I finished collecting all of my data over the summer and this is what I am going to analyse over the next months:<br />
<br />
1. Questionnaires (2 sets for teachers and 4 sets for students)<br />
2. Lesson observations<br />
3. Interviews from the end of the year (with the teachers)<br />
4. The writing scores<br />
<br />
I learned a lot on the Cambridge project and I am looking forward to open coding and engaging further in SPSS. After a few weeks of being quite uncertain about how to approach the masses of data, I read parts of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Doing-Quantitative-Research-Education-SPSS/dp/1849203245/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410209282&sr=8-1&keywords=education+spss">Doing Quantitative Research in Education </a>with SPSS and it really helped me to understand what I wanted and how I could achieve it.<br />
<br />
The chapter is still a bit of a mess, but here you can see the components I have added already:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOC5vBJjN2eFwobPCf71tuHNghkFQI2N2Se9GuJwxEnbTR1G-3udMTacHAncBDzqjTvRJpgJ8r5O4t2Nvv4BFaOHZnpef1b2KaS6xsJZlRfrUImAa9MhVHiZwbQYZ5NRhqVx_rqWGO8Zin/s1600/Screenshot+2014-09-08+21.49.11.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOC5vBJjN2eFwobPCf71tuHNghkFQI2N2Se9GuJwxEnbTR1G-3udMTacHAncBDzqjTvRJpgJ8r5O4t2Nvv4BFaOHZnpef1b2KaS6xsJZlRfrUImAa9MhVHiZwbQYZ5NRhqVx_rqWGO8Zin/s1600/Screenshot+2014-09-08+21.49.11.png" height="295" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
I have already got a few results, but they are not certain yet- it's going to be fantastic to actually have something special to say! I am especially interested in the relationship between the different variables and achievement: Did the use of film have more of an impact on boys/ older students/ better students due to the use of film? I am hoping to have completed the data presentation chapter by the end of next week...<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-82279352787119568262014-09-02T21:35:00.003+01:002014-09-02T21:35:52.124+01:00More publications and research for Cambridge uniSince my last post much has happened. In July I got a job offer for work for the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge to work on a really exciting and very geeky live coding education project and have been busy with that since. However, my part time contract will be up next week and I will return to completing the PhD. I am hoping to be done by spring next year so there will be enough time to get through the viva and find a new job before my scholarship runs out.<br />
<br />
After more than 12 months, I finally got the news yesterday that my first journal article is now online. You can find it on the Corerj journal <a href="http://corerj.educ.cam.ac.uk/currentissue/">website</a>. I also submitted another article on our Free School application to the Journal of Education Policy so keep you fingers crossed for me! I am hoping to submit one or two more before starting to apply for work at the end of the year.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-84644257041467824862014-07-13T13:55:00.001+01:002014-09-08T21:57:50.877+01:00First thoughts on some of the attainment dataDisclaimer (08/09/2014): I wrote this blog post at a point where I had very little data AND did not understand how to use the software and statistics properly. What I have written is not accurate any more, so please don't quote these results. I left the post, instead of deleting it, as even 'wrong' analysis is part of my research journey- and this instance taught me to check my results three times before being sure of ANYTHING!<br />
<br />
***<br />
<br />
Hello everyone!<br />
<br />
This week I have finally hit the interesting point where I am collecting the attainment data of the schools which are taking part in the film literacy scheme. So far, I have the results from ten of the 21 schools I am researching and after capturing the data, I can make some tentative first observations:<br />
<br />
- On average, the students of the schools on the scheme have made almost four points progress over the year (three are the expected progress)<br />
- The older the class was, the more progress the students made (rising to 4.2 points in Year 6)<br />
- The 'worse' the school had been graded by Ofsted, the more progress the students made (rising to 4.2 for the 'requires improvement' schools)<br />
- Although girls made a little bit more progress on average (0.2 points) this is really minimal<br />
- There was little to no difference in attainment between students who had started the year below their expected level in writing and those who started at the expected level<br />
<br />
Please don't quote me on anything yet- there is still lots more data to come! Great to see that the scheme is actually making a difference though and that I can finally use some of my new statistics skills!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-79320437822441036602014-06-26T15:13:00.001+01:002014-06-26T15:13:01.671+01:00Publications and the Bradford Media Literacy Screening dayThe last two days has marked the end of the media literacy year for the students of the Bradford primary schools. Over the course of two morning and two afternoons all 30 schools came to the Media Museum to introduce and screen the short films they had made over the past months. The quality of the films was mixed (as expected), but it was wonderful to see how excited everyone was to see the films on the big screen.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSVhWwTJi1PtPKw_BiSnirVO3J-DkQeN90Tt8UPBDwhwN95L8NNL2rbwGjH9Laljg9iGI3WiOJkyBdn1fUpIlEcSPw5Y0MP_Ymnx8UVK8W6c1SZ8bPzMHKZ1pmy63iojGZsO3ljqJ8vLw0/s1600/IMG_20140624_102744.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSVhWwTJi1PtPKw_BiSnirVO3J-DkQeN90Tt8UPBDwhwN95L8NNL2rbwGjH9Laljg9iGI3WiOJkyBdn1fUpIlEcSPw5Y0MP_Ymnx8UVK8W6c1SZ8bPzMHKZ1pmy63iojGZsO3ljqJ8vLw0/s1600/IMG_20140624_102744.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Yesterday at the Leeds Young Film Network meeting I heard that Leeds is now thinking about running a similar scheme as part of their Young people's film festival. It's great to see that the scheme is spreading and they seemed to be keen to collaborate.<br />
<br />
In two weeks time (on the 7th) the Media Literacy teachers are meeting for one last time to evaluate the scheme. I hope to gather the last questionnaires and writing levels then. Fingers crossed at least most of them bring the required material!<br />
<br />
In the meantime, I have been busy starting and editing a few journal articles I'd like to send off in the next weeks. The first one is a condensed version of my Master's dissertation which looks at how, why and when teachers use films in lessons. Cutting 20,000 words down to 6,000 is really hard but I am proud of the final product. The article has just gone off to two tutors for review and hopefully I'll be able to submit it next month. Two further ones on the PhD and the Free School experience are in the pipeline.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately there have also been some sad news: After several weeks of trying to negotiate/ collaborate with the New Schools Network, my friend Natalie and I have decided that we are going to withdraw from the Free School School application process. Things got too stressful and after not being able to satisfy one of the main criteria we decided that this was going to be the end of the road for us. I am still incredibly grateful for the experience and look forward to continue to write about Free Schools- it's a fascinating research topic!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-54843600773699734252014-06-12T18:46:00.001+01:002014-06-12T18:46:51.458+01:00More thoughts on Florence and other thingsHello again from Florence!<br />
