Embodying experience in order to learn...

I've been on leave these last three weeks in Malaysia (although one week has been 'work') and have travelled to various parts in that time. What an experience! To me, it redefines experience in many ways and I haven't yet thought how, but I feel it. I guess I still need to distil this experience, or more correctly, myriad experiences!

In terms of my week of work in KL, it feels less like 'work' (with it's connotations of hard, tiring, etc) and more about experience (I chose to immerse myself, to reflect and provide input, etc). I have gained some great insights into my own psyche from such experience, although limited in terms of time (which I equate with depth of experience I guess...)

In relation to my work in educational design it has spurred my creativity in terms of my thinking. That is I have begun to redefine my thoughts in relation to this experience. In terms of gaining further personal insights, I guess it is safer for me to say that it is I who has changed from this experience - I cannot talk for the experiences of another!

BUT...we often do this, we undertake to define the experiences of others, that is attempting to define the space of another, rather than beginning with ourselves. of course I generalise and I see this beyond the individual level, more in cultures, groups, teams, cohorts, whoever they might be.

So what can I do with my experiences and my further insights into my experiences? Well, LEARN! What does that mean? A good friend of mine, Kaya, discussed a concept known as a Cannon of Creativity. The diagram is shown below (made with my crude hands, with apologies to Jacob Moreno!)...



This really talks to me in a similar way as Kemmis and McTaggart's Action Research cycle of 'moments'. So, in order to generate some understanding of a context in which you might be exposed to (eg. being in Malaysia for three weeks), there is I feel, much benefit in immersing oneself in an experience. Not to find out about external stuff, more internal stuff - what does this do to ME???

The learning however, can then become enculturated in many different ways. In my ed design work, I can revisit these experiences in a range of different ways which will inform aspects of my work. Such ways may include empathy with the context/position/life of another, or more pragmatically, taking on board comments that provide me with other options and directions in my way of working (eg. streamlining a certain way of doing things).

This word ENCULTURATION has begun to take on more meaning for me. I think it's because I have a sense that some are inclined to gather up an experience in which they have remained OUTSIDE. To me, one cannot understand processes and experiences by doing this - by NOT becoming immersed or affected in some way.

I would like to explore this term enculturation more and would like to hear the thoughts of others on this. Right now though, it's Friday afternoon and I'm fully aware of my thirst for a cold beer or the like! ;o)

Essays on web design interaction usability experience architecture

Scott Berkun hosts uiweb -- I think I've referred to it before. It's a great blog with a keen focus on the more intangible yet totally necessary aspects of designing online (and other environments too). Berkun calls it, "Essays on web design interaction usability experience architecture".

One particular essay looks at how to run a brainstorming meeting, July 2004. Often the climate in which we work may feel contrained to 'getting things done' and then moving on to the next task on our things to do list. Berkun's account opens up potentially more productive meetings through brainstorming and also on how you can get the most from those brainstorming sessions - a key issue.

I've been working with some academics in a Social Work course as well as with my ed design colleagues where brainstorming has occurred to try to flesh out ideas across the course that can be developed for the online units and the course website. The process has been a social one as much as a professional activity geared twoards achieving outcomes. The group processes involved in communicating ideas and queries has engaged people across fields of interest to share an understanding that will ultimately inform the development of the units in the course. This helps make the process of design and development much more meaningful for everyone involved. I have certainly enjoyed such as experience and it has already benefitted my work within a unit of the course itself.

Question: What successful brainstorming stories can you share? Post a comment here.

Now, off to finish Berkun's essay! Why not have a look too?! :o)

Yawn! Moving between blogs...

