Tuesday 23 October 2012

RoL and developing areas of learning

For the last few days I've been mulling over the Review of Learning handbook and also the introductory handbook that accompanies it.  Lots of things have been flying in and out of my head as to how I'm going to navigate this and importantly apply MA critical thinking skills.  There are so many areas to cover in the handbook that I panicked myself unnecessarily . For many years I've viewed my life as one long Bachelor of Arts degree in Life  through a plethora of experiences but have I actually learnt anything through experiences and choices I've made? Have I moved on or stayed the same?  I'm sure I have but how to capture them and make meaning through writing and analysing.  With these thoughts in mind I've been trying to unlock my review and learning and ask what that really means for me.  Is it about looking at a small area of my life  and finding out  the learning and knowledge potential gained  and how it has impacted on me now and how deeper should I then go?  I always had this slight fear of going in too deep in case I find something that I didn't like about myself or otherwise and can't come back - a bit like jumping off a cliff - there's no other choice but to go down - fall deeper from a great height of experience and get to the heart of what it is I want to find out. My learning is something like and investigation by  detection following a line of enquiry solving a mystery - to get to the truth? of me?

For the areas of development and identifying the titles emanating from my CV I realised that in order for me to understand more clearly how to investigate and look more closely I draw on an area I like to do which engages a sense of learning and investigation particularly if some concepts are a little  complex to understand.  The area for me is cooking.  For me there is something about experimenting and playing with different textures of food, smells, flavours, tastes that when combined helps me understand how to learn something and engage my sense of learning.  Cooking for me like dancing creates a meaningful experience  I like to combine flavours and textures and  cooking processes see what change has occurred, or how a raw ingredient changes its meaning and purpose! It might not mean much to other fellow MAPPers but my aha! moment is looking at each of my area of learning from my CV and in each area analise the ingredients, cook it and see what has occurred or in the case of a stew  I made last week, reduce it down and see what's left!

Saturday 6 October 2012

My First Blog and thoughts about my Induction day

Finally posting my first thoughts on this post.  Navigating my way around this new way of learning, reflecting and writing is dragging me finally into the 21st Century! 

It was really good to meet up with staff and the new cohort for the first year of the MAPP programme.  I liked the interaction very much as it was relaxed and informative and the debates coming out of our diverse experiences to date yet common themes emerging gave me a really good sense of what's to come.  How I am going to navigate this learning journey I honestly don't know.  I imagine that I have a good idea but I am sure it will be challenged on all fronts and perhaps change along the way. 

As a first exercise to get blogging it was certainly a journey for me to set this up and I think I'll get there in the end!  I am quite intimitated by technology and jokingly would rather communicate via pigeon or in person! I am always amazed that I have to consult my son on all things technological and especially when it involves the use of a computer and all things social media via the web.  As a parent I was and still am his educator for many years  and now he is my educator especially in this technologically fast paced environment.  I think he'll be proud of me especially since I didn't have to call him for a  tutorial of how to set this up!  May the learning begin!