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A Learner’s Space

Into the semiosphere…

CAL ‘09 CFP

July 2, 2008, 4:08 pm

But a city is more than a place in space, it is a drama in time.
: Patrick Geddes

Yay! The CFP for CAL ‘09 is out and it looks mighty interesting. Time to get my thinking cap on. There are a number of themes where my work could potentially fall in this one, so I guess I need to think about what the central thrust of my work is (or is likely to be)… I have a real soft spot for CAL conferences, just because that was my first ever real conference… as a teacher researcher back in 2005, on a Microsoft Bursary… then I presented again, first ‘real’ discussion of my PhD work in 2007 and, even at that point, and planning ahead, I’d already decided that I’d like to do the wrapping up of my thesis at CAL also… in 2009. Yay, and now that point is fast approaching - on both fronts. Not only is it great that it’s CAL but also that it’s at Brighton (my educational alma mater) and the conference is being organised by the Prof who originally set me out on this life of research… so it seems kind of fitting all round. Better make sure I write an abstract worthy of acceptance then! Happy. Excited!

The themes CAL ’09 will be concentrating on:

  • Exploratory Learning in Digital Worlds: environments, experiences and trajectories
  • Collective Learning in Digital Worlds: communication, collaboration and inclusion
  • Planning Learning in Digital Worlds: design, pedagogy and policy
  • Rethinking Learning in Digital Worlds: imagination, innovation, and investigation
  • Deadline for submission of abstracts is 26 September 2008 which is rather helpful as that is just one week after I will have presented at the DREAM conference in Denmark… Yay! The conference itself takes place between 23rd-25th March 2009.

    Tags: Conference, PhD, CFP, space, future, Digital Worlds

    —admin | Comments Off


    Somehow scary…

    June 30, 2008, 11:08 pm

    Experience is the new reality
    : Casaleggio Associati

    I was playing around with the idea of prosumers and prosumption the other day. I thought I’d made them up… only to discover, as usual, that the world had got there before me! Apparently Alvin Toffler coined the term prosumer back in 1980 in “Third Wave” and Tapscott et al. coined the related term “prosumption” in the book “Wikinomics”. Most likely I picked up the notions from reading the latter a while back. Anyway, I did a search on the web and found this clip from YouTube about the future of media. It reminded me a lot of the Epic 2015 video… I like some of the ideas in the clip but sometimes, our digital planet scares me… the thought of plastic electronic paper is almost anathema to me. I like the feel of paper, I like to curl up with a good book, or an interesting book… I don’t want to spend my whole life looking at yet another screen… funny old business to be in then, isn’t it, research into educational technologies. *chuckle*

    That said, technology will probably always fascinate me… I just hope we don’t lose sight of the good things… the tangible things… to be extinct is a scary prospect.

    Tags: Blogspace, Technology, Media, prosumer, prosumption, future

    —admin | Comments Off


    A future…

    June 28, 2008, 10:44 pm

    A professor is one who talks in someone else’s sleep.
    : W. H. Auden

    Today, for perhaps the first time in my life, I came to the conclusion that I want ‘it’… whatever IT may be. *grin* When I was a lawyer, I eventually gave up because I didn’t want to be ‘the boss’… when I was a teacher, I gave up because I didn’t want to be ‘in charge’… but, today, I realised that what I want to be is to be ‘the one’… ‘one who thinks’… *grin* I’ve decided that what I want to be, in life, is a Professor. *laughing* Who would ever have thought it. It’s not exactly anything that came up in the grand scheme of things on my life’s plan. But, today, I decided that, yes, actually, that’s what I want to be… a Professor. Well, this should make for an interesting ‘ride’… So, I thought I would note it down here, as a thought, as a commitment, as a dream in the making. What does it take to be a Professor? *grin* I look forward to finding out!

