What the hell is going on?

The problem is that it doesn't look like working.

The problem is that it perturbs peoples' ideas of what learning looks like.

The problem is that it isn't linear.




The problem is that it demands learning new skills.

The problem is that it is not controllable.

The problem is that it does not have predictable outcomes.

This is learning.

This is me reflecting on learning process.

This is the outcome of a process which is a process....

Where the hell is this going next?

I am excited to find out.

New people, new encounters, new applications, new experiments, new risks, new adventures...

After a crazy week of connecting, of dialogue, of experiment, of pushing things and myself and probably the students to the edge, I returned to Storify my apparently chaotic work (even to me - and that's saying something).

We need to order, to reflect, to summarise, to digest, to learn....

This is an example of learning out loud...

Thank you all for your part in my learning.

(Dis)connections.

This morning I came to the university for departmental meetings.

There was an atmosphere of pervading gloom due to budgetary restrictions.



I sat down opened up the PC and clicked on the wifi.

I sighed.

I muttered: "Bloody typical."

The wifi was down (again).

Connections

I logged into a 4G wifi hotspot on my iPhone 6.

I smiled smugly to myself.

That 3G USB key that I had bought two years ago was already redundant, forgotten in a drawer.

The wifi connection was going to be particularly important to me today.

I had arranged to interview an ex-student, Sebastien Van Egroo for the CLAVIER project.

Sebastien is working with groups of young Haitians to give them training to become sports coaches/coordinators.

A news report about this work:  http://lenouvelliste.com/lenouvelliste/article/148630/Quand-formation-rime-avec-esperance appeared in Le Nouvelliste (which I learnt today is a nationally circulated daily newspaper in Haiti).

Of course, I thought to myself: there are people in the world who do not get their news from The Guardian.

The wifi reappeared in France.

I contacted Sebastien via Facebook Messenger.

(Dis)connections

The chat was as follows:

En ligne et en train de preparer pour te/vous parler. C'est bon pour toi/vous?

Non c est pas du tt bon pour nous frown emoticon nous n avons pas d electrecite en ce moment

Je communiqué via mon smart phone et j ai plus que 38% de battrie

OK c'est un super story

Nos ordinateurs sont décharge ça risque d être compliqué

Est ce que ca vous arrive souvent?

Mais je peux me connecte via skype sur mon smart phone si vous voulez mais j ai peur que nous ne puissions pas finir l entretien

Oui il y a des coupures très régulièrement l electrecite est donné par intermittence dans les quartier

Mais on ne sait jamais quand ça vient et quand ça part...

OK je propose qu'on se parle brievement par skype et ensuite fait un entretien par chat and gdoc. Et on reprogramme pour hangout

Mais nous devons enregistrer des jeunes ce matin qui vont faire un spectacle et il nous faudra de la battrie

Je ferai un poste blog sur nos experiences d'elec

On veut mettre la vidéo sur YouTube pour faire parler d eux

OK je peux utiliser ca si vous etes d'accord.

J ai peut de devoir économiser ma battrie pr pouvoir les enregistrer

Je les file ce matin et on mettra ça sur internet je pourrai vous envoyer le lien

Film

OK est ce que je peux utiliser ce chat publiquement pour parler de ce moment?

Je suis vraiment dsl mr ensor mais ici c est le jour le jour et on s adapté vraiment en fonction des imprévus qui sont quotidien

Évidement aucun pb

OK donc je vous dis bon courage je vais ecrire un blog et le partager avec vous on vera une autre jour pour entretien

J ai de multitudes d anecdote à vous raconter sur la mise en place de notre projet ici.

Super. Un autre moment avec elec smile emoticon

Merci je vous tiens au courant à bientot

Je me déconnecté pr conserve la battrie

Ok a plus merci a tou

Toi

Translation into English:

Me: On line and preparing to speak with you. Is it OK for you?

Sebastien: No it's not good for us :-( we don't have any electricity. 
I am communicating on my smartphone and I only have 38% of the battery left.

Me: OK. Great that's a story.

Sebastien: Our computers have no battery left so it's going to be complicated. 
We can speak via Skype if you like but I fear that we won't be able to finish the interview.

Me: Do you have a lot of power cuts?

Sebastien: Yes the power cuts are regular in our district and we never know when it's going to happen or how long it will last.

Me: OK we can Skype briefly if you like, we could do a chat interview and reprogram the hangout.