I've been working on a project called Global knowledge, local learning and we've set up a web log to encourage ongoing discussion etc, as we progress our research, You can visit the site if you like! :o)

In spending time on that, I've neglected my blog here but am looking at ways to connect between the two. Well, I am going to kick on with my masters fairly soon, so that is one way to gain a solid connection! As the project centres on internationalisation of education and the local/global parallels of knowledge and localised learning (I'm cutting to the chase here, check out the site for a slower version!) and focusing on IT degrees as a case study, being that IT is often consdiered a 'global' degree. So, with this in mind, I'm considering the scope of a masters which maintains an ed design focus yet does so through a global lens if you like. I'm still working on it so stay with me!

I also came across a revelation on blogging - a penny dropping moment you could say (love those!). From the eLearning resources and news, came a link to a blog focusing on elearning design challenges, moderated by one Ron Lubensky. Ron, I take my hat off to you! This is what blogging should be about! Well, for learning and teaching anyway! Check out the planned approach taken in the set up of the blog...

Lubensky has set up a highly structured blog which has been well planned and does not rely on one person's monologue-style writing to carry the tone of the blog! Lubensky has set out parameters in which others can participate actively, rather than simply adding a response in what might only be described as sms type gaff (in many cases, I am generalising of course!).

There are articles questioning the validity of blogs as a learning and teaching tool/environment and have questioned how it differs from a threaded discussion forum. In many ways I'm sure it is similar but the environment is more aesthetic to me in a range of ways. A couple of things include a certain style which perhaps captures the personality of the main writer (or moderator in this case); a web page look and feel rather than an application like a forum; and most often than not it is publicly available without the need to log in (although these options are available depending on the intention of the blog in the first place).

In pointing out these features that is simply what they are. The crux of the design is in the content and the intention, which either a blog or a discussion forum are capable of handling! It is the quality of the content or the focus that gives life to the blog (or the discussion forum) and how one's approach to guiding, structuring, planning and implementing this content or focus is maintained.

I have been given cause now to review my thoughts on blogging at this juncture. My previous postings about my blogging process was intended to somehow extrapolate from the experience some reasoning behind how blogs are used, why they are used and in what ways could they be used beyond personal (perhaps self indulgent) reflection (although some blogs I've visited show no signs of actual reflection at all! More my preference I guess...).

Again, I am drawn back to the idea that it has nothing to do with technology - it being good learning and teaching (and good ed design for learning and teaching)! Nothing new really, but sometimes (well, quite often) we try to see technological advances as helping us out - doing stuff for us, especially the menial or the harder bits. We'd all much like to sit back with an ice cold cocktail and soak in the sunshine wouldn't we?

As I'm writing this, images of terminator come to mind. How the machines (artificial intelligence) rise up to take over, because of two opposing human characteristics: 1. obsessive ambition, and 2. innate laziness! Both of these factors contributed to the breakout of the machines. humans became complacent as the machines took over the work previously done by humans.

I'm also reminded of The Matrix when Neo is 'injected' with knowledge and says, "I know kung fu", before being challenged by Morpheous in combat.

Is it human nature to look for the easy way out? Or is it that because we are intelligent beings that we search constantly for "the answer" - the thing that will make life easier for us! As with Neo, it might be the harder road to travel but I'd rather take the red pill!

Blogging - still on the radar

Blogging is still on my Ed design radar! I haven't posted in a bit due to the busy time of year.

Headspace is such a fragile possession don't you agree? Still, we are now in an era of "making time" rather than "having time"! It sounds rather like a potion for those in the know doesn't it!


Dreamworks SKG Animation Fansite - Shrek 2

I saw Shrek 2 on the weekend and all the potions of the fairy godmother would be worth a mint to the CEOs and directors of our various organisations I'm sure! I couldn't go past the "happily ever after" potion myself - it's the idealist in me I think!

So what about blogs then?
I was speaking with my colleagues about how blogs are being used in teaching and learning. We will do well to follow up on some of the current uses out there at present. USA, UK and Australia particularly are making strides in blog use. From and ed design perspective, it presents a more human / less techno-driven focus to designing for teaching and learning.

