Linda's Meta-learning Journal

I went further up the coast today and took these photos at Arnside. I'm really pleased with the one of the rocks. It's one of my best photos with this camera I think.

My friend and co-researcher at Ultraversity Andy has just made his 100th blog entry. Andy used this as an occasion to reflect on his blog. All this 'meta-blogging' is interesting but it can be a bit of a distraction. I for one would miss any of the less obvious categories if he stopped posting them. I've got over my introspection and am now happy to get back to blogging rather than thinking about it! He's promised a picture of a cake for his 200th entry but I was never very good at defferred gratification LOL! So here's a cake for your 100th Andy. My 100th posting isn't very far away either. I'll have to think of something special....

As ever the new modules are giving me a few problems. I have a fine collection of literature in my furl (lol about 30 sites!) for the first module. I did a lot about learning styles in Report 5 so I'm not going to re-do that work! I think I'll concentrate on models of learning, and then Knowles, motivations of adult learners, a bit about Maslow and levels of competence, some Manen (from the Phenomenology on line site) and some stuff about intuitive practice and perhaps some bits from Atherton about why "learning styles don't matter" just to add a bit of spice.
I audited my own use of technology for a week and I've got 3 critical incidents to reflect on (2 learning and 1 technology) but I'd prefer another one just to be sure. I also want an example of intuitive practice and that is illusive at the moment.
It seems a few people are finding it a bit heavy going at the moment. They are tired and stressed and wondering how they are ever going to do everything and work on the degree as well. I think I hit on something important about that over the summer. Some might remember how much I moaned about the pdp module (LOL!). Well in the end Andy convinced me that it was worth having a real one not just something I'd put together for the report. So at the start of the holiday I wrote a full in depth one to cover all aspects of both the degree and work (and some aspects of my personal life which I won't go into here). Having this has made a huge difference to the way I'm approaching this semester's work. I am determined that everything I do for the degree will be based more on things I'm doing anyway as part of my job. I know that was the idea of the degree when we started but to be honest I'd drifted a little into areas that whilst interesting were not so relevent.
This means the Independent Study Module will be about the exhibition stand for the NLC
My action enquiry will be based on working together with a dyspraxic child to prepare him for the introduction the use of a classroom laptop for his written work
My second ISM will proabably be based on a TA SEN course which I have been invited to attend this year (10 days spread out over the year, worth 20 level at 1 credits so I'll have to put a bit more work in to pull them up to level 2).
So my year is starting to take shape.

OK the Stat counter raises more questions than it answers. Here's an odd one. Someone in Washington in the US searched google for my name and the date September 15th. They loaded the page twice and stayed about 10 or 15 minutes. Now I really am wondering why! Were they looking for me? Someone else with the same name? (Not that unlikely - both my names are quite common) Strange :-) The Stats counter is a real time waster, so easy to get carried away wondering about who people are.
The post last night got a few responses. Two from old friends, one from a new one (from Cohort2). I agree with Eve - I feel I've got to know her more through her blog than any other way (apart of course from f2f!). So that's one good reason for keeping it. Another is the simple fact that, as Andy pointed out, I do get a bit twitchy when I can't access it for some reason. This may also be one of the reasons I was thinking about stopping blogging. I don't like feeling dependent on things. It bothers me. I've never kept a private diary for any length of time. Well, I did keep a journal when I was having some counselling a few years ago but I found all the introspection involved quite destructive in some ways and abandoned it as soon as I could. The blog isn't at all like that. The existence of an audience makes a big difference to me. It stops me dwelling on personal issues and makes me view things more analytically. Oh, maybe that's why my first word-processed Learning Journal didn't work! Too much like a diary! My desktop LJ now is just for noting critical incidents and doing reflections. It's two linked Voodoo Pad wikis. Seems to work quite well - so far this term lol!
I wonder if Viv has a point, are people more honest in their blogs? I try to be honest in my community postings but when I'm feeling really negative it sometimes doesn't feel right to say so there. Hmm lots to think about there....

I began wondering yesterday why I keep this blog. I decided to think about what would happen if I deleted it altogether.

What would change?