<br />
By now, I am back at the hostel to have a bit of a breather before my friend and I are going to head out for the first World Cup game of the year. So far, I've had a great time in Florence. This evening we took a walk around the city centre and I bought a pasta roller to inspire me when I get back home.<br />
<br />
The conference is interesting (and I am still super chuffed about being here) but unfortunately I don't quite feel that it lived up to its title 'Future of Education'. It's been a shame to hear a few vague desinterested people talk about their commercial projects and I've really been missing the amazing key notes I am used to from other conferences. That said, the programme for tomorrow looks a little bit better and I already made a good friend today. I am also looking forward to my presentation tomorrow afternoon.<br />
<br />
My talk is going to be on Free Schools (see post below) and unfortunately we've been having a really tough time with the New Schools Network and the application in general. It seems that one of the primary requirements for the applications at the moment is that the team has to have at least one outstanding school leader as one of the main applicants and although we've got a lady who is helping us with it, she is unsure whether she'll be able to commit. And as a busy principal who would be able to dedicate an extensive amount of time to a project like a completely different school to their own?!<br />
<br />
My friend Natalie (who is also an academic) and I have been thinking and writing extensively on our application and I am hoping to try to finish a prospective journal article at the end of June. Additionally, I would really like to finish my PhD data gathering by the end of the month. In three weeks' time I am seeing the Film Literacy teachers for the last time and have just sent out a batch of questionnaires to them. Hopefully at least some of them are going to come back!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifLhF7MUsWuuK8pGNq-ZO1TjwwFxM68uQDSHqTMxmS_3BqQ2vcdEnGTTrqZBj52qCtEUhcwtRIv35rPyjU3jmChHkj6zD_qNfQk1seBcu406n68uuiB1ZyUNj6pwX6IGLE28X5L7ro6Zeu/s1600/IMG_20140610_133856.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifLhF7MUsWuuK8pGNq-ZO1TjwwFxM68uQDSHqTMxmS_3BqQ2vcdEnGTTrqZBj52qCtEUhcwtRIv35rPyjU3jmChHkj6zD_qNfQk1seBcu406n68uuiB1ZyUNj6pwX6IGLE28X5L7ro6Zeu/s1600/IMG_20140610_133856.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
I have recently started to work with SPSS and NVivo and can't wait to post some exciting findings next week when I am back home. SPSS has helped to to think about how girls and boys think about writing and it will hopefully also show me whether the film literacy scheme has actually made a difference to attitudes and attainment at the end of the year. Fingers crossed something useful is going to emerge!<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-5011685647000661852014-06-12T11:06:00.001+01:002014-06-12T18:48:10.412+01:00At the Future of Education conference in Florence<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg67XuFj6lobzubA4EOs3zKduAt3O-s9Awm2sjwHt5NEateiHyX2IEo8LCK85MVq6zGCdTn_lTFgmcvCZb1F8MZiRgDE2rEX1hnz2OEUP6itTD7Ba_s0e60Zn35mcf2kM6NwXYR21KjSEsN/s640/blogger-image-306124164.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg67XuFj6lobzubA4EOs3zKduAt3O-s9Awm2sjwHt5NEateiHyX2IEo8LCK85MVq6zGCdTn_lTFgmcvCZb1F8MZiRgDE2rEX1hnz2OEUP6itTD7Ba_s0e60Zn35mcf2kM6NwXYR21KjSEsN/s320/blogger-image-306124164.jpg" width="240" /></a>Yesterday I arrived in Florence for this year's Future of Education conference. Unfortunately I don't have time to write a whole blog post (more tonight!) but just wanted to share some joy for now. This morning I picked up my copy of the conference proceedings which have been published as a book- and found my first printed paper!<br />
<div>
<br />
I am very lucky to be here in Florence and that the University of Bradford funded my attendance- thank you! More thoughts later...</div>
<div>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2Grand Hotel Mediterraneo Lungarno del Tempio, 44, Florence43.766463 11.272771tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-46380074739420312382014-05-06T10:04:00.001+01:002014-05-06T10:06:28.669+01:00More conferences and publicationsLast week I had some brilliant news: I have been accepted for this year's Kaleidoscope conference in Cambridge and the <a href="http://conference.pixel-online.net/FOE/acceptedabstracts_scheda.php?id_abs=558">Future of Education</a> conference in Florence! The latter even includes a publication and I am chuffed to bits that the University of Bradford is paying for me to go. Here is the submitted abstract:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQe74IMKl7jAyKgfARrW_PQLqp-nycwJ4dqk9yUmFgQ4bzm5DPz9DcuJraLyZwrlZ0ZvuTfJ22xT5IHkEPiWdUiLYgGmwNcPdVkMsdlftuTR6RJZ1wkuK6a1AEN2KjCECh05GrlaAhyphenhyphendc/s1600/Screenshot+2014-05-06+09.55.26.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQe74IMKl7jAyKgfARrW_PQLqp-nycwJ4dqk9yUmFgQ4bzm5DPz9DcuJraLyZwrlZ0ZvuTfJ22xT5IHkEPiWdUiLYgGmwNcPdVkMsdlftuTR6RJZ1wkuK6a1AEN2KjCECh05GrlaAhyphenhyphendc/s1600/Screenshot+2014-05-06+09.55.26.png" height="276" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Ros McLellan, my new second supervisor from Cambridge, came to see me last month and together we discussed many questions I have had for a long time. She also encouraged me to do get involved in some additional research and to potentially apply for a postdoc position for next year. It was really wonderful to talk to someone who has so much experience in the academic education community and I am looking forward to working with her over the next year. Our next meeting is at the end of the month at the Kaleidoscope conference.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In the last month, I also re-submitted an article for the Kaleidoscope journal and hope to hear back from them soon. It would be great to go into my second research summer knowing that I have two publications under my belt already.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
My research is currently focused on observing as many media literacy lessons as I can. I am working closely with one particular teacher and I think her school might become a case study for the scheme. I am also planning my questionnaires and interviews for the end of the year. The project evaluation day is not actually until the beginning of July, but I am hoping to see a couple more classes until then. I am particular looking forward to evaluating the data about students' emotions about writing. It's going to be fascinating!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-61665279113445576802014-04-04T12:26:00.001+01:002014-04-04T12:26:34.189+01:00Last official media literacy training in BradfordToday was the last day of the media literacy training at the Design Exchange in Bradford. I spoke to the teachers about the importance of the research and also conducted some short questionnaires on what they thought about the scheme so far. Here is a bit of quantitative data for you:<br />
<br />
2/3 through the school year...<br />
... 10 out of 13 teachers had seen an impact from using the film literacy scheme<br />
... 7 out of 13 felt that students felt differently about writing<br />
... 10 out of 13 had seen changes to students’ attainment in writing<br />
<br />
Teachers also had lots of other positive things to say about the scheme. They felt that it had made a couple of changes to their classes:<br />
<br />
- Progress in reading<br />
- Students are excited about literacy<br />
- Better inference skills<br />
- Range of sources to draw information from<br />
- Allows all children to participate- no matter what level<br />
- Students write at length<br />
