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I have just finished the second chapter I was writing on learning ecologies and during the final stages of writing another example of a learning ecology came to me when my daughter explained how she had tried to develop her communication skills while she was at university. During the last twelve months she participated in half a dozen activities that involved her in using different forms of communication and creating new relationships and networking - both friendships and professional relationships. Most of the experiences involved her putting herself into unfamiliar contexts knowing that it would afford her the opportunity to learn something new. Through the whole process she has gained valuable insights into what she enjoys doing and what she is good at, and is motivated to explore further the potential of broadcasting as a career. She has also learnt the importance of forming professional relationships to gain the feedback she needs to improve herself. Her narrative helped me complete the chapter by enabling me to connect the idea of learning ecologies to students' experiences while they are at university.. ![]()
![]() This week we published Lifewide Magazine on the theme of learning ecologists. Using a combination of mail lists and placements on discussion forum's I recon I distributed a notice to about 15,000 people. It will be very interesting to see who actually downloads the page. It will also be interesting to see if there are any unanticipated consequences. The magazine can be accessed from this URL http://www.lifewidemagazine.co.uk/
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I have been struggling to explain how the idea of learning ecologies can be related to the experience of students studying for a degree. The answer, as so often is, was sitting right next to me in the form of my son who has just finished his archaeology degree. I explained to him what a learning ecology was and invited him to explain to me his own learning ecology. His excellent narrative provides a useful demonstration of how the idea of learning ecologies can be applied to undergraduate higher education. ![]()
Categorisation of my son's learning ecology using the framework I developed While my son's course clearly provided the 'backbone' to his 'learning about' archaeology it was the other experiences that he engaged with outside the course and in some cases outside the university environment, that enabled him to appreciate and learn what 'being an archaeologist' meant to him. If we relate these experiences to the conceptual framework I recently developed (below) we can appreciate that his learning experience embraced all the conceptual spaces in this framework. His course (A) did not, for the most part, encourage him to develop his own learning ecologies, beyond the traditional ecology of reading and assimilating codified knowledge. The one pedagogic strategy within his course that did cause him to create his own learning ecology was his final year project and dissertation (B). Outside the formal educational context he involved himself in various excavations (C) that were directed by others and through this he received support and guidance. He also initiated his own learning ecologies (D) for example by joining the editorial team of The Posthole Magazine, participating in various conferences outside the university and leading/organising his own conference for students.
Overall, this seems like a very healthy learning ecology through which my son gained the development he needed and wanted. And from an educational perspective this would seem to be a good outcome. But it was not accomplished through design. Rather, it depended on my sons own agency and passion for archaeology that drove him to seek out and get involved with opportunities in his immediate contexts and the wider world. If, as I argue in my e-book chapter, the ability to create a learning ecology is essential to future learning there is an issue as to how universities encourage this orientation and capability within their learners and how they recognise learning and development gained through their involvement in activities outside the planned curriculum. ![]() I have just spent four days 'doing up' my flat in Plymouth. It hasn't been lived in for several months and was in quite a sorry state. But working on it with my son brought home once again how we need the right tools for the job. Whether its painting, filling in holes, laying floor tiles, unblocking drains or clearing a path and patio of weeds its hard to complete the job without the right tools. The same is true when we try to think about and analyse our learning. We need the right tools to help us understand. The idea of learning ecologies is one example of a tool to aid thinking. I'm ashamed to say that I have never laid a tiled floor but when I saw the state of the linoleum floor in the kitchen I decided to have a go. After watching a 'how to do it' video on youtube and reading a Wickes leaflet I felt I had enough knowledge to try. I bought the tiles, adhesive, grout and spacers, and the tools for the job - tile cutter, trowel, pliers, level and sponge. Sadly, there were no instructions with the tile cutter and trial and error didn't work for me so I had to look up how to use a tile cutter on youtube.. armed with this knowledge I could begin... It was slow but I made good progress until I had to cut out an angle piece. My tile cutter didnt work and the hand saw I bought was too laborious. But then a kindly neighbour who had taken an interest in our renovation work popped in and said he would lend me his electric diamond tile cutter.. which he brought and showed me how to use.. Not only that he then proceeded to demonstrate his skill in laying tiles. A good lesson in the need to have the right tools for the job.. tools that were both general and specific ie that addressed a very specific need like cutting and angle or a curve. I also reflected on my learning ecology which included a context, the resources I needed, new knowledge which was gathered mainly through youtube and a kind neighbour. Sadly, I can no longer feign ignorance and incompetence and my wife has tasked me to tackle the bathroom floor next. We are in the final stages of producing Lifewide Magazine on the theme of learning ecologies.. I'm also working on chapters for the e-book on the same theme... I have noticed in the past, and on this occasion, that I devote a lot of time to thinking about the thing I am working on in all the contexts of my life. Its as if I'm trying to apply what I have learnt to see if it