Co-learning. What else?

I am sorry, this is a rant.

If you don't like reading rants, don't read this.

I never cease to be amazed at the talents, at the diversity of the learners that I have the pleasure of learning with.


Hidden in the anonymous student ranks lie jugglers, chess-players, philosophers, bird-watchers, para-gliders, divers, poets, actors, musicians, scientists, computer experts, comics, olympic champions, survivors, inventors, barmen, lifeguards, brothers, sisters, refugees, mothers...

There are stories of adventure, abuse, youth, ageing, disability, illness, death, birth, farms, islands, cities, religion, disillusion, hope, faith, despair, ambition, apathy.

There are tears, laughter, sighs of boredom, cries of excitement, frowns of frustration, wide eyes of fear, signs of struggle.

So many memories, so many moments of life, so many stories, so much invention.

Often we have watched on as apparently inert students produce extraordinary surprises.

I am a master of inert, of distraction, of inappropriate yawns.

Have you ever seen yourself when you are looking around for an idea, when you are taking in a task?

Do we really know what learning looks like?

Where do you learn best?
When do you learn best?
With whom do you learn best?

How can one size fit all?

Isn't it obvious?

Do we all like to speak in front of a crowd?

Do we like to be given no choice  as to who we will be working with?

Do we all need to express ourselves with words?



Do we all need to be in a 'learning space' to learn?

Aren't all spaces learning spaces?

We find learned research which talks of learning, which talks of learners, of teachers.

All is reduced to object.
All is reduced to abstract.

Researchers who talk to researchers.

Why aren't teachers doing the research?
Why aren't the learners doing the research?
Why aren't we all doing the research?

Do I need a researcher to reduce me to an anonymous subject?  Shouldn't that be anonymous object?

Do I need a research study which will investigate how I feel report on how I felt months after I have forgotten how I felt?

Would it not be possible to be a little more reactive?

Qualitative Data
A) Shall we do something different? 
B) Yes! I am bored now.
A) You seemed so interested.
B) Perhaps but I am bored.
A) OK let's do something different.

Isn't co-learning what we do in relationships?

How can you become a parent, a dog-owner without co-learning?

How can you become a teacher without co-learning?

How can you become a learner without co-learning?

I know, I know, I can qualify all of this, I can justify research, I can justify teaching to tests, I can justify, I can justify.

That is not the point.

I am not being objective.

I am choosing not to be objective.

This is (only) a rant.

Sorry about that. 
I feel better now.

Reclaim your domain

 “Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.”  
George Lakoff

I have been listening with interest to the #ccourses Webinar for week three here.

I had ten minutes before my next class.

I felt moved to jot down a few lines.

I am reflecting on the question of 'Reclaiming your domain.'

I get a lot of what is being said about the Web. I am not sure that the Web for me is what Connected Learning is really about.

There are times that I fear that an insistence on the Web perhaps takes our attention away from our physical domain, our bodies.

Before being on line, perhaps we might investigate the lines of pathways, doors, buildings, forests, clouds, our clothes?

I remember what my art-teacher used to say:

"There is no point doing the colouring before you've got the drawing right."  

I suppose I come back time and time again to Mike Wesch's work.

I shall repeat these lines from his profile on Connected Courses to remind myself:

"After years of experimenting with social media and praising the learning potential of these tools, Wesch realized that they don’t automatically establish either genuine empathy or meaningful bonds between professors and students. Using social media is but one of the many possible ways to connect, but the message that Wesch’s experimentation brings is that only genuine connections may restore the sense of joy and curiosity that we hope to instill in our students."

Perhaps we might start our empowerment of learners by reflecting on the architecture of concrete or organic learning spaces.

Perhaps we might start the process of reflecting on participating on line by encouraging new forms of participation within these spaces.

Perhaps we might start with taking the time to note our breathing?

Is the Web not a metaphor for how we are embodied in our physical spaces?

This idea has got me thinking, what are our metaphors for the Web, for connected learning?

I fell upon a rich vein of reflection of which here are fragments;

• A history of metaphors for the internet
• How conceptual metaphors are stunting web development.