- Children pay attention in lessons<br />
- Good progress<br />
- More interaction and focus<br />
- Greater variety of language used<br />
- Emphasis is taken away from writing<br />
<br />
The best thing about the morning was to hear from three teachers who had been on the scheme the previous year but are still implementing film literacy almost daily. They came up with some amazing examples of how to use films for whole units and across the whole of the curriculum.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgesAOHfR0OZwTW16TVXSA3duxBhFfUmkPhD4gV2VoNtsrD9mcRb7Rr50diCTfQzL0QZD8EuIQxEQE7GPMgiiiVUm2R0DeMIx3T4Op6cGeBgQUEDDfRdHaZHEdEMzz2mhbKr7OoGy7Xm4dQ/s1600/IMG_20140404_110028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgesAOHfR0OZwTW16TVXSA3duxBhFfUmkPhD4gV2VoNtsrD9mcRb7Rr50diCTfQzL0QZD8EuIQxEQE7GPMgiiiVUm2R0DeMIx3T4Op6cGeBgQUEDDfRdHaZHEdEMzz2mhbKr7OoGy7Xm4dQ/s1600/IMG_20140404_110028.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It was very interesting to see the difference in how teachers approached the resources and how they thought differently about the scheme and its use. While some teachers said that they implemented the film literacy ideas into 80-90% of their lessons, others had 'only' used it for a handful of lessons over the course of the year. I will have to take these differences into consideration when it comes to analyse my data over the summer.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Last spring, I attended the Kaleidoscope Conference in Cambridge and submitted a journal paper after the conference. In January, I heard back and was asked to make some changes. The paper is now in its second review and I have my fingers crossed that I'll hear back in the next weeks. I am currently in the process of writing a second article about the Steiner Academy Leeds and its place in the Free School landscape.</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-27686598578041919992014-02-06T16:47:00.004+00:002014-02-06T16:47:54.555+00:00Media and Learning Newsletter<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbU9VH0fasnug1AvFrxTnIqyI0ORqU7L3JAITSrc1_1h3dirchO_Yswo9wHLD7PuKhbnmVjGsHEbaPcwOg3YHlB0pAl1bDno3tPy2Sedsm1YZ2F9Mf_5s40YzvQZsynjtfCU0y-xBJZ9p1/s1600/Screenshot+2014-02-06+16.40.22.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbU9VH0fasnug1AvFrxTnIqyI0ORqU7L3JAITSrc1_1h3dirchO_Yswo9wHLD7PuKhbnmVjGsHEbaPcwOg3YHlB0pAl1bDno3tPy2Sedsm1YZ2F9Mf_5s40YzvQZsynjtfCU0y-xBJZ9p1/s1600/Screenshot+2014-02-06+16.40.22.png" height="200" width="161" /></a>I am very happy to announce that I have just had an article published in the Media and Learning newsletter. You can find it <a href="http://news.media-and-learning.eu/files/Media-and-Learning-News_2014-02.pdf#nameddest=filmliteracy" target="_blank">here</a>. Apart from the <a href="http://issuu.com/alternativeeducation/docs/educationrevolution58/6" target="_blank">AERO article</a> from a few years ago this is my first reviewed publication so I am pretty chuffed.<br />
<br />
In other good news, I met with my new supervisor, Ros McLellan from Cambridge University, on Tuesday and she has really helped me to think about my next steps. I am hoping to get back into the primary schools as quickly as possible and look forward to continuing my research.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.steineracademyleeds.co.uk/" target="_blank">Steiner Academy Leeds</a> is also taking shape and we had an interview in London with the New Schools Network last week. If we are accepted into their Development program we'll have access to lots of funding and support so please keep your fingers crossed!<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-77425536304587697012014-01-21T12:33:00.000+00:002014-01-21T12:50:23.295+00:00Happy new year!I am now almost half way through my PhD; time has really flown. After a year of reading and writing, I finally finished my literacy review yesterday. It now includes sections on film and education, literacy, motivation and emotion and I am really proud that it is done. Overall, it spans 40,000 words. I am very excited about passing it on to my (potential) new supervisor <a href="http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/people/staff/mclellan/" target="_blank">Ros McLellan</a> from the University of Cambridge. Hopefully we will finally be able to start working together in a fortnight's time.<br />
<br />
In the first week of January, I visited the MeCCSA in Bournemouth and spoke about the student population of the Bradford Film School. This was a very interesting experience as it was the first time I visited a conference and held a presentation on something that was not PhD related! You can actually find a <a href="http://www.tout.com/m/94axsp" target="_blank">short video</a> here. I am writing quite a lot for the <a href="http://www.steineracademyleeds.co.uk/" target="_blank">Steiner Academy Leeds</a> free school bid at the moment, so I might try to put a different paper together for that, too.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitxbfDAk-IGvXhHdXdiawbQyqvb12h9srKBpZcnSJRkYc4WS6hDH3HVOtcuovo15KxLknqv-F-FhQ-bhaTxA_veQqX3X7WaQxW5QiOIBEP87zUMf3BInFUFvKGu0DBd7OsBDnVvs__DT5O/s1600/IMG_20140109_111604.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitxbfDAk-IGvXhHdXdiawbQyqvb12h9srKBpZcnSJRkYc4WS6hDH3HVOtcuovo15KxLknqv-F-FhQ-bhaTxA_veQqX3X7WaQxW5QiOIBEP87zUMf3BInFUFvKGu0DBd7OsBDnVvs__DT5O/s1600/IMG_20140109_111604.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
Unfortunately my PhD research has hit a bit of a wall- the schools are not very good at getting back to me and after gathering data from the first 10 classes, it is very quiet now. I am a little bit worried that it is too late to re-approach some of the class teachers and I am hoping that Ros can help me to figure out a new strategy to gather as much data as possible in the last months of the school year. Fingers crossed!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-34449331076154555602013-12-13T13:46:00.002+00:002013-12-13T13:50:34.689+00:00A common framework for literacy assessment<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
A lot of the best things that happen at conferences take
place between the talks: no matter whether it’s receiving feedback for your
presentation or meeting someone who feels passionately about an interesting area of research, these conversations are really the human backbone of why I enjoy
taking part in conferences. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This lunchtime, I met Kamakshi Rajjagopal from the Open
University in the Netherlands and we had a very interesting chat about literacy
frameworks. Something that almost everyone at the conference seems to struggle with
is ‘assessing’ media competencies. How do we know whether someone is media
literate? </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
On a holistic and more general level this is easy to
determine: I would expect the person to be able to access and evaluate the
media and then, possibly, to be able to produce it, too. In the case of film
education for example, there should be an understanding about how meaning is
constructed (shots, editing, lighting, …) and what effect these techniques
have. However, as soon as we move into the categorisation of these skills at different levels, things become more difficult. I have always found the AQA and
WJEC marking criteria for practical coursework pretty limiting.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Kamakshi suggested that we should look at the common
aspects between old and new literacy and consider the<a href="http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/source/framework_en.pdf" target="_blank"> common frameworks</a> for
literacy competence across Europe. Here, competencies are described with
