Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you all My experience with computers goes back to the early 80s. An Ohio Scientific machine, with its huge floppy disk drive, CPU and printer, occupied a whole table in my Physics lab because it happened to be the most secure room in the school.I had no interest in computers in those days. But I was determined that if a computer was going to occupy valuable space in my teaching lab, It’d be better if I learnt how to use it. The Challenger 4P looked like a mechanical calculator. It ran a fast basic program language, but had only 64k of ram. It had no software. So I learnt how to program in basic.Getting a little white arrow to run up and down and round and about a dark grey screen, controlled only by the arrow-keys, was no moderate achievement. Once I’d mastered a few other basic programming routines, I quickly found out how to do similar movements with other shapes. Inventing computer games quickly became a useful way to learn how to program the computer.ZX81My son, Nick, who was 11 years old, had his own computer - a Sinclair ZX81, with a 16k ram pack. There was no software with the ZX81 either. We both learnt a lot from working with that simple device. Nick too found that making up computer games was a good way to learn how to program.He and I made up a compendium of about 20 games that all ran from the same program that we saved on a cassette tape. But Nick was ahead of me, for he quickly learnt how to use machine code - an art that I never quite mastered.PentiumIt wasn’t until about 20 years later that Nick’s younger brother, Jack, gave the family a Pentium computer for Christmas. It was a machine that Jack had used, but it was our family’s first ‘real’ computer, and we were proud of it.Some of the games software that he’d ran was left on the hard drive. One of the games was an early version of Sid Meier’s Civilization III, a sophisticated strategy game where players could build their own civilisations from a single tiny settlement.My wife, Linda, insisted that we played a game together. So, turn by turn, we engaged in our very first commercial computer game and not only learnt how to play, but also won a cultural victory for Queen Elizabeth, the leader of our own civilization.PioneeringFor almost a year we enjoyed pioneering with our civilizations in CIV. We learnt a bit about how technology developed through the ages - not so much of the technology itself, but more about the sequence of technological evolution.Before my days of playing CIV, I was a total military ignoramus. I could no more explain what a stealth bomber was, than an Aegis cruiser can fly in the air. Yes, Sid Meier’s game taught me quite a bit, and I was soon to find out that what I'd learnt wasn’t far from reality either.What I learnt I went off the idea of playing CIV. That was shortly after Afghanistan was invaded by UK and USA. Then there was the similar invasion of Iraq. Quite frankly, what the game had taught me was too much to bear at that time. I’d learnt that there would be repercussions from those two 21st-century invasions, that there would be rebellious uprising and revolt within those invaded countries, that there would be continuous disorder from the resistance.That’s exactly what Linda and I had discovered happened when we invaded enemy civilisations in CIV and attempted to take over their cities. Even our own people rose to anarchy under circumstances of war, especially if they felt that we had gone to war unjustly. It was a year or so before I could play the game without being constantly reminded of the repercussions of war.What else I learntThere was something else that CIV brought home to me. Civilisations haven’t got to where they are today without a cost. That cost took human lives, either through disease, economic hardship or through the vagaries of war.I don’t play CIV any more. I still have a lot of respect for the game and its creator, Sid Meier. Having seen his (now not so) new CIV IV in action, I think it is a wonderfully animated teaching tool. It has the potential to educate those who recognise and understand the profound and fundamental lesson it brings forward to its players. Ka kite anōCatch ya later

Tēnā koutou katoa Greetings to you all ( 8 ) << - other Web2.0Wednesday posts - >> ( 6 ) ( 5 ) ( 4 ) ( 3 ) ( 2 ) ( 1 ) Michele Martin’s Web 2.0 Wednesday assignment - to uncover one’s personal brand - makes several assumptions. One of them is that a personal brand is, Michele quotes, as Steve Woodruff defines it:(amended 14/09 see comment)When people see you, think of you, and relate to you, words and images and feelings come to mind. That is your personal brand.Another is that I wish to uncover my personal brand. I’m not sure that a single personal brand exists. My impression is that people are so diverse in their personality, likes and dislikes, points of view, etc, that how someone may view me would certainly be quite different from how another may see me, even if it was just from an online perspective.To average all these perceptions in some way, and come up with a categorisable description, strikes me as being similar to finding an average letter for the alphabet. Casting all ridiculousness aside, I approached this challenge from as wide a perspective as possible.I didn't conduct a survey on my commentsphere. Surveys are difficult to devise, and their results are notoriously poor reflections of what they are meant to convey.AcknowledgementMy choice is to acknowledge my commentsphere for who they are - a wonderful group of people who, over the past few months, have helped to shape the blogger I am becoming. The participants in my commentsphere around newmiddle-earth.blogspot.com have been patiently keeping me on track.Over the period from early May 2008 until today they have provided me with much pleasurable discourse and I have learnt a lot from them. You may appreciate the pattern their names make in the Wordle blimp at the top of this post. Here they are in alphabetical order of first name:Amazing commentsMy precious commenters have provided me with an amazing 13, 833 words in comments! I sifted the comments, gathered in a single text file, removing all small words such as and and to, the and but, etc. The key words left behind were made prominent by their frequency, and are displayed in a Wordle blimp shown here:Nga mihi nuiBest wishes

