Author: Catey

#crit101 – Week 6

Originally published here.

In the final week of #crit 101 we were required to engage in the process of self-reflection to assess our progress/learning throughout the course. This requires entering “into a meta-cognitive process, looking inwardly at the way you approached your learning”.  It was suggested that we re-visit Dweck’s fixed and growth mindsets and consider the following questions:
What challenges did you face and how did you respond to them?
What obstacles got in your way and how did you get around them?
How much effort did you put into the course and what did you get out of it?
What feedback (criticism) did you receive and how did you take it?
What success did other participants have and how did that make you feel?
Were your responses positive or negative? Did you see challenges as opportunities to be embraced or did you avoid them thinking if you did not try then no one could say that you failed? Did you look at your feedback and see it as advice that could help you move forwards or did you choose to ignore it?

Challenges, responses and obstacles:
The main challenge I faced was finding time to engage fully with the course. Initially I was able to find the required time as I was on annual leave. However when my work year started time became more restricted. I really hit the wall in about week four of the program and found it impossible to read and write as required. I was encouraged to try and regain my footing in the week five activity which was another team effort. 

The other difficulty for me was the different time zones of the participants. Although it was possible to catch-up with the Twitter comments and work asynchronously, I think the time zones impacted on my ability to engage synchronously - which would have been beneficial when working on the team activities. Luckily one of the team members was persistent and made a huge effort to co-ordinate a meeting (thanks Pascal!). The Google Hangouts session   arranged by Pascal for the week five activity enabled us to have instant interaction and discussion about what path to take. This was much less onerous than trying to add comments and edit work that others had started. It was unfortunate that only two of the four team members were able to attend the session, but I really enjoyed the interaction and I believe our final piece of work was all the more easily created because of the meeting. In future when I am participating in any on-line courses, I will make much earlier connections as it absolutely enhanced the experience I had here.

Other successes:
Early in the course I read a couple of the other blogs, but did not really engage with them until the last week when they were collated in the course blog. I was pleased to see that other participants had some very interesting insights that James highlighted. Honestly though, I found it quite time-consuming to read every contribution. I was more interested in the resources that were supplied and elected to spend my limited time in accessing and reading them. I will not be able to offer any further responses to the blog contributions. I struggled to complete this post - and even then it is more than a week late.

I really appreciate that James was gracious enough to allow me to participate and observe how he lead this course. I enjoyed re-visiting some of the theories that were offered in the resources. Being a participant has made me aware of just how much reflective practice I engage in - both independently and collaboratively. I appreciated the readings and on occasion have been inspired by articles where I have taken a concept and applied it to my own teaching practice.

The structure of the course was clearly and logically arranged. The Twitter feed was collated and made it easy to catch up with the 'conversation'. The same sort of set-up would have been good for the blogs too (not sure that it was set up that way James - may have missed it if it was). All of the resources/readings were very informative and I commend James for the great job he did on researching and assembling them. My personal 'highlight' was engaging with some of the new technologies I was introduced to through the course. I have been 'encouraging' my colleagues to try some of them too! 

James your efforts in running this course alongside your normal activities is monumental - the feedback was always timely and constructive. I am sure your dedication and insight have inspired many students over the years, and engendered a love of learning. If your work in this course is any indication, you are what I would call a great teacher!! (or if you prefer, educator!!)




#crit101 – Week 6

Originally published here.

In the final week of #crit 101 we were required to engage in the process of self-reflection to assess our progress/learning throughout the course. This requires entering “into a meta-cognitive process, looking inwardly at the way you approached your learning”.  It was suggested that we re-visit Dweck’s fixed and growth mindsets and consider the following questions:
What challenges did you face and how did you respond to them?
What obstacles got in your way and how did you get around them?
How much effort did you put into the course and what did you get out of it?
What feedback (criticism) did you receive and how did you take it?
What success did other participants have and how did that make you feel?
Were your responses positive or negative? Did you see challenges as opportunities to be embraced or did you avoid them thinking if you did not try then no one could say that you failed? Did you look at your feedback and see it as advice that could help you move forwards or did you choose to ignore it?