positive statements such as ‘I can write a paragraph without errors’. Where I
think this comparison falls short in terms of film is that very little
attention is paid to creativity (just like in writing)! Students are rewarded
for ‘imaginative’ work but it is much more difficult to define ‘imaginative’
than it is to say that there are no grammatical errors in a sentence.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In a way, however, the comparison is an appropriate one
if we remember that written language has many things in common with film
making: there are parts (sentences and shots, paragraphs and scenes), there is
a framework of rules (grammar and editing rules such as the construction of
shot-reverse-shot) and there is the same consideration of fiction vs
non-fiction (reports and documentaries). In the end, both forms include a
degree of creativity no matter how ‘objective’ they are, too.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
There are some examples of frameworks (done by the<a href="http://ec.europa.eu/culture/media/media-content/media-literacy/studies/final-report-ml-study-2011.pdf" target="_blank"> European Commission</a> and <a href="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002246/224655e.pdf" target="_blank">UNESCO</a>), however many definitions are basic and vague. On the other hand: would it really be possible to develop specific frameworks for every 'part' of media (film, radio, newspapers, blogs, ...) and where does that list end? Also, as we have seen with the development of film and media as subjects on their own right, just because something is assessed <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyyoung/100074686/its-official-if-you-do-a-levels-in-media-studies-or-law-you-wont-get-into-a-top-university/" target="_blank">does not mean it gets taken more seriously</a>. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT-Xx8xz3Fuv2xdWioNHMaxXdqPsrA49Yx49myOSTbm2rXeDupy5RZ5_vBBf5r08bC4TaQdfCf3rFg_fjHDiguoBX64N6Ltc_UnSDSfGD6Bdf1oE7z51jcAe_vG8QJ5iCAbv80pJ3l51J-/s1600/graphic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT-Xx8xz3Fuv2xdWioNHMaxXdqPsrA49Yx49myOSTbm2rXeDupy5RZ5_vBBf5r08bC4TaQdfCf3rFg_fjHDiguoBX64N6Ltc_UnSDSfGD6Bdf1oE7z51jcAe_vG8QJ5iCAbv80pJ3l51J-/s320/graphic.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Yesterday, I was writing about how surprised I was that
even after years and years of discussion, media literacy still did not have a common framework- surely by this point we should have long left definitions
behind and moved on to making a united move towards implementation? An
assessment scheme like the ones that exist for traditional literacy might
potentially have a lot to contribute- whether Europe or communities beyond will be able to agree on one framework is a different topic! </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-77506686792355811902013-12-12T18:18:00.003+00:002013-12-13T10:00:27.008+00:00Media and Learning conference live update<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Last night at midnight I arrived in Brussels for the
Media and Learning conference 2013. The conference takes place at the Flamish
ministry of education and the lunch was suitably exciting. Unfortunately my
hotel is not in a very nice area but it’s warm and dry and this morning it only
took 15 minutes to walk to the conference. I got lost on the way but in end it
was really my fault that I did not see the major signs! </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I was scheduled to speak this afternoon at 3:30 and so I
had plenty of time to go to talks, meet people and tweet! I really enjoy
chatting with people online as the conference goes on and I think this is
something that I picked up last year at the conference of the Chaos Computer
Club in Hamburg. Online people make friends much easier than in real life-
although I don’t really have any scruples to go up to strangers and say hi at
conferences, either. Tweeting, I made a new friend and connected to lots of
interesting people in the media literacy area. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
The conference has a coherent strand of ‘media literacy’
and much of what is said centres around this topic. It is fascinating to see
how even after years of talking about media literacy, theorists and
practitioners from all over the world still seem to take many different things
from media literacy- in the opening talk media literacy was defined as ICT,
film and online media by three different people. <br>
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
One of the people who opened the conference was Baroness Beeban
Kidron, one of the co-founders of Filmclub UK. I was very surprised to see that
she simply explained the Filmclub model and praised it. She is a very engaging
speaker and I am sure that she wanted to introduce everyone to her project on a
positive note, however saying that media literacy is now playing a big part in
schools over the UK and not mentioning that Filmclub does not actually exist
anymore annoyed me a little bit. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Filmclub and First Light have now merged to become Film
Nation UK and the old organisations are going to disappear. Her comment
regarding the media literacy in the schools is simply idealistic- England has
removed all traces of media from its latest primary curriculum and in the
secondary sector more and more schools cancel media as an A-Level and GCSE
because of the move towards the English baccalaureate. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In the afternoon, I went to a lecture on ‘big data’ and
the impact of data gathering and analysis on education. Dai Griffiths from the
University of Bolton began his talk with a quote from Michael Gove, in which
teachers are encouraged to collect and generate data to ‘show what works’. This
is very much in line with the approach of my PhD: the education department
wants statistics and quantitative ‘proof’ of what makes a difference to
learning (or rather testing!). Dai talked about how companies like Wonga and Google
gather masses of data and how this data helps them to make decisions but then
also noted that this might not be the right model for education. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What data can we really gather as educators? At the
moment, all data that we collect or that we are supplied with is about exam
results and standardised attainment levels. Does this reflect learning? If you
have read a few posts on this blog you might have realised that I feel very
strongly about how little testing and grading contribute to education and that
much of the education system in which we work is based on the wrong
foundations. Dai finished his talk with the question whether using more data
(and the trend is developing that way) can really help students and teachers or
whether the benefit is just for the managers and data becomes just another
inflated tool of performance management. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
At 3:30pm it was finally time for my talk. I was part of
a panel which spoke about media literacy as a contributor to ‘core competence’
and the two other panel members introduced a practical project and gave a
further introduction to Filmclub. I think the beginning of my talk might have
sounded a little bit angry- all fired up from the ‘big data’ talk, I
passionately argued for the importance of quantitative research and against the
casual use of quotes and bad methodologies. I introduced everyone to the City
of Film media literacy project and shared a few data points I have gathered so
far. I also spoke about the political landscape in the UK and the fact that
there was little funding for enquiry and little government support for media.
