Knowledge Paradox

HTML publishing

2011-05-25T15:08:00.002+10:00

Does online learning content have to be created in HTML?

What are the advantages over other formats such as PDF? And do these advantages outweigh the benefits of being able to rapidly author in whatever software you like and convert to PDF?

Using a LCMS enables content packages with navigation
Hyperlinking can still be included to external sites
Formatting can be created in stylesheets, and are more accessible than CSS
File sizes are becoming negligible in a ubiquitous high bandwidth environment

Asking subject matter experts to invest in learning HTML is distracting them from focussing on their subject to creating content. Better for them to apply design on building the interaction with that content than on the creation of it.

The big downfall - accessibility
Can PDF be made accessible to W3C guidelines?
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_booklet.html

Alchemy or chemistry

2011-05-20T14:07:00.003+10:00

Truth is not the domain of the expert (GFC anyone) but the constructed argument of a collective.

We are currently switching LMS from a proprietary product to an open-source one. Both systems can replicate features, it is the philosophy that is different.

Higher Education suffers from the proprietary mindset. Often accused of living in Ivory Towers it is time that we walked our talk, swap lectures for action-based learning, come down from the sage on the stage to be guides on the side. Be transparent, develop trust and drop authority. Favour discussion over debate, these are the ways to build the noosphere.

Here is a classic example of what happens when you blindly accept authority.

My public commitments

2010-11-19T11:10:00.001+11:00

I recently read that it takes 66 days to form a habit. You can miss a single day during this period, but the aim is consistency.

I've just started a new job. This is a perfect opportunity to form the habits I want to follow;

Fitness - Lose weight, gain strength and flexibility
Focus - Develop strong study commitments, and lengthen concentration spans

How am I planning on doing this?

Fitness will come with a regime of bike-riding, swimming and eventually weight training. Couple this with healthy eating and cutting down on alcohol consumption.

Focus will be achieved by sticking to a study plan, early rising and using meditation to develop strong habits and positive mental imagery.

This is my commitment.

My Personal Learning Environment

2010-08-31T17:17:00.000+10:00

I've been thinking about what tools I use in my Personal Learning Environment, and by order of use it currently is;

Email (gmail) for following LinkIn conversations - wish they were moved to twitter-like posts
iGoogle - RSS updates (+twitter feeds) and tools categorised to my work/mood
Weblog - Record my readings for later reference, thoughts on hyper-linked topics
Collaborative MindMaps - Like Cmap for free use and intuitive interface, different output options: need to spend more time working out how to share from their server (now want an iPhone app for Christmas!)
3rd Gen Kindle (on order) so I can share notes on texts from/with other users. Low power, cost, E-ink to reduce eye-strain, light and small, sustainable, etc (Not locked into Apples iTune$) (tick, tick, tick)
Wiki - Haven't used one for awhile, but their were some beauties when I was doing a Masters project, with additional features like Discussion Boards, etc.
ShowDocs - Collaborative editing (just found this, but looks good)
Connect Pro - Wish I could afford my own Web-Conferencing + permanent room to store my resources and then whiteboard, share desktop, etc when discussing topics with peers. Skype is untrustworthy and limited in its scope.
Prezi - for a cloud based collaborative alternative to PowerPoint
My iPhone for pull content on my subscribed Pod and VodCasts

Holistic education in a networked world - how the digital 'book' will change learning

2010-08-29T11:03:00.001+10:00

Tomorrow people - guiding them over the threshold.

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.We've created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." Albert Einstein

We've lost direction with economic rationalism; by focusing on ends we have neglected the means. The best way to correct this imbalance is through education. By creating self-directed learners we can supply the skilled operators of the networked world we have been building. Through the directed use of these new tools we can address the roots of many of the problems we now encounter, such as global warming, pollution, disenfranchised workers, power imbalances, financial crises. The following model will bring it's own problems and we need to be mindful of these, but they will be emergent and predicting them will be difficult, so I will take a scenario casting approach in thinking about them.

The printed book has ultimately turned us into robots - standardised our education, split our thinking into ever narrower, disconnected channels, building on the norm and ostracising the rebel. This is disaster in a networked world - this laid the conditions for the GFC to incubate, the smartest men in the room created a circle-mill in their room of mirrors. Mono-cultures collapse, this is as true of American hegemony as it was of the Roman empire. They feed so voraciously in their arrogance that they starve themselves with their growing appetites on a limited larder. The wisdom of the crowd only works with a true diversity of views, and this is what we need to cultivate in the minds of our learners. We need to grow the ideas on which we will harvest our future feasts.

So what does an holistic education look like?

I'm addressing higher education here, Androgogy, or the practice of adult learning - so I assume that the foundational skills of reading, writing and arithmetic have been laid, along with socialisation and little bit of life experience to build on. In my benevolent dictatorship I'd have all school leavers embark on some sort of Grand Tour/Inter/National Service design for a couple of years to help this and to direct their future work/discover their passion(s).

Anyway - what does one need to become a life-long self-directed learner?

Information Literacy - how to find and authenticate information

Accessing knowledge

Collaborating - training in use of social media and creating a Personal Learning Environment

Interacting with knowledge

Reflection - what is the process of 'thinking'

Forming knowledge

And so how do we guide our students into a learning, liminal space and keep them there? Firstly we need to change our teachers into guides and coaches, and establish longitudinal relationships with them so that we can build trust and understanding between ourselves over the entire learning journey of our 'degree'. We need to have these people as experts in the different areas of 'knowing' things, so you need different guides for the head, the hands and the heart. I think you need to specialise in each area whilst maintaining communication and coordination between all the other guides.

And then how to assess this kind of individualised learning? Well a big focus would be on a continuing formative feedback loop from the guides and their peers, tracking their progress. Ultimately you would need to build some sort of 'portfolio' which is the only thing open to a summative assessment, which would be conducted in a conversation with all of the above and the wisest of the wise, be they department heads, deans, etc.

So its a massive investment in time and resources. Can we pull it off and still make it inclusive? Do we bring back a mentoring scheme where postgraduates are chosen as learning guides by undergraduates to address some of these problems?

Universities have knowledge but not wisdom

2010-08-27T14:28:00.000+10:00

But maybe some Vice-Chancellors have vision?

And how to we get well-rounded students? By faculty role-modeling learning, by breaking down their silos of disciplines and invisible colleges. By actually collaborating and being honest enough to admit they don't know everything?

And University administrators starting to actually pay more than token attention to student learning outcomes, rewarding and communicating great teachers and teaching practices, by breaking down heirarchies.

We must teach to hearts, as well as minds and hands. Ignoring them is to do our society a dis-service.

Online collaboration in formal learning environments = hard squared

2010-08-27T13:50:00.000+10:00

I feel frustrated with collaborative activities in a formal online educational environment because in the most part they are poorly designed. It's like they are conducted to tick a box on student attributes, but not actually supported. It's like being told to assemble a piece of Ikea furniture without the correct tools or instructions, and then criticizing the resulting bookcase (because it was really a coffee table).

As an elearning professional it hurts because I know it will make my job harder to convince my fellow students that these tools can be utilised effectively when they are seeking informal online collaborative tools in their workplace. In many cases they will be so scarred by their experiences that to get them to use the tools will seem like the choice of cutting off your arm or starving to death because you are pinned under a rock. So how do we?

Firstly I think we need to take the bitterness out of the pill. Consult, listen, hear their problems and communicate how they have been resolved. This is from both a Faculty and Student perspective. How do address lag in low-bandwidth areas? How do you simplify the layout? What tools will you provide to support their ways of working, and help build their PLE's?

