Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

the weekend is time to relax

Saturday, June 7th, 2014

Post #7 – where a change in focus takes place

I think I may have got a bit serious in yesterday’s post, so have decided to chill a little and behave like it’s the weekend. You know, that time when you get up a little later, newspapers and coffee after breakfast and a slow morning – lovely. Love my coffee with some (dark) chocolate or apple crumble & cream, and enjoy dipping in & out of the paper – checking a few favourites like Leunig, the ‘Get it’, the Travel & Drive sections, the magazines etc. (yes, still get the print version on the weekends). Then it might on to the chores or out for an excursion. 

For something different after lunch we went to the community centre and participated in a paper lantern making activity. Lots of mums & children and a good number of facilitators to help guide us in putting our bamboo frames together with masking tape, and then coat them with paper that had been painted with pva glue & water mix. We even had a break and some afternoon tea half way through the construction (a great idea as it gave the kids a break and the parents could get on and have a chat). 

What was interesting for me is what can happen when you engage in conversation. You find out that it’s a small world – had friends in common with one person, find out that you work in the same place with another and then realise that you all know a close relative mine! Very interesting to think about those degrees of separation and how sometimes the first one or two can take you completely by surprise. So, new connections were made and commitments were made to say hi to friends in common. Excellent!

Tulip

Don’t you just love the tulip season?

Our Word of the Day is: ‘crapulous’… 

PS – I was relieved and happy that the Cats got up last night

are you a maker?

Thursday, June 5th, 2014

Post #5 for #blogjune – where I reflect on makers and making

This evening I went along to the opening of the Scarf Festival 2014 exhibition being held at the National Wool Museum in Geelong. This is a popular event for those who have an appreciation of things crafty, and there’s always some amazing scarves to be seen. What struck me in the opening remarks was that the festival is a celebration of the maker, the person who makes things by hand. The person who is creative and works through that process of concept, design, & creation to finish with an artefact or product. This piece has a personal investment, it reflects some of the maker, it will have an aesthetic, have significant time invested, and usually has a function. Any visit to a craft/night market will provide an insight to the huge range of (some) hand made things, and it’s encouraging to see. I like the idea of buying something that someone has made, something of quality, and something unique. Yes, is easy to by a mass produced cheap product off the shelf, but it just not the same – that product just doesn’t have enough soul. 

I also wanted to recognise the maker movement/culture that highlights a growing movement of people inventing their own products and services using cheap and accessible technology. This is also an interesting development, and I believe something we could encourage in education. I guess you can’t go past what Sir Ken Robinson says about creativity in schools. If you are one of the nearly 27 million people who has seen his TED talk you’ll know what I mean, if you haven’t seen it yet – spend the next 20 minutes watching it now. 

Still, I want to try and relate this to education and #highered and I want to ask what we expect our students to make. I guess most of the opportunities we give students to be makers and to create, are in assessment. Do we allow them to be creative, to be expressive and add their personality to their making? Do we develop rubrics and marking guides that allow for difference and creativity and, dare I say it – what about levels of subjectivity in making and grading? I think we should be able to build the concept of maker into learning outcomes and graduate attributes. Wouldn’t students still be able to demonstrate a competency and of assurance of learning. What do you think?

329 scarves

329 scarves on display at the Scarf Festival 2014 exhibition.

Our very special Word of the Day is: ‘onomasticon’, Hey, Jake, Frank, Jane, Sue, George, Sylvia, & Stephen – do you like it?

a learning curve

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

As I continue with the comment challenge, I’m not just learning about other’s people ideas, I’m learning a fair bit about some of the collaborative software that’s available… I’ve been comfortable with my RSS feeds and not really been strategic in getting the word out about my blog, so this whole exercise has been a learning one that has at times made me uncomfortable. I’ve heard it said that if you move out of your ‘comfort zone’, you move into a ‘learning zone’.

What I’ve found interesting is that it’s been more difficult configuring, accessing, and connecting into some of it than I thought it might be. A new account with Technorati was fairly straight forward but as I haven’t used it before (and haven’t made space for ‘how it might work for me’) I’m not sure what to expect, but we’ll see how it goes. Joining the coComment community was a bit trickier (and the irritating flash ads don’t endear me) and then having to work out how to get the ‘tags’ working in my blog so that they can be found by the ‘system’, and then ‘claiming blogs‘ so they are recognised. Maybe be on a different platform (Mac) and using a different browser (Safari) complicated things a little.

I must confess that I’ve only skimmed the advice on the Comment Challenge wiki that explains how to make do all the things to activate full participation in the challenge. So, maybe I should read a little more closely on how these bits connect to each other. I’m thinking there may be a parallel here with my aging brain and the fixed pathways and configurations of it’s neural networks. It’s getting harder to change/renovate them and rebuild them incorporating the new models/technologies of interaction and collaboration into what I know.

It’s still all about learning, and it won’t happen unless I have the desire to make the investment… What’s nice is seeing that others are along for the ride and we struggle together – supported all the while by passionate people willing to pass on their knowledge and enthusiasm.