Challenges, responses and obstacles:
The main challenge I faced was finding time to engage fully with the course. Initially I was able to find the required time as I was on annual leave. However when my work year started time became more restricted. I really hit the wall in about week four of the program and found it impossible to read and write as required. I was encouraged to try and regain my footing in the week five activity which was another team effort. 

The other difficulty for me was the different time zones of the participants. Although it was possible to catch-up with the Twitter comments and work asynchronously, I think the time zones impacted on my ability to engage synchronously - which would have been beneficial when working on the team activities. Luckily one of the team members was persistent and made a huge effort to co-ordinate a meeting (thanks Pascal!). The Google Hangouts session   arranged by Pascal for the week five activity enabled us to have instant interaction and discussion about what path to take. This was much less onerous than trying to add comments and edit work that others had started. It was unfortunate that only two of the four team members were able to attend the session, but I really enjoyed the interaction and I believe our final piece of work was all the more easily created because of the meeting. In future when I am participating in any on-line courses, I will make much earlier connections as it absolutely enhanced the experience I had here.

Other successes:
Early in the course I read a couple of the other blogs, but did not really engage with them until the last week when they were collated in the course blog. I was pleased to see that other participants had some very interesting insights that James highlighted. Honestly though, I found it quite time-consuming to read every contribution. I was more interested in the resources that were supplied and elected to spend my limited time in accessing and reading them. I will not be able to offer any further responses to the blog contributions. I struggled to complete this post - and even then it is more than a week late.

I really appreciate that James was gracious enough to allow me to participate and observe how he lead this course. I enjoyed re-visiting some of the theories that were offered in the resources. Being a participant has made me aware of just how much reflective practice I engage in - both independently and collaboratively. I appreciated the readings and on occasion have been inspired by articles where I have taken a concept and applied it to my own teaching practice.

The structure of the course was clearly and logically arranged. The Twitter feed was collated and made it easy to catch up with the 'conversation'. The same sort of set-up would have been good for the blogs too (not sure that it was set up that way James - may have missed it if it was). All of the resources/readings were very informative and I commend James for the great job he did on researching and assembling them. My personal 'highlight' was engaging with some of the new technologies I was introduced to through the course. I have been 'encouraging' my colleagues to try some of them too! 

James your efforts in running this course alongside your normal activities is monumental - the feedback was always timely and constructive. I am sure your dedication and insight have inspired many students over the years, and engendered a love of learning. If your work in this course is any indication, you are what I would call a great teacher!! (or if you prefer, educator!!)




#crit101 – Week 5

Originally published here.



This week is a group activity - Make a collaborative video in a small group under the title: Chicken and/or Eggs – Food of the People?
You should draw upon your research and reading about about Chickens and Eggs.It should reflect the conclusions that you have drawn and synthesise those ideas.


I am determined to make an early start and consequently, when I received the information I set about collecting some images relating to the topic and placed them on Pinterest. I find that sometimes it is necessary to jump in with both feet and just start - procrastination isn't healthy when there are tight deadlines and the people on the team live on opposite sides of the world!
Back in the Google doc. Pascal left a message for us to contact him any time for collaboration. I sent a Twitter message to all of my team with a link to my Pinterest.
A couple more days passed and Pascal sent a Twitter asking us to decide on a meeting date and choose ether Google+ or Hangouts. Then I noticed he had set up a schedule of suggested times in Doodle. I responded and the meeting was scheduled for Google Hangouts - unfortunately for me the equivalent time in Melbourne was 5:00am (not a morning person).
Anyway, Pascal and I were the only ones who 'turned up', the meeting went ahead and we spent around one and a half hours discussing 'the project' and how we would approach it.  At the end of the meeting we agreed that I would have a look at the recorded session and see if there was anything useful for inclusion in our video. 
Due to the time restrictions,I felt it was worthwhile trying for a final product using what we had to date. I earmarked sections that I thought could be used - I had some of the tools required to edit and collate the material on my laptop. So I downloaded the video and converted it to the correct format using Real Player. I used Microsoft Movie Maker to create some 'connecting' slides and used Photoshop to make Jpegs of screen captures of the different documents/tools we used. 
All the components were combined to create the following: 

#crit101 – Week 5

Originally published here.