Sebastien: But we will have to film the kids' show tomorrow morning and I'm afraid we won't have any battery left.

Me: I'll write a blog post about this experience of power cuts.

Sebastien: We want to put the video on Youtube and get people to see what the kids do.

Me: I can use that if you agree.

Sebastien: I have to save battery to be able to film them. 
We're going to film them tomorrow and I can send you the link if you like.

Sebastien: I'm sorry Mr Ensor but we just have to get by day to day. 
We have to adapt to daily uncertainties.  Sure (for sharing/using chat/video) no problem.

Me: OK. Take care. 
I'm going to write a blog and share it with you. 
We'll find another day to do the interview.

Sebastien: I've got masses of anecdotes to tell you about setting up this project here.

Me: Great! We'll do it when you have electricity.

Sebastien: I'll keep in touch. I'm logging off to save my battery.

Me: OK.  Thank you very much.

Connections

I remembered past conversations:

with Maha from Egypt
with Blaise from Cameroon
with Santosh from Nepal.


(Dis)connections

I remembered the ex-student from Haiti.

He suddenly didn't come to class.

His home town was destroyed.



He came back a while later, minus his joy to speak.



I remember the frustration and surprise of a group of French students that I introduced to Ayiti: The Cost of Life. https://ayiti.globalkids.org/game/

They didn't like the feeling of never being able to win a game.



I remembered the blog post that Susan shared about her students: "This is about you."



I remembered the student who used to sleep in English class.

(I discovered he slept because he was working nights.)



I was connected to the wifi via my iPhone 6 hotspot but I felt completely disconnected.



I felt overawed, helplessly privileged.


Connections

I go back to the Le Nouvelliste.



I feebly translate the headline into franglais.



This approximation appears appropriate to me:

"When education rhymes with hope."



I look forward to seeing the Haitian kids' show on Youtube.



Do we realise the importance of keeping that last 38% of our smartphone battery for those who matter?




I wrote to Santosh in Nepal.


I found it difficult.



I feel of no use whatsoever.



I feel like a helpless, perversely vicarious spectator.



How can we, 'connected educators', hope to usefully overcome such disconnections?

Postscript

Education Sport Haiti Hangout On Air
2/09/2015

Another cycle.

I just remembered my second tricycle.

It was the red one which replaced the small blue one that I used to ride around the house dressed as the Lone Ranger, aged three.

I don't have any photos of my second tricycle.

I am fairly satisfied that it looked pretty much like this one on the left.

It had a boot at the back for the trip to the grocers'.

I seem to remember that the boot was big enough for a packet of cornflakes and a bag of potatoes.

I have vague memories of pedaling for miles.

Surely, it wasn't so far?

It was the first time that I was able to leave the confines of the Rectory garden.

Surely, I can't have been alone?

I don't remember anyone being with me, so taken up was I with my new found freedom.

I had quite forgotten about that red tricycle until now.

A few months later, it seemed rather childish, that tricycle.

Another cycle.

I can't remember the colour of the bicycle.

I remember going around the garden shakily, feeling total exhilaration at the speed, at the feeling of being on two wheels...

Then a catastrophe struck.

I remember distinctly crashing into a patch of nettles and brambles.

I was stung by my overconfidence, by my wounded pride.

It was too late.

There was no going back to the tricycle.

I had outgrown it.

It was consigned to memory.

There was nothing for it.

I would have to learn to keep my balance, to steer correctly and to give hand-signals on the open road.

Another cycle.

"So are you bringing your poems to Reclaim Hosting?" 

I was a little surprised that my 'secret' dabbling in WordPress and my 'secret' domain had been uncovered by Jim Groom.

On the other hand, I felt reassured to be messing around in a sandbox with people that I was familiar with.

I was not alone with the buckets and spades.

Another sandbox.

I have been working on a website for the CLAVIER network.

After exhausting all other "solutions" (excuses),  I resigned myself to figuring out how to set up a domain, how to make a blog look like a website and vice versa.

Another tricycle.

I spent a long time trying to avoid it.

Wouldn't a Google site do it?

Wouldn't a Blogger blog do it?

Nope, they wouldn't do it.

Wouldn't someone else do it?

Nope they wouldn't do it.

I tried to find a hosting solution at the university.

Nope, that wouldn't do it.

I tried to find a hosting solution in France.

Nope, I didn't know those guys, that wouldn't do it.

I need real support.

Another cycle.

I blame the people at Connected Courses.