Then provide them with training and support. Do let them know they have been using a spanner as a hammer, and how to bang something without squashing their fingers. Make it longitudinal and embed it in practices so that it does get used. Set up Communities of Practice so people can start to share their experiences and we can learn from great ideas. Make it cross-disciplinary so faculty can be exposed to diverse ideas from weak ties. Set up safe fail environments where teachers can experiment on the new faculty inductees.

And for students, please provide some scaffolding. Set out the roles that need to be filled, provide a sample agenda with timings. Actually show some cognitive presence during the shouting match, don't shut the door and tell us to come out when we've sorted it out. When my parents did that it just meant being physically intimidated by my older brother for fourteen odd years until his size advantage was lost. The virtual space will be dominated by the more powerful, and teachers need to be the advocates and encouragers' of the timid. They need to ensure a level-playing field, not sit in final judgment with a summative assessment - it should be about the journey, not the destination.

iPad v Kindle

2010-08-26T18:47:00.000+10:00

Do I want to be a consumer or a contributor?

Do I encapsulate consumerism and technolust or I am I a reflective practitioner?

Of course I suffer from a deluded self-serving bias, but even through beer goggles you can stop yourself wandering into traffic.

Thank-you Amazon for the 3rd Gen Kindle. E-ink will rule. I have no doubt colour will come, just as television progressed to plasma. Remember, it was the internal-combustion car oligopoly that wiped out electric cars, like a cuckoo in the nest of innovative incubation.

The iPads' demise is encapsulated in the 'i'. The new economy is the 'we'. It is not about consumption but contribution. Not about watching movies, but replying to postings. It's not about draining power as an endless resource, but being mindful.

Being connected is about realising how electricity frees us from darkness. A camping trip make you understand how addicted we are to it, and how we place so little value on it. Camping also shows you that we are social animals, reliant on each other to provide the necessities of life - food, clean water, shelter. We have distanced ourselves from the real purpose, being good to each other rather than being good to ourselves, and that means our environment too.

Has the iPad narrowed our focus to an 8" square?

Signature pedagogies

2010-08-24T17:44:00.000+10:00

Shulman, L. (2005) Signature pedagogies in the professions. Daedalus. pp. 52-59.

This paper echoes Aristotles assertion,

'Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny'

and

'Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit'

This is basically what Shulman asserts is a signature pedagogy, the fundamental ways future practitoners are educated for their new professions. It is the way a professional is taught to think, perform and act. Shulman asserts that equal attention is not paid to all dimensions of professional work; physicians learn how to perform, less on how to act. Lawyers are taught how to think, less on how to perform like one.

The paper with an observation by the psychoanalyst Erik Erikson that to understand a culture, study its nurseries. Shulman too says that pedagogical signatures teach us a lot about the personalities, dispositions and cultures of their fields and that professions have more defined signatures because their pedagogies must satisfy both the academy and their profession - it is preparation for practice in the service of others, 'they must come to understand in order to act, and they must act in order to serve'. So these pedagogies 'shape the character of future practice' and symbolize the values and hopes of the professions.

Signature pedagogies have three dimensions;

The surface structure, which consists of concrete, operational acts (showing and demonstrating, questioning and answering, interacting and withholding, approaching and withdrawing)
The deep structure, the set of assumptions about how best to impart a certain body of knowledge and know-how
The implicit structure, the moral dimension that comprises the set of beliefs about professional attitudes, values and dispositions

It can also be characterised by what it is not (think Robin Williams in Patch), ow it is shaped by what it does not impart or exemplify. It involves a choice, a selection amongst alternative approaches. That choice highlights and supports some outcomes at the expense of others.

Schulman also points out the paradox of developing habits. Once ingrained they free you concentrating on how (observation and analysis, reading and interpretation, question and answer, conjecture and refutation, proposal and response, problem and hypothesis, query and evidence, individual invention and collective deliberation) to concentrate on why and the context of the performance. However, they also lock you into these performances, even once their utility has been exhausted, like fixed undercarriages in flight. They become the signature pedagogies strength and weakness, both at the same time.

Habits are positive in scholarship in that they 'shift new learning into our zones of proximal development', whilst at their worse distort learning in some manner. Because many faculty rarely receive direct preparation to teach, this 'apprenticeship by observation' encourages a pedagogy of inertia. 'Teachers and students can be quite inventive or creative within the boundary conditions of these teaching frameworks, but the frameworks themselves are quite well formed'.

Lastly, Shulman raises the concern of 'compromised pedagogies', where balance is lost between the dimensions of the intellectual, the technical and moral concerns. Because practice always operates within a dynamic; the tension between self-interest and that of their clients, between the client and society, costs and profits, efficacy and opportunity, we have a duty to develop students who can recognise these and have the capabilities to deal with them.

We are also encountering rapid change through such factors as globalisation, information technology, the nature of work, city states, etc. These conditions provide the impetuous to examine how other pedagogies can inform discipline specific teaching practices. How we form the habits of mind, heart and hands prefigure our culture means we need to contest the way we teach for the future we want to create.

Generic or discipline-specific?

2010-08-23T22:16:00.000+10:00

Young, P (2010) Generic or discipline-specific? An exploration of the significance of discipline-specific issues in researching and developing teaching and learning in higher education. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 47 (1) pp. 115-124

This was a paper that said one thing and did another in many respects. The over-riding message is that generic pedagogies are utilised across disciplines but they be addressed in discipline contextualised ways. It outlined the differences in teaching disciplines but demonstrated the similar skills required in learning them.

A sad fact was that teaching is so unrecognised as a significant skill in academia, and that actually engaging a community of scholars requires researching within their discipline to be respected by them because a) it's research and b) it's about them.

And I guess that is the same as the disconnect (and fusion) between/of perception and reality. Perception is reality; it is a self-fulfilling prophesy and creates itself in it's own image. So no wonder academia can be accused of living in ivory towers, it can be self-serving. I think most non-academics see Universities as places of learning, of scholarship, of providing the professional workforce of tomorrow. But within Universities it seems that it is primarily about research and expanding knowledge. Although they may be two sides of the same coin they are facing away from each other.

But I digress. If I take the reading on threshold concepts and add it to the generic skills of scholarship (the development of higher cognitive skills, transferable skills such as problem-solving; researching; analysis of data; presentation of information in written form; oral presentation; working with others; action planning and time management) means transferring the responsibility of learning to the student. They are like vampires, they need to be invited over the threshold and greedily suck the guts out of a subject before their ideas become immortalised. It's not about the teacher, its about the students being instrumental in their attitude to learning.

So content needs to be contested to be absorbed even in the Pure/Hard disciplines, and although this is true across all disciplines it will only be adopted if a discipline-based approach to educational research and development is pursued, because (Healy and Jenkins, 2003 cited by Young)

The primary allegiance of academic staff to a discipline as a basis for professional identity
The distinctive forms of teaching found in some disciplines
The particular conceptions of knowledge found in disciplines which need to be understood for curriculum development
The culture and concerns of particular disciplines
The importance of research in the discipline for academics

So its about contextualising the generic issues.

Liminal states and learning distress - no pain, no gain?

2010-08-22T11:24:00.000+10:00

Cousin, G (2006) An introduction to threshold concepts. Planet. 17 (Dec)

We teachers - perhaps all human beings - are in the grip of an astonishing delusion. We think that we can take a picture, a structure, a working model of something, constructed in our minds out of long experience and familiarity, and by turning that model into a string of words, transplant it whole into the mind of someone else.