Tēnā koutou katoa Greetings to you all ( 4 ) ( 3 ) ( 2 ) << - related postsA lot has been discussed recently in the blogosphere on so-called metaphors for learning. There’s been everything from the idea of neural connections - thinking in terms of models - to what I’d call analogies, where learning is described as building on established structures, the growth of a tree-like organism, or the flow of a stream or river over a terrain.These wonderfully graphic products of imagination indicate how vibrant our thinking is on something as abstract as learning.My classical education does not permit me to see easily the bridges that may lie between things I recognise as models and metaphors or analogies, that are often used to explain how learning appears to happen. When it comes to using the terms, however, I often get them muddled.Neural connectionsThe neural connection description for learning is what I’d call a model. At the microscopic level, it is a particle model that explains how connections are made between cells in brain tissue, and is not unlike microscopic circuit connections within a computer chip. Though it explains how the complexity is established within the intricacy of the brain, it does not explain the feature or characteristic of learning.As a teacher/educator/assessor of student learning, I’m more used to outcomes that are as a result of meeting learning objectives. These, of course, are what we call the assessable outcomes.On the other hand, I see the river and tree-like ‘metaphors’ more as analogies, where the analogous, known features in a river or tree are used to explain how learning can be thought of as developing or growing through time.When I read the writing of others on these topics, I am constantly aware that some are talking about models, while some are talking in metaphors, and others are drawing analogies. I get confused. I feel that there is a need to find a distinction between what’s a model, what’s a metaphor and what’s really just an analogy. They are not all the same.What are models?Models are the basis for assisting a raft of scientific thinking that has a history going back several hundreds of years. A model can be a physical thing and is often thought of as such. It can be held in the hand, such as a model for a molecule of matter, defined as the smallest particle of a substance, retaining all the known microscopic characteristics of the substance it represents.It can also be a written thing, such as a mathematical formula or expression that, according to known and understandable parameters, explains how things are seen to behave. A model for how the volume of a cube relates to the length of one of its sides can be described by the equation, v = d x d x d, or v = d3. In general, the model leaves little to the imagination.MetaphorsMetaphors are different from models. They don’t necessarily need to be tangible artifacts, nor written expressions or relationships, such as equations. The word comes from its literal use, where something becomes something else.A metaphor is thought of as having two parts, the target and source. The target is the subject to which attributes are ascribed. The source is the subject from which the attributes are borrowed. "He was a lion in the fight", is a metaphor for a warrior (target) who was not just like a lion, but became the envisioned replacement - the lion (source).Metaphors are slick. They permit the mind to think swiftly in terms of the source rather than more cumbersomely in terms of the target.Metaphors tend to be borrowed from other disciplines. The particle/wave model for light, for instance, has been adopted as a way of describing knowledge, thought of as a thing and a flow. In this way, the model has become a metaphor.An archaic metaphor for learning was filling jugs. Presumably the jugs were the minds of the students that were to be filled with liquid, which was knowledge. It is a two-in-one metaphor - jugs for minds, liquid for knowledge.AnalogiesAnalogies are quite different from the other two. Unlike the model, an analogy is not trying to depict, in any way, how the thing or concept exists. Nor is it like the metaphor, that tries to make the thing or concept be something else. An analogy is a direct mapping between one idea and another. There is no need for there to be any physical or ethereal resemblance between the thing or concept and its parallel.So we may well think in terms of a model when joining popper beads to represent neural connections while learning occurs in the brain. We may also think of the metaphor for knowledge as a thing and a flow when considering knowledge management. But the analogy is the most involved of the three.It calls for the most use of our imagination. It is a parallelism that’s left mainly up to the ingenuity of the thinker, who considers the behaviour of one thing when thinking of the parallel behaviour of another.Nga mihi nuiBest wishes

Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you all I was struck by the diversity of opinion to be found on The Learning Circuits Blog on To-Learn Lists. Clearly I'd been kidding myself all these years that everyone knew all about to-learn lists.Yesterday I read Gina Minks' post on What’s a "To Learn" List, and wrote a comment:Ah! The ‘to learn list’.Many years ago I went on a course on manual writing. I’d just become a computer trainer and my boss sent me on this course - she thought I needed the skills. She wasn’t far wrong - but I found some of the course fascinating.To cut another epic comment-post short, one of the key tips for starting writing a manual was:Write the contents page - neatly.No kidding. And y’know. It works. It’s the psychological effect it has on making that starting leap. Clearly, the manual almost wrote itself after that momentous task was done.A ‘to learn list’ works the same way. Different from a not-written-down skills-I-need-to-get-list :-)It’s the immediacy of the thing, like writing instructions on a work sheet for kids.It’s not"See if you can write a poem on . . ."but,"Write a poem on . . .".There’s a whole Britannica difference between one approach and the other.The "to learn list" will have a number of A1 tasks on it, for sure. Now an A1 task deserves to be written, if only to focus the mind.But it’s more than that. It puts it firmly in the mind. How often has one written the shopping list and got to the supermarket to find it’s still lying on the kitchen table? I’ve done that so often, but, y’know, I race home after the shopping’s done to check the list. Most times I get the lot. I wonder how successful I might have been if I’d just not bothered to write the list at all.So. Yep. The "to learn list" is one sure-fire way to make sure you’ll get it all done. And don’t just scribble it.Take a clean lined sheet of refill. Sit at the writing desk, and in your best copperplate writing, draw up your list - with a pen. Pin it to the noticeboard when you’ve finished, sit back and wait for the learning to happen.Ka kite anōCatch ya later

Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you allWe’ve had an avalanche of enthusiasm and opinion about podcasts and videocasts, audio comments and video comments on blogs. I don’t knock any of those. I’m all for innovation, and I like the idea of identifying with the person who is communicating with me.Back in the bad old days, people got all enthusiastic about embedding a picture of themselves in a word file, and printing out the letter on a colour printer.PDFs also became popular about the same time, though not as accessible. Embedding an audio file in those was a development. That showed promise - a bit of a veer to the side, since the PDF was originally intended to provide a portable printable format, but that's cool.At that same time, we had webs with embedded audio files and streamed videos. Web 2.0 hit us and all of that burst in cascades of foam as things went wild with Twitter, Tumbler, Seesmic and lots of other goodies besides.A put-down on textThere’s been a bit of put-down where blogs with text comments are concerned. And I wonder if any real thought has been put into why blogs should still be so popular, or indeed, of the real merits of text.Here’s my take on reading a post or comments against it, compared to listening to podcasts or watching video comments - and I emphasise here that it’s not my intention to knock any of those technologies, for I truly believe they all have their place.But . . .When it comes to scanning for detail that may be useful, I find it difficult to do this with audio or video. Even if all of the comments are video comments in response to the original video casted post, there is no way I have a hope of scanning the page to see if there’s anything that interests me there. I have to doggedly play the files - one by one.Frankly, there is no way I can get the feel of what the discussion is all about just by scanning the post. The same applies to audio files. In short, they actually slow me down and can make skimming for information exceedingly tedious, if not impossible.When it comes to citing, or quoting from a video-post or video comment I have the same problem. I've yet to hear anything to the contrary. It seems that they’re not transmutable, for the ‘in’ way to respond or comment on a video-cast seems to be only acceptable in kind.Yesterday, I listened to a 10 minute conversation-cast. I had some ideas that I’d like to comment on, and though the speakers were all introduced one by one, I’m damned if I could remember all their names.Not an easy scanD’you think I could easily scan across the vid to pick them out? Not a chance. I gave up in the end and submitted a bland comment with no appropriate reference to the speakers because I could not easily recall who they were.As I said at the beginning of this soliloquy, I’m not knocking the audios or the vids. They have their place. Just don’t expect me to drum up enthusiasm to respond in kind when I know damn well it’s simpler to write a brief comment.Ka kite anōCatch ya later

Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you allA plea for helpI’ve just set up a private blog on Blogger with about 20 author invitees. Some of my invitees are having real problems getting in. I’ve checked all their email addresses - twice now. All valid and squeaky clean.There are 12 people who can get in (one’s a dummy email/password I created for myself) and at least 4 people who cannot get their valid Google account IDs to permit them access - doh! It's really frustrating!A couple more found that their already-created Google accounts worked but the new ones with their work email address did not.Lack of FeedAnother thing I notice is that I can’t subscribe to the new blog.At first I thought that this was because of the settings, but then when I checked, none of them mentioned anything about RSS Feed except for the one on Blog Feeds.I have Allow Blog Feeds set to FULL, and the Permissions set to Only Blog Authors (all my invitees are invited as blog authors).I've checked out the Help on Blogger and haven't been successful at finding anything relevant to my troubled invitees who have been very patient with me.I’m setting this blog up for the start of next term (in just over 2 weeks time here in NZ) and I hoped to get all invitees started by the end of this term. I'd really like it to happen.So if you have any suggestions, I’d be really grateful to hear from you.Ka kite anōCatch ya later

Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you allEver thought how useful it would be to be always right? Over time, one has the opportunity to make many mistakes and regrettably, a lesser number of successes. My track record is as chequered as a new weave of tartan.When I look back at the things that I got right, I feel very humble. Rare though they may be, these are the things that most helped me get to where I am today. I know! Don’t remind me!Self-esteemIt’s true for us all, though. Sometimes we do get things right - thank goodness. And serendipitous though these occurrences may appear to be, they are very important to our self-esteem.There have been many occasions when I have looked back smugly on happenings that turned out just the way I’d expected. I may even have spoken to friends and acquaintances or work-mates about how I thought things may turn out and got some opposition to my opinion at the time.But have you ever noticed how unpopular you can be when, through the passage of time, you are proved right and you crow, "I told you so"?People’s reactions can be such a put down to a know-it-all who’s right. Even if it’s just the once. The fact is, people rarely want to hear that time honoured assertion.No win situationIt’s been my experience with this that’s taught me to button up when these superior occasions arise. I find it difficult. Often, my attitude gives the game away, even if I don’t say a word. I get quite petulant. I feel it’s simply not fair - I just can’t win.Dale Carnegie eloquently explains the social consequences of being proved right and saying so. It’s not excatly how to win friends and influence people - hence the title of his book, I guess.So how does one cover for this? Is the answer to be always wrong? That could be just as problematic. In any case, the chances of being always wrong are probably similar to the chances of being always right. It’s never as consistent as you might like it to be.But on the occasions when I just know I’m going to be proved right and I say as much, the words are often out before I have a chance to consider the long-term consequences of my utterances. Short of getting a tonguectomy, what is there that a bear of little brain can do?Ka kite anōCatch ya later

Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you allArt by Hannah Christine Allan DearEarlier this year, I wrote an elearning discussion paper on reusable learning resources for Futurelab. It was snapped up and published. Stephen Downes gave it a brief thumbs up and correctly interpreted the paper as an introduction and a history of learning resources.But a rattled blogger put a comment against Stephen’s post that was far from complimentary to Stephen, Futurelab or me. Presumably the writer thought that the comment would get wider exposure on Stephen’s blog than on the Futurelab site. The claim was that my paper was written on the strength of "a few google searches".Research or copyingI suppose some papers are written on a few Google searches. Many may not necessarily cite any of the results. In my attempt, I cited a dozen or so (I'd 26 citations) of the hundreds I had on my list, including some mention of my own findings in the field.The commenter's criticism reminded me that research of this type could come across as bogus to someone who may never have done proper research before, or had not considered the usefulness of passing on accumulated knowledge to others. Bogus or not, clearly I was being painted as a copier, and an out of date one at that. Perhaps I am.Authors, thoughts and plagiarismIn Dave Snowden's recent post on a keynote speech he attended about innovation in companies, he asks the question: how does imitating other cases constitute innovation? Dave was obviously uneasy about the assumption that copying may be an integral part of innovation.Sandipan Roy discussed plagiarism in the context of innovation in design, from an ethical point of view, and is still looking for a definition of it. He cites Wikipedia: "Plagiarism is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work". Presumably the operative word here is ‘author’, though I wonder about 'thoughts'.A learning skillFor as much as note taking is a fundamental skill of an independent learner, it would appear that taking notes at university lectures could incur copyright issues. So far, such copying is seen as a protected infringement unless it is published, which is another form of copying.Given the recent interest in so-called wiring of the brain and the associated metaphors, in the context of learning, how long will it take before copyright is applied to the passing on of skills and knowledge by a teacher?Ka kite anōCatch ya later

Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you all( 6 ) ( 5 ) ( 4 ) ( 3 ) << - related posts - >> ( 1 )For my last post in September, I write a tribute to the mistake. Having made several mistakes this month, I feel that I should extol the virtue of this much maligned, yet salutary indicator.Of all the things that one does in a lifetime, the mistake deserves an accolade for being among the most unwanted deeds - deliberate or accidental. It is charged with bringing embarrassment, shame and criticism to its architect, and when recognised, can be looked upon with scorn even by young children.Metaphors and euphemismsThere is a mountain of expressions, metaphors and euphemisms that are used for the mistake:blemish, bloomer, blot, blotch, blue, blunder, blur, boner, boob, boo-boo, bungle, clanger, error, fault, faux pas, flaw, folly, gaffe, gaucherie, glitch, gong, hitch, horlix, howler, impropriety, indiscretion, lapse, mark, miscue, misdeed, miss, misstep, oversight, problem, solecism, slip, spot, stain, trip, typo, woopsy, wrong - the list goes on!It is the doom of the skydiver, headache of the politician and the ruin of investors. But it does not deserve its reputation.The mistake is the initiator of precision and perfection. Consider the supreme champions of archery and marksmanship. Who from these groups would achieve such keen accuracy and exactness without ever having made a single mistake?Music to the earsAnyone who has just learnt to play even the easiest of musical instruments will be only too aware of the self-correcting quality that the mistake imparts to the custom and practice of the learner musician.The fine ear of the soprano singer is tuned by practice in infinitesimal degrees, through which the delicate ability of the human ear picks up disharmony and imperfection, within a beat per second, in even the highest pitched musical notes.If we were projected back in time to the days when Yasha Heifetz first scraped a tune on his violin, or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart plonked his opening ditty on the piano, what illuminating wonders might we hear of the first and subsequent mistakes made by these celebrated virtuosos?Darren Roberts made a list of ten ways the mistake or its consequence, failure, can be of benefit to the learner:Encourages lateral thinkingGives us experienceBuilds characterEncourages the strong and discourages the weak!Makes you honest with yourselfMakes one more intangible and thick-skinnedSuccess too soon can give false confidenceEncourages improvement and planningReveals your weaknessesSuccess is the attitude; failure is the lever"The person who never made a mistake never made anything," is a Scottish adage. It implies that the mistake is part of the fundamental nucleus that is at the core of any acquisition through learning.It becomes the hallmark of excellence by its default.Go easy on the exponentsAs a teacher, I go easy on those who commit mistakes. I try to take care over how I address them:May I never misjudge in speech or printThe might of that trite word but. Far from slight,This subtle linking word is no mere hintOf denial, but is a halting light,A fleeting signal found among othersFar less importunate; it makes its markAlmost unwittingly, and being terseCan pass unnoticed like a curt choked bark,A harbinger of prejudice expressed.It is the stamp that damns the accolade,The debit to annul the funds imprest,The contempt to denounce all plaudits made:And if before I use it I think twice,I could save cutting a most unkind slice.So celebrate the mistake. It fetches music to the ears, brings home celebrated champions, gives us award-winning scholars, and it put men on the Moon.Ka kite anōCatch ya later

Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you allThis post is entirely my take on a current workplace problem. It is one that is being experienced by many who are charged with the duty to introduce the use of new technologies into the workplace. None of what's in this post is new, though my way of looking at it may be new to some people. In no way am I attempting to run over the much respected studies in communities of practice (CoP), though what is posited here may support that discipline.Why resist change?Change has been happening since communities first began. A quick look at the development of civilisation throughout history shows that change happened in fits and starts. Historians catalogued the periods according to the recognisable practices and cultures that prevailed during these times.There were periods when nothing seemed to alter significantly - over hundreds of years. Resisting change seems to be what people do.Long live the King!Many changes that did occur in communities were often brought about by a new ruling head of state, or equivalent, who introduced change by legislation. Communities did not necessarily always want change.Even with forced legislation, communities found ways of coping, and grew to live within the new conditions. When a ruler died, it was usual that communities preferred that the successor maintained the status quo. Of course, this didn’t always happen.Dynamic versus staticPractices that have survived for years within communities seem to be supported by a dynamic stability. Though small changes are constantly occurring within the working of these, most are subsumed with time.Over a significant period, however, their general appearance is of no major change. Such practices are genuinely stable. Their dynamic quality is not unlike those found in other systems.A 19th century engineer, Henry Le Châtelier, observed that systems in dynamic equilibrium tend to oppose any change brought on them from outside. Wikipedia explains it under Le Châtelier’s Principle:"Any change in status quo prompts an opposing reaction in the responding system."It has found application in many disciplines. Communities appear to behave similarly to the systems to which this tenet applies. Is it too implausible to assume that communities behave like other well-known systems in equilibrium?A vehicle for changeToday we read the reports from innovators who seek change in the use of new technology in the workplace. They are often dismayed at the resistance met in their attempts to bring about change in the use of new technology by others.This is significant considering that some of the most rapid changes in community practices, involving the use of new technology, have happened in the last few decades.Though it is a fantastic ingredient, present day technology cannot be held solely responsible for the advent of change. It may be the seed, but it has to be spread through practice.When this occurs, we say that the community moves with the technology. What actually happens is that the technology moves with the community. The vehicle for change may not be new technology; more likely it is the community.Imposing new technology on a workplace community is most likely to generate some resistance. This human behaviour has become well-recognised. Belief that new technology that takes off like a rocket in one community will do likewise in the workplace, is likely to be met with disappointment.Teenagers seek ownershipIt has been found that teenagers who get into Web2.0 technology generally do so to remove themselves, in some way, from adult supervision. You could see this in the moves made by teenagers in hopping from one social networking application to another. Teenagers did this simply because they found that the application they were currently using was becoming popular among adults.Teenagers want space to themselves - nothing new here. They also want ownership of their own space. Ownership is something that comes by default when teenagers seek a breakaway application to use in networking. They find it. It’s theirs.Can adults be a bit like teenagers?What if some of those characteristics survive the teenage years? What if ownership is something that adults can also appreciate when it comes to using a new technology? Ownership of the space generated by new technology could well be a community-assisting factor when it comes to introducing new technologies to the workplace.I've found that this approach has worked with learning resources used by teachers who were involved in the initial stages of planning and designing of the resources. Teachers who had ownership of the resources through this participation, were more likely to select them for student use than those who weren't involved in resource development.In summaryA community may well resist adoption of new technology as a property of the equilibrium that is a state of the community - it is likely that this is a human behavioural quality.The vehicle of change that brings the use of new technology by a community may well be the community itself, and not the technology.Ownership may well be key to a community adopting a new technology - ways have to be found to ‘gift’ the space for adoption of the technology by the community.Ka kite anōCatch ya later

Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you allrelated posts - >> ( 2 ) ( 1 )Tony Karrer has taken the initiative to revisit a question asked in a previous post, about First eLearning: What advice would you give to someonenew to the field of elearning?This question is worthy of being asked twice.I admit that I lurked on this one - for a few weeks.ObservationMy observation of teachers starting into elearning has shown that the usefulness of their experiences in the early stages can vary considerably. This is often because of ad hoc approaches to their so-called upskilling.This post outlines the areas of need I believe are essential for a first elearner. They are listed roughly in order of importance, but all are essential.No skill is too rudimentary to acquireLearners who are willing to put in the time, pursuing a grounding in these basic skills, on their own or in a course designed along the lines given here, will be well on the way to coping with elearning.At first reading, some of these skills may appear to be too rudimentary. If absent they will lead to faltering at the early stages when the elearning apprentice should be building on higher skills, as a student or as an elearning instructor.All of the skills listed here are those an elearning instructor may well need in helping a student learn the same skills, and so must form part of the elearning portfolio.Here's my To-learn-list for the Elearning Apprentice links to sections:(relevant information lies in a link at the start of each header)short-keysfile managementnetiquettesearch enginesstudy the URLan image authoring toolan html editor or html writerskills in LMS or VLEPre-requisite 1: Why a practicing knowledge of short-keys?As basic as this skill may seem, it is essential for any elearning apprentice to have a practicing knowledge of the rudiments of using short-cuts on the keyboard. Without these skills, working with the mouse on pull-down menus would prove tedious in the extreme. Short-keys are powerful key-strokes that find universal use on a huge variety of software.return to listPre-requisite 2: Why file management?File management skills are essential for e-tidiness. As much as these seem old hat (back to basics and all that) ignoring their essential worth can mean confusion, and even some real headachy problems for the apprentice elearner later on.As well, fundamentals such as knowledge and understanding of file dimension and file size, and the distinction between the two, are part of the ABC that an elearning apprentice must follow.Pre-requisite 3: Why netiquette?Basic communication skills are often overlooked. Elearning apprentices need those skills if only to assist with their own learning. For anyone intending to use their elearning skills for the instruction of others, netiquette is a life and death necessity.return to listPre-requisite 4: Why search engines?Being able to search effectively using a database or web search engine is another fundamental skill. It brings into play pre-requisites 1 and 2, and is the bread and butter of the elearning researcher.Pre-requisite 5: Why study the URL?Understanding the structure of a URL and what it means to the technician is key to understanding how links operate in web-based elearning today. An introductory knowledge of how a URL can be applied utilises a direct application of file management skills.return to listPre-requisite 6: Why an image authoring tool?An in-depth knowledge of an image authoring tool is not required and could well be a waste of time. I’d recommend that this be a part of an introduction, but not a major component. It can provide significant useful transferable skills.Designing images and attempting to make a simple animation can give an elearning apprentice the feel of how these tools work. Much of the fundamental theory of how they function is also transferable. Some authoring tools are more complex to use than others. The simplest is probably the most efficient to use in terms of time spent learning the basics.For instance, creating an animation in PhotoShop ImageReady involves much the same principles as in Flash. ImageReady is more likely to convey the principles with less angst and in a much shorter space of time, and so prove more effective. It may be that a suitable Web2.0 tool can convey the same transferable skills.The emphasis is on the transferable skills.return to listPre-requisite 7: Why an html editor or html writer?Once again, there are a lot of transferable skills that can be acquired from a good introduction to html writing/editing, without having to learn much at all of the hypertext markup language (html).A good WYSIWYG that permits the learner to appreciate layout as well as functionality, can open up a cornucopia of valuable skills.Building html in single pages on a server with relative links to images and other pages on the same server can also provide invaluable practice in file management. Building html in single pages with absolute links to Internet sites can be a useful skill for the elearning instructor.return to listPre-requisite 8: Why skills in LMS or VLE?The application of the aforementioned skills come into their own when an elearning apprentice operates, hands-on for the first time, a learning management system or virtual learning environment, such as Moodle. These applications are the bread and butter of elearning instruction.In the unlikely situation where the elearning apprentice does not have the opportunity to use one of those applications, building a blog and actively using it with links, uploads, downloads and embeds can cover many of the skills required. Participation in challenges, such as the past Comment Challenge, can provide the elearning apprentice with many far reaching skills and ideas for life-long elearning.Ka kite anōCatch ya later

Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you allI’m going to be very noncommittal (that’s a change! says you).Just take a moment or two to check out the video I was sent recently from my daughter’s Facebook account.Reflect on how you felt when you watched the video.You might like to watch it again.What’s the first thing you felt when the puppy responded?Was it an endearing feeling?Was it soppy cuteness?Was it an interest in Pavlovian reaction?Was it concern for the puppy?I’d like to learn about your response to this video. Please share how you felt by putting a comment at the end of this post.Ka kite anōCatch ya later

Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you all ( 7 )<< - related posts - >> ( 5 ) ( 4 ) ( 3 ) ( 2 ) ( 1 )I was catching up with my reading this morning. I’d been looking for a good site for tips on elearning writing skills, when I came across this one by Cathy Moore. I recommend it. You’d find it easy to read.She covers all the usual things on good writing: paragraphing, short sentences varying in length and structure, clear language and simple words.ReadabilityCathy has an ideal set of slides that you can scan quickly. She also explains about setting up Readability Statistics in Word. I’d no idea the option was there.Once set up, you can measure the Flesch Reading Ease on a click. It gives a first check on the ease of reading of a block of text.A study of popular magazines and newspapers shows a direct match between popularity and Flesch Reading Ease. The highest and most readable scores for the most popular magazines come in at 65.A tool, not a solutionCathy is careful to explain that it’s a tool, not a solution. Here’s how to set it up. Open a Word file and choose:Check that there’s a tick in Show readability statistics. Running a spell-check on a typical post in Word follows the usual routine, ending in a report. It shows a list of data, as well as the Flesch Reading Ease.I was a bit sceptical of all this at first, so I decided to put it to the test.I selected a number of my posts that I knew had been very popular, and some that were certainly not so. I keep Word files of the text of all my posts, so it was easy to check them on their Flesch Reading Ease.How I writeWhat I found made me stop and think again about how I write. Here’s a list of titles of some posts. I put them in order of popularity, measured from data in Google Analytics, beside their Flesch Reading Ease.FRE - Post Title65.7 - 5 Explanations of a Zen Proverb73.2 - Splitting the Knol71.1 - How do I know what I think till I see what I write?52.8 - So This is What You Want38.4 - Complexity Science and Social Media Learning34.8 - Science, Technology, The Silicon Chip and Social NeedI don't believe this is the only way to predict the popularity of a post. But clearly, these numbers are trying to tell me something. I think I may be looking at Readability Statistics in future.By the way, the Flesch Reading Ease of this post comes in at 75.8.Ka kite anōCatch ya later

Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you allcourtesy make your own comic Michele Martin has raised the issue of The Power of Blogging isn't Just in Reading Them, in a few of her posts. She has stuck to the idea that the power of blogging is in writing comments, rather than in lurking.I admire her. She is committed to what she believes.Learning through questions, and discussing in a classroom or social community, has gone on for hundreds of years. People have also learnt a great deal from books during that same time.Writing commentsSo what’s wrong with just reading a post and learning from it? What is so special to learning about writing a comment on a blog post?If learners want to learn, they will learn. The same desire may well tempt learners to put comments on blog posts. They may even ask questions there.So the difference between those who lurk and want to learn, and those who comment, may not be so great. Learning takes place when the learner wants to learn.Learning can happen if the learner sits quietly during class, for instance. Certainly, asking questions will help. But if learners do not ask questions in class, they may still go home and read about what they’ve learnt in a book. Many do. They may also lurk on a few blog posts on the Net.Early researchI have a lot of respect for the research done by Lev Vygotsky. He was a child psychologist who lived in the early 1900s. In recent years, Vygotsky’s findings have made people think about the importance of social interaction in learning. This led to a belief that learning may be better when learners study in communities.Some educators have come up with the idea that interactive online communities could be good learning environments for young people. This is not far removed from Michele’s idea that learning is more effective for the commenter than for the lurker.Most of Vygotsky’s studies were on mother and child. I doubt the notion is sound that Vygotsky’s findings can be extended to learners in online communities.A better approach to this might be to study the use of online learning communities. That way they could be compared fairly with other ways of learning.Learning methodsSo far, not much has been done to compare the use of interactive online learning in a fair way with other learning methods. There’s been little evidence that shows learners do any better when they study online than learning by other means, for instance.So I sit on the fence about the idea of getting people to write comments on blog posts as a better means to learn. I'm not at all sure that writing comments would be needed in every case. But for those who do need it, could a better ploy be to work on their desire to learn?Once they have that desire, they might even venture to ask questions - in comments on blog posts.Ka kite anōCatch ya later

Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you all( 5 ) ( 4 ) <<-related posts - >> ( 2 ) ( 1 ) courtesy make your own comicI'm drafting out a cybersafety policy for TCS.It's not an easy task. The policy should apply to everyone involved with the school. That means the whole school community.A mission of involvementI've drafted a sheet to introduce students and parents to what cybercitizenry is all about. It's the start of our mission to involve the whole school in being more responsible on the Net. It will be printed on one side of an A4 sheet. The sheet will also show the Hector's World logo that I am not permitted to display here.Have a scan of it. Tell me what you think by putting your comment at the base of this post. I need your advice on this first introduction:Things you must know about CybercitizenshipYoung people find lots of different things when viewing the Internet using digital equipment. While a lot of this can be fun, helpful and useful, some of it may upset them or cause distress.What is Cyberspace?Cyberspace is made up of the parts of the Internet that can be seen with digital tools. Students using it can learn. They may also find entertainment there. As well, people can meet others there. Links can be made between family and friends. They can find information there on almost any topic.What is Cybersafety?Cybersafety is the safe and responsible use of digital tools and gadgets that can access the Internet. These include mobile-phones, digital cameras and webcams. Each day, New Zealand children are exposed to the benefits, and potential risks of cyberspace.Even young children may be skilled in the use of digital tools. But they may not know how to use the Internet safely and responsibly.Everyone has the right to be safe. Adults share a special responsibility for the safety of children in this new space.What is Cybercitizenship?Anyone who goes online is a citizen of cyberspace. Young people learn to find their way round cyberspace in many ways. But they must also learn the basics of good behaviour as cybercitizens.Cybercitizenship is more than just knowing how to get on to the Internet. People need skills to think about things found there, as well as knowing how to look after personal data. They must learn to think of others and act in a responsible way to other cybercitizens.Learners need to know how to deal with things that might be risky. Young people are more able to get the best from the digital equipment when they follow the rules of cybercitizenship.Remember…A learner who may seem to know how to use the Internet may not have all the know-how to be cybersafe.For more on cybersafety, check out http://www.netsafe.org.nz/.To learn about helping the very young online, check outhttp://www.hectorsworld.com.Ka kite anōCatch ya later

Kia ora tātou!Hello everyone!related posts - >> ( 6 ) ( 5 ) ( 4 ) ( 3 ) ( 2 ) ( 1 )It’s been three months and 40 posts, since I first put Google Analytics on my blog (installed 15 July). Observing the trends shows me a lot.What I found was not what I expected. Here’s a summary of seemingly unrelated things I discovered by watching Google Analytics (GA).No weekly pattern has arisen.The average blog popularity shown by GA increased steadily over 3 months from about 12 to 25 hits per day.Stories are uniquely popular. People like to read accounts of my family and me but do not usually comment.People like reading about (and commenting on) blog statistics.The number of comments on a post doesn’t necessarily indicate its popularity. One of my most popular posts didn’t get any comment.Leaving a comment on another’s blog post can make a significant difference to my blog’s popularity during the following 3 to 5 days. If it's a popular blog, the increase can be quite noticable.Inclusion of links on a new post to related posts (as shown at the top of this one) can revive the popularity of these posts over the following 3 to 5 days.The average time viewers spend reading my posts has substantially increased from just over 1 minute to 3 minutes. There has not been a significant increase in the text length of posts over the same time.Site hit rate drops steadily during a period when I don’t post. For instance, the graph shown above indicates clearly this decline from the date of the last post, 10 Oct 2008, from 30 visits to 16 over a period of 4 days.The average bounce rate for all posts has decreased slightly from 59% to 57%.Unusual post topics incur a surprisingly low bounce rate, reaching lower than 12%. Some of those are about the blogosphere.Topics that show a bounce rate of 0% (and there are a significant number) have no common theme. Some of those are about the blogosphere.Ka kite anōCatch ya later

Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you allRalph McTell's Streets of London was written 40 years ago.Its heartbreaking lyrics and haunting melody yield a story of abject poverty found in every country throughout the world today. Ralph tells it as an observer.When I heard this song in 1970, its story stung my eyes with tears of reality. At that time, I'd already seen poverty scenes walking the streets of my home town in Scotland.How can you help?You can make a cash donation to a charitable organisation fighting poverty.You can donate food at the local community centre in your area. We have pickup points at our local supermarkets.You can donate good clothes to a Salvation Army store or similar charitable outlet near where you live.You can choose to take public transport instead of driving or walk to work on a day this week and donate the travel cost you save to a poverty charity of your choice.You can tell your friends what you are doing to help poverty and suggest that they do likewise.Ka kite anōCatch ya later

photo by Mike Wood.One morning in 2002, I took the bus to work as usual. I’d seated myself next to a man who was fingering a strange looking laptop. No sooner had I realised that the lap-top had no screen, when a bus inspector entered the vehicle and announced, "All tickets please!"The inspector walked past, checking tickets as he went. But the man sitting beside me was still holding up his ticket. It clicked with me that this lap-topper was blind."He’s checked your ticket," I said. He smiled and nodded without looking up. Steven was congenitally blind. His job involved working with the Foundation for the Blind in Wellington. The odd lap-top, with its strange toothed keyboard, was in fact a Braille computer.Blind to the technology:Here was I, an elearning teacher. But I hadn’t given much thought to how the blind might access the technology that was so much my bread and butter.I thought Steven had been typing a letter. He told me he could use his lap-top for that. In fact, he had been reading a novel. We swapped email addresses when I spoke of a free speaking web-reader that a colleague of mine had found on the Net that same week. It must have been among the first of its type - an early version of WeMedia Talking Browser.Steven was excitedly interested. At that time, the web reading technology he used at work was so expensive; he could not afford to purchase it for his own use at home.A useful link:We kept in touch by email. Steven was careful to let me know that the link I flicked him was useful. He’d found that installation was easy, and getting to know the idiosyncrasies of the software wasn’t too difficult. WeMedia was a helpful tool for reading the Net.Some weeks later we met again on the same bus route. While we chatted, I asked which novel he had been reading that morning. "I’m recalibrating my computer map today", he explained. I hadn’t noticed that clipped to his shoulder, next the window, was a small device, the size of a bulky mobile phone."According to my GPS receiver, we should be at the Riddiford Street intersection", he said with a smile. And we were. He had been synchronising his map by checking it against the GPS signal.Steven explained how his computer map had saved the day only a few weeks before. He and his wife had been travelling by car up north. They'd got lost. Within a few minutes, Steven switched on his lap-top and found precisely where they were, using his map and GPS receiver.( 1 ) << - related posts