I was so happy with my red tricycle.

It took me as far as the shops.

I am way off my beaten track now...

I tweeted a message to Maha. 

"Help!"

She tweeted a message to Reclaim Hosting.

I tweeted a message to Cogdog.

"Help!"

I tweeted a message to Cogdog.

"Help!"

Another cycle.

I studied the CLMOOC website.
I studied the CCourses website.
I studied the Virtually Connecting Website.
I studied Cogdog's website.
I studied websites...

I know pretty much nothing about bicycle maintenance...er code.

I cheated and found an application: "WordPress Theme Detector"

I started to understand a bit more about Themes and Plug ins.

I read the posts on setting up a blog hub.

I looked again at the posts on setting up an Activity Bank.

I studied the Youshow: Unit 5 found on Cogdog's website.

Another cycle.

I signed up to Reclaim Hosting.

I was so shocked how easy it was to create a domain that I did it three times, just because I could.

The euphoria was short-clicked.

Ugh, CPanel.
Ugh, MYSQYL.

Those sounded like nettles and brambles.

I rode shakily around them.

I found a Theme.

I was on familiar territory.

It was rather like Blogger.

I found pages.

It was rather like Google Sites.

I started getting adventurous.

"Oooherrrr....fuck."

I crashed into the brambles and the nettles.

What TF is a sticky post?
What TF is a sticky header?
What TF is a featured picture?

I was beginning to miss the red tricycle.

I could almost hear my brother laughing at my desperate crash.

Oh the shame...

Another cycle.

I have resigned myself.

It's too late now.

In a few months, I will have forgotten about the trip to the shops for the cornflakes.

I will be going further afield.

I will be roaming new domains.

Now what shall it be?

Sensor63.WTF
Touchesofsense.com
Tachesdessens.fr

Another cycle...

Another crash in the brambles and the nettles...

Nature, nurture, network.

It was at this moment that Amy Burvall's iconic network illustration came into my mind. 

I looked for it on the #blimage pinterest board  http://pinterest.com/sensor63/blimage/

but found no sign of it. 

I doubled back to Steve Wheeler's blog. 

Yes there it was. 

http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/off-rails.html?m=1

Then there was a spark.

Curiosity

I suddenly remembered Dave Cormier's seed box photos that I had seen on Facebook.

Rhizo14 proved to be an ideal seed box for me. 

How was Dave Cormier to know?

Hope 

Of course, as he wrote in his post after the end of rhizo15, he couldn't have known what might happen. 

He could only hope.

http://davecormier.com/edblog/2015/05/28/dear-rhizo15/

Amy and Steve couldn't have known what might happen with #blimage...

Faith

Plants do grow from scattered seeds.

How many seeds never develop?

Observation 

With time one learns which type of soil, what levels of humidity and sunshine suits which seed.

Joy

Joy is nurtured via an attachment to the fate of the 'little guy'.

Nurture

Regular watering, a few well-chosen words of encouragement and the 'little guy' is one among many.

As 'the little guy' grows he and his box-mates will give seed.

We need to collect seed as it is precious.

Charity

We can share seed with others. 

Nature is generative.

I think my educational world changed when I started viewing myself and my fellow learners as one of these 'little guys', part of a wilder, wider learning ecology.

Love

If one tends one's garden, with love over a life time, over generations, it can inspire others. 

I am reminded of Simon Finch's #blimage post: 'A human writes.' 

https://simfin.wordpress.com/more/human-writes/

For me, education is not about stuff, it's about sharing curiosity, observation, faith, hope, joy, charity, love and nurturing the little guy.

Garden image: Sissinghurst 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sissinghurst_Castle_Garden#/media/File:Sissinghurst_white_garden.jpg

Pense-bêtes...

I was just reading Maha Bali's post 'When public out loud is really quietly in private.' and it struck a chord.



I thought about how I find it very difficult to sort out difficult questions or to create projects without littering the floor, table, wall with bits of paper, card, envelope or whatever which I can manipulate.

I thought about how Pinterest was useful for me to see connections between images rather than text of blog posts or other stuff that I want to get a visual over-view on. Here is an example for rhizo 14.

Funny that, I was just reading a blog post here about Pinterest from Terry Elliott just the other day.


I thought about how useful Twitter is for using as a sounding board or as a 'pense-bête' which is a lovely French term for a 'post it'.

I have transformed and extended most of what were bits of envelope into shared tweets, pins, playlists and whatknot.