A good place to get started with blogs is at weblogs.com. And of course, click the link to Blogspot in the top banner of this page to see how this free service works! There are some very good free blogging services available and most cater for the low-end technical user (providing excellent help fetures, templates and user-friendly customisable features like comment tools). Audio an dphoto blogging are being catered for more readily too. The age of the personal webspace is booming! No need to learn html (although it adds functionality to your sites in many ways I think!) and lots of features that usually require your own server-side system to be set up to capture information (like comments).

How long will the blog phenomenon last?
To what level of sophistication will it reach?
How will blogs work to encourage further user-centred behaviour?
Will we see a more sophisticated user rise from the blogging medium as the quintessential learner of the future?
Will users be the producers of the future?

Many questions arise and many are currently being addressed....one question dear to my heart is how does it promote the learning experience?

Through the Lens: the blogging process (or, Notes from the Blogface) - Part 3

Into R. Blood`s site I travel. Hmm, clean site. Has a bloggy feel. I casually scroll the page, taking in the links right of screen and headings as I go. The first item in the list of links is `weblog`. I click. The first three posts have something to do with gas prices, including a post on an article in Newsweek on taxes. I side track now to the right side of the screen and scan the extra links available. Quick links to other sites; a link entitled `a few thoughts on journalism and what can weblogs do about it` and my mind returns to the articles I had reviewed on blogs and journalism. Interesting. The next link points to Blood`s book and includes a list of Amazon editor`s best of 2002, digital culture. I sense there is a raft of reviews of Blood`s book from my initial searches, so click to see what comes of the Amazon review. Blood`s book is 6th of the Amazon list. I close the window thinking cynically that there are many ways to advertise your wares!

Back to Blood`s blog. There is a section entitled `recent press`. I scan and note `blogging, breakfast radio national`. How interesting. Some audio amongst all this text. Where might this link take me I wonder? ABC Online! So, ABC Breakfast Radio has stepped into the blog hype as well!

I quickly review the program synopsis and see that ABC breakfast radio is talking about blogging in response to the recent furore of the blog by Salam Pax, a guest at the Sydney Writers Festival. On the discussion panel is the inevitable Rebecca Blood, press critic Jay Rosen and Lea Rainie, head of PEW Internet and American Life. The synopsis ends with a link to Blood`s weblog.

Sidenote
Of course, the blogging phenomenon has been elevated into the news by the recent Salam Pax book, "Baghdad Blog", based on his blog, Dear Raed. The blog documents Salam Pax`s thoughts and comments during the Iraq war. I jump back into AlltheWeb to search for Salam`s blog. There are many news stories related to the blog and the resulting book (Amazon appears a number of times in the search results). I click on a number fo the links sensing the pages will link to the Dear Raed web log. However, most of the links are broken! I attempt to control my frustration, but can`t help thinking that professional news sites should make an effort to keep their links up to date! An article from smh.com.au looked interesting, covering the diary of Salam Pax, but again the web log link was broken.

Back to AlltheWeb and another result pointing to the Baghdad blog. I click but still no link! My frustrations increase as I begin to consider that Salam having now published and reaping the financial rewards in the book world, has disappeared from the blog world and taken his blog with him! Traitor! I find another interesting link to the Guardian, publishers of Salam`s blog-turned-book. The site contains the first chapter of the book, downloadable to whet the appetite. Of course, I download the chapter for later reading.

Finally! A link within an article in Wired News is live. I click to reveal the Dear Raed blog. I am gratified.

I bookmark the blog for later reference (in my Blogging bookmark folder), realising the Friday afternoon is quickly slipping away.

So, I have now come full circle. `Self`, I say, `I must document my experience of the last 90 minutes, as it has illustrated a process greater than simply blogging`.

If I am to write on blogging in my own blog, surely I should create a ?mindful? space in which to write and the academic in me says I should collect such evidence and marry it to the recent articles I have read on blogs and their potential in teaching and learning.

My blogging here is done. (Now for the critique...!)