works as tool to aid thinking. The image above is the tool I have created to help me think about learning ecologies. At the start of the week I got some very good feedback on another version of the chapter I have been working on from my friend John who is a very important part of my learning ecology where lifewide education is concerned... I also had an interesting conversation with my son which involved me asking him questions about his understandings of learning ecologies particularly in the context of his university course. What emerged was useful in helping me progress my thinking about the relationship of learning ecologies associated with studying at university. ![]() I was also pleased with the design of the Magazine cover which I had worked on with Kiboko... Although he had come up with the basic design I was able to influence the content which was formed around the idea of building knowledge to make a cake! But the most significant thing I did was begin building a new learning ecology to develop knowledge for a talk I'm giving in November... Its still about 3 months off but I know how slow these processes can be. I want to find about the ways in which educational developers view their creativity in relation to their development work. I decided to keep a record of my process to help me recognise and define my learning ecology. MY LOG 09/08 1 Wrote an abstract for the conference cannibalising an abstract I had written but committing myself to a new theme that I new I had to research 2 Already in email conversation with JC invited him to be my first subject 3 Created a rough plan for gaining knowledge and interacting with people 4 Spent some time searching using google scholar for obvious resources - eg 'relationship between creativity and development' 'creativity and educational development' - found nothing 5 Began compiling a list of educational developers I knew who I would approach 6 Went on SEDA website and began searching through the journals for names of educational developers who had written articles for Educational Developments. 7 Began thinking of social networks that I might engage and designed a simple enquiry which I posted in two Linked-In networks. 'If, as Enrico Coen claims, 'creativity is a developmental process and development is a creative process,' then the two concepts are inextricably linked. What aspects of your development work cause you to use your creativity and how do you develop through this process? I will happily produce a summary of any contributions.' 8 In email conversation with an e-portfolio developer KC invited her to contribute an interview. - she agreed The actions with JC and KC showed that I was trying to engage people who I was already engaged with. The invitations I sent to talk to me about the role of their creativity in development caused me to think about the questions I would ask them. In my google search I discovered a review of Enrico Coen's which included an idea that was central to what I wanted to explore 'creativity is a developmental process and development is a creative process'. I formed my central research question around this. In the context of your work as a developer in the field of education - What is the relationship between your creativity, your development work and your own development? 15/08 1) A chance email on the SEDA maillist mentioning an educational developer by name led to me contacting her by email to invite her to share her views. This required me to formulate an email enquiry.. Once this had been done I was more confident in contacting people. 2) I decided to cast my net more widely (internationally) and designed an email questionnaire. I googled educational developer blogs and found a number of contacts in the USA, Australia and Canada and contacted them speculatively.. 3) Returning to Linked-in I spent several hours searching for 'educational developers'. I ended up with a list of twenty many of whom I knew and wrote a personalised email to each inviting them to share their perspectives through my simple questionnaire. 16/08 This morning I had one reply to my enquiry with a set of responses and then another really interesting email from someone I had not seen for over 13 years indicating that they were very interested in a conversation. I replied at leangth. TO BE CONTINUED Reflections on my learning ecology: With reference to my tool for visualising the components of a learning ecology. I had a context (a problem or challenge in my working life), I had the will and my decision to act was driven by a concern for the amount of time I had left to do the work. I used my imagination to create a rough plan of how I would proceed. I used my capability and knowledge of unstructured enquiry processes to make a start and trusted that what I sought would emerge. I made good use of google and Linked-in (especially) and used my existing knowledge resources derived from my work on creativity and how people bring about change in universities, I also used my knowledge of people I knew of who were involved in educational development. I used my existing relationships - making it a more personal and more natural engagement and more likely that the people I was interacting with would respond. I tried to personalise all my email communications. Results are limited so far but because I trust my process and believe that people will see the value and be interested in the outcomes - I believe that the information and insights I need will flow. My daughter's wedding in Italy had been planned for over a year. We were going to use the opportunity it provided to get the whole family together for two weeks. I found a villa that accommodate our three families and we looked forward to spending time together. Unfortunately my son's illness through late June and most of July threw a 'spanner in the works'. Neither he nor his mum could make the journey and my daughter's husband also had to work. In spite of the fact that we could not all be together as a family we had a very good experience. In particular, my two youngest daughter's were able to spend a lot of time with their older step sister, stepbrother and his wife, and their four nephews. They were stars helping out wherever possible. I witnessed a side to their character that I had not seen before. In turn they were able to bond with B, S & J and the babies and gain some valuable experience in looking after infants. The wedding itself was a wonderful experience in a wonderful setting at times it felt like a carnival. The occasion forced me to look back on my daughter's life and it gave me a chance to tell the world how proud I was of her.
