Task 2a: Reflective Journal

For me this task is very confusing. Surely with it being about your own thoughts and experiences it should be simple and well.. Easy!? Keeping a journal is never something that has appealed to me purely because I don’t feel I would have anything put in it. You could argue that social media sites such as twitter and Facebook are somewhat a ‘public’ journal but I can’t see a status such as; “Excited to go to the cinema later” being particularly beneficial for my own professional development, nor would it be riveting for another reader. Another issue I had is that throughout my three years of training, as part of ‘IPS’ (Integrated Professional Studies) we were asked to complete “weekly reflections” looking back and what we had learnt and corrections we had been given etc. These were the bane of my life, especially at the end of year 3 when I was sat writing 43 in a row and consequently having no effect whatsoever on my development at that time! So, despite my pessimistic approach it was time to give it a go! 

First on the list was ‘how am I going to do this?’ At a past campus session I heard that some people had tried recording a diary to camera. Considering I seem incapable of recording a 45 second video for ‘Task 1c’ I did not need to ‘“try it out” I know this method is not for me. Another suggestion was to perhaps record a diary of pictures. I think this is a nice way to do this because when you reflect back, for me especially, visual images will trigger a greater memory and thus make it easier to evaluate. You can then annotate it the pictures giving you a more detailed account. I tried this for a day but I never seemed to have a camera with me at the time I wanted and it just wouldn’t be practical, for example, to make my class “re-pose” for a picture. 

The third option was just to simple write it down. My immediate thoughts was just to use good old-fashioned pen and paper, however, with the way technology is going everything is being done on either a table or laptop, or even your phone! From reading other blogs I learnt of apps that could be downloaded that were basically a journal for your laptop or other device you were using. This seemed very useful because you are always carrying one other round with you, well I know I am anyway and by saving it ti ‘iCloud’ for example, it can never be lost. I used this for a few days - although I did not download an app I just used pages - I still did not feel this was the easiest way for me and so resorted back to scribbling down my thoughts into my notebook. Although typing out a private journal did not work, I find it very useful typing out my blog onto a pages document before posting it very beneficial. I feel this way I can take my time doing it and find it easier to play around with before I am happy with the final piece.

Anyway, back to the journal. I am just starting the 9 day reflective writing task but before then I would either write down short summary’s of what had happened in my day or just write down thoughts that popped into my head as and when. As I said in my previous blog about the 2nd campus session, the small things I am currently jotting down, may not have much relevance now but further down the line I can evaluate the experiences and as it explores in ‘Reader 2’, “Turn experience into learning”.

Campus Session 2

Unfortunately I arrived late to this session so missed out on the start of the first exercise, but I soon picked up that it was all about the method of thinking and essentially what the whole course is evolved around. For those who were not there, we were given a diagram of three circles, one inside the other which was "Mapping Professional Domains". I missed the first words that the rest of the group had done but I was there for the key word "knowledge".  Personally I thought this was a very interesting word to use because in my opinion, knowledge is the key to everything because without it, nothing can be achieved. The inside circle was 'My inner world' which represented what certain words or events meant to just you or how they affected just you. For me I just put down that it was knowing something (obviously!) but Alan brought up a good point that it is all about memory making because at the end of the day, we only know what we know due to memories we have of things that have happened. The next circle out was 'Tools, technologies and methods'. This section immediately made me think of Web 2.0 and how we can use this and other tools to help expand or develop what we know. But also, how is it, that the 'knowledge' is put across to us. Finally, the outside circle was 'The outside world'. And was what other people bring to your learning and what you may learn from other people. This caused quite a big discussion amongst the group and everyone gave a really good input of their ideas. The one that stood out for me was that in the outside world it is "everything we don't yet know". On top of this, the outside world can offer you a different way of thinking which will also help develop you as a practitioner.

For the second part of the session, the group was split and the Module 3 students went away to work together and the Module 1 students got a chance to work with some of the Module 2 students. This was really nice to get the opportunity to meet and work with people who had already experienced what we are now working on and could give us some much needed advice and encouragement! Furthermore, we were able to hear their chosen topics for their inquiry and then were able to have a group discussion about where they were going with the inquiry and questions they were going to ask and how they were going to do.