People in the network who respond, animate, sort, reorientate and add random (for me) elements to objects giving me a different, enriched perspective.

"A random scrap of information can trigger just the right conceptual collision.  It's hard to know which scrap might do the trick, but that's the beauty of social networks - they constantly produce potential sparks for free."

Seth Godin. 

This for me is thinking outside the box, outside the box.

I thought about how useful Storified is for doing what I used to do on the floor (which drives other people mad at home) with bits of paper and objects used as metaphors.

I remember two Storyifys in particular - one I used for Rhizo14  'Making sense of chaos' and the other for a CCourses spontaneous chat mentioned in a previous post In Tribble Valley.

I don't know about how other people experience this but for me these tools are not two dimensional but they spacialise (is that an English word?) units of information.  In other words, I am operating in vastly extended imagined conceptual landscapes.

I thought about doodling.  

A lot of what I spend my time doing is mindless (or should that be mindful?) doodling. I empty my mind and let my wind wander.  I am not sure if this doodling in this blog is public or private. I am far from sure that a 'stream of consciousness' is anything much to do with me.

When I come to read what I have written or drawn I am constantly surprised by what has come out.

I thought about improvising.

I suppose that I am an extroverted introvert, a private person who has absolutely no difficulty playing in public. I recognise myself in much of what Maha has written and in the comments written by the others on her blog.

As I have written elsewhere, I miss improvisation exercise in theatre in which I can amuse myself with surreal context collapses and roles.  I find it very difficult to take anything or anybody seriously for long, it's that child-like restlessness that I have never outgrown.  I suppose this is why I need to write a blog to enable me to be serious differently at times.

This is recreation, a playground.

I don't know about you but here I race around, changing activities, zooming down slides, spinning around roundabouts with friends and then sit around watching the ducks.

I am not really bothered about anybody reading this, any more than I am bothered about you seeing me riding my bike through the park.

Actually, I could let you into a 'private' moment:  I just came back from the park...

This is an outlet for me to be or to act or to write differently when I need to (most of the time.)

(I don't need to bother people who are close to me differently with stuff that they are not bothered about.)

I couldn't possibly manage it if I was tied up doing 'serious' for too long.

Come to think about it, this is much more serious than serious.

Surely what you choose to do freely is much more serious than what you have to do for peanuts?

I thought about learning.

This is one place (this blog) where I do my learning, it's a sort of purgatory for lost souls, ill-formed ideas and fleeting impressions. They hang around here until they get put together in some alternative 'serious' place (hell?).  This explains, I suppose, why these poor ideas, waifs and strays have a hard time here.

Purgatory, bloody purgatory!!

I thought about rhizomatic learning.

I suppose some people might complain about littering streams with junk.
(Well, some people repurpose junk.)

I suppose some people might complain that some of these 'pense-bêtes' are just stupid.
(Well don't read them they are not meant for you, they are private!)

I suppose some people might complain that a sketch is unfinished.
(I always preferred working sketches, to still lives.)

I suppose some people might complain that improvisation is not a play.
(Life is not a rehearsal - what on earth might that mean here?)
(Oh and this is not a performance.) (much)

I suppose some people might complain that this is useless and annoying, repetitive noise.
(Exactly! That is why I have to write it, so that I can have some peace.)

Well I suppose that nature is full of junk which we can ignore.
(Yes, like trees, insects, plastic bags, foreigners...)

I don't do this on purpose.
(It is not an accident though.)

I do this with a purpose.
(Yes! So that I can have peace.)

This is, I suppose is my nature, which I cannot ignore.
(It is like that....sorry.)

That's it, I have got what is private out in the public.
(Now, I am potentially not alone to put up with it.)

I now have a clearer picture of an aspect of my nature.
(I like to sort out thoughts on paper.)

I can take a few steps back and study it.
(It takes time to make sense. And sense changes with time. And then it's too late...)

I shall shut up now.
(At last.)

Phew.
(Phew.)

Peace at last.
(Oh just shut up.)

OK. He who has the last laugh...
(Ha ha)

No child left behind.

Will man's ingenuity know no limits? 

Thanks to centuries of scientific study, what people thought of 'education' in the dark ages, at the beginning of the 21st century, has now been wholly replaced with an infallible model.

Preamble.

In those early years of what was termed at the time the 'MOOC' (massive open online course), massive numbers of learners fell by the wayside. 

[Such wastage is, I know, hard to conceive in our modern times.]