    Tags: Blogspace, Jobs, Research Community

    —admin | Comments Off


    Teaching and learning

    June 26, 2008, 10:34 pm

    True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.
    : Winston Churchill

    I was in double evaluation mode today. I had my first staff review in my academic life cycle and it was really helpful and useful. Looking at progress and strengths and weaknesses over the last six months with my ‘lead’ was a real learning event for me. Some of it made me feel slightly uncomfortable but at the same time, it’s a valuable thing to understand what traits you carry that make you feel that way… especially as you move into a new arena… *grin*

    So, my current weak streaks are mainly… suffering a ‘perfectionist streak’ (my perception and words, not hers)… not always fully understanding the ways and means of collaborative practice in academic circles (takes a while to learn to read between the lines and to hear the things your colleagues are saying … somehow, but just not in the usual ways… like ‘out loud’… *wry grin*), and understanding the difference between writing a paper and managing a collaborative paper was a big one for me… and that particular discussion was probably the one really useful thing I learned from the meeting. I have many strengths though… organisation, mixing well with others, curiosity, hard working, focused… and one I didn’t see but my ‘lead’ did… creativity. *smile*

    I was glad of the staff review process as it helped me to generate a shift in perception - away from my ‘PhD student’ space into the ‘academic staff’ space… and to redress the balance between the two and that’s a good thing.

    Today was also the last session in my Cultural Semiotics course and it was student evaluation time… and my goodness don’t you generate a mixed bag of responses… on the whole they were positive and useful, reflective evaluations… some more subjective than others. I found my own response to their comments interesting… ranging from chagrin to delight. *laughing*

    I think what was most helpful in these evaluations was being able to get feedback from students on what worked well and what didn’t from their point of view… and having an opportunity to hear from all students in their individual perspectives rather than as a class… because sometimes what works well on the surface hides unshared perceptions at the individual level. So, for example, whilst a majority of students on the course enjoyed opportunities for extended discussion, one student didn’t enjoy this and felt there should be less of it… and that made me think about how you shape your sessions when students have different expectations and how you find a balance that suits everyone, so the criticism was helpful.

    Another key issue that came out was that some elements of the discussion around the readings were a bit ‘confused’… and I wouldn’t argue with that… but the student was objective enough to comment also that this issue had been consistently highlighted by me throughout the discussions… to the effect that the course was very much a ‘theory in progress’ framework and that not all the answers were clear cut and that my own understandings of Lotman’s theories were still very much in the process of emerging… and goodness only knows… Lotman has a certain propensity towards obscurity at the best of times, which is why studying his work is so much fun, really, I guess.

    For me, what the course provided was a fantastic forum for dialogue from different perspectives and from that point of view, I was very much learning with my students, and I very much appreciated their contributions… and our interactions and reflections and debates have left me with a much more concrete overview of Lotman’s work and how it might fit with other disciplines and other ways of thinking and that will help me to reshape the course for next year.

    What was also interesting for me was the difference in views/perceptions of the teaching and learning from students at different stages of their PhD studies… so that those who were more familiar with the process appreciated different styles to those who were new to the process… i.e. they were more likely to engage in discussion and debate than those new to PhD work… which makes sense, I can see.

    Those newer to the process just want an overview, want to be taught key points, and how to navigate a paper… whilst those familiar with those processes and with a wider contextual repertoire under their belts want to situate the new knowledge amongst what they already know. I guess that’s an important thing to think on, also… and so maybe I need to have two different courses… one for beginners and one for those later in their studies. I also had the impression that for those new to their studies… a course can just be a ‘tick box’ affair… a gathering of ‘required units’ whereas for those later in their studies, attendance is dictated by a specific interest… and hence they are likely to want to engage at a deeper level and are less conscious of timings, sequence of activities, and so on… they may want to go with the flow more… to respond rather than simply to receive, and to linger on rather than to rush off ‘on the bell’.

