Resilience

As a mother of a child who commenced his schooling journey last year, resilience was a term that was advised repeatedly as being neccessary to develop in our child to hold him in good stead through his impending journey. Developing this capacity in our son has been a focus for us, as parents, over the past 2 years. It requires daily support and encouragement and is still a focus for us. So what is resilience?
According to Wikipedia ...

Resilience is defined as a dynamic process that individuals exhibit positive behavioral adaptation when they encounter significant adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or even significant sources of stress

I have recently listened to a podcast on The Engaging Brand, Anna Farmery interviewed Jill Flint-Taylor (episode 296), an occupational psychologist from Robertson Cooper in UK. The focus of Robertson Cooper's recent research was on resilience within the workplace.
As I was listening I was considering student resilience. Is there a concept called learner resilience?

Resilience can be developed however people come to a job/course with a level of pre-existing resilience so this poses the question, how does the manager/facilitator gauge the worker's/learner's resilience? Perhaps it is a process of trial and error where high levels of support are required until the manager/facilitator builds an understanding of the worker's/learner's resilience levels.

Resilience is very multi-dimensional in that people can be resilient in different areas ie.handle heavy workload but if their work relationships break down then this can cause them stress, whereas others may not handle the heavy workload regardless of their work relationships.
From a learning perspective can some learnes manage heavy reading workloads but crumble when it comes to assessment/exam or vice versa.

Back to the podcast..Anna was fascinated with the idea of 'perception' that Jill kept mentioning as resilience kicks in (is required) when neccessary. For example a person can carry on business as usual but "it is when they recognise that they have taken on too much that they turn (keel) over", their perception of how they are coping is changed. Is this when a student might dropout of their course or subject, the workload is perceived to be overwhelming so they quit. In OER courses where there is no financial commitment is it easier for a student to make the decision to quit?

Flint-Taylor suggests that we need to "..get the right balance between challenging people and supporting them, you need to do both". The research indicates that you have to be 'stretched' (challenged) to develop resilience and it is important that the manager/facilitator ensures they (the workers/learners) do not 'get stuck there'.

Further research (a google search) led me to bite-sized languages, a blog post that discusses the work of Professor Guy Claxton who refers to resilience as one of the learning muscles, along with resourcefulness, reflection and reciprocity. Apparently the work of Claxton has been adopted widely in UK education. Wikipedia talks about Learning Power which includes Claxtons work.

[Photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimmc/5160078443/?edited=1]

From Andragogy & Heutagogy

I printed this article earlier in the month and have only just had a chance to read it. Surprisingly the info fits perfectly with what I have recently read re:Connectivism & p'learn'ing. The article explains how Heutagogy is a progression from Androgogy. The article is written by Stewart Hase and Chris Kenyon from Southern Cross University & published in 2000, so I am keen to research any further writings from Hase. There are several references for further reading in the article....that should keep me busy.

Connectivism and plearn'ing

Don't ask me how but I stumbled upon a video on UStream by Stephen Downes titled Learning to Learn. Initially I was not sure if I would be able to last throughout the 85 mins but it was well worth it for the Aha! moment.
He briefly touches on Connectivism & goes on to explain plearn'ing (personal learning), which is the method of learning that I am following in the research that makes up the content of this blog.
His recommendations in the Critical Literacies course are...
Aggregate - bring in the information (Google reader)
Remix - record a piece of information somewhere, write a post...enter into a space that will become your own personal library
Repurpose - working with the content and apply critical thinking or creativity to make something of your own out of it.
Feed forward - publish this info to get the content out there
These steps are delineated in a course titled Critical Literacies

Facilitating Online 2010

Finally the commencement of FOC10 in a few weeks. So much has happened since I was considering completing FOC09, I have had a baby and extended my mat leave until end Jan 2010. I am looking forward to involving myself in study and adult conversation.
In looking at the initial intention of this blog ....
"This blog is an online diary to assist me in navigating through my journey of learning about online tools. The information that I am collecting is directing me to more & more (& then some more) technologies, tools & techniques that I will be able to use as an online facilitator."...it seems that this journey of discovery of online tools & technologies has gained some perspective however something that is clear is the fact that the journey of discovery will be endless, as there will always be a new technology or terminology available to online facilitators.
I'm keen to commence this new leg in my journey of discovery & to network with an international group of students/facilitators who I can learn from.