What would I have to do differently?

losses?

gains?
When I told a friend what I'd been thinking about he asked me why I was angry with my blog. I'm not angry at all, I just want to know why I'm writing it and why people read it.
So what would change if I deleted my blog?
I would be writing my learning journal just for myself with no sense of audience. I wouldn't get any feedback at all on what I write. I would feel less a part of the UV blogging community.
What would I have to do differently?
I'd have to put everything in my learning journal on my desktop.
Losses?
Loss of audience, loss of community feeling, possible de-motivation for considering meta-journal issues.
Gains?
Privacy, less time on-line, might encourage me to contribute in FC community rather than write here.
So did I reach any conclusions? Not yet. My blog is safe for a bit longer while I think about why I write it.
A more interesting question might be 'Why do you read it?" So go on all you lurking readers out there (thanks to the stat counter I know you exist!) just why are you reading this?

I decided a couple of weeks ago to see how many people read my blog. My feeling was that it was read by just a few people, mostly from the community or Ultralab North or South. So I decided to put an invisible stat counter on my blog. This counter gives more than just page loads, it gives details of where people came from, what country they are in, how long they stay, what system and browser they use. Interesting stuff.
The initial result was a bit of a shock. The first week most people came from google searches for all sorts of things. A few people in New Zealand came from the Ultralab feed and a couple must have bookmarked the blog as they have no referring link. A couple of people in France - ditto. They may come from a group who are looking at blogs as learning journals about whom I've heard a little. Some people from the USA are regular visitors. Most of the UK ones that didn't come from Google I knew who they must be. These were the people I'd expected to be readers. It only took 5 days to reach the 100 visitors mark.
My first reaction was to feel quite uncomfortable. I took my photo off the blog (a recent addition that I wasn't sure I was going to keep anyway) and generally de-personalised it. The readers that confused me were the ones who'd come from random google searches once but then came again from a bookmark. So my blog isn't quite the cosy space I had imagined. It's better to know this and to understand who it is that reads what I write. Obviously though this must have an effect on my content.
So this link comes with a warning - use it if you like but be aware it might change how you see your blog.Stat Counter

I've been looking through my whole blog archive today and asking myself "What exactly is this blog for? What is it's purpose?"
It started off in February as a place to to replace my JellyOS guest book. A sort of virtual meeting space. That didn't really work too well. I got a few comments from friends but I found myself writing longer entries and it started to become a sort of meta-learning journal. A space to work out what the modules were about
Recently someone pointed out that 2/3rds of what I'm posting is about school and it's become my actual learning journal. I'm less happy about that. I keep a private Learning Journal on my desktop (voodoo pad wiki ) and that should be where the bulk of this stuff goes. I am going to be more careful about this in future. I need my LJ to be a more private space and this to be more public.
So more Ultraversity stuff less workplace. Bit difficult when this is a workplace degree but I need to do this, I think.

We had a visit from the mobile planetarium yesterday. Good fun was had by all - especially a couple of yr5 children who are space obsessed (one boy one girl).

As part of my new module I'm auditing my use of technology in my job role. This has given me a bit of an incentive to make sure I have something to write about lol!
All week one child has been having real problems grasping fractions in Maths and I remembered a really good game on-line that might help. Luckily I'd stored it as a favourite on the classroom computer so a quick word to my class teacher and the child was whisked over to the computer.
The game is called Fraction Flags . Anyway thinking about what Andy said recently about "Can problem solving be taught?" I explained briefly that the challenge was to colour the flags half one colour and half the other. I didn't say how to do it at all and left him to get on with it.
Within five minutes he'd worked out how to use the game and moved on from doing the obvious (all one side green all the other side red) to making quite complex patterns. This involved him carefully counting the squares and working out how to even them up. He even worked out for himself how to use the white "paint" as an eraser so that he could correct errors. He also worked out that he could print the flags and soon he had a lovely collection. (I can feel Andy cringing at the thought of all that coloured ink!)
He proudly showed off his work to the class teacher - who was suitably impressed. We've been trying to get fractions across to him all week!
Tomorrow he's going to show the rest of his group how the game works, and then I'm going to challenge them to make as many different flags as they can, using all the levels of the game. We'll show the results in Good Work Assembly on Friday and I'll make a display of them.
We'll also challenge the more able group to come up with their own flags to show different fractions but they will be doing it by hand.

I went up to Lake Windermere yesterday. I was hoping to go for a ride on the steamer up to Ambleside but got there just too late. Just after these photos were taken there was a downpour and I got soaked !