May 31 2009
Final written task for EMT1
To access my final task for EMT1 on reflections of the group process please go to:
http://tatiloz.edublogs.org/assessment-2-task-2/
Happy reading!
Archive for May, 2009
May 22 2009
blogging for me?
Now that I have finally got the hang of blogging I realise that I have not been using this edublog site as I could have been for the semester as I tended to use it more where I was required to comment in readings or particular ideas for EMT1. I did not use it as a platform where I could, as I am doing now, reflect on my ideas, learning, life, etc on a daily basis or weekly basis.
I have in my life written a lot in a journal and generally I have a notebook where from time to time I jot down my feelings and thoughts and in some way I realise that a blog work in that way, somewhat, except that the whole world can read it and that I am not comfortable about when it comes to feelings and some thoughts. However, I can see that for some people this platform would work for them to write down and share their thoughts and ideas with the wider world and that it would be a satisfactory experience.
I note, though, that as I have gotten older I feel less of an immediate need to write everything down and more a need to quitten my soul. I used to thrive on a thriving and very active mind but now days I am sick and tired of it and instead I look for activities and states of mind that help me quitten than space for me rather than mad eit louder and faster which I feel the new e-world of communications is all about. I am a very outward looking person in nost areas of my life: work, social, and community life but when I am not otherwise engaged I like to refelct and meditate as much as I can and find peace and tranquility instead of more forms of communication.
Hence, I cannot see my self becoming a personal blogger despite learning about blogs but I can see thier use in the area of learning, communication, activitsm etc and will use them in those areas. I will continue to reflect and inspire deeper learning in my self which may from time to time involve writing but I do not think that I will do so via a personal blog. Instead I will treasure looking for a fab writing book and using one of my Lamy fountain pens and write away in some scribble with the odd drawing in between.
This does not mean that I am not excited about the technology and its amazing advances but I like learning about it so I can choose how and when to use it.
May 22 2009
wiki blogs forums and other e-communication
Well, after spending days on a wiki thinking about learning activities I feel I am able to share my thoughts on these new developments in the area of e-communication. Ahhhhhhh and more ahhhhhh!!!
Lets start with the wiki … I thought that wikis were going to be as easy to use as word type documents where I am so familiar with their workings that I can jump from here to there back to some other spot retaining font style and text size – well not in a wiki – what a cumbersome experience it was.
It is extremely frustrating to develop a wiki within the wiki as you cannot perform all desired text functions within the edit function – for example – you can’t cut and paste and if you drag some text it then does not allow you to change it and it often changes its style. So the best option is to constantly travel between the completed page and the edit function. Why have they left out the spelling check function – or was it that I did not find it? and what happened to undo? – extremely handy tool when writing long pieces of text.
So I would suggest to the developers of wikis to make them a lot more user friendly so that someone like me, after spending days working on creating some knowledge, could feel inspired to return to a wiki with enthusiasm. If I reflect on my experience of working on wiki I struggle past the benefit that a group of people can work on it and keep track of changes – something I have done with word documents for a long time with good version control. There is potential there but unless they are made much more user friendly then I can only see much frustration for its users. I would like to think that I stand to be corrected.
Now to blogs and particularly to blogs and forums – I think I have finally worked out the difference (thanks to my fellow learner in EMT1). As any adult learner my past experiences help me to learn about new things like e-communication tools like blogs and online-forums and so I can understand tnat blogs are like the old boxes that people used to stand on boxes in the park like the Domain or Centennial Park or Hyde Park in London to make statements of their views on the world, like:
Like making comments on soap boxes there is no expectation of a response, instead one makes a statement about one’s views regardless of what others may think.
Online forums on the other hand are more about dialogue – they are conversations started by/someone who does expect a response so as to discuss the issue/idea being proposed.
Like Mason and Rennie (2008) I think that having blogs and forums in the one community or online learning site is confusing for members and there should be a clear explanation of the difference to encourage use of the technology appropriately. I have experiences this confusion on a Ning community where I am a member and as there is a lack of clarity one has to look in many places to find the right discussion.
Perhaps there is a need for assuming less knowledge about these various e-communication platforms and more clarity provided about their purpose and use so that online travellers can feel more confident in the online world.
Reference
Mason, R and Rennie, F., 2008, E-Learning and Social Networking handbook: resources for higher education, Routledge, London.
May 09 2009
Group work
Some initial thoughts on group work ..
Group work is something we can’t avoid in life – either in formal learning, at work, in community, and many other areas. Yet, it is something that is difficult, complex, and very challenging. There is much literature on group development and dynamics, some of which I have studied as part of my postgraduate studies, but when it comes to it knowing the theory does not make much difference to the participation and negotiation involved in group work.
I think group work highlights that social learning is very complex as it involves a group of diverse people coming together to achieve a learning outcome – each with a different approach, learning style, learning objectives, level of knowledge, and commitment to the learning process. Working with such diversity requires good communication skills, awareness of power structures, and an ability to be self-reflective and open to challenging one’s own attitudes and habits.
I think group work truley challenges us to work with diversity and even though it is something that we can easily say we practice it is actually very difficult to do in a fair and just fashion. There is the needs to truly share and let go of the need to control the learning process and see that there is learning in the process that is highly valuable.
To be truly inclusive in group work is difficult in an assessment context if one if fixed on a particular outcome rather than the process.
May 09 2009
Trying something new
I thought I might try something new on my blog by using it to express general thoughts/relfections on my learning process because now that I am reading more blogs and the educaitonal rationale behind them as an educational tool I see that their role can be infinite and can include a kind of journal-like record of everyday experiences like those I am having in EMT1.
I must say that I have often felt frustrated during this course and I think it is because so much of what I am learning is new in a technological sense and its taking to areas where I do not feel very confident yet. I guess in some ways I am having some disorienting dilemmas as Mezirow would say about my attitudes towards technology and its uses in every day life and now in learning.
When I started EMT1 I was open to the fact that I wanted to to learn about technologies that I really should already know about but I did not think that I it would be so confronting. I see my self as being a fairly resourcesful person when it comes to academic research in terms of my post grad studies but I am not sure what happens when it comes to new technology? My resourcefulness seems to vanish and instead I feel angry and frustrated because I don’t know where to start looking or its almost as if I don’t even start looking and just keep trying the same thing over and over again.
I am having such an experience in trying to work out how a wiki works and how I can create a story board within a wiki. I was nervous about wikis because I had not used them before and then once in there I feel lost and unsure of which way to navigate in there and create what I would like to create. In other contexts I would search for an answer but in this context I freeze and get stuck – I ask my self why is it so different in this context?
My patience goes out the window and and I want the answer now! which is not how it works – I think it takes patience and searching for help and guidance. In terms if learning I think I have some king of phobia perhaps about technology that makes me closed to it and hence the attitude of being perhaps somewhat dismissive of it. This work that I am doing in EMT1 makes me challenge that and hence the disorienting dilemma which if I am open to the learning process could result in transformative learning – but am I truly open to that?
That’s why I am thinking of trying something new and doing some search into how to work with wikis and give it my all so that I can learn from this experience.