Perhaps once in a thousand times, when the explanation is extraordinary good, and the listener extraordinary experienced and skillful at turning word strings into non-verbal reality, and when the explainer and listener share in common many of the experiences being talked about, the process may work, and some real meaning may be communicated.

Most of the time, explaining does not increase understanding, and may even lessen it.

John Holt
(1923 - 1985) American Educator
How Children Learn

Before reading this paper I was rather inclined to place my mark on a sliding scale on the continuum between fixed and questionable content depending on the discipline being taught. I mean, I would have thought it was intuitive that it would be safer for the inhabitants of houses that rote learning of stress bearing weights for Engineers and Architects be encouraged rather than a 'constructivist' agreed discussion deciding the load to be placed on supporting beams.

But that is counter to the wisdom of the crowds, and that more mistakes can be made in copying from a table than can be made when you 'understand' something. You can't unlearn to ride a bike. In the last reading by Sharma I also noted how much of a 'constructivist' pedagogy was employed in the student led discussions on the topics being presented. My notion of Physics being immutable laws was challenged as much by Einsteins assertion that an imagination was more valuable than knowledge, as one is limited and other is boundless.

The other point that sprung to mind was the 80/20 law. That 80% of our value comes from 20% of our activity. I was thinking about my Design education the other night, and realised that most of my learning occurred in just a couple of memorable exercises, or powerful assignments. One was drawing icons. Learning to reduce a drawing to its essential items demonstrated powerfully to me the maxim I had heard so many times, that 'less is more' without really understanding it. Of course the paradox is that something as simple as that statement is really so complex that I am still relishing it in the many different facets of my life. However the point is that once I 'understood' the concept it shaped all my designs from that point forward.

So I am now inclined to believe that all disciplines should be taught as 'contestable', because it is only wrestling with the threshold concepts of a discipline that you can move from mimicry to mastery. This wrestling in a liminal space needs to be encouraged, supported and scaffolded by the learning facilitator until the learner has explorer the route until they are confident enough to scale the summit. Once the concept is conquered a new vista is laid out before you - that memory can never be taken away from you.

Discipline-based scholarship reading

2010-08-21T17:23:00.000+10:00

Sharma, D., McShane, K. (2008) A methodological framework for understanding and describing discipline-based scholarship in higher education through design-based research. Higher Education Research & Development. 27 (3) pp.257-270

This paper details how a physics teacher sought to increase the effectiveness of her teaching practices over a 10+ span of years. For this it is terrific because it displays the evolution of her thinking and allows a longitudinal examination of her methods.

I was drawn to her methodology because of my background. Her first attempts utilised Action Research (Practitioner lense). I think Action Research has much to offer as a framework because it is inclusive; it brings in environment, context, the subjects, the researchers, etc. While this may increase complexity it mirrors the real-world, not a sterile lab, and thus is more practical than some other 'theoretical' positions. As a Designer too I am aware that Gestalt provides an additional reason for not excluding anything in the 'world' of a research topic, and that is the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. Like negative space, these created 'holes' are far from empty.

Then when research funding was appropriated a staff member from the Teaching and Learning department provided another Educational methodology, Design-based research (Educational lense). Again, as a Designer I feel some affinity with this method, as it allows Divergent thinking to be included in forming the 'problem' to be addressed. I also agree with Bill Pelz (2004) assertion that it matters little whether he is a fantastic teacher or a excellent educational designer, what really matters is that an environment is created that maximises a students capacity to learn.

The two methodologies complement each other in that they are iterative Design-Implement-Reflect-Change/Design cycles conducted in authentic settings, the biggest difference is that the Design-based research method explicitly utilises theories of learning in the design of an educational environment. I can see positives and negatives in this approach, as intuitively it builds on prior knowledge, but at the same time we may be restricting our thinking to these past theories, and that they indeed may be false leads, as the debate on pedagogical practice are still relatively immature. But again, I guess this methodology will help move the discipline onto a more empirical foundation.

Design-Based Research exhibits the following five characteristics:

The central goal of designing an environment and developing theories of learning are intertwined; (Student centred, constructivist underpinning)
Development and research takes place through continuous cycles of design, enactment, analysis and redesign; (reflection informs action)
Research on design must lead to sharable theories that help communicate relevant implications to practitioners and other educational designers; (Focus on engaging peers in productive discussions of teaching - an academic community of practice)
Research must account for how designs function in authentic settings (documenting success and failure) and focusing too on interactions that refine our understanding of the learning issues involved; (research must attract funding, and be applied to other contexts)
Methods here should document and connect the processes of enactment and outcomes of interest (goals, strategies, evidence/data and improvements need to be collected and formulated, feed-back loops instituted)

cited from the Design-Based Research Collective (2003)

The discussion part of the paper provided the following five insights from their learning journey;

An understanding of the research process underpinning educational studies provides a foothold for comparing research in one's own discipline area with scholarly inquiry into their teaching and student learning
Practitioner research offers an initial foothold into inquiry into teaching and learning that is both practical and productive
Design-based research is a methodological framework that can be used to describe and shape scholarly inquiry into teaching and learning
Design-based research provides a framework for researching and documenting student learning in authentic settings and connecting with outcomes of interest
Systematic inquiry into one's own teaching - scholarship of teaching - allows academics to participate in multiple communities of practice

The authors argue that their findings overlap with the scholarship of teaching advocated by Boyer (1990)

The scholarship of discovery - close to the old idea of research
The scholarship of integration - which involves making connections across the disciplines and placing specialities in larger context
The scholarship of application - which goes beyond the application of research and develops a viral interaction and, so, informs the other
The scholarship of teaching - which educates and entices future scholars by communicating the beauty and enlightenment at the heart of significant knowledge

Sometimes the old ways are new again. Has applied research bastardised academia?

Bibliography

Boyer, E.L. (1990) Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. Princeton, NJ: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

The Design Based Research Collective (2003) Design-based research: an emerging paradigm for educational inquiry. Educational Researcher, 32 (1) pp 5-8.

Pelz, B. (2004). Three principles of effective online pedagogy. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 8(3).

Change! The issues and strategies to encourage its practice.

2010-08-11T18:13:00.000+10:00

Q: How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Only one, but the light bulb's really got to want to change.

Do people seem to resist change most if it's thrust upon them? I guess this demonstrates that change is an emotional response. The parallels between learning and change have been noted by many educational theorists, and it always resonated with me when an Educational Designer once dismissed pandering to learning styles with the analogy that if I wanted to become a pilot I would apply myself to learning trigonometry, despite an aversion to mathematics, because I wanted to find my destination and land safely.

So organisational change should be approached as a way of countering resistance, and the best way is through creating a dialogue to;

Explain why the change is happening
What the change will look like
How the change will be implemented
Who is responsible for the idea
And who will help deliver the desired outcomes

Potts, Rebecca and LaMarsh, Jeanenne (2004) Managing Change for Success: Effecting change for optimum growth and maximum efficiency. Duncan Baird Publishers, London

The authors suggest that Managing Change involves;

Identifying resistance to the change
Designing ways to reduce that resistance
- A communication plan
- A learning plan
- A reward plan
Devising a master action plan

However, the intuitively sensible suggestions of creating a compelling story, role-modelling, setting up reinforcing mechanisms and building capability to create change have been questioned on the emotional connection from those involved in making the change happen.

A compelling story for who? In their book 'Made to Stick', The Heath brothers introduce the notion of the curse of knowledge, where the communicator is blinded to the trouble listeners have in 'getting' on message. What is apparent, and needs no explaining to you, may be a fathomless pit to others. They demonstrate this with the tapping game. You tap out a simple tune and others try to guess it. The mismatch between what you hear and they hear becomes clear after trying this test. So the compelling story needs to be written by the people making the change (Discovery, Dreaming, Designing and Destiny). It needs to appeal to its impact on society, the customer, the organisation and shareholders, the team you work with as well as 'me'. It also needs to include the negatives of the change to create real energy.

