Hi to my new community

Helloooooo everyone out there, my ClustrMap tells me that I've had 14 visits in the last 24 hours. Frauke from Lesley's group in H800 has just left me a comment on my last post. I'm trying to write (in isolation) about ownership for TMA04 and about how all the new Web 2.0 tools can provide an enhanced sense of ownership, responsibility, engagement and pride in one’s work. Writing so much in isolation is a struggle! I've just had a burst of energy and engagement by looking at my blog and interacting, even just a little with a fellow course member. Thanks, Frauke, we have reciprocated in our help for one another.

Bit more on consolidation and review

Just a little more on why I find consolidating and reviewing so satisfying. It's because it's a higher order thinking skill. I like this representation of Bloom's taxonomy from teachj.wordpress.com/. It relates to my earlier post on ownership and learning and teaching approach, where I included two graphs from the infoDev website, also depicting the taxonomy. When we are reading papers, we are at the first level of being presented with information. We then have to understand it and apply it, which we do individually and in the forums. Reading is (for me) a passive activity, and it is only when we get to the higher levels that I am able to move beyond the 'control' of the course and inhabit my own space as it were. Higher order thinking skills represent a deeper approach and a greater sense of ownership in my work. My blog is a great tool for assisting me with this more creative, more free, activity.

Consolidation and dung beetles

Photo: The rare flightless Dung beetle rolling away its ball of dung - Photograph by Mike Gerhard
http://www.south-africa-tours-and-travel.com/addo-elephant-park-accommodation.html

I've spent most of my time this week consolidating and reviewing. There's been such a pressure of not having enough time to do that, and arrange things in my head into some kind of satisfying mental map. I am reminded of a dung beetle just like this one that we saw crossing the road in the Kruger Park one day - I wanted to get my ball just like his but H800 kept shovelling more you-know-what for me to roll up!! My ball was getting too big to control - hence my "no more!" moment. Now it feels better as I've spent the last several days going through files, identifying quotes, making mind maps and at the end feeling a much better sense of ownership and pride in what I have done, and we have done together. Just got to finish getting it all on paper now for the final TMA....

Using Elluminate for student support

We had a really great informal session on Elluminate last night. My new laptop was the business, the audio worked a treat and nothing was going slowly. As I said on Twitter, the session actually changed my perception of Elluminate. It's a really valuable tool for getting together with fellow students and sharing experiences, concerns, laughs and giggles informally. I also loved us discussing possible dimensions of 'ownership' and drawing diagrams on the whiteboard at the same time - that's so powerful.

Keeping up in H800

I mentioned in my 'Visual representations' post that I am a visual learner and often think in diagrams. We have just read a paper at the end of Week 24 that mentions the 'collaboration, creativity and enjoyment' involved in online learning. Here's a diagram I made just to relax and get creative, about the time pressure issues I felt last week, and that I believe we have all been feeling to some extent. It's about keeping up as the H800 train rumbles on.

Each week we have to read, watch, or listen to materials or carry out other activity instructions. The prescribed time for the activities is 16-20 hours per week. Many of us find it difficult to keep pace with the activities, let alone share with the rest of the group, consolidate and apply to our own individual contexts. Every so often there is a double week, with two weeks of activities packaged together, and that can afford us some more spacious working and reflection time, as the diagram illustrates.

I particularly have been finding insufficient time to pause, review and consolidate, as I have commented here before. My earlier attempts at summaries were very rewarding and I would like to be able to complete those. The weekly cycle depicted here is how I organise my learning, but it is being compromised by what is, in my view, too many activities, especially at the end of the course when most people need a breather before ploughing into the final TMA. The learner's affective (emotional) response is another important aspect of learning ownership that we have been discussing, and I am sifting out the various dimensions of ownership here in my blog, before writing about it for the TMA.

Using Elluminate for learning

Saturday was the last scheduled Elluminate (audio-conferencing) session and more challenges. My audio disappeared and Elluminate always seems to work slowly for me and sometimes freezes up. Is this due to low bandwidth - Elluminate is supposed to be tolerant of such conditions? We sometimes record 1/10 of our promised access speeds on speed tests.

Later that afternoon however the audio disappeared completely from all applications on my laptop. Everything was set up fine and we couldn't figure out what was wrong. I made a decision, raided a hoard of nuts as it were, and invested in a brand new laptop. I'm sitting writing on it now and it's really great so far. We'll preserve the old one as the family games machine....

Overall technical problems and slow access speeds have been quite a serious issue for me on H800. Tuesday is our next informal chat on Elluminate so I'm keen to see how things behave then.

Meanwhile fellow tutor group member Tracey comments that 'sometimes I'm not sure what the objective of the session is or what outcome if any has been achieved by the end of it'. I personally question the practice of pasting extracts or summaries into text boxes on the whiteboard - my own whiteboard jumps around remorsely when this is being done, so much so that it's very difficult to look at. The whole session for me then becomes dominated by what the technology is doing rather than what I'm supposed to be learning. The best Elluminate session that I attended was when Julie made a record of what we were saying in a separate word doc and posted it in the forum afterwards. We didn't have to worry about what the whiteboard was getting up to and just spoke freely.

I will be researching use of Elluminate for low bandwidth conditions for my ECA, and also how to use it for the most productive and enjoyable learning experiences. It's a great tool with loads of potential.

On teamwork

Week 24 was a real roller coaster ride. We are in the second last week of activities, and I had been really hoping to implement my new skimming strategy, skirt over the last three weeks material and quickly identify the material necessary for TMA04 and the end of course assessment (ECA). I came rather unstuck as the material in both Weeks 23 and 24 has been very challenging; there is no let up in the pace or pressure of the course. I am not a natural skimmer (more a natural plodder actually; well at least careful and methodical).

I'm travelling to the UK in 10 days time for a family wedding. My husband is giving away his god-daughter and I'm doing the bible reading, so it's pretty important for us. However TMA04 has to be finished early to fit this in. Couple this with school holidays and a laptop developing strange glitches in line with my rising level of desperation - and boom!!! Panic set in when I read the forums on Friday and realised there is still so much I should have understood.

However two fellow students came to my aid - Julie and Alan, thanks so much for identifying with me and offering some words of support. It meant everything. John stepped in with some helpful advice to get to grips with the difficult paper by Etienne Wenger about Communities of Practice, and together we showed what a great learning community we have for ourselves. Each person brings their own capabilities, viewpoint, insights, and sometimes listening ears. Together we attempt to construct meaning and move forward in our learning.

I'm still feeling really pressurised but so thrilled to be part of our group - we've come on a long journey and have built some strong connections together.