Michele Martin has a series of posts on reflective practice relevant to blogging for learning. In her latest Web2.0Wednesday assignment, she asks us to share our favourite blogging for learning activity.My activity is all about what I’ve been researching for the last 5 months since I started blogging. It’s really a series of activities rather than just one pursuit.This all began with Michele Martin. Her May post invited people to participate in The Comment Challenge and got me into blogging. In all fairness to this particular Web2.0Wednesday assignment, the whole series of activities in The Comment Challenge was really based on reflective learning.I joined The Challenge because I wanted to learn about blogging. In New Zealand, the acme of male achievement is to attain the legendary certificate of a good bloke. My goal became to achieve the imaginary certificate of a good blogger.I use a simplified action research technique. It involves a cycle of actions by which alterations can be made to improve practice.Action research uses an action cycle similar to this:The cycle can be thought of as beginning with reflection.Reflect:This phase relies on recorded data and evidence gathered from experiences.I assess recorded data and think about what it means in terms of my aims and objectives. I often ask the question: "Does this data show that I am moving along the ‘improvement’ pathway?" The answer isn’t always ‘yes’.In this phase I don’t need to be sitting at a computer. I can reflect on things travelling on a bus going to work.Plan:The planning phase is usually based on the reflective phase. It is the phase where decisions are made - the let's-try-this phase. It is based on what transpired in the reflective phase while examining available gathered results and reviewing those.I have to be creative in this phase, the how-the-hell-can-I-do-this stage. It is the phase where I may have to change old methods, or look for new ones.In this phase, I may have to seek help or advice from others, or do a bit of finding out from the Net - web pages, web data, or other blog posts.Act:Here I put into action the plan that fell out after the reflective phase. This is the phase where I build, and attempt to put into action the ideas that I’d given time and thought to. Friends may have helped me with those or recommended that I try new things.It is the ‘doing’ phase. It is the phase where plans are rolled out and methods are implemented. New tools and techniques are tried. Mistakes are made or acted on.Gather:This phase takes place all the time, but mainly during and following the action phase. A number of tools and techniques are brought into play.I call upon expert bloggers during this process by emailing them or from feedback in comments. There are many blogging experts who help me, either directly or from posts on their blogs. Many of them are in my commentsphere.What is gathered is recorded in a log or diary. To a large extent, the blog becomes an extremely important diary in itself. But it is not exclusively what I keep as records. I also keep notes that I refer to in the reflective phase.I use a number of Web2.0 tools, such as Google Analytics, that provide data about my blog. Recently, I’ve been monitoring text in posts using the Flesch Reading Ease.No cycle is exclusive:I have several cycles operating at once. None are mutually exclusive. From time to time the outcomes of one series of cycles could well affect what I do in others.( 9 ) << - related posts - >> ( 7 ) ( 6 ) ( 5 ) ( 4 ) ( 3 ) ( 2 ) ( 1 )other Web2.0Wednesday posts - >> ( 7 ) ( 6 ) ( 5 ) ( 4 ) ( 3 ) ( 2 ) ( 1 )

This post is part of October’s edition of the Working / Learning blog carnival. This month’s host is Leean of Xyleme Learning Blog.The strategies, pedagogy and scaffolding, are familiar in teaching and learning today. Their applications are just as relevant in the classroom as in the workplace.Often, the principles behind such useful strategies are glossed over in favour of a collaborative approach to learning. Learners share areas of skills and knowledge that they may be deficient in. When these situations occur, some learners may be left to pull themselves up by their own bootlaces when it comes to learning what's needed.The worth of these strategies is sometimes forgotten about or misunderstood. As well, the terms 'pedagogy' and 'scaffolding' tend to be interchanged inappropriately when discussing teaching and learning.Why a Jigsaw Puzzle?I use the idea of building parts of a jigsaw puzzle when thinking about pedagogy and scaffolding. It is an analogy for learning. Though it's not the only analogy I use for this, it fits well with the context discussed here. The jigsaw puzzle analogy reflects much of Jean Piaget's theory - that learning occurs within a framework of past experiences and events.Piaget recognised the essential importance of play in learning situations. The processes of accommodation and assimilation are assisted when the learner is having fun.Strategies for building:Wikipedia defines pedagogy as "the art or science of being a teacher". Using the jigsaw puzzle analogy, pedagogy can be thought of as a way of presenting to a beginner the likely pieces for placement. It connotes an approach to learning that's guided by a teacher.There are some defined rules to do with how the steps should be chosen. They are selected carefully by a skilled teacher according to parameters, other than just what step comes next in a learning sequence. That's why teaching is an art, rather than a prescriptive routine.Computer based instruction, and the theory that goes with it, is an attempt to design a machine that can select learning steps for the learner. It mimics pedagogy by using a behaviourist approach to instruction. A pithy summary for the tactics used is, 'when this behaviour occurs, present this learning step'.There is some merit in this approach, as Scott McLeod outlined in his post that asked, "can a computer lecture better than a human?" Computer instruction routines are geared to what fits most learners.But they may fall short when it comes to what fits best.A computer cannot see the puzzle pieces the way the learner sees them. To provide effective learning material, the instructor has to see things through the eyes of the learner. The art of the teacher is knowing what pieces to select, and in which order, that best fit the needs of the learner - the pedagogy. Foundation and support:Wikipedia defines scaffolding as, "the provision of sufficient supports to promote learning when concepts and skills are being first introduced". These include the steps that help the learner move from one level of understanding to the next. They're like relevant pieces of a jigsaw puzzle placed appropriately.They lead or point to the skill or idea that is to be learnt. The correct placement of them helps the learner see the relevance of the next puzzle piece to be laid - the next learning step. Teacher assistance and encouragement, while this is done, provides the necessary support for preparatory learning - the scaffolding.Scaffolding can also permit the learner to envisage what has to be learnt next. Provisions that do this inspire learning. What could be more impelling for the learner than a strategy that anticipates what's next to be learnt?Scaffolding can take many forms. It may amount to learning a series of skills and knowledge that are seemingly unrelated, having no relevant sequence. An example of this is the set of skills and knowledge the elearning apprentice should learn before stepping into the field of elearning.Often the scaffolding is a progressive and sequential series of related knowledge and skills. Such a series is found in what's required by a junior science student about to learn how to balance a chemical equation:understanding of the particle theory of matterawareness that the smallest discrete particle of matter is the atomknowledge that elements are made up of atoms that are all the sameknowledge that chemical symbols can describe atoms of elementsappreciation of the way in which most atoms join with each otherknowledge of numeracy used in writing correct chemical formulaeawareness that atom combinations follow predictable patternsknowledge of numeracy used in writing chemical equationsappreciation of the conservation principle of matterThe sequence of the steps presented to the learner is important. It is an integral part of the strategy. A learner who has not been introduced to these concepts, mastered each skill and gained the relevant knowledge, would have considerable difficulty with the ultimate step in learning to balance a chemical equation.In a constructivist situation, scaffolding cannot always be planned. If it occurs, it may well be just by chance. The skill of a teacher is in being able to establish if the learner already has the necessary learning to be within easy reach of the next learning objective. Knowledge of what additional scaffolding, if any, may be required by the learner, before progressing to the next level, is as important.As the learner builds on learning, however, it may not turn out to be exactly the same as the vision of the learning held in the mind of the teacher.Self-teaching:Wikipedia explains metacognition and quotes J H Flavell, referring to the learner becoming familiar with the "learning-relevant properties of information or data". The ability to recognise the property of what is to be learnt is a higher thinking skill. Its use can help the learner select effective learning strategies. A learner who possesses some measure of this skill may still be disadvantaged compared to another who has the benefit of a teacher.Through specific training and practice, a learner can still become better equipped to learn. With insight, such a learner may be able to recognise learning perspectives more readily than the teacher. The learner who practices such skills effectively becomes the teacher; learning becomes autonomous.Same old story:People who to try to learn from textbooks, or through online course material, find they have to bring energy to the learning process. In the absence of a teacher, learners must seek and recognise scaffolding for themselves. Unfortunately, most learners cannot easily anticipate the need for this - never mind identify it.Without perseverance, commitment and a will to learn how to learn, most people who study on their own run out of energy. Clive Shepherd confirms this in an all too common tale of woe from a workplace trainer. His recent post, Same old story, reports that the success of unsupported, self-study in workplace elearning programmes is often disappointing.( 6 ) ( 5 ) ( 4 ) << - related posts - >> ( 2 ) ( 1 )

Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you allDoing my usual catch-up, I read Ken Stewart's latest on Help Find Great Blogs. I'd to link through to Chuck Westbrook’s post for more.While the idea Chuck has is still a bit odd in my mind, I have to give it to him that he knows a thing or two about getting comments on posts. When I popped my comment, I came in at number 222!No, my fingers don’t have a tremble. Not yet anyway.I checked out the comments on Chuck’s post today. Nicole Feliciano had put the latest one. She was at number 249! From when I put my comment, till Nicole put hers, Chuck's post gained 27 more comments.I’ve never had anything near 20 comments on my blog let alone 249.It’s Monday 27 October. Chuck's post went up last Thursday.It's getting 5 comments every hour, and they’re still coming in.This is impressive stuff!Just on the side - and it could be unrelated - but the Reading Ease of Chuck’s post came in at 76.3.Ka kite anōCatch ya later

Tēnā koutou katoaGreetings to you allWay back last century, farmers in Scotland sometimes used a pumpkin or turnip for the head of a scarecrow. Chosen for its size, shape and colour tone, such vegetables could look convincingly like a human face. Perhaps their use for this dates back to early primitive times. I’d like to think it did.The Celts also used pumpkins and the like to frighten off superstition.Maybe the features of a face were fashioning by cutting holes in the hollowed out gourd. Perhaps a primitive candle, made from animal fat and plant fibre, could have been used to serve its function as a lantern - who knows?I can recall the first time I saw a pumpkin lantern as a child. It was Halloween. Carried by one of a group of children, walking after dark along the dimly lit Scottish street where I lived - this was really scary to me. I can imagine how this, otherwise lifeless piece of carved vegetable, with its eerie ghoulish appearance, could conjure up fear in someone viewing it from a distance.According to Wikipedia, the Celts believed that "the head was the most powerful part of the body containing the spirit and the knowledge". For this reason, belief was that the pumkin had the power to ward off evil spirits. It puts quite a different perspective on the term pumpkin-head!Ka kite anōCatch ya later

I left a comment on Virginia Yonkers' post, Why Can't Learning Be Fun. She'd allowed me to reflect on what learning was all about. Anyone who has watched a young child explore its surroundings will also know the wonder and enjoyment that fills the mind of the young learner.When watching for the first time bubbles, balloons, buzzy bees or butterflies, no normal child sits sullenly.Having fun is a natural companion to learning.

photo by Mike Wood.I attended an asTTle workshop last week. Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning - He Pūnaha Aromatawai mō te Whakaako me te Ako, or asTTle, is a resource for assessing literacy and numeracy (in both English and Māori). The University of Auckland developed it for the New Zealand Ministry of Education.A helpful system:Though the idea of assessing the reading level of a child was not new to me, I hadn’t realised how the asTTle system worked. It’s based on the concept that knowledge of the reading ability of a child can assist in providing specific help when needed.By providing appropriate assistance, the child is empowered to better understand the reading material relevant to the levels of learning they're at in different subject areas. The teacher is also better able to understand the reading difficulties a child may have while learning at levels of their ability and development in different curricular areas.I have no problem with this, other than the intervention caused by assessment to establish where every child is at, through entire areas of the curriculum. I think it’s wonderful that we can provide assistance when it is needed.Levels of literacy:I had several discussions with the facilitators. They were very helpful.We did not agree when I explain that, as a writer of learning resources, I used the simplest possible language, sentence construction and paragraphing whenever I could. I used the same technique in writing a paragraph in a Chemistry resource for a year 13 learner than I would for a resource in Biology for a year 9 learner.Their advice was that I should match the reading level of my writing to the subject level. We had several aside discussions on this - they weren’t simple. We agreed that the language of the subject was obviously something that would progress, as expected, in shifting from a lower learning level to a higher level.What the facilitators found fault with, was that I deliberately used simple language. Even using the terms and vocabulary appropriate to the area and level of the Science covered in the resource I was writing, was not meeting the needs of the student, by their way of it. The purpose of writing:My question to them was, "what is my main objective as a writer of Science?" Should I deliberately change an otherwise well written paragraph, so that its reading level matched the level of the subject content contained there? I was at odds with this supposition. What’s more, it conflicted with all I’d read on Cathy Moore’s great post.I recalled a poem by Arthur Kudner, while I listened to the arguments from the facilitator. Never fear big words.Big words mean little things.All big things have little names,Such as life and death, peace and war,Or dawn, day, night, hope, love, home.Learn to use little words in a big way.It is hard to do,But they say what you mean.When you don’t know what you mean,Use big words -They often fool little people.