Similarly, the way you see your role-modelling behaviour can be radically delusional from our 'self-serving bias'.

There is also literature on the folly of rewarding A when trying to while hoping for B. Financial incentives are notorious for inhibiting creativity and knowledge sharing, and satisfaction is a personal thing - your perception sets your expectations.

Capability is as much a mindset as a skillset, our thoughts feelings and beliefs drive our behaviour. We need to scaffold our good intentions, it takes 21 days to start to nurture a habit. At the same time we need to make our measures concrete and set deadlines to meet them. Nothing motivates more than an (achievable) deadline and goal.

False Dichotomy? 'Western' and 'Confucian' concepts of scholarship and learning

2010-08-07T09:45:00.000+10:00

Ryan, Janette and Louie, Kam (2007) False Dichotomy? 'Western' and 'Confucian' concepts of scholarship and learning. Educational Philosophy and Theory. 39 (4) Pg 404-417

'We don't see things the way they are, we see things as we are' Anais Nin.

This paper was a good way of challenging my preconceived ideas of different educational approaches, and at the end of the paper I was ashamed of my own biases when teaching foreign students by projecting my own image of passivity onto them, and not being generous enough to understand that my own behaviour of questioning was the result of much practice and cultural acceptance in doing so.

The authors were also very good in pointing out that a middle ground was a desired outcome, to explore what was good in each paradigm and combining them to create a richer 'learning' environment. And that includes role-modeling. A good teacher is open to learning and should demonstrate life-long learning and self improvement (a mainstay of Confucian learning, as pointed out in the paper).

In a recent conversation with my mother I was taken aback by her attitude to Aborigines (Aboriginines, as she pronounced it). It also made me more aware that we change over time, although we may be unaware of it because it is a subtle movement. My mother was raised on a station in Marble Bar and spent a lot her time with the mothers and children of the local population. This was in the days when the men worked as stockmen in return for flour, tea, blankets, jam and tobacco. We see this as exploitation now, however the way Mum tells it the aboriginals had dignity in their horse skills and ability to provide for their families. There certainly wasn't the welfare mentality that Noel Pearson rallies against.

So what made my Mum change her opinion? When I challenged her she said that it was from her experiences nursing, as I guess our community services often deal with the tragic side of our 'society'. In my experience the police have the most prejudiced views of all our community groups, and I guess they have developed a fortress mentality as they are continually under siege, with the threat of violence never far away. Like the army, you need a strong, cohesive culture to deal with that kind of threat. I could also hear in Mum's language the prevailing attitude of the 'Bowling Club' and the entrenched position our older generations hold.

So bringing it back to an educational context, we need to see learners as individuals, not labels, because there are a multitude of attitudes even within a defined group. We should be aware of the complexities, rather than dumb down to simplistic models of reality, try to draw out the positive aspects and develop a deeper understanding of views other than our own.

Self-Direction and LLL in the Info Age: Can PLE's help?

2010-08-07T09:00:00.000+10:00

Muldoon, Nona (2008) Self-Direction and Lifelong Learning in the Information Age: Can PLEs help? Source. Accessed 5 August 2010 Lifelong learning : reflecting on successes and framing futures : keynote and refereed papers from the 5th International Lifelong Learning Conference, Yeppoon, Central Queensland, Australia, 16-19 June 2008. p. 277-283 Refereed ISBN: 1921047569

An interesting paper that raises the question of how to address the way that ICT's have 'changed the way people think and operate' and is blurring the dichotomy between school-based and work-based learning. The pace of change due to globalisation means that to maintain currency in ones chosen discipline necessitates continued learning across the lifespan.

So the author posits that one of the roles of higher education in this context must be to foster Self-Directed Learning in graduates, and that one way to accomplish this is by letting students practice learning by using Social Media rather than locked-down operating environments and by changing the balance of power between teachers, curriculum and students.

Personal Learning Environments include access to Web 2.0 tools such as search (Google, Flock) create and publish (Blogs, PodCast, YouTube, Flickr) Collaborate and Share (Wiki, del.icio.us) and join communties (Facebook, LinkedIn groups) and to create their own identities (ePortfolio, Facebook)

Using such tools changes the power dynamics of the learning environment and creates a longitudinal attachment to their learning (which will be useful given the unreliable nature of our memories).

This paper has helped me think about my own lifelong learning strategy, and blogging on my readings in an open platform rather than on an LMS so I can access their ideas in any future context that I find myself in.

Citizenship is a global society

2010-08-05T17:21:00.000+10:00

Given that online courses contain a mix of international students, many of whom are living or working outside of the country of their birth, reflect on your experience with the concept of citizenship. You may wish to include observations about your context (Do you live in a multicultural/multiracial society? How inclusive is the society and culture?), your own situation and activities (Are you a participant or observer in that society? Are you a citizen of the country in which you live? Do you have dual/multi-citizenship? How does that affect your participation? If you are an active citizen, are you an educated one? Why do you say so?) and the actions of others (Would you characterize yourself as a mainstream member of society or a marginalized member? Are there opportunities for you to exercise your citizenship?).

My context

I have lived in Australia for three quarters of my life, the first quarter being spent roaming through Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Malaysia and traveling from India to England where we lived for a few years before returning to Australia. I guess this contributed to my identification with the outsider, the underdog, despite being blessed with being born in an affluent culture, well educated and being in a secure family environment. Moving around meant being exposed to the bullies whenever you started at a new school because you were new, or different. I'm extremely grateful for this because I think you grow through being challenged, and because I don't doubt that if I had been brought up in a more closed environment I would have conformed to the dominant mindset, which I find in Australia is rather insular, tainted with an underlying racism, economically dominated and thoroughly Western (individualistic, consumptive) in its outlook despite being part of a greater Asia.

I once had a job on a Wheat bin out of Geraldton in the mid-north of Western Australia. The hardest working member of the local team was an aboriginal man who happily pulled the weight of the rest of the employees because he knew that was what kept him employed. He couldn't join them in the crib room for smoko, because he wasn't part of their circle, so he kept working. He was a 'good' Abo, but an Abo none the less. The local population was also having a bit of whinge about the Asians coming in an taking over the market gardens. The ironic thing was that the loudest complaints came from the 'Wogs' who had met exactly the same reception when they set up their market gardens after the war. The Italian migrants had become fully integrated into Aussie culture and my only hope is that so will the Asian immigrants in time and that the blend will keep the good (industry, perseverance) and lose the bad (resistance to change, isolation from our Aisan neighbours, consumerism).

My situation and activities
I have recently moved to a small coastal village on the the Far North Coast of NSW. I can't say I am a very active participant in society at the political level, but do try and participate in community groups, i.e. Mothers group (Even if I am a Dad) and tuckshop duty at my daughter school. I am active in some global contexts, i.e. Interest Groups through Social Network tools, such as LinkedIn eLearning and Education groups as well as membership of organisations such as Amnesty International. I do want to participate further in politics, however it will need to wait until I can devote time and energy that are currently occupied with raising children and study.

Connectivism, the new educational paradigm?

