Sunday discussion - theories and frameworks

This Sunday March 3rd, we have our (around the) First Sunday of the month Skype discussion group. Any module  is welcome. these discussion group are an important opportunity to talk and listen about the ideas you are working with. 

We will  be discussing the use and place for theories and frameworks in critical thinking and doing.

These will be at:

9am (time in London)

or

8pm  (time in London)

Comment below to indicate which one you will attend and share relevant thinking/doing you have been mulling, reflecting on particularly in terms of theories and frameworks.

Frameworks and emergence

I am re-posting this article

https://adesolamapp.blogspot.com/2018/10/being-part-of-learning-network-mapp.html

Please read it again before you continue below

When I published it last term Helen commented: 

" I find interesting how theories of connectivism manifest through movement in the practice of improvisation. Improvisation relies of a trust in individuals, in self and others, with a shared understanding of the co-creation of the space, the dance, through the networks that underpin the practice and the patterns that emerge as we interact. As we offer and respond through improvised movement encounters we share, I feel, elements both of Downes and Siemens theories here. Look forward to talking more on this ..."

As you think about Connectivism as a way of engaging with the course, also think about what it says about larger connections with the world, with your practice. Helen has thought about this in terms of her practice of improvisation. 

Often people describe improvisation as 'just doing something' with no framework. For me, through Connectivisum I can consider nothing is without an emergence of a framework (even if it is momentary and then changes). Sometimes engagement is through witnessing the framework, letting it emerge and not starting by confirming it before you agree to start. This could the difference between improvisation and codified techniques.

For me Connectivism and this course are about how you move within to understand the framework, how you witness the space. For me the arts are about how we witness the space. It is not about confirming a framework and then shoehorning everything into what you think it is. This is because a framework is only as useful as your understanding of it and as your understanding grows the framework changes. 

Please comment below... what do you feel...?

Online session with a Module Three focus

On Friday February 22nd we have a MAPP on-line session with Module Three focus (but anyone is welcome). We will be looking at analysis and synthesis.

7pm (time in London)

Comment below if you are attending

Tuesday Skype - learning in and as Professional Practice

In this Skype discussion we talked about the learning, knowledge, skills and information. We discussed the idea of learning from experience/ from doing/ from practice. In Module One you are developing a context for the learning you have derived from your practice.

We talked about discourses in learning and education that separate Theory and Practice or set up academic and vocation as different values. This discourse is a part of the field your discussion your learning reside in too.

We also talked about the importance of discussion for learning. This following video engages with the idea that discussion creates different understanding or learning...
The blogs in this course are where discussion happens for us... (discussion with yourself and with each other).

Please comment below...

Reflections on Sunday am discussion group

This morning we had a good discussion that begun with saying we wanted to talk about:
Transformative learning
Communication

The following discussion led us down routes to the idea that learning is an endless road with many pathways. It is the journey (process) of the road that is the learning not getting to the (endless) end!!

But because the Tonga philosophy and other indigenous knowings touch me, what resonates most with me is an Ocean with different rivers within it. I know that sounds vast and you might feel "lost at sea" but the ocean of learning like the ocean is a safe place mostly not a place you get lost in - but is alive and will carry you.

"Klin Otto is a river in the ocean, a current of salt water that starts in one special place off a bay in California and runs in a set pattern up to one special island in the Aleutians. And Klin Otto, she never changes speed, and she never changes direction, and she's always there, now until forever..." Daughters of Copper Woman p.112, Anne Cameron 

On that pathway (on a river or current) the characteristics of children is useful - playfulness, engaging time not following it. Sometimes you stop an notice the snails, sometimes you run for no reason than its time to run for a bit.

 

Please also look at the posts other people int he conversation post. Please comment below. 

Online session with Module One focus

On Tuesday February 12th we have a MAPP Online session with Module One focus (but anyone is welcome to join. We will be looking at learning in and as Professional Practice.

6pm (time in London) 

Please comment below if you are attending. 

Sunday Discussion group - Knowing and Learning

This Sunday February 10th, we have our (around the) First Sunday of the month Skype discussion group. Any module  is welcome. these discussion group are an important opportunity to talk and listen about the ideas you are working with. 

We are kicking off the discussion with 'knowing and learning'.

These will be at:

9am (time in London)

or

8pm  (time in London)

Comment below to indicate which one you will attend and share relevant thinking/doing you have been mulling, reflecting on particularly in terms of 'knowing and learning'.

Algorithms, information, and 'we are not neutral'

Across the course we talk about Web 2:0 and how it has allowed access to so much more information than in the recent past. But we have also thought about critical thinking and exploring what ethical considerations there are around subjects. One of the points we touch on in the Handbook is that not everyone has access to the internet across the world. Those who have been on the internet longer have created environments that reflect their own culture and assumptions. Just as your professional practice might have a dominant culture created by the people in your practice before you.

This Ted talk by Joy Buolamwini and interview raises a really interesting ethical consideration you might not even have thought about. Watch both in order to think critically about the information and ideas. 

 

It is interesting to think about how you perceive yourself and how you are perceived can be so different. The idea of the 'gaze' is a wider theory that you could do more research into if you are interested in the idea of how we are perceived affecting what we can do or be. Are there places where you are invisible? 

There are interesting ethical considerations about what it means to objectify other. What makes us human? 

But even more important this post is about why it is so crucial to research beyond just writing a word in Google. Peer reviewed journals, our university library and looking at the bibliographies of books all bring you information in which you are creating your own/other pathways (algorithms) to information. 

Please comment below...

Some ballet, something beautiful for beginning of the month.