This week is a group activity - Make a collaborative video in a small group under the title: Chicken and/or Eggs – Food of the People?
You should draw upon your research and reading about about Chickens and Eggs.It should reflect the conclusions that you have drawn and synthesise those ideas.


I am determined to make an early start and consequently, when I received the information I set about collecting some images relating to the topic and placed them on Pinterest. I find that sometimes it is necessary to jump in with both feet and just start - procrastination isn't healthy when there are tight deadlines and the people on the team live on opposite sides of the world!
Back in the Google doc. Pascal left a message for us to contact him any time for collaboration. I sent a Twitter message to all of my team with a link to my Pinterest.
A couple more days passed and Pascal sent a Twitter asking us to decide on a meeting date and choose ether Google+ or Hangouts. Then I noticed he had set up a schedule of suggested times in Doodle. I responded and the meeting was scheduled for Google Hangouts - unfortunately for me the equivalent time in Melbourne was 5:00am (not a morning person).
Anyway, Pascal and I were the only ones who 'turned up', the meeting went ahead and we spent around one and a half hours discussing 'the project' and how we would approach it.  At the end of the meeting we agreed that I would have a look at the recorded session and see if there was anything useful for inclusion in our video. 
Due to the time restrictions,I felt it was worthwhile trying for a final product using what we had to date. I earmarked sections that I thought could be used - I had some of the tools required to edit and collate the material on my laptop. So I downloaded the video and converted it to the correct format using Real Player. I used Microsoft Movie Maker to create some 'connecting' slides and used Photoshop to make Jpegs of screen captures of the different documents/tools we used. 
All the components were combined to create the following: 

#crit101 – Week 4

Originally published here.






Talk about hectic - trying to stay one step ahead of myself for five different units a week and standing up in front of ten groups a week!! Add to that, continuous days of thirty plus degrees (Celsius = HOT). Thank goodness I finally succumbed and had AC installed in the house. None in my car - it sits outside in the baking sun all day - but at least arriving home helps me 'chill out'. 
So I have made my excuses for not participating fully again, but I am still keen to try and find some time for #crit101. I absolutely will read the assigned article, but may not be able to complete the critical analysis in time - the 750 – 1000 word critical review may appear in Google Docs later than the due date, but I doubt it.
Some days later ....
This post has missed the deadline, I spent several 'stolen moments' trying to reflect, but distractions (read - work) abound...
  • How has this week’s assignment improved your skills of reading and analysis?
My normal habit is to read critically - but it is something I do without consciously thinking about it what I'm doing. It is stimulating to participate in these activities and to 'surface' a practise that I undertake in my daily work.
  • Discuss one way in which you connected with another member of the course this week.
I have read the archived Google+ account, but I don't perceive that as 'making a connection' it is more a way of keeping informed about discussions that I can't join in with synchronously.
  • How is the course helping you to become a more in(ter)dependent learner?
The course tools allow me to 'hear' perspectives that others have, but I don't see myself becoming more in(ter)dependent with participants here. I probably would have experienced a better result with greater participation, but I have only just read the added part of the task - I didn't realise there was an expectation for us to discuss the assigned articles with others. 

Addendum: Tuesday 11:38pm - definitely not a model student - have just realised that I completely forgot to watch video presentation - sorry James.


    Readings
    Google+ Discussion