Overall, I think it went pretty well and there were almost 20 people there who
listened to me and my colleagues.
Afterwards, I was approached by a lady from the University of Barcelona
who wanted to interview me for her film and we agreed to meet tomorrow morning.</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
This evening, there is the show for the Media and
Learning awards. I was a judge for the competition as few months ago and looked
at eight media projects from films to interactive software and video games. I
am looking forward to seeing some of the other projects which have been
nominated. I think there is a group from Yorkshire, too!</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Tomorrow, I am going to attend sessions on research into
film and media across Europe and one of my new friends, Julie Smith from
Southern Illinois University is going to speak about reality TV shows. The
plenary at the end of the day will look at how to create systematic change
towards a more media friendly education system- something I am particularly
looking forward to! Thanks for reading and I’ll keep you updated! </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-65746352892975541262013-11-27T16:48:00.003+00:002013-11-27T17:00:32.500+00:00Starting the research<div>
It's been quite some time since I have blogged- the summer flew by and now I am already half way through the first phase of my research. I started to contact schools in August and also met the teachers at the first teacher training event. Unfortunately it turned out that the classes were actually Year 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 (instead of only Year 5), but on the other hand there are almost 30 schools who are part of the scheme this year. It has been challenging to get in touch with them and organise a day at school with the teachers but whenever I have met students it has been very interesting and rewarding. So far, 200 students have taken questionnaires on writing and film.<br />
<br />
On a none-PhD note, I have joined a group of people who are trying to apply for a Steiner Free School in Leeds. Have a look at the website if you are interested :-)<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.steineracademyleeds.co.uk/" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="74" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWaop_sgCb3xlEza1OfMduNcslhaSoXf1yCnKZ7tcC-SkGTxoPvdshiaRE-QgHc2cMY4PN_QUo8GwyQzIWiE8-N45jmm-CEH_vMNStD587BWntGWsLRgHvJuaSjxPLAIzldCc711AIFCb/s320/owl+banner.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I passed my transfer a few weeks ago, too, so there is one thing I can tick off! Hurray! Chapter-wise, I am now done with film, literacy and motivation and also hope to submit the section on emotion at the end of the week. Unfortunately I still haven't got a second supervisors but I have got my fingers crossed that the paperwork is finally going to come through before Christmas.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Last Saturday I attended the Media Education Association conference in London and spoke about the ways in which the scheme uses film to teach literacy. I only spoke to a small group of people, but I think that most of them found it interesting and helpful. One of the attendees turned out to be Paul Reeve, the new head of Film Nation UK. I had another quick chat with him at the end of the day and he told me to 'get on with my PhD quickly' as it was needed by the film education community and that it would be 'dynamite' once it was published. That was pretty great feedback from someone so important!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi61SC5Bk7bxur7EJWB5HOXMInfKayvtUU_9uVbJrzJobt_rRdaNKWWttw5PoKfGFsieauZ-9y-88AdSQo0P1jsts9MTz9798mcuxZjqyUeTnA5V49c6xt6wwwz3-_o1nsXsd-j5uIzK6k/s1600/IMG_20131123_153216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi61SC5Bk7bxur7EJWB5HOXMInfKayvtUU_9uVbJrzJobt_rRdaNKWWttw5PoKfGFsieauZ-9y-88AdSQo0P1jsts9MTz9798mcuxZjqyUeTnA5V49c6xt6wwwz3-_o1nsXsd-j5uIzK6k/s200/IMG_20131123_153216.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<div>
In three weeks time I am off to my first international conference the Media and Learning Conference in Brussels. You can find the programme<a href="http://media-and-learning.eu/programme" target="_blank"> here</a>. It looks like a very interesting event and I look forward to sharing my research with the international film and media education community. I have also been accepted to speak at the Meccsa conference in Bournemouth in January and will be presenting a paper on how Bradford introduces film to people on the margins of society. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-14900033267206407362013-07-18T20:51:00.000+01:002013-07-18T20:51:45.754+01:00The methodology section is done!After almost a week of non-stop typing, I finished my methodology section and the paperwork for the university ethics approval process last Thursday night and submitted everything on Friday morning. I am pretty chuffed that I actually managed to write 12k in two days and have high hopes that similar spurs of productivity will help me next year when it comes to writing up the thesis!<br />
<br />
In the end, one of the toughest issues to write about were the ethical implications of working with children and working with informed consent. Because there are 15 focus children in my study who I want to closely monitor and interview, both they and their parents have to agree that they want to take part in the study. Unfortunately some of them have been chosen because they have a very low attainment level and so I had to find a compromise between working ethically (and letting them know why they had had been chosen) and not causing harm. I am hoping that by framing the selection in a positive manner (eg 'We have chosen you because you have this target level this year') I can justify my way of researching.<br />
<br />
Generally, my research design included quite a lot of different factors:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6-Z3W4P3TSMlct7XNManJ7-tYRFj3ycewjFS0zW1UgoUOvaiMxBTXDALJxDKKNeFFRmiEPUqvACCf453OJoFNtCeSFX8jVZEGxZzzWq7c0lz96U_DX5cCJMQ0-WSvVNikCtCFiS2KmuiD/s1600/design.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6-Z3W4P3TSMlct7XNManJ7-tYRFj3ycewjFS0zW1UgoUOvaiMxBTXDALJxDKKNeFFRmiEPUqvACCf453OJoFNtCeSFX8jVZEGxZzzWq7c0lz96U_DX5cCJMQ0-WSvVNikCtCFiS2KmuiD/s320/design.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
