Treading Water!
The Friday reflection has come round again, well Thursday evening. It is Friday already somewhere in the world. Have been having a bit of week of treading water. A week of considering whether that hillock is the top of the mountain or only anthill that could have been avoided without disturbing the occupants.
To start off with, something that I have learnt this week. I found out when reading and posting to Google+ that there was a hump day. Being in the UK I was a little puzzled. Camel support day? But I was politely informed it was Wednesday by another name. So over the hump I went.
I have had a little review my own personal experiences of completing courses and lack of engagement afterwards. This led me to conclude that there is a place for the Everlasting Class to become a new forum for professional dialogue. A Networking opportunity not limited by geographical boundaries. In a small country like the UK relatively short distances with congested infrastructures are such barriers. Google+ Hangouts can be a solution. I was unable to attend a local meeting of Best of Haverhill , owing to a few conversations via mobile phone, discussing a very worthy topic of reconnecting Haverhill back to the railway. We had our rail link removed nearly 47 years ago in a so called rationalisation. In my apologies for absence on the Best of Haverhill Event Facebook page I suggested that a Google+ Hangout or YouTube channel broadcast would be ideal for small business owners to be informed of such an important topic. We will see what comes of that.
On Wednesday (my Hump day apparently) I blogged on the topic of the changing mantras of UK education. The article that prompted my meandering was thought provoking as it gave insight on the influences of our current Minister for Education. The book that he was most influenced by according to the article promoted the ideas that there were no individual learning styles. That rigorous testing was good for the development of learners and should be the norm. Without having read the book yet I am not in a real position to comment (sitting on the fence?). I haven't found a Kindle version of the particular book. Amazon do have it for sale in print version. However, I predict that that the book may be a mini-bestseller as every Head Teacher, Deputy Head and journalist will clamour to buy a copy in a bid to understand the future path of education in England and Wales (Scotland has it's own apparatus for mass education).
After one of the pillars educational thought had been questioned how did this affect my perception of Open Learning Communities (OLC also stands for Online Learning Communities). A reference to the Royal Society in Tuesday's blog and it's origins prompted a comment from one collaborator of the Bank Street OLC. The original format for Royal Society meetings was a kind of "show and tell". He was interested how this element could be introduced into Google+ Hangouts. Smartphones were mentioned as a possible tech solution. The new Nexus range launched this week could be in the part of the enabling technology. Especially if there are front and back mounted cameras that can work independently in separate Hangout Windows.
So how did I do with the plans for this week. Well I have edged a bit further along the path to coding and producing a Google Course Builder application. Still a little way off. Have to catch up with the edX and ALISON courses. Did use Study Room for the edX course. Interesting experience, a bit like a game navigating the Avatar to interact with other students. Have not yet blog posted the updated Virginia Tech thoughts. May look at the context again to see if it is Learning Style independent. First thoughts are that it is since it works on the student-instructor continuum.
So for next week. I will look at how OLC could be set up in the local area for Haverhill and float some ideas. The coding courses really need to be caught up with and put back on track. Long Term plan may need to be completed!
Well just about cat is in front of fire. One side is done the flip side soon to happen. Think I will join her next to the fire as it starting to become very wintery in Suffolk!