2010-07-25T04:36:00.000+10:00

I'm a fan of Guy Claxton Wise Up (Visions of Education) and his work on life-long learning and the power of the mind in non-traditional education, yet to me there was always something missing. His three tenets of Reflection, Resilience and Resources made me think of a Knight (on horseback). The Knights helmet was so shiny, yet the visor had the merest crack in it, and like the Lenard Cohen song, that was to let the light in - not to see the outside world, but to reflect on what was inside themself. Why have some of the wisest protagonists in stories been blind? Does it allow them to focus on their inner world and not be distracted by the shifting sensory cacophony around them? So that is the core of learning as espoused by so many great thinkers (Dewey, Polanyi, Einstein; the list goes on...), that knowing yourself and exercising your imagination is the wellspring of learning and of thus embracing the change you perceive as necessary.

The second point is resilience. The Armour and a shield to protect this mindfulness from the slings and arrows of failure, to enable you to live to fight another day and learn from your mistakes - by reflecting on what worked and what didn't. It provides a level of confidence that you can take on the world safely, with all its detractors and pits and trap falls of counterpoints. You can trust yourself to fight your best fight without wasting your energy on doubt and negativity.

Lastly, Claxton wrote of resourcefulness, which I saw as the long lance clutched firmly in the Knights gauntlet. It was both offensive and defensive. It keeps people at bay, and can skewer them like a kebab if they have the affront to challenge. It could also be utilised in myriad ways. It could be used as a flagpole when travelling, carrying your standard for all to see for miles around when held upright in your stirrup, or even as the tent pole to pitch your canvas over when resting. A very handy tool - but an inanimate object.

For me the vision lacked the Charger, the Relationship part of the connectivist paradigm. The trusty horse that enabled you to travel to far-away lands and make connections with different kingdoms. Also the knight as a chess-piece is the most innovative mover; it provides the hook from left field that feeds innovation (like the weak ties in Social/Organisational Network Analysis). And it is dynamic and taps into how we are social creatures at heart. Behaviourism, Cognitivism and Constructivism all focus on the individual, just like the Knights Helmet, Shield and Lance does. But wasn't the Round Table the real strength of Arthurs' kingdom? United we stand, etc? Gestalt shows us that we are greater than the sum of our parts

The Goldilocks dilemma

2010-05-29T10:33:00.000+10:00

I've been working on a collaborative paper with peers around the world, and our topic has been on the role feedback and reflection play in learning (through an online environment). It's been a gut-wrenching experience to say the least, and right now, for me, that hasn't been resolved.

I don't think of myself as a lazy person, yet I recognise that my motivations lie in the perceived rewards from my efforts. It has been interesting to note that the feeling of failure in tackling this topic has been strong, that it is too complicated to achieve a result in the time we have, yet the urgency to push on has come from my own sense of self - that I am a team player and this is a core of my self-identity. The balance between discomfort, with the drive to push through led me to Mezirow and a bit of an ah-ha breakthrough. As a learner I need to complete 'pictures' - see interconnections, and until now I have been juggling. I wouldn't have reached this point without the support and encouragement of my peers.

Is this the core of a good teacher? Pushing without shoving. Setting stretch goals and then supporting the learner to reach them. Finding the fine line of balance between too much and too little?

The exhaustion of being an Introvert

2010-05-13T00:22:00.000+10:00

When I did the Myers-Briggs I was surprised to find I was classified as Introverted. I like being with people, it's just that I energise by spending time by myself. So I feel like I fell off the studies after submitting my first assignment. I was so enthused when I started I was like a puppy replying to every post, and that finally took its toll.

Networks - the paradox of density and Gestalt

2010-05-13T00:10:00.000+10:00

Nicholas Christakis has a fascinating take in his TED talk on Social Networks, and the part where he showed the knitting of atoms of carbon into graphite and diamonds was illuminating. The diamond is far denser than the pencil lead, but lets in light because the atoms are arranged in a connected network much more than in graphite. It is not the property of the carbon, but of the network, that gives it its 'personality'.

This sort of counter-intuitive result is like America's use of torture to combat terrorism. I don't think anyone would argue that Abu Ghraib damaged their reputation, and made the job of their soldiers even harder, so how to you counter this behaviour? I would argue open and transparent systems, with prisoners accorded all the rights of an American in court will win the war of hearts and minds - if not the isolated battles of interrogation. Why destroy something you respect and trust? If you understand something then you can begin a basis of communication, negotiation, persuasion...At least begin dialogue.

So it is in management. Command and Control doesn't work as effectively in the Knowledge Economy as other techniques that distribute power and empower employees (which used to be known as people, before they were turned into Human Capital).

So lets start looking at the real animal, and rename it as the 'living system' that is an organisation, not the dry graphical nodes of 'social network' chart. By recognising the big picture and seeing it as having it's own dynamic life, that requires care and nuturing, we give dignity back to the people who sustain it. The gestalt is the sum all of us, and yet bigger than all of us individually. As our actions ripple back and forth across the distances between indirect connections you realise the system takes on a life of its own, it develops personality - and that can't be isolated into individual nodes.

The Paradox of Networks

2010-04-18T06:57:00.003+10:00

I listened to the disadvantages of networks with a great deal of interest last night. You see, I'm a glass half full kind of person, my blindspot is the downside of things. I guess the GFC was a great eye-opener in the danger of inter-dependencies of a networked society - that this inter-connectedness makes us all more vulnerable to an impact in one (now non-isolated) part as it ripples through the web.

Anyway, this talk was great and it touches on something that Ralph Stacey wrote about in his complexity books. By actually concentrating on the group - and their outcomes, the individual is actually (paradoxically) given a greater respect, a more noble impact with their contribution. This is the central paradox - that group think, the wisdom of the crowd, is only maximised if all the people in the group are independent, are individuals. Everyone has to be free to voice their own concerns, not be swayed by what others think of their opinions. Because the downside is a circle mill, where we all goose-step into oblivion. Is this consumerism?

I've been returning to a problem posed to us by one of my Design professors - that we all want to be individuals, but belong to a group. Eat our cakes. We are defined by who we belong to, as much as we are by our thoughts and actions.

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him... The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself... All progress depends on the unreasonable man." George Bernard Shaw

There must be a fine line between having the courage to speak your convictions and not alienating yourself from the group with your opinions. A fine balance...

Social Networking/Media, Boundary Spanners, CoP's and Peer evaluation (+throw in information literacy)

2010-04-17T18:29:00.002+10:00

I'm writing a Literature Review on Formative Feedback and Reflective Practices in an online environment. Our class has also been discussing the vision versus reality of elearning, and the huge chasm between them.

Firstly the talk by Clay Shirky on Social Media.
So disruptive technologies surpass Control, connecting many-to-many and destroy the one-to-one, one-to-many paradigms and replace them with many-to-one and many-to-many connections. This allows our ZPD to be vastly expanded.

Then the disadvantages of Networks and Group Think from James Surowiecki.
Circle Mills are mindless follow-the-no-leader scenario where each link thinks the next link knows what's going on. A follow them home mentality, or if I shut-up then no-one will notice my ignorance until we all see the Emperor's New Clothes scenario. So we need the courage to admit failure, not understanding, or not cover over our weaknesses - all courageous decisions that may not be in our personal interests, but by creating a greater social capital, maybe paradoxically the most direct way to serve ourselves.

Then SNA and the Power of Loose Ties, or boundary spanners within Communities of Practice.
It is the Mavericks, the unreasonable person, that advances our thinking, that helps create a new world shaped by the way we look at it. (We all live in the same universe but inhabit different worlds),

What are the new skills needed in this Networked World? Independent views supported by the skills of information literacy and the higher cognitive functions employed during the process of peer dialogue?

