As pointed out in the reader, networking is a very important part of anyone’s professional life.
Crisp and Turner suggest that people create professional networks because of their need to affiliate, to have human connection in all parts of our life. Whilst on a subconscious level this may encourage us to talk to people we work with I think the need for professional networks is so imperative to everyone to help further their job.
To different people a professional network means different things. For example is you run your own business your professional network is an invaluable tool, the more contacts you have in the business the more opportunities you will have to expose your product to the public. The more exposure it has the more successful it is likely to be.
This basic view on business is very much how people in the dance industry are. A self-employed dancer will want to make themselves known to as many people in the industry as possible. You never know when a contact might be asked if they know a 5ft 7’ girl with blonde hair and you fit the description perfectly. It is also very important to keep the contacts you know, if you have worked for a choreographer, don’t loose the contact you have made, if they have picked you and worked with you once it puts you in better standing than the rest. This comes hand in hand with not annoying people and creating enemies though. The business is small and if you let someone down or are rude to them they can approach their whole professional network and ‘black list’ you to prevent you from working.
I talked about earlier in the course my affiliation with the Royal Academy of Dance (R.A.D). It is an academy I am a member of and I was trained with the R.A.D set syllabuses. Now as a teacher I myself teach the R.A.D syllabuses to my students. I work for a R.A.D school, which means every teacher must know the syllabi of the R.A.D and teach them in their classes and enter children in our annual exams. This means I have a ‘professional network’ right on my doorstep with all the other teachers I teach with. We often meet up to share different ideas and exercises.
I am also connected to a wider ‘professional network’ of teachers through my membership with the R.A.D. In England I know quite a few registered teachers with the R.A.D in the South-East where I was based, through my time teaching at a couple of schools in the area but also R.A.D events that meant I meet other teachers in the area. Again this not only gives the opportunity to discuss teaching techniques but also when looking for a job and different career opportunities it opens more doors.
As an R.A.D teacher I am expected to learn all the syllabi off by heart and when a syllabus for a particular grade is replaced I am to learn it. My job contains constant learning for me as well as my students. Especially with all the science that is now being brought into our jobs, understanding children’s development and muscle growth and injuries and the constant research that is changing how we teach.
My relationship and network with the R.A.D could be seen as being connectivism. Siemens, G. (2004) explains the principles of connectivism to be;
· Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
· Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.
· Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
· Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known
· Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
· Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
· Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all Connectivist learning activities.
There are different ways to interpret our professional networks and the reason we make them but everybody’s professional network is important to their career. People can be part of several different ‘professional networks’ that ultimately create your personal professional network – an invaluable device and support through out your career.
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