This then led into another discussion about "Learning". For me especially I am struggling to get to grips with part 2 of this module 'The Reflective Practitioner ' and so this really helped me. I couldnt understand why I would benefit from writing, what I felt was trivial information, in a 'personal journal'. However, Alan, along with the rest of the group, helped break own that essentially, learning is an "experiential process" so by me writing something down that may not mean much at that moment in time, I will then be able to reflect on it in the future and the take something from it. We also learn from experiences we have, and this links back to the discussion of knowledge earlier in the day, we reflect on that experience to gain new knowledge.

I hope that this helps those that were not there on Tuesday as it greatly helped me and I am happy to go into more detail is there are any questions!

Visual Aids in Teaching Blog Site

After looking at the comments people are leaving on my blogs regarding the audio visual tasks, it seems that many of you, like me, are interested in going onto a career in teaching. I was just looking on the internet and came across a blog site; http://visualaidsinteaching.blogspot.co.uk/ It's quite old (2011) but it was still quite interesting to browse at and I also thought it was good to see how a blog was being used on a much greater scale. Anyway, it's there for anyone who is interested!

Task 1d: 2d Images

I already use ‘Instagram’ although not very often but ‘Flickr’ was a new thing to me. I wanted to keep my BAPP work separate so decided that I would sign up to ‘flickr’ rather than just use my ‘Instagram’. For some reason I seemed to have difficulty getting on as it was telling me I had to merge my google account? I didn’t really understand but eventually I got there! (Like I have said in a previous blog - I’m a bit of a technophobe!) Anyway, once I got it up and running, it was pretty straight forward with regards to actually uploading the photos.

The photos I’ve put up are mainly of myself and friends in various shows and also my graduation. Unfortunately I could only upload a couple of my work due to safeguarding. For the pictures I have got of my students, I had to ask permission and even though the children and signed consent forms, I still had to be careful of the images I chose and use ‘distant shots’. This raises an ethical issue of the use of Web 2.0 and affects what you can and can’t put on these kind of sites. These can real risks to both yourself and the people in the pictures so you always should check with whomever it may concern.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/104458618@N03/

As you can see, there is the link but when I looked back over past students blogs on this task, some of them had managed to get the pictures up as thumbnails on their actual blogs which I just thought was really nice and a small insight into what was there before clicking onto the sight.. Does anyone know how I do this?

When I think about the use of images in todays social media, I would usually just think about advertising and the little pictures that seem to pop up when using sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The majority of us now will easily spend several hours per day, of not more, using a computer and with that the internet (which again links back to the expanding world of ‘Web 2.0’) this is why the use of online adverts; whether that be a still image or an audio-visual; is growing so rapidly and is also so important. Also, a good picture can so easily grab your attention or entice your target market so having a picture that once you click on will take you to a full site, is a very clever and modern way of marketing and could not be done without the technologies of Web 2.0.

Due to the fact that I am wanting to do a PGCE and become a teacher after completing this course I wanted to focus on why the use of images and audio visuals is useful with in teaching as well as just online and in social media. I did some research online and found a very good website from which I quote; “The importance of audio visual (AV) technology in education should not be underestimated. There are two reasons for this; one, learning via AV creates a stimulating and interactive environment which is more conducive to learning; two, we live in an audio-visual age which means that having the skills to use AV equipment is integral to future employment prospects. Therefore exposure to AV technology is imperative.” 

Personally, I very much agree with this entire statement, a good picture, or even a bad one, will always grab your attention get you talking and debating about one thing or another and as far as the technology is concerned, I can say that I have learnt more about using online networking (e.g. Blogging) in these past couple of weeks than I have my entire life and everyone can accept that technology is rapidly advancing in this modern society so learning how to use it can only be a positive thing. 

I struggled to find negative views on the use of online videos and images - other than for obvious ethical reasons but would love a counter argument so all comments, good or bad, are welcome!

Task 1a: Professional Profile.. Re-done!