This is the first time I have felt able to record my thoughts and feelings. It's been a very difficult even traumatic few weeks for me and my family as we have had to cope with the ordeal of a member of the family becoming very ill a long way from home. My wife bore the brunt of it and has stayed close by him throughout. It has been an emotional rollercoaster and we have had to cope with the situation and deal with the worst imaginable scenarios. Thankfully he is getting better although progress is very slow. The experience has taught me once again that good health and mental, physical and emotional ability are just the most important things in life and how much we take them for granted day to day until they are removed. Its revealed an aspect of my wife's character and strength I knew would be there but which can only ever going to reveal itself in such situations. It's revealed the love and concern of our family and close friends. I think the ordeal has made our family stronger. It's given me experience and insights into life in intensive care something I have never experienced before and the enormous dedication, professionalism and kindness of clinical staff. But also seeing life on the wards and experiencing the frustrations as a parent of not being able to get the care and attention you need when you need it for your child and seeing just how much you have to fight sometimes to get the attention you need. Coping with the uncertainty of not knowing what was causing my son's illness was one of the hardest of things until you realise that it's almost academic and the most important thing is to treat the illness by every means until there is a positive response. Google also played its role in provided much needed but not wanted information on the possible conditions and outcomes we were dealing with.
I know the experience has had a significant impact on my feelings - at times totally drained of energy and numb while at other times overjoyed and everything in between. At the moment I am just thankful that we are where we are now and not where we were three weeks ago and I appreciate all that so many people have done to help him and us through the ordeal. It's been an emotionally draining week for our family as our son has been very poorly in hospital. It is not something I want to talk about in my blog. On Friday he heard that all his hard work at University has been rewarded with a first class degree.
On Monday I contributed to another workshop on the ecological theme at Southampton Solent University. My co-presenters had the idea of using a shoebox containing various items that might be used to stimulate the imaginations of participants to think about their own ecological stories of learning. I decided to create my own shoebox of artefacts.. I knew I had a shoebox in the bottom of my wardrobe and as I retrieved it I thought about Jay Lemkes words about investing meaning in the artefacts in our lives. I thought that here I was in a space that I occupied most days (nights) of the year and it must contain objects that I have invested with special symbolic significance or I could create particular meanings because of the memories they evoked. It was an enjoyable and enlightening exercise.. My bedside table and drawers are quite messy so I found a number of objects that held particular meaning and most I could see were associated with considerable learning and complex relationships and events within my world of family, work and travel. I photographed the images in my shoebox and made a slide for my presentation ... I thought it a good exercise to bring home the ways in which the objects in our life hold significant symbolic, relational or experiential meaning.