You can find the introduction to the methodology chapter <a href="http://exploringfilmliteracy.blogspot.de/2000/01/methodology-introduction.html" target="_blank">here</a>. If, incidentally, you research with children, too, and would like to share your experience of working with informed consent with kids and their parents please get in touch! It would be great to find out more about how other academics work in the area. Of course there are plenty of examples in books, but hearing about first hand experience is always more exciting!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-44422653545453784802013-07-11T09:57:00.000+01:002013-07-18T20:52:07.867+01:00First international conference acceptanceMany exciting things have been happening in the last two weeks, starting with the official launch of the Bradford Film School on the 2nd July. Representatives from India and beyond came to celebrate the launch with us and it was great to see such a warm reception. It has been amazing to be part of the team which made the new school possible and I am especially proud of my involvement in the BA (Hons) Film and a BFI Film Academy bid which I submitted last week.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuzB4aUIuC1xPuRSzMCMaDSbpTp2VvuK6QY7DWmuHZomD2GHeUQH2nrs4eKQlPw-SiGavp3GGKwCpmaxPkfhO4QOMUJcBq-5gdYeG1Es5g722YZAB-7Tl5S7JEDzZnvE7LDq78C2cZ8v-a/s1600/1372775290871.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuzB4aUIuC1xPuRSzMCMaDSbpTp2VvuK6QY7DWmuHZomD2GHeUQH2nrs4eKQlPw-SiGavp3GGKwCpmaxPkfhO4QOMUJcBq-5gdYeG1Es5g722YZAB-7Tl5S7JEDzZnvE7LDq78C2cZ8v-a/s320/1372775290871.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
One of the guests at the reception was David Wilson, who spoke about the importance of learning in the world's first UNESCO City of Film. </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkGROGsbarlDFfD94SapbS4A5aBg_uOnIuHkq7qi0xo9vCSYLhmNNs0PqV4a_G844br3-7h8KNv_8CcsCFbx2laQjiXayvPGXdhIjXCQZq1Edr8aEEVTnAlzG4slbBWGh033-0RxCvCRvr/s1600/1372770387001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkGROGsbarlDFfD94SapbS4A5aBg_uOnIuHkq7qi0xo9vCSYLhmNNs0PqV4a_G844br3-7h8KNv_8CcsCFbx2laQjiXayvPGXdhIjXCQZq1Edr8aEEVTnAlzG4slbBWGh033-0RxCvCRvr/s320/1372770387001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Two days ago we also had the last day of the City of Film literacy scheme, where seven of the participating teachers write up their case studies and commented on their experience of the year. All of them were overwhelmingly positive and most of them the teachers will continue on the scheme as mentors for next year's teachers.<br />
<br />
In other great news, I have been accepted to two further conferences, the <a href="http://www.media-and-learning.eu/">Media + Learning Conference</a> in Brussels which takes place in September and the <a href="http://www.cemp.ac.uk/summit/2013/">Media Education Summit</a> in Sheffield in September. On both occasions I will be speaking about the differences between media literacy and using media for literacy. Whilst the Media Education summit it going to be my first 'professional' conference, Brussels is going to be my first international one. I am very excited!<br />
<br />
My last two days have been completely taken up by the completion of my methodology chapter. After checking with the university about ethical approval last week, I was told that I had to submit my whole chapter (or rather most of its content) together with my application, so I am trying to get everything done before I start travelling for two weeks tomorrow. Yesterday I wrote 6,000 words in one hit, so have my fingers crossed that everything will be done tonight! I will post some ideas once everything is submitted.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN461Dp3nK0kLPNHRkmHW9PBd5cEyUa2vrq8v_QDldy2Vsa5DZf3jROZe7DOqlzusYDhVSNzpEHlcU5VJkIFqQbep0KPggS8r3sQoNwe29ER8ziMa_6Y4fLxO6QM0nNY5MmgSO5T0EsrLS/s1600/methodology.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN461Dp3nK0kLPNHRkmHW9PBd5cEyUa2vrq8v_QDldy2Vsa5DZf3jROZe7DOqlzusYDhVSNzpEHlcU5VJkIFqQbep0KPggS8r3sQoNwe29ER8ziMa_6Y4fLxO6QM0nNY5MmgSO5T0EsrLS/s320/methodology.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-28816229996283001232013-07-02T11:03:00.000+01:002013-07-02T11:03:39.418+01:00Pockets of Excellence: Film Education in Yorkshire and the HumberOn Thursday the 27th I was invited to the <a href="http://www.showroomworkstation.org.uk/" target="_blank">Sheffield Showroom Cinema</a> to attend the launch of the CapeUK report <a href="http://www.capeuk.org/capeuk-resources/pockets-of-excellence-film-education-in-yorkshire-and-the-humber.html" target="_blank">Pockets of Excellence: Film Education in Yorkshire and the Humber</a>. The report was commissioned by CapeUK, an arts umbrella organisation which manages, designs and delivers arts projects across Yorkshire and beyond. The aims of the report were to map film education activity and to lay the foundations for a coherent cross-county network.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoC3cXBbZ-PHIBOhZJR3CxGDOkKin4Hbe5eNq1a6luPdsLUQJdIvvw9jeF3s8DTvDi1KiewP76kUUFqL6f95ljSUWjcs32yuay3GvJrCaBCKSNWhtZSBTFmCgBEceMrkoGxY325x9V_y3M/s1600/1372325210144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoC3cXBbZ-PHIBOhZJR3CxGDOkKin4Hbe5eNq1a6luPdsLUQJdIvvw9jeF3s8DTvDi1KiewP76kUUFqL6f95ljSUWjcs32yuay3GvJrCaBCKSNWhtZSBTFmCgBEceMrkoGxY325x9V_y3M/s320/1372325210144.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Geraldine Walker, Sarah Mumford and Dr Becky Perry (my secondary supervisor for the first half year of the PhD) summarised the findings of the report.One of the main topics that emerged very quickly were the impact of passionate individuals on film activities. No matter whether in schools or arts organisations, the researchers found that it was often these individual people who started, maintained and drove project. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