After reading through many of my peers profiles, who are also in module one, I noticed that there was a lot of discussion on this first task. Many of them seemed to have been posting there CV's which confused me because I didn't think that was required but after reading several more, it was clarified that the idea was just to re-write your CV in your 'About Me' section.

I felt that my own 'About Me' section did give the necessary information about myself and why it was important to me to do this BAPP course. However, upon reading everyone else's I thought that mine could perhaps be slightly more detailed. So, I went back over my CV and 'filled in the gaps' so to speak, although being a recent graduate, I did not have so much to say I had done... Yet!

This is a good example of 'Reflection' - a relevant topic throughout this whole scheme of work and something that I still relate to our very first induction day at Middlesex - and how I reflected on something that I had done, and then went back to do it again better. I hope that this is just the start of how my work will continue to develop over the next 15 months.

Task 1b: Professional Communication Technologies

When I first read the words “Web 2.0” and “Professional Communications Technology” my brain went into overload and shutdown and I switched to stalking fellow ‘Tweeters’ and ‘Facebookers’. And then it suddenly clicked, I was currently using ‘professional communications technology’ and had been using it for as long as I can remember both socially and professionally. It then made me realise just how important Web 2.0 is within modern day society in the ways we communicate, collaborate and share with others.

I read the reader twice and felt the next place I should look would be Tim O’Reily’s “meme map”. This was developed at a brainstorm during a conference at O’Reilly media and displays how ideas spread from the core of, what is, Web 2.0. 

From here I still felt I needed things clarifying so I turned to ‘YouTube’ - another feature of Web 2.0 that I use nearly everyday without even thinking about it. Here I found an interesting video explaining how it’s us making Web 2.0 what it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

Not only did I think it was informative but I also found it aesthetically pleasing and clever how the information was presented throughout the video. The video ended with, “Web 2.0 is not just linking the internet, it is linking people”. From the information I have gathered, I feel this sums the professional communication technologies up well because I couldn't imagine this modern day society without Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. Could you? As a tool of both networking and communication, Web 2.0 not only encourages, but it also enables participation.

These social networking sites are a perfect example of how we are socially connected through the use of Web 2.0, but what about learning? How does it affect that? Well, like we saw in the video, “Think of the 100 billion times a day humans click on a web page, teaching the machine what we think is important and each time we forge a link between words, we are teaching it an idea. So simple tasks as ‘googling’ a topic of interest is, in itself, expanding Web 2.0. For me, and others just starting out on the BAPP course, it would not be possible without the use of Web 2.0. It acts as a platform to other forms of communication, particularly in the industry we are all entering (or have already experienced) and helps us get connected to each other. 

However, whilst it is good that we can so easily see how everyone is getting on and give feedback in relation to the blogs, it also raises other issues with regards to the ethics involved. Everyone these days; including perspective employers; can type your name into a google search bar to find out that extra bit of information you may not have included, or wanted, on your CV! This is why it is incredibly important to make sure your ‘twitter’ or ‘facebook’ or ‘blog’ shows you in your best light and that you only disclose information you’re happy to be seen by other members of the public!

Embrace the confusion!

After many discussions at the last campus session it seemed that the majority of us in module one felt like we were missing something. A vital piece of information that would make everything clear and simple. However, what, in fact, was missing, was the content that is individually relevant to us.

From my own personal experience of spending the last fourteen years of my life in full-time education and having everything spoon fed to me, and even more so, the last three years being trained in a way of “it must be done like this and you will do this to get this”, so to speak, makes this new process of internal learning is quite a daunting prospect because, like the others, I want to be told what to do.

I think it was a good opportunity to be able to talk this through together and learn that we were not alone and in fact, everyone was feeling the same. To quote Alan Durrant, “You won't learn anything worthwhile if you are not in a confused state”. I completely agree with this because otherwise, you would already know everything and there wouldn't be a point in doing this course and with what we learn over the next 15 months, we can then carry with us in our future careers. So we all need to embrace the confusion to develop our own practice in order to succeed throughout the rest of the course and our future!