The shoebox ecology workshop ran by Christine Fountain and Susan Patrick worked from another direction. They filled two shoeboxes with objects and invited people to choose objects that they could associate with experiences and learning in their own lives.. two themes emerged ... gardening and occupying garden like spaces eg parks... and holidays.. and experiences people had had while travelling...or the effects of travel.... It was a wonderful example of the creative process of creating meaning from objects.... My son in law who is in the Blues and Royals regiment of the household cavalry managed to get me a ticket for Trooping the Colour an annual event at which the Queen presents the regimental colours (standard or flag) to the regiment. There is something about the immaculate uniforms, precision marching and riding combined with the music of military bands that strikes an emotional chord.... I felt privileged to witness the event and also to be invited to have lunch in the officers mess at the Knightsbridge barracks... Family's are good at creating opportunities for each other.
It's been an interesting week. On Monday I travelled to Birmingham to participate in the seminar organised by CRA on the theme of Recognising Lifewide Learning. I contributed a presentation and a workshop on the theme of an ecological perspective on lifewide learning. In fact I had used the opportunity of the seminar to make myself think about this idea and draw on the considerable body of existing work which is now contained in this evolving paper.. ![]() I introduced my talk with a slide that portrayed my own ecological process for making my contribution to the event. I had concluded that my learning process had been purposeful and directional - towards creating the resources and personal knowledge to be able to contribute to the seminar and workshop and that it had also involved lots of other people - the people who had codified their understandings in the articles I had read and whose ideas I had assimilated and reused, the people I had talked to especially members of my family, the people who had written blogs which I had drawn on, accounts of learning written by past students at Surrey and my daughter's evolving account of learning as she helps us pilot the lifewide development award. My learning had been both a constructive process and an organic social process. The workshop involved inviting participants to think of a learning project they had been involved in and to try in about fifteen minutes to record the key elements of their learning process. Each then told their story of learning and as a group we tried to think about the ecological aspects of the story. The process was quite revealing and on the train journey home (in true ecological spirit) I decided to email the people who had participated to invite them to continue working on the ideas that had emerged and to write them up as a co-authored paper to illustrate how such a workshop methodology can work in revealing the ecological process involved in lifewide learning. So far only two people have responded so I'm uncertain as to what will emerge from the process. But I feel sure that something useful will come from it. On Thursday I was thinking ahead to the next issue of Lifewide Magazine and thinking of potential contributors when I googled Jay Lemke - who has written extensively on ecosocial theory and who I had really enjoyed reading. I came across a beautifully written and inspiring chapter he wrote in 2002.. on becoming a village.. I cite a passage below to illustrate.. An old saying has it that it takes a village to raise a child. As children, we know how much we need to learn about everything and everyone in our communities to live there successfully. As we learn, we gradually become our villages: we internalize the diversity of viewpoints that collectively make sense of all that goes on in the community. At the same time, we develop values and identities: in small tasks and large projects, we discover the ways we like to work, the people we want to be, the accomplishments that make us proud. In all these activities we constantly need to make sense of the ideas and values of others, to integrate differing viewpoints and desires, different ways of talking and doing. As we participate in community life, we inevitably become in part the people that others need us to be, and many of us also find at least some of our efforts unsupported or even strenuously opposed by others... The challenges of living in a village define fundamental issues for both education and development.1 His website had a contact email address and in the spirit of nothing ventured nothing gained I decided to invite him to write a feature article for the next issue of the Magazine.. Within a few hours I had a very encouraging response which indicated that although in the midst of travelling from Europe to San Diego he had taken the trouble to follow the link I had given him to my website and had made a relational connection.. What a wonderful illustration of our ecologies in action. Fortified by insights gained at the CRA workshop, the other important decision I made this week was to reframe the conference we are planning for next year to focus attention on the way that universities are supporting lifewidelearning ie I turned it from a criticism of inaction to the opportunity to celebrate achievement and progress. In spite of uncertainties I went ahead and booked the venue thus committing Lifewide Education to the conference in March next year. Making these decisions brought a sense of relief, as so often decision making does, and I was much happier at the end of the week than I had been at the start. 1 Lemke J L (2002) Becoming the Village: Education across lives, in G. Wells and G. Claxton (eds) Learning for Life in the 21st Century: Sociocultural Perspectives on the Future of Education Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford, UK available on-line at http://www.jaylemke.com/storage/becoming-the-village.pdf |
PurposeTo develop my understandings of how I learn and develop through all parts of my life by recording and reflecting on my own life as it happens. I have a rough plan but most of what I do emerges from the circumstances of my life
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