Transformative Learning

2010-04-11T20:15:00.002+10:00

Mezirow seems to be using different language to describe the same phenomena Lonnie Athens' does in his process of violentization. I also believe that Bertram Brookes was onto the same thing with his 'fundamental equation of information science', i.e. you've gotta know what somebody already knows to build on it, or address their bias (and yes, we are all biased - I'm not suggesting that teaching is done without an agenda).

I've had my worldview changed over the time I spend studying Knowledge Management. I feel I have new lenses in which to view the world. It's also changed me in the way some of my convictions have been strengthened - and that was done by cognitive dissonance.

You see I was Director of Studies for a very shoddy Registered Training Organisation (RTO - Visa factory) when my first daughter was born. I was torn between being a good provider for my family and being able to provide a quality training environment for my students. How could I mentor my child if I sold out my values? I was literally feeling the cracks inside myself when I came home and shut down, drinking too much and going into a depressive spiral.

Luckily the owner forced me into a situation that made my choice easy. I was told to fire a teacher because she raised an OH&S issue. I walked out there and then, and spent the next six months unemployed, but with my baby daughter bonding. My next job has sent me on the path I am now pursuing, and I am a much happier person, better father, but still require more work on being a better husband (It's those strong convictions again, and not cutting other's the slack they deserve just because they hold views contrary to mine). You can choose your friends, but not your family... Did I really just say that?

So I've experienced by incremental change through study, and a tipping point in my professional life. And I guess although I didn't change direction, I grew and learnt more about myself in the process.

My current understanding of online pedagogy

2010-04-10T07:12:00.003+10:00

Bit late, being week 6 and all, however I was never a quick starter. Life is a marathon...

Firstly, I don't think you can have online pedagogy. This is purely semiotic, because I really find this term offensive and idiotic. I also believe that my eldest child, who started school this year, could learn through online instruction. She doesn't have the requisite skills to 'scaffold' her learning, i.e. knowledge of interfaces, reading, writing, etc. Although I must admit she has been amazing me with her skills navigating Dirtgirl, and other ABC kids sites. We under-estimate so much, and it's true they inhabit a different world to us X gen people.

I have always liked Bertram Brookes' fundamental problem with information science, where he posits that new information plus your existing knowledge creates an incremental change in the structure of that knowledge. I like this because it combines Cognitivism and Constructivism. You can see how you need to have a mind to start with, before you can interact with Vygotsky's ZPD, or Wengers CoP.

And I think that is where online learnings' sweet spot is... Androgogical networking. Social Capital is supported through mutual respect and reciprocity. We learn off each other through sharing and caring. Which is the third leg of the triumvirate of learning, behaviourism.

I also think that technology enables us to use our learning style preferences, to play to our strengths, and to share our knowledge through different information artifacts, be they podcasts, essays, concept maps, or multimedia prototypes.

Gratitude post

2010-04-10T06:36:00.002+10:00

I'd like to give thanks for:

Beautiful children
Loving wife
Great game of footy last night at Skilled Park
An interesting job
A clean car
A lovely day
Being the youngest in my family
Not having to work on a Saturday morning
My health
My team-mates at the Raiders
My neigbours

So much really...

Love my concept maps

2010-04-05T21:40:00.002+10:00

For my Masters of Learning and Development I'm combining my two subjects - Assessment and Online Pedagogy (Not fond of the ubiquousness of this term in Higher/Adult education)

Reflections on online studies

2010-04-03T13:09:00.002+11:00

Well it's been a bit unstructured really and I'm just starting to get more discipline into my studies.

What has been holding me back?
Starting a new routine is difficult. We have made so many changes that the dust really hasn't settled yet. What are these changes?

Relocating from Sydney
Setting up a new house
Tilly starting school
Getting daycare for Evie so I have uninterrupted time to focus on study
Starting online studies, finding out how much time I had to devote to courses - dropping two when finally realising that I had over-committed given my responsibilities of:
Being the home Dad
Finding time for the body (addressing gout) so I am mentally resilient as well as physically fit
Organising for my Mother to move here from WA
Entertaining guests that come to visit from Sydney, Perth, etc
Getting used to Moodle, rather than Blackboard/WebCT
Getting to know how the Instructors use the LMS to present their content, idiosyncratic design architecture

Then I also need to read and focus my energies for the online environment, rather than get distracted by glittering lights, inbox messages, etc.

For instance this is a posting for my assessable diary for EDU8114 that I've really only just started in Week 4!

Gratitude and Happiness

2010-04-02T10:12:00.002+11:00

I've just read an interesting article in the SMH (link in title) on this Good Friday morn. The paradox of giving is better than receiving is explored in this article, and how the way we see things dictates our thoughts and actions. If it's true people don't trust lawyers, is it because lawyers don't trust people? I think of John Howard as I write that sentence. But perhaps I should be grateful we at least live in a democracy, and that for all of his ideologies that I oppose he did introduce the Family Tax Benefit that allows me now to be a stay at home dad and study while my wife earns a modest income to support us.

So what have I got to be grateful for today?

Two beautiful children (even if the little one is a Gestapo officer reincarnate, she does makes us laugh with her authoritarian nature)
A loving wife with a beautiful, caring nature
A lovely house near the beach and abundant natural gifts of the Northern Rivers of NSW
That I'm losing weight
That I have a stimulating career ahead in the emerging field of elearning
That we have good friends from Sydney coming to stay with us, and more on the way
That I have so much room to improve it's hard to fail
That my Mum will soon be closer to us and her grandchildren

It's nice to start your day with a smile on your face...

Social Networking and Air Kisses

2010-03-29T09:12:00.003+11:00

I've recently been thinking about how the way we look at our environment determines our behaviour. I guess that is what Bandura was getting at with his Triadic Reciprocal Determinism.

Firstly a quote I like:
'We don't see the way things are, we see them the way we are' Anais Nin

I'll also follow this up with:
'..who cares is some one-eyed son of a bitch invents an instrument to measure spring with'. E.E.Cummings.

There was a recent post on the eLearning Guild (LinkedIn) that spoke about Change. A comment that resonated was that the reason most change projects fail is that they are based on rational arguments. Change is an emotional response that has very little to do with rationality. People change readily if they trust the messenger and see the benefits. The example given was that both a +5% raise and -5% cut in salary are changes - each eliciting different responses. However, even some Executives give themselves pay-cuts.

I don't know about you but I'd like to be in the trenches with this guy. He is the sort of leader you would charge into machine-gun fire for. Maybe this is why the Japanese could lead Banzai attacks in WW2, because the soldiers trusted their commanders. It makes a big difference to the German reliance on non-thinking automatic obedience, drilled into them from an early age. Maybe that's why the population allowed the Holocaust to happen - too many sheep. Apparently the best way to fool a German was to blow a whistle loudly - the local Burghers used them to control the civil population, and I guess it may contribute to the 'character' of Germans as the stereotype is measured, methodical, tempered, etc.

Anyway - getting off topic. Trust is such an holistic emotion that messages are less than 10% of the meaning taken by a listener. Apparently body language and tone have a lot more impact than the words themselves - an emotional response that is more whole body than brain.

But let me pull this back to my original post heading. I used to hate 'networking'. I saw it as a lot of self-serving arse-lickers looking for favours at little expense, so consequently I shied away from it. Then someone told me to approach it from the angle of how I can help the other person, and it made my conversation much more of an 'open questioning' style than the stilted ones I used with another lense.

You see I believe in reciprocity too. Here is my paradox - It is better to give than receive because ultimately you get back much more than you contribute in many subtle and varied ways. We do live in community, and Social Capital supports you, and provides nurture in many more ways than Human Capital can individually.