    I realised that it’s important, then, not to make assumptions about your students and what they want and always to give them a choice/ alternatives, especially if you have a mixed bunch of experiences, as I did. Another thing I realised from one of the students’ comments was that, if you are over-running (at the desire of some students) you need to be explicit about enabling students to leave the session at the normal ‘closing time’ because if they belong to a different culture, they may feel it’s impolite just to leave, or even to ask to leave before it appears that you are finished.

    Funny the things you don’t think about… and funny how ‘culturebound’ you can be without realising it.

    Tags: Blogspace, Teaching, Learning, Research Community, contexts, evaluation

    —admin | Comments Off


    Loyalty

    June 24, 2008, 5:14 pm

    Total loyalty is possible only when fidelity is emptied of all concrete content, from which changes of mind might naturally arise.
    : Hannah Arendt

    Loyalty is a strange thing, really… it creeps up on you sometimes, and often you don’t recognise it’s taken up residence until you find yourself looking off in another direction. *grin* I didn’t understand today’s quote at first… but after a couple of readings, I really liked it and, it’s true… fidelity driven by selfish desires couldn’t ever be described as loyalty. Interesting, just the same… how, then, does loyalty come about… well, I guess it’s earned… through reciprocal hard work, trust, belief in a common goal and things like that.

    Sometimes, when the going seems tough… you get that ‘grass is always greener’ feeling… but is it really? I was escaping from a difficult task today… browsing jobs, not because I was thinking of looking for one, really, just because I could. There are a lot of tempting jobs out there for me at the moment… well, in some ways they’re tempting, definitely interesting… but not necessarily right, right now. I was interested to note a shift in interest, though… away from teaching/lecturing towards pure research, so that’s a bit of a change since this time last year and probably a reflection on my recent activity. Most of the posts that interested me were research assistant type stuff… all in the pedagogy/technology field and one, somewhat intriguing one, in creativity/technology. *smile* Some focused on teaching, some focused on technology, one focused on the semantic web and case-based learning… Part of what is enticing is a longer-term contract… that would be nice. What’s less enticing, of course, is the need to shift bases, or work full-time, or to have to go into work every day. So, it’s interesting to ‘window’ shop because it’s only by looking you get a better idea of what it is you really want, how you work best and so on. Looking when you’re fed up or frustrated is also a good thing because, all being well, it helps you settle your mind again… to see beyond the frustrations to the truth of your situation. *smile*

    I like my job, I like the people I work with very much, I like the space(s) I work in, I like the flexibility and the freedom of my work, I enjoy the variety and the challenge almost all of the time (looming deadlines and ‘lost plot’ scenarios aside)… *chuckle* Mostly, I think, I do a good job… I just wish I wasn’t so quick to forget that when things aren’t going quite as well as they might (like today). And so, for now, I need to just keep on doing the best job I can, and get my head down and finish my PhD… *wry grin* and be glad that there are folk out there rooting for me… doing their best to help me do well in a system that isn’t always the easiest to get to grips with.

    Tags: Blogspace

    —admin | Comments Off


    Yay… first draft down!

    June 23, 2008, 5:21 pm

    To do the writing, I have to have time to do research.
    : Jean-Jacques Annaud

    I finally finished the first pass at our paper today. I think I’m quite pleased with it, mind you, that said, I’m way too tired to review it or even think about it as a totality. I spent hours today just trawling through the data trying to make sense of a range of different possible patterns of behaviour/thinking. It was incredibly interesting… but really time consuming. There was one element I was really excited about, though and I’ll be interested to see what the others make of that. Sent the draft off to the rest of the team, give someone else something to think about whilst I take a break from it as I can no longer see the wood from the trees.

    *sigh* And now I’ve got another paper to write before the end of July…

    On a more positive note… did manage to book my flights to Denmark today, so look forward to the conference in September. I still need to sort things out for Germany in October, but I guess I’ve got time for that as yet anyway and, besides, I’d like to have some more concrete details of the conference before I sort things out.

    Tags: Blogspace, Conference,