Doesn't the idea of investigating "Crap Detection" start with studying town-planning?


Just wondering...

Note to self.
“You can't understand Twenty-first-Century Politics with an Eighteenth-Century Brain.” 
George Lakoff

All the world's a stage...(and we are just poor teachers?)

21st September 2014:

Prologue
As I was reading my Twitter stream, I was  reflecting on my next act, which will speak of music, space and silence.  Then, a number of tweets and posts decided me to produce a revival of the following play: All the world's a stage...(and we are just poor teachers?)

So in no particular order here are some of these linked elements which inspired this revival:

Terry Elliott @telliowkuwp · 1h

RT @Bali_Maha: The “learner’s why” vs the “teacher’s why” http://ift.tt/1BZlWgT  #ccourses Sometimes the operative words is versus, yes?

Simon Ensor @sensor63 · 3h

Higher 'education' unravelling http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2012/11/napster-udacity-and-the-academy/ …

Terry Elliott @telliowkuwp · 1h

Disrupting the Playground - http://NYTimes.com  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/fashion/disrupting-the-playground.html … Hilarity ensues as disruption is disrupted. #ccourses #rhizo14

All the world's a stage...(and we are just poor teachers?) A revival. 

Originally performed in September 2013.
And we are just poor teachers, who strut and fret our time, stage front, tutting and grumbling about dwindling levels of interest amongst a distracted audience...and then blogging about it (with apologies to William).

Oh the distraction!

Before it was just the turnip throwers in the gods,a rowdy rabble if ever there was. We got rid of them by employing muscular stewards and a brilliant policy of over-priced seats. William came up with a master-stroke: "Why didn't we organise a cheap knees-up for the mob and keep them far away from our classical theatre?" Masterful William!  Alas! Now it's spread to the monied classes in the posh seats. My monologue was interrupted last night by the dim lights emitted from their damned smartphones. Have they no respect for the thespian art?

The critics are out. The notices are rather mixed.

We organised a meeting of the company. What might we do to stop declining ticket sales? Helmut suggested we might get a microphone.  I thought that we should just change the play. Bob came up with a new fangled (and awfully expensive) pyrotechnic effect to thrill the stalls.  Walpole, as usual, was more than helpful. "Why didn't we try stilts?", he suggested (idiot!).

After a few beers, Harry started getting carried away. "Couldn't we introduce a flying carpet to give them a music-hall eyeball?" Frankly we were heading towards pantomime. Besides, such extravaganza would demand skilled technicians in the wings, an almighty budget, sponsors even! Walpole was charming, but seemed to only be able to drink tea in the green room.

Theatre in the Round

 In the face of declining audience behaviour, we ended up doing some research. Someone came up with "Theatre in the Round". We discussed this question at length. Should we use the same theatre building? Was it a question of taking out a few seats, moving the stage to the centre? With diminishing budgets and audiences, this was viewed as a feasible option. Rather than knocking down the protected classical edifice, we asked a local architect to modify it somewhat.

First reviews for our new season were much improved. We did have to modify our dramatic art rather to adapt, but it was better than leaving the theatre altogether and ending up recording jingles for soap powder. We gradually worked towards a concept of immersive theatre, with massive audience participation. That was excellent!

Street Theatre

We even ventured out into the streets. It was romantic, getting back to the roots, a life of the wandering player. The other day we bumped into the rabble from the gods. They were dancing and drinking in the park. There were masses of them. What on earth were they doing there just behind the band-stand? I later learnt that it was what is called these days "A Flash mob." They had all arrived there, apparently separately,  like an army of goddam ants via some Facebook page or some sort. For once, I was stumped for words. They, I thought to myself, would make a wonderful audience in the theatre.

The Seventh Art

I am no Eisenstein, but I admit to daydreaming between acts in the green-room. Might they not be persuaded to be extras in a little movie project of mine? Then the penny dropped. They were actually making a movie (of sorts). I had a dreadful Pauline moment, on my way to the theatre, I realised that I had, in this haphazard, unplotted cinema, become rather the extra. I sat in the wings, deep in reflection...