The end is nigh! And to celebrate, above is a picture of Toni Morrison looking like she’s living her best life. Her inclusion in this thoughts and feelings reflection isn’t entirely random though. I’ve been thinking about citation a lot, and the role it plays in a student’s life whilst studying.
I began to get a good idea about what I wanted to do for my SIP project when I was doing the Inclusive Learning & Teaching Unit and we were asked to review an artefact that demonstrated inclusive learning practices.
I designed an artefact that was a workshop which explored how,
“…engaging with citation through explorative and critical thinking, can shift students’ perspective on the use of references/citation, from being a reductive assessment process to an ontological one.”
I became interested in this because of feedback I’d received from students, revealing that they weren’t always comfortable around the subject of citation and how they might use the activity of referencing in their artist research file. I therefore decided to explore ways in which I could create safe spaces that investigate how citation can be used. One example of this, was a pre task (an activity for students to engage with before the workshop) that asked the students to look at/listen to a video of three women cite Toni Morrison in a live musical performance.
This activity was designed to engage with people in a way that was as accessible as possible. It didn’t require reading something, and highlighted the cultural histories and connections that citation offers, when used outside of an academic context. This example led me to consider how I could develop a series of workshops for my SIP, reviewing the outcome of the workshops as a way to help me understand students’ relationship to citation.
In the book ‘Teaching Community’, Bell Hooks writes about the multiple ways we can radically usurp existing systems of oppression within education and reshape societies, our students’ and our own understanding about the power of education to liberate and empower. As part of this strategy she dedicates a chapter to the question of ‘How Can We Serve’.
‘At its best, teaching is a caring profession.’
What a wonderful declaration of duty. It expunges ideas that to teach is to dominate and proclaim one’s superiority to knowledge and understanding above others’, it is a confession of humility that demonstrates that to teach is to nurture, empower and grow. This is applicable to both student and teacher, and it is with this in mind that I became interested in using workshops to create spaces for discussion around how citation could be used within a students practice, to create anti racist and inclusive methods of working.
To give our thoughts a little more clarity, we were asked to do a mind map during our first meeting on the SIP, and after completing the mind mapping exercise I realised that the question of citation could be approached from several different angles. I found it hard to figure out exactly what I should focus on, as we only have a limited amount of time to complete our project and I want to make sure that what I do has a positive impact on the students I work with. With this in mind I’ve been thinking about something a fellow student (Petra) asked me during our breakout groups.
‘What are your values?’
This was an important question to ask. Although I understood the subject I warned to explore in my SIP, I hadn’t outlined the values surrounding the project, and this information is crucial as it grounds the work in a position of clarity and focus. I therefore began to create a statement that could outline what I would be investigating, a SIP Synopsis if you will, which can be seen below.
I’m interested in exploring the significance of citation and how it can be utilised within a student’s practice to critically engage with positionality and inclusive anti-racist practices. I intend to design workshops that engage students in conversations about the importance of understanding their positionality, and the role this plays in relation to how they might cite/reference others, creating space for discussions around the intersectionality of race, class, gender, ability, sexual orientation, belief etc.
I believe in the power of social justice and the need for anti racist work within educational spaces, so when I consider the role of citation I always wanted to focus on how citation could be used in an inclusive and anti racist manner, and the relevance of this to students. I therefore started to design an action plan and workshop materials that contained the necessary content for the project.
However, after filling out the Ethics Form and considering the ethical connotations of carrying out workshops to gather content, and the sheer amount of time and organisation required to deliver a no. of workshops, I started to realise that maybe my initial idea of using activities as a way to interact with the question of citation wasn’t practical, given the time constraints. I therefore started to use the questions posed on the Ethics Form to reframe my thinking around how to interact with the students. It would have been wonderful to have the time to research my subject with students via activities and surveys (for feedback), but I realised that I could approach the topic from a different angle, instead using interviews and a quiz as a way to work with the students.
This development in thinking shifted the research methods I was considering, and I’m now focused on:
Textual analysis – Reviewing texts
Auto ethnography – Postitionality
Thematic – Reviewing and reflecting on data
Reflexive – Reflective enquiry
Each of these research methods will allow me to use the personal, historical and contemporary in unison with one another. I’ll be able to utilise my knowledge as Rachel the individual (auto ethnographic), the artist (auto ethnographic/reflexive/thematic/textual analysis), the lecturer (auto ethnographic/reflexive), the day dreamer (reflexive) and investigator (reflexive/textual analysis)
Instead of organising and reviewing workshops on citation, I plan to interview students on the role citation plays in their practice, using the SIP to gather information on students’ relationship to citation and how it impacts their practice as artists. The important shift here, is that instead of presenting workshops that presume to know what students should be considering when they cite, I will be creating dialogue with the students and actively considering the topic of citation in tandem with them. As a starting point, this is a great way to learn more about my interests in citation from my perspective as a teacher, researcher (in this instance) and an artist.
**** Updated on 7th November.
After having time to reflect on the shift in my project, I was able to process my ideas on Action Research and the premise that it is an ontological practice. Jean McNiff puts this aptly…
“Action research is an enquiry conducted by the self into the self. You, a practitioner, think about your own life and work, and this involves you asking yourself why you do the things that you do, and why you are the way that you are. When you produce your research report, it shows how you have carried out a systematic investigation into your own behaviour, and the reasons for that behaviour. The report shows the process you have gone through in order to achieve a better understanding of yourself, so that you can continue developing yourself and your work.”
Thinking about the cyclical nature of going through a process of
thinking, looking, acting, reviewing
back to thinking, looking, acting……made me consider how I was immediately involved in this process as soon as I started the unit. As stated above, I became interested in citation as a result of my engagement in the Inclusive Learning unit, which was a unit which really asked us to look at our subjectivity and the subjectivity of others in a teaching context, with an emphasis on creating inclusive learning spaces that lean into and absorb the multiple specificities we embody as people within learning institutions. As a practice used within literary and studio spaces, citation is part of this, and I started to think and look, using this SIP as a moment to develop action.
However, the scope of what I wanted to achieve was too broad in spectrum, and I was also entering the research from a position of proposing a solution to a problem. Comments on my Ethical Enquiry form made by my tutor helped me to understand this. The synopsis I entered earlier is in some ways a closed circle, in that I have expectations for what my research will highlight. Once this was pointed out to me, I started to think about McNiff and the statement that….
“Action research is open ended. It does not begin with a fixed hypothesis. It begins with an idea that you develop.”
I had forgotten that although I’m considering the ethnographic, I’m also interested in the reflective and therefore, reflexive approaches to the way I approach my research must be evident in the way I conduct, said research. I therefore decided to use a specific question as a starting point for my research, and this led to an opening up of ideas and space for me to learn as I read into my subject, but also for students to bring their positionality and knowledge forth in the interview, without me presupposing what they might or should say when I ask them questions about citation. This also helped me to understand the importance of considering how I ask questions, and this is further discussed in my post on my pretend interview.
So below is my SIP project question. It’s realigned my understanding and practice, and enabled me to engage with action research with a truly inquisitive and curious manner.
‘How Do You Use Citation In Your Practice As An Artist?’