However, the key to success with integrating film into the curriculum and beyond is by including the whole of the organisation. Once the leader (for example the head teacher) believes in the benefits of film education, whether because of its intrinsic value or the improvement of other skills, the structures to put film in place are then filtered down into the classroom and whole school activities. There are many <a href="https://twitter.com/FilmLiteracyPhD/status/350185660516286464/photo/1" target="_blank">reasons</a> why people engage with film.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAjYH3d8YQ1g5vwI18AHeof-k3KcuLLSKE4oqXswy2RN6IXHCI_RVf0lw74otB5G-m5dbpJfrBNhKA1tUMrWt5NggC5IXomlvzj1EBT5NK46lzIPbV6ZyuuH2Pkb467jJAh2eIlMnA1taz/s1600/1372325467089.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAjYH3d8YQ1g5vwI18AHeof-k3KcuLLSKE4oqXswy2RN6IXHCI_RVf0lw74otB5G-m5dbpJfrBNhKA1tUMrWt5NggC5IXomlvzj1EBT5NK46lzIPbV6ZyuuH2Pkb467jJAh2eIlMnA1taz/s320/1372325467089.jpg" width="319" /></a></div>
<br />
Becky closed the first part of the morning with the hope that the BFI and other film organisations would tap into whole networks rather than individual institutions. Although the report highlights excellent practice of individual groups, it should rather be seen as an overview of all film activity that is going on in the region and CapeUK hopes that it will lay the foundation stone for further collaboration.<br />
<br />
Professor Andrew Burn from the Institute of Education gave the key note speech of the day and spoke about film's place in the national curriculum and last year's <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/a00204067/henleyreview" target="_blank">Henley Review</a>, in which film was mentioned very little and media studies was omitted fully. Where organisations invest in film education, it often fosters on national heritage cinema and audience building. Andrew argues that it will be difficult to create a coherent film production framework for schools as it is almost impossible to 'mark' skills like editing and producing.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRiDEIs_N_AagsdSl3CrT0ZBIO0vnymp94VlgV7YXh3W4Mr_5lKvgcbVmVBJoIE_cXhcq1ZuFauFToNSFFgMePYeMUfWUFys7Mv7Kqcwid6SF_4cB7lhrJbRoc-ooIrRR6IOUv-E87Gdl/s1600/1372327823892.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRiDEIs_N_AagsdSl3CrT0ZBIO0vnymp94VlgV7YXh3W4Mr_5lKvgcbVmVBJoIE_cXhcq1ZuFauFToNSFFgMePYeMUfWUFys7Mv7Kqcwid6SF_4cB7lhrJbRoc-ooIrRR6IOUv-E87Gdl/s320/1372327823892.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
After Andrew's speech, Nikki Christie from the BFI spoke about the <a href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/5-19-film-education-scheme-2013-2017/bfi-film-academy-residential-programme" target="_blank">Film Academy</a> scheme and <a href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/quantum-leap-film-education-uk" target="_blank">Film Nation</a>, the newly founded film education organisation consisting of FilmClub and First Light. The BFI supports the view that schools, teachers and students should be at the heart of film education policy. Nikki stressed that it is very important for organisations like the BFI to tap into national research and very few studies are available as of yet. The evidence has to go beyond the general notion that film engages children but should really include quantitative data and long-tern cohort studies.<br />
<br />
Paul Hewlett took over from Nikki and expanded on the Film Nation ideas. In their option, film should be used as a tool for learning and as in intrinsic subject. Film Nation is very keen to foster collaboration and Paul encouraged other individuals to work together, too. He argued that only as a coherent front can film educators really make a difference with regards to policy change. Film Nation will support these ideas by building an online platform which connects film makers, parents, teachers and students.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzDdPoeGWqEdMgbrC59sbXljj8EscRJVBK865VIZd_cfd15E3AcSmmQhQe1GG7HzcGdA9EVN4ThlS9dD4bOMjE4D7WKhdW5Encb9hLw54thmHmFyrvCSicerTXaaHnXnjFwVRJU_PjtFw9/s1600/1372332531257.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzDdPoeGWqEdMgbrC59sbXljj8EscRJVBK865VIZd_cfd15E3AcSmmQhQe1GG7HzcGdA9EVN4ThlS9dD4bOMjE4D7WKhdW5Encb9hLw54thmHmFyrvCSicerTXaaHnXnjFwVRJU_PjtFw9/s320/1372332531257.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
After lunch, we heard from great film initiatives like Magic Frames, Anim8ed and Love Bytes; three film projects which have engaged primary and secondary school students through film making activities. Animation was mentioned as an especially suitable tool. Martin Grund and David Prosho also introduced the Leeds Young Film network and the Golden Owl Awards which I was lucky to attend at the beginning of the year. All presenters highlighted the importance of collaboration and the need to connect film making activities with government-based targets in the classroom.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSTwkrMElEwoi-cJfhs8YEc6slEDAotruhv9F0d4P7V9MDXYlzupdU9YKW-YFLYYtZ6rmwWmZ-RkUPqtx5AFIYQ68S4pyTClN6vAnyN7iq7QnKXAZbZiPwUz41Ib5Jw6Us0-e_F994whXc/s1600/1372334134928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSTwkrMElEwoi-cJfhs8YEc6slEDAotruhv9F0d4P7V9MDXYlzupdU9YKW-YFLYYtZ6rmwWmZ-RkUPqtx5AFIYQ68S4pyTClN6vAnyN7iq7QnKXAZbZiPwUz41Ib5Jw6Us0-e_F994whXc/s320/1372334134928.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
The day was wrapped up with a quick feedback session in which the participants supported more regular meetings of a film education network in Yorkshire and the wish to access more local and national research in film education. Hopefully I will be able to contribute to a collection of data very soon; it definitely looks like the perfect time for my PhD! You can read more about the launch <a href="http://www.capeuk.org/capeuk-news/new-study-looks-at-developing-film-in-learning.html" target="_blank">here</a> and the report itself is <a href="http://www.capeuk.org/capeuk-resources/pockets-of-excellence-film-education-in-yorkshire-and-the-humber.html" target="_blank">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-36464289236454215992013-06-21T12:44:00.002+01:002013-06-21T12:44:55.034+01:00Research questions<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the last weeks I have been thinking about my research design and the methods which I am hoping to use. Gorard (2013) emphasises that research questions should be the beginning of every active research journey. My questions have evolved substantially over the first year of the PhD, but even the first thoughts on ‘film literacy’ have proven useful. Research needs research questions because ‘otherwise research is not really research at all, it is just data gathering’ </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">(Gorard 2013, 36).</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Gorard also argues that it is vital to divide an overarching research question into a series of puzzles, which are easier approachable and answerable. While my overarching research question could now be ‘Does the City of Film media literacy scheme have benefits to the students who are involved in it?’, I am really interested in the kind of benefits the scheme potentially offers and the reasons for this.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In accordance with my hypothesis above, the following sub-questions (or puzzles) have been phrased:</span></div>