"Money's meant to be spread around. The more happiness it helps to create, the more it's worth. It's worthless as an old cut-up paper if it just lays in a bank and grows there without ever having been used to help a body"
Elvis

Learning, Change and the Spare Jumper philosophy

2010-03-26T11:56:00.003+11:00

I was listening to Dan Campbells' Learning Theory Podcast and I felt like commenting on my own reflection on Learning, Change and Comfort Zones.

I have recently moved, and while I still have fresh eyes I have been noticing that people who are not extending themselves, venturing into new territories and staying in well worn grooves of comfort are slowly withdrawing from wider circle of society. It's a paradox that staying in your comfort zone is really staying a danger zone. I had an old rugby captain who used to run around the field shouting 'no complacency' when we were winning. Easing off means you are cheating yourself of growth I feel. Pushing boundaries gives you greater space to play - expanding your Proximal Zone of Development (Vygotski).

We live in Australia, and although the image is of the sunburnt country, it does get pretty cold at night. My wife came up with the idea that you should never put on a jumper when you are out and as the sun dips, and a chill comes into the air. She reckons its better to save it until later at night, when the temperature really plummets. Her rational is that if you put on your jumper too early, you have nowhere else to go later when you really need it.

Gout is a real pain in the - foot

2010-03-10T13:19:00.002+11:00

Living up in the hot summers of Northern NSW is giving me pause to reflect on diet and alcohol intake. I've been carrying a bad foot for more than a month now - usually I can get rid of the symptoms in a day or two with tablets, but sweating so much because I'm a fat bastard, and drinking too much, because I have good neighbours and been on holidays has led me to a rethink.

It's true that I'm good at telling people the solutions to their problems, but it's hard taking your own advice.

So I here make a public pledge to drink more water, drink less beer (and alcohol) and eat meals with less purine and lose 20kg!

Lets see how I progress over the next three months - let me go to the toilet and weigh myself.

105kg

Study plans for 2010

2010-02-10T20:49:00.002+11:00

Well, I've gone and done it, enrolled in a Masters of Learning and Development, majoring in Learning Design and picking up other units from the Online and Distributed learning streams. Why have I done this rather than complete a project to attain my Masters in Knowledge Management? I had come to the conclusion that KM was too nebulous for many Managers to understand and fully appreciate the impact it can have on an organisation, hence the layoffs and retooling of many KM departments when discretionary spending gets squeezed, or a new CEO takes over. Makes me nervous with a family to feed and career to build. Secondly, the MLAD develops my past skills and experiences. At my (middle) age, many interviewers eyed me with suspicion about why I was changing (apparently) my focus from eLearning/Multimedia.

During my studies in KM I came to a conclusion that it was only one part of a triangle of merged skills, and I always like the 'softer' side of KM, i.e. Knowledge came from Learning and Change. Well change is a prickly, poisoned chalice. I am always reminded of the joke, "How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light-bulb?" The answer is only one, but the light bulbs gotta wanna change. To many change directives are initiated top down by Leaders who have no real idea of what the people they are directing to change do or feel - bound to fail most times. It also seems too simplistic, I think a complex situation can't be unravelled so easily, especially when dealing with ICT's and humans.

So wish me luck.

Aging Well

2009-07-14T11:20:00.004+10:00

I've been reading a brilliant book:
Vaillant, G (2002) Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a happier life from the landmark Harvard Study of Adult Development. Little, Brown and Co. Boston

The reaction and comments from some people when they look at the title is quite illuminating, and follow along the lines of, "so I suppose they recommend against smoking, drinking and high-fat diets?"

Interestingly the author also shares with us that his first submission for a grant to work on this study was rejected - his focus was on researching aging as a process of decay. He was a sprightly 50 and the grant Chair was a curmudgeonly 70. The chair hinted at the fact that 'only arseholes measure spring with a thermometer" (with apologies to paraphrasing e.e. cummings and plagarising this straight from the book).

Vaillant used Eriksons Life Tasks as a model to follow the psychological health of the subjects, so although they may be physically ill they were mentally well (Happy-Sick) - and mind does matter more over the latter. The most pitiful outcomes were experienced by those who were categorised Sad-Well. How terrible to be locked in a strong body when your outlook is so bleak, an extended torture.

So what has all this got to do with Learning and Change? I think it gets to the heart of the matter. Firstly, you need to be adaptable, to change as your context does - as Valliant puts it, " to make Lemonade from Lemons". To embrace the changes you are experiencing and to explore the new situation - to learn, to go to the Mountain, don't wait for it to come to you.

"...successful aging means giving to others joyously whenever one is able, receiving from others gratefully whenever one needs it, and being greedy enough to develop one's own self inbetween"

Mindset - or Mindflex?

2008-10-08T21:29:00.000+11:00

I've read somewhere that happiness is an almost pre-configured condition, we are born with a certain level of joyfulness in our lives that we oscillate around. I personally think this is bullshit, and defeatist in nature. I think Martin Seligman would disagree with this as well. We have the capacity to change, the trouble is the difficulty of change itself.

I've always been seen as a 'sunny' person, maybe its because of my disconnect with reality. I've always preferred my own company even though I like being with other people; they are sooo weird it amuses me no end. But that is on the good days. On the bad days its very frustrating and the 'tut' factor rises to a crescendo.

My wife likes to remind me that 'I'm not listening' although I constantly love to tell her how she should feel and think. Certainly not a dialogue, much more Senges' notion of discussion. Listening to other people is dangerous - it reminds you that not everyone shares your opinion and having a big brother that liked to use violence to ensure his options were the ones selected has conditioned me to avoid the 'difficult' conversations, or openly disagree with people I don't respect.

This has been a very negative strategy, both for myself and those I collaborate with. Controlled conflict can be a very positive thing. The problem with not speaking your mind, especially as an Introvert (in the MBTI sense) means that you can be viewed with suspicion.

When I'm depressed I shut down. If I'm really angry I can't even look at someone, and sometimes not saying anything conjures up the worst scenarios imaginable in the minds of others. This is when I need to reach out. As a person who has a well developed sense of criticism, I fear exposing my weaknesses will lead to exploitation rather than seeking aid. I know now with my three year-old that she needs me the most when she is unhappy, and I need to reach out to my support when I find myself in similar situations.

The downside of being 'up' most of the time is that the lows are very deep. I was amazed at University the other day with the capacity for Heather to find positives in negatives. She sent out a survey where only 2 people out of 27,000? members responded. I would have given up in despair (my resilience can be very low when confronted by hardship) but she found the strength to look at other avenues and draw conclusions from the non-responses.

The Buddhist's have a saying that the glass is neither half full nor half empty, it is what it is. Acceptance of reality is ultimately not delusional, and all the problems that that can entail.

Mapping the Intangible

2008-09-07T20:23:00.000+10:00

Today is Fathers day. I have two daughters, 3.5 and 8 months. I love them very much, but I don't know if I have the time to count the reasons why. Is it because they keep me awake at night? Is it because the eldest throws tantrums if her pants aren't exactly the correct colour she decides she needs? Or that wearing pants is so lame when you really need a twirly skirt?

No, that stuff blows, real bad. But do I laugh we she dances for me? Does she lift my mood when she dresses up and gives me the biggest kiss because she feels so good? Absolutely. How do I define that - by reason? If I used reason she probably wouldn't exist.

I guess that's an obscure way to introduce the following table - a way to try and make explicit these tangibles in an organisation, and to maybe try and take in the big picture rather than focus on the bottom line at the expense of everything else.

This table is endebted to Dr Farhad Daneshgar and Elisabeth Davenport, it attempts to integrate the Social Capital and Intellectual Capital of an organisation.

