The Professional Platforms unit commenced on 11.02.21 with a launch event hosted by Dr Pete Dale, the unit lead for this module. The Module was a 30 credit module designed to allow students to explore their work with a focus on externality – how did our ideas fit within an external landscape?
The Professional Platforms (PP) unit presented a series of projects for students to engage in, and these were led by academic staff with expertise in the area of the briefs. There were diverse projects on offer, but these were (in my opinion) mainly beneficial to ‘traditional’ students – students in the 24 – 28 age range who would graduate and then start a career in their discipline. As I do not fit within this demographic, I found that none of the briefs would benefit my particular career trajectory. My ambition is to continue study with a PhD application and continue to work as a Lecturer, Programme Leader and Educator. I have had a career in Design, and a career in Education (plus assorted jobs and professions), and there is very little available time for embarking on this career journey again. The final Professional Platforms option was the ‘Self Negotiated Project’, which was a project of your choosing negotiated with the unit lead. This appeared to be the option for me.
The unit handbook for the Self Negotiated Project option (Option 7) presented a series of self audit questions, which are presented below. These were duly completed and a meeting was arranged with the unit lead.
• What is the nature of your current practice?
• What do you want to achieve during the period of study in relation to the learning outcomes intended by the unit?
• How are you going to achieve it and by when?
• Provide a time line with key milestones.
• What do you need to do to make it happen?
• What evidence will you produce to demonstrate the development of your professional practice and attainment of the Learning Outcomes for this unit
• What issues/problems do you anticipate could arise due to the pandemic situation?
There followed a period of reflection and research, and an area of study to explore which was suitable for a PhD application was identified with the guidance and experience of Dr Dale. Indeed, the tutorial process within this module was extremely supportive and beneficial, and Dr Dale was patient, knowledgeable and insightful throughout the process. This tutorial model helped me to gain confidence in my academic abilities and allowed me the time and space to reflect on my PhD question and refine this to one which has the potential for my next step in academia.
The unit continued following the tutorial model, and was punctuated by a series of lectures and talks from alumni and practitioners. A PhD proposal was created and refined under the tutelage of Dr Dale and this has been modified into two separate PhD proposals for both Manchester Metropolitan University and for Lancaster University. These will be used to apply at both institutes in the 2021-22 academic year. The reason for two institutes is documented in the documentation for this unit but in short, each institute offer unique opportunities and benefits, but more importantly, the potential supervisors identified at each institution are both respected academics whom I would be honoured to work with. In a perfect scenario the two potential supervisors identified would both be involved in my PhD journey, but this may be an impossible ambition to achieve.
The full documentation and final submission of this project is presented below. The PhD proposals are contained within this documentation, but these may be edited before submission to the relevant institutions after a period of further reflection, research and reading. The Professional Platforms unit has been a very beneficial experience however, which has exceeded project my expectations
Marronmade 