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; margin-left: 19.6pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 432.35pt;" valign="top" width="576"><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">1) <!--[endif]-->What
emotional impact does working with films in the classroom have on students?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">2) <!--[endif]-->Is
this impact connected to a motivation for writing and if yes, how so?</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">3) <!--[endif]-->Does
the students’ engagement with the film literacy scheme impact on their writing
scores and if yes, how so?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">4) <!--[endif]-->What
other potential benefits does the film literacy scheme have?<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">These questions have the advantage of drawing on
a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research which will aid the
triangulation process. I am also personally interested in their answers and
feel connected to this research direction due to my personal believes and
history. In addition, I also have some
potential answers in mind, which might prove beneficial to the warranting process
</span><!--[if supportFields]><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:
Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA'><span
style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION
{"citationID":"a8Mfk3my","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Gorard
2013)","plainCitation":"(Gorard
2013)"},"citationItems":[{"id":902,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/858754/items/QF6PRGRJ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/858754/items/QF6PRGRJ"],"itemData":{"id":902,"type":"book","title":"Research
design: creating robust approaches for the social sciences","publisher":"SAGE","publisher-place":"London;
Thousand Oaks, Calif.","source":"Open
WorldCat","event-place":"London; Thousand Oaks,
Calif.","ISBN":"9781446249017<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>1446249018<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
</span>1446249026<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
</span>9781446249024","shortTitle":"Research
design","language":"English","author":[{"family":"Gorard","given":"Stephen"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"}
<span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">(Gorard 2013)</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:
minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:
EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA'><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">To lighten the mood after all that heavy thinking, have a look at the wordl I made from the thesis as it is now:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc6y9bJdzlLdLaA2eSJLl5xdYtF2NLcjUfPnXzRoqySS7Z6ym7zGoPRujNIKXVOkm3tymOB0oGxybdGNkXcY4pSmyPe2Xg51-bbqA_jkueJ38fkVRYw-Va47KzCBUbxTi-RM6PVryHAkfW/s1600/wordl+21.6.2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc6y9bJdzlLdLaA2eSJLl5xdYtF2NLcjUfPnXzRoqySS7Z6ym7zGoPRujNIKXVOkm3tymOB0oGxybdGNkXcY4pSmyPe2Xg51-bbqA_jkueJ38fkVRYw-Va47KzCBUbxTi-RM6PVryHAkfW/s320/wordl+21.6.2013.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3227081988453468634.post-30970889868671148892013-06-07T12:11:00.000+01:002013-06-07T12:11:04.310+01:00Social Sciences conference at Sheffield UniThis week was my last conference for the term: The Translation and Transformation conference at the Social Science department of the University of Sheffield. Although much smaller than Kaleidoscope, there were actually more people in my talk than last week. This time I spoke about film education and policy in the UK, which was great fun. It's so much easier speaking about things that you know something about rather than an uncertain lit review!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1i-x3GuDaJ1Dr2FMOTKhgx8ncsYeTDMvrUllPUfkpKsUV74LIGE5hfHVPLTGSDXEG6eL3-fz79BeemnoX_NHmSKO2aW13Hy07Ru6-Y5K5bo3zs40Tw0l0Y6D3O1_caml2dgS-ULi04vxC/s1600/1370421655926.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1i-x3GuDaJ1Dr2FMOTKhgx8ncsYeTDMvrUllPUfkpKsUV74LIGE5hfHVPLTGSDXEG6eL3-fz79BeemnoX_NHmSKO2aW13Hy07Ru6-Y5K5bo3zs40Tw0l0Y6D3O1_caml2dgS-ULi04vxC/s320/1370421655926.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
My favourite part of the conference was the interesting, divers topics and the open minded people who attended it. I learned about everything from violence to lapdancing and banter! When you work in education, ironically you sometimes forget that the world is there to be discovered! Hopefully I will reconnect with the people from the conference soon. I tweeted through most of the conference so have a look at my twitter stream if you are interested in what went on`</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeioAX-govMcuekUEDncQ-1nMWHdrkcbLKu-hLmp-1oonreTe17hsjgawbQ-Lufq1EGf8Xk1eLDCouLqyx9zbN-AlYBVJmHuNSDmNPyZZWnR32oIZIzhmcdWjYUuDQlBlS3vmc0-kHo_jo/s1600/1370437413438.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeioAX-govMcuekUEDncQ-1nMWHdrkcbLKu-hLmp-1oonreTe17hsjgawbQ-Lufq1EGf8Xk1eLDCouLqyx9zbN-AlYBVJmHuNSDmNPyZZWnR32oIZIzhmcdWjYUuDQlBlS3vmc0-kHo_jo/s320/1370437413438.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
On the topic of my lit review, I have now finished my first chapter. It looks at film education, film literacy and film as a tool and I am pretty proud of my first 11k words! My transfer is now not going to take place until October due to uni regulations and there should be lots of time over the summer to engage with methodology and methods.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0