These 'unlearners' appeared strangely unable or unwilling at the time to validate way-stage badges or to communicate in any recordable way in the carefully designed, artificially intelligent, dynamic, quasi-complex, learning ecologies of the time.

In modern environments, the role of well trained multi-tasking, multi-ethical, universally adaptable, omniscient, insomniac, expert learners, teachers, researchers, monitors, facilitators, foremen/women, sales representatives and their ilk has been recognised within THE COMMUNITY as being essential to the success of our 'No child left behind' educational nirvana.

Modern 'key nodes' have been trained or have developed independently (and been officially badged  and sanctioned by THE COMMUNITY) mega-sophisticated skills to identify different species of learner in the eco-system.

'Key nodes' are able to spot and enclose into comforting groups: 'sheep', 'lion', 'tiger', 'gannet', 'lurker', 'troll', X, Y, Z, type learners to avoid any risk of stressful tension between them.  

In the event of a sudden surge of learner candidates, a 'key node' need only click the virtual 'help' button to have an instant increase in numbers of 'key nodes' to meet statutory requirements of THE COMMUNITY ratios for 'key nodes' to 'unkey nodes'.

(Just imagine the difficulty for key nodes in the dark ages! I know it is difficult to imagine now!)

They are even able to detect increased blood pressure of 'unkey' nodes which might reduce life expectancy (of course all learners today have the right to live until the statutory age of 140 years old).  

'Key nodes' are even able to call upon back up 'key node' teachers/facilitators/monitors (et al) who will instantly adapt to a group's diverse expectations and provide them with ideal learning conditions.

They will, of course, exclude all potentially dangerous predators and parasites, ignorant cretins, trolls and the ilk (of course all learners have the right to live until the statutory age of 140 years old).

Case study.

As the 'key nodes' looked through their extraordinarily extensive and wholly ethical educational ecosystem manual, they felt that unusual feeling of 'uncertainty' which caused their pulse to rise almost perceptibly.

Brian, unusually for a 'key node', felt almost like emitting, what for him was most improbable, a potentially offensive (you never know how another 'organisim' might interpret spontaneous laughter) quasi-nervous giggle.  

"So, friends, we are facing a ghost in our machine."

The 'friends' nodded solemnly in agreement.

"We have noted on our sensors a number of....(at this moment Brian hesistated and clicked through the universal glossary for a word which had become archaic)...sorry bear with me now,....a number of...er....er.... lurkers."

"A number of whaaaat?"

The 'friends' gasped in unison.

"Er.... lurkers, that is what it says here," replied Brian, almost (though that would be an archaic interpretation) apologetically.

"We have a number of nodes who are apparently not responding."

"That is.....immpposssible."

(One or two of the 'friends' were able to find a word (an extraordinary feat in the circumstances).

"Yes, I am afraid so," Brian went on, "It is quite clear, there are nodes who appear to be connected to THE COMMUNITY, and they appear not to participate in any apparent or recognisable way."

The "key nodes" mumbled and murmured but were quite unable to find any words to express (what might have been interpreted at another epoque as signs of confusion)...themselves.

"So what has been tried so far?"

One of the less troubled 'key nodes' ventured.

"Well we have looked at the data from the 'reassuring prompt facilitation', 'the exciting bait attempts' 'the species specific feeding program', we even tried out the 'mid-term party mode' but there appears to be no reply. The nodes are not lighting up on any of our sensors. Nevertheless they are still signed up in the ecosystem."

The "key nodes" mumbled and murmured but were quite unable to find any words to express (what might have been interpreted at another epoque as signs of confusion)...themselves.

"Who is responsible for this....this....(at this moment Brian hesistated and clicked through the universal glossary for a word which had become archaic) ...oversight."

The "key nodes" mumbled and murmured but were quite unable to find any words to express (what might have been interpreted at another epoque as signs of confusion)...themselves.

"I fear," Brian, almost whispering now, went on, "We will have to review our manual of Universal Ethics and Conduct."

The "key nodes" gasped.

"Yes,' Brian, almost whispering now, went on, "Someone, er some people, er something, here is...responsible."

The "key nodes" mumbled and murmured but were quite unable to find any words to express (what might have been interpreted at another epoque as signs of confusion)...themselves.

"Yes," Brian said, "I said:  RESPONSIBLE."

Image credits:

Anders Sandberg

Glory, Glory Hallelujah.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/arenamontanus/634506626/