Eisner and making KM visible

2008-09-07T04:40:00.000+10:00

"Not everything that matters can be measured, and not everything that is measured matters"

Aphorism attributed to Elliot Eisner, and from a sign in Einstein's office?, "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts".

There has been a rather robust discussion on the ActKM listserve around 'cutting-out KM in the organisation', and the gist of the posts suggests that Executive don't value the output of KM as it isn't visible to them, it's a cost centre. They know that its inputs are valuable, but obviously the amount it contributes to the bottom-line for them is tenuous.

What are the reasons for this? Is it because KM is a maturing field that hasn't passed through the stage of connoisseur to critic?

'Thus… connoisseurship provides criticism with its subject matter. Connoisseurship is private, but criticism is public. Connoisseurs simply need to appreciate what they encounter. Critics, however, must render these qualities vivid by the artful use of critical disclosure'

Read from Infed on Fathers Day

Or is it because we deal in the tacit so much? I myself see KM as very closely aligned with Education, and KM practitioners almost as coaches that help realise the full-potential of an organisations Human Capital - by removing the obstacles of collaboration and helping the individual and organisation see how the development of Social Capital is ultimately to their benefit. (Is KM part of the triumvirate sandwiched between Learning and Change Management?)

As we move from the Information Economy to the Knowledge Economy education is going to be a centre of focus, and life-long learning an essential aspect of your career. The outcomes of your knowledge need to be visualised to be leveraged. Your Intellectual Knowledge needs to be surfaced, articulated, as advocated in the Nonaka and Takenuchi SECI model.

So how do we map this Social Capital? Even an egocentric view relies on it being shared across a network, which means at least one other must hold the same value?

Calling a spade a long handled digging instrument

2008-09-01T09:33:00.000+10:00

Abraham Lincoln has a quote that goes "Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves". So how do you tell someone something that you know will challenge their own perception without it getting dimissed, or worse, becoming alienated by them?

Like in a relationship, is compromise not a bad thing? How do you tell someone that their bum does look big in that, without incurring resentment but still allowing them to access to their blindspots? Is it in assertive communication? Do we need to explicitly set the ground-rules, create expectations that engender trust in a process, divorcing from the individual? Ralph Stacey talks about knowledge residing in interactions, not individuals, and this may be a great way to deflect blame and anxiety from individuals. This is much more true in a virtual environment, and thanks to Dr Daneshgar, something that needs to be made explicit when setting up collaborative teams that don't have access to non-verbal clues. There are times you need to answer a question the way the requester wants it answered in order to keep communication open, and opportunies to be franker at other times, all signalled by subtle clues.

I like the potential the Johari window has in allowing you to improve yourself, but the emphasis surely is on allowance; leading horses to water, etc. I was thinking about my project and the way I had been describing the knowledge sharing problem in our organisation, trying to be as candid as possible. I know from my discussions with faculty previously that my plea to create conditions for Social Capital have led me to be called a 'Marxist', albiet in a joking way. However, there is more wisdom in humour, than humour in wisdom...

So what was on my Desk Calendar quote today? A line from Bertrand Russel, 'Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do'.

(R)evolution

2008-08-30T04:36:00.000+10:00

As we change paradigms from the service economy (information) to the experience economy (knowledge), it is hard to know exactly where we are standing, because sometimes its with one foot in each camp.

There are two theories of thought on societal change; Does it happen gradually (evolution) or suddenly (revolution?) Maybe it happens both ways. As someone who has been working in the elearning (a dangerous misnomer if ever there was one) space since the last century I've seen and experienced the tremendous advances made in technology. What was true only last year has now changed, as the network effect takes hold and access barriers are removed. So you can almost see the cracks widening day-by-day in the dam of resistance. So the evolution slowly builds up and the boundaries blur as early adopters lay down the paths that open up areas for exploration. Then the goldrush commences.

The danger is that we use the lenses of previous paradigms to examine the new order, rather than exploring the possibilities in the new concept. We apply our rigid pattern of thinking over the new model; elearning becomes a way of distributing information that is build on the old correspondence model of self-learning, rather than utilising the synchronous affordances of the technologies of the read-write web.

This challenges the status quo of the Teaching profession. To do this effectively the sage on the stage must move through being a guide on the side (reference) to becoming a learning partner, a personal coach that helps develop their human capital to its maximum potential. More on developing Social Capital soon.

I really think this has to change our thinking from pedagogy to andragogy and make all learning active learning. I find my three year old has much more capacity for self-directed learning than we traditionally give small children credit for. However, we don't want to lose all the knowledge that has been built up by our teaching professionals in this paradigm shift, and my question is how to be sort through and determine the good from the bad? Everything old is new again, how to apply this in the new context?

Istanbul/Constantinople - Ontology/Epistimology

2008-08-25T23:16:00.000+10:00

I've been grappling with gaining a greater understanding of the similarities and differences of, and between, the concepts of Ontologies and Epistemologies since I was first introduced to them.

Sure, I know the definitions;

Ontology is what we know

Epistemology is how we know it

however, I wouldn't like to be questioned on it by my daughter.

I am starting to see the distinctions, and how each creates, or relies on the other to exist. I can start to see their hierarchical taxonomy and the divide between going forward and looking back...

Social software

2008-08-15T12:06:00.000+10:00

Sometimes we forget how far we've come. One Change Management technique is to celebrate success: it helps to embed learning, strengthens the direction and commitment to the journey, and the reflection helps us employ double-loop learning.

Which of these Web 2.0 tools are you using and which ones have you tried but not continued with?

Delicious
Technorati
YouTube
iGoogle
Facebook
MySpace
Blog's (generic)
Wiki's (generic)
PhotoBucket/Flickr/Picasso
LinkedIn/Ning
Pownce
MindMeister
RSS
PodCasting/Vodcasting

I'll try and catagorise these, and update my experience with these sites soon for my own reflective practice!

Communication - It is a two way street

2008-08-12T15:57:00.000+10:00

I have been reading a re-published HBR article, 'Barriers and Gateways to Communication' by Carl Rogers and F. Roethlisberger from 1952. What is telling is that although we exhibit very complex behaviours, we really do run to a very simple set of rules - trust, respect, love, acknowledgement and so forth are the cornerstones of building our self-esteem, which builds efficacy, which builds performance, which builds self-esteem...

This 'culture' then becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy if you look at Banduras' notion of triadic reciprocal determinism - Behaviour, Environment and Personal Factors all act against one another (B>E>P>...), or that of Lewins' Behaviour is a function of Personality and Environment (B=f[P+E]). This social psychology/learning theory demonstrates that you need all factors working together to gain an optimal result.

So communication is more than speaking, it's more than what you say but what you do and how you do it. Only when these are consistent do you create an holistic environment that supports high-levels of performance.

As a new father to two radiant girls I am keenly aware that although my eldest might not 'listen' to me, she sure emulates our behaviour as parents. On my side I have been trying to be an 'active' listener, one that neither dismisses, or invalidates my child's views, and at the other end of the scale, not try to solve her problems, but to guide her critical thinking skills so she can develop the capacity to solve them by herself. At the heart of this is the ability to listen without judgement, to try and see the issue from her perspective rather than mine. By doing this I hope to keep our channels of communication 'open'.

Sounds simple, but again the paradox is that this is so hard to emulate. It is more comfortable and safe to see things from our perspective - to evaluate - to not risk upsetting our schema. In the article the Monk in the Lab, there was an concept that the glass is neither half-empty, not half-full. We need to see it as it is, not shoehorn ideas into our preconceptions.

2008-08-04T11:23:00.000+10:00

Here are the points I need to address to complete my Masters