Podcast Do's & Don'ts

As a listener of podcasts I have come to realise that there are several factors that contribute to a podcasts 'success'. When I consider 'success' I refer to whether it has been an enjoyable experience to listen to the audio presentation/discussion regardless of whether the message has been communicated effectively.
Relevance to the audience - Was the description/information accurate about the podcast to indicate what the content included therefore allowing the listener to make an informed decision as to whether it is relevant to them.
Technology - There are often unavoidable delays or dropouts when listening to podcasts & they can be frustrating for the listener as they are for the participants. If a podcast is focussing on a presentation & you are only listening to the audio this can cause you to lose complete understanding of what is being discussed. A good eg of overcoming this is on E-learning insights presented by Kerry Jay who intervenes during a presentation on Digital Literacies to read words on the slide, when a facilitator has asked participants to read the slide as a podcast can be repetitive if a facilitator is just reading their slides.
Background noise - This can include typing (participants keeping up with chat room questions etc), phones ringing in the background can be very distracting & rude, people in the background (often this background noise can be louder than the speaker if it is coming from behind a participant who is not speaking at the time). Use of mute or a private room when participating in audio hookups is recommended.
Following a basic program/agenda - Knowing who is speaking first then who they will pass to & what the expectations of guest speakers or level of participation from the audience. In some podcasts it is evident that the agenda has not been made clear to all involved or sometimes there has been inadequate preparation on the part of the presenter or participants.
Set the scene - It is important to clearly outline your expectations of participants. If you require active participation throughout & want all questions via verbal or written chat then let them know this. If you will address all questions at the end of a topic also let participants know this.
Introducing, welcoming & thanking - This can sometimes be overdone eg, there is a leadline that explains the content of the podcast then the session commences & the leadline is repeated in the introductions & welcomes. When a guest is introduced the informal Hi, how are you can be seen as false or fake from a listeners perspective (prepping the guest to explain how the session will run should be done before any session & explain that what formalities are expected & which are not).
Rapport - It is obvious when presenters or participants have a good rapport, they can have a joke & the listener can appreciate this even if they do not find it amusing. When guests are involved there can sometimes be so much gushing at the introduction that the listener becomes embarressed for the guest - perhaps this is just not the way we do things in Australia (or New Zealand) so we find it uncomfortable to listen to. Being on the same wavelength is an important factor in achieving a comfortable mood, a good eg of this is a podcast by EdTechWeekly (#121)which is a collaboration between a group of educators who conduct a round robin style discussion where each provides a website reference & a brief blurb about the value or content of the particular site. They willingly have a dig at each other in a jovial & encouraging way, not only is it informative but easy & fun to listen to.

What is RSS?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and put simply it is a method of tracking Web page updates. An RSS feed provides you with a summary or an update of the websites that you choose to follow. May 1st is RSS awareness day (http://rssday.org/). You need an RSS reader to access your RSS feeds, some of which are Google Reader, Bloglines, Newsgator. Once you have this set up you can access RSS icon on most webpages, this icon is an orange square with 3 white lines to indicate noise projecting. Wikipedia has an extensive explanation of RSS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format)).

Ten Web 2.0 Things You Can Do in Ten Minutes to Be a More Successful E-learning Professional

Ten Web 2.0 Things You Can Do in Ten Minutes to Be a More Successful E-learning Professional is an article that I stumbled across via the edna.edu.au website. This is a good list of things to do to clarify your thoughts, ideas & new info, particularly in such a fast moving industry. Perhaps I am just at a premliminary stage where all of the technicalities of this new industry are somewhat overwhelming. I intend to keep plugging away at my research bit by bit until these references become somewhat familiar to me - at least as not as foreign as they currently are. Stephen Downes is the author of this article, he worksfor the National Research Council Canada & the article was published in elearn Magazine.