Linda's Meta-learning Journal

I saw these fish kites as I walked home along the canal tow path today & thought what fun they are:

Here's a link to explain the reason for the kites
As First class is going to be down tonight and I am tired I'm going to log on to Ultrastudents chat now & see if anyone's around.

I have just put some instructions in my FC homepages on how to put a photo into your blog.

This is a picture of the sea shore in my village that I took this afternoon when I was out for a walk. It was unusually quiet and all I could hear were a few birds and the bleating of the sheep that have been put out to graze on the salt marshes.

I AM STUCK as usual early in a module :(
I thought I had this sorted out until I started to try and fit what I'd done into Greta's template. It's the sections in the AE tool all over again. Nothing relates to what I actually have. It all hinges on the existance of some sort of PDP prior to the start of the degree. Of course I have nothing like that so it feels like the whole module is based on a false premise. And as for doing some sort of cost/benefit analysis on the outcomes of this imaginary plan- words fail me!
What happens if I don't use the template?
What then? Can I just write briefly about not having a PDP? Then list the training & informal learning opportunities. Does that work? Will that meet the Learning outcomes?
Maybe I'll feel better about it all tomorrow. I am feeling a bit low anyway as I have had a tummy bug so perhaps I need to wait till I feel more energetic.

Mo e-mailed me to point out that my guest book is no longer active. I suspect it has reached the limit for comments as it has 30 in it now. So this is my new one.

I had a phone conf with my new LF tonight. I think my plan from yesterday might be OK. I just need to be careful not to lift LA1 entirely from my Report 1. It occurred to me that the way to avoid this would be to use the areas I identified for research as a starting point rather than my strengths and weaknesses.
So, for example,

the area might have been to investigate behaviour management techniques, I could then narrow it down to the Team teach approach, use the mindmap of the training day & the jelly discussion as artifacts, pick out a significant thing that was learned, reflect on it, and evaluate the impact on my workplace and my own practice.

improve my knowledge base: finding out how to use the ecologger, writing some teacher friendly instuctions, using it with groups, reflect, evaluate

researching the copyright -free artwork and putting together the resources etc for the Telling to Writing Project, reflecting on how I found it, why it matters to have great pictures, using the evaluation sheets with the kids, the impact on the literacy lessons and the quality of work produced. What have I learned from doing this?

Display was an area I identified so I could use the 3d display course, What, if anything, did I learn that day? I have a myriad of pictures of the day & I can use my Land use display to show me using a technique I learned there not working and explore why.
That's all for now and I must be getting to like being off-line as I am again away for the weekend - hope everyone has as nice a time as I intend to:)

I am still having problems getting to grips with the new module. Shirley and Anthony have both offered some good advice but I just can't seem to get started. Life got in the way a bit this week too so I might let myself off. I get the idea of using the module as a plan - do- review cycle. I think that might mean that the targets I set in report one(plan1) and the actions that I took based ('do' 1) on them are then reviewed (review & evaluation 1) and a new plan (plan 2- the new cycle) is made.
Activity 1:

I have a look at report 1 and the targets I set then

The actions I took based on them is just a list of the courses I have attended plus any new skills I have aquired
Activity 2

Then I pick any important learning experiences in the courses or in my workplace in general (between 3 & 5 examples)

I make a list of potential new SMART targets.
Activity 3

Finally stitch it together into a report to meet the level 1 criteria. Reflecting on between 3 & 5 of the learning experiences and their impact on my learning and any impact on my workplace Links to literature?
Sounds straight forward put that way I suppose. I'm going to avoid getting into too much depth. I will settle for my 20 credits & try not to worry too much about getting such a high mark this time. The first thing to do is look how to fit this into the ILP and get it filled in and approved. Activity 1 is then almost done at once, leaving just 2 (identifying learning) and 3 (stitching the report & adding in relevent literature) The whole thing to be finished before the half-term break so that I can enjoy a bit of a holiday. I definitely need one. Even though it is only just after Easter!

Hello, my brief enforced holiday is over and I am back on line. It was all a bit frustrating but not too awful I suppose. Apple have gone up in my estimation - everyone said it would take ages to get my laptop back but Monday to Friday is pretty good I think.


I have a new LF now, which was a bit of a shock! Still I'm sure we'll get on fine. Don't know if he reads blogs, but if he does "Hi!"


He'll have to get used to me moaning at the start of each module about how I don't see how I am ever going to do it! I always get there in the end :-) Though this time I'll settle for a pass, no point in going for these really high grades all the time now I know they don't really count towards the degree. Time to pick and chose where I put my efforts and this next module looks particularly uninspiring!


Management twaddle, Performance Plans, Development Plans, JARS -Ugh! I had enough of that when I was in the civil service:-( Meaningless tosh mostly, made up to look good on paper.


Oh well never mind- Cohort 2 have all this to look forward to! Still, even with all my moans, I'm glad I'm doing this degree. It is a life- changing and life enhancing process. Even if it does eat time, become an obsession, drive me nuts, I wouldn't be without it. Or without some really good friends that it has given me:-)

so here I am at a cybercafe trying to  up date my blog. Not easy but never mind. If anyone wonders what has become of me I am macless for 7 to 10 days having blown my laptop back light!
If you've emailed me or left a message I can't really get back to you very easily till then so bear with me folks! I can get on FC from work but the blog is banned by the smart filters. Some one assured me that after a few days I wouldn't miss it. They were wrong!
Bye for now
Linda

The Action enquiry is almost finished. I am just messing about with a couple of sound files that I'm not happy with and then it is all over. Phew!
I won't say any more about the tool except that I was so nervous of it that rather than edit out some errors that had crept into my report I sent my LF a wp document explaining them. The next field pathway meeting might be interesting! At least everyone remembers who the student reps are now:-)
I am feeling a bit flat today, I suppose it is because the assignment is finished. It might have been helpful to have next terms topic stated a bit more clearly so that we could start some research as we did at Xmas. Still perhaps this will force me to have a break. ("Ha! Unlikely," I hear you say. You could be right but on the other hand I might just manage a couple of days off. Wonder what I'll find to do?)
I saw this cute little boat on the canal today when I was out walking. Maybe it was the colour or the name, Rowan, that caught my eye.

Well after much battling with the AE tool I have nearly finished. All that remains to do is put some finishing touches to my review of the action enquiry & copy & paste it into the tool. Phew!
This tool really isn't at all user friendly. The word delightful that Ultralab are so fond of cannot be applied to this software. I can think of a few other words I'd like to use about it. I went to replace some up-loaded files tonight which seemed to vanish when I had problems with my Harvard Resource List. I started to put them back, only to discover that instead of one copy of each I now had 2. The ones that seemed to have vanished were there all the time. I got back down to one copy of each.
Ah well, never mind:-)
On a lighter note, Pirate Radio Essex is great company:-)click here to listen