Work @ TAFE

Been reading lots lately on other people’s blogs… it’s so easy to get carried away reading while forgetting that one of the most powerful things about blogging is the ability to write and learn.

I’m not sure how other bloggers deal with this, but it just takes me soo much time to process and write about the things that I’m reading! I know that that’s why it’s such an incredible learning process - joining the global conversation - but I seriously struggle to write, let-alone write well… yet another skill I’m trying to learn.

I was comforted recently by Jason Santa Maria’s response to the frustration of constantly having to learn new tools just to keep up:

How are you supposed to get ahead when there is practically something new to consider every time you turn around? Well, you don’t. There are only so many hours in the day. You learn as much as you can and, most importantly, as much as you can retain without drifting too far from your core specialties.Meaning, I love design. It is my specialty and my craft. I can learn how to program Java if I want, but what’s the real purpose? To pad out my resumé? I would rather cut away the fat by trying to be as good as I can at a few things than just adequate in many things. It’s different for everyone though, some people can chew gum and walk at the same time, and some can’t. The trick is finding the balance that works for you and avoiding waking up one day to the realization that you are spread too thin to be useful in any arena.

I love education (and learning) and I love technology… I just need to keep cutting away the fat and focus more on fewer things…

Just in case you followed a link hoping to find information about creating your own blog, I thought I should quickly add some info!

The site that you’re currently viewing is really just for logging (and reflecting on) my own professional development, so it’s not interesting reading , but it may be useful to see how a blog can be used for your own professional development.

BUT, to create your own Blog that looks way more interesting than this one, travel over to Google’s Blogger.com and get started in three easy steps! They even provide a whole bunch of great-looking templates for you to choose from. (Thanks to Leigh Blackall and his presentation on OpenSource software for pointing out how much the Blogger service has improved!)

If you do create one, send me a link or a comment so I can add a link here!

Just did some reading about another activity based learning system called LAMS, developed at Macquarie Uni. Like Moodle, it seems to be based around social constructivist ideas - there’s lots of links to the IMS Learning Design specification.

Both LAMS and the IMS Learning Design specification have already been discussed on one of the moodle forums. Interesting to note that LAMS is a Java/Flash application, so quite different from Moodle (HTML/PHP). Also interesting to note that Moodle 2 is looking towards the IMS LD Spec!

Spurred on by Bruning et al., and their chapters “Learning to Read” and “Writing”, I’ve resolved to begin journalling again. Even if it is just one entry per week, I don’t care, I am very keen to establish some sort of routine to write regularly.

The chapters were very constructive, offering many ways to improve reading and writing skills, primarily from a social constructivist point-of-view. I’ve begun to reflect on my comprehension as I read to evaluate and (hopefully) improve my skills. But if one point was emphasised more than any other in the text, it was that writing skills correlate directly with writing practice. Hence, this journal is reborn.

Fran and I went shopping this morning and, being ourselves, couldn’t resist a $2 box at Todarellos, and a free box of soft tomatos… so we’re now trying to organise each other to get them all chopped up and frozen… so typical of us. We never stop to think that it might be worth the extra few dollars to buy vegies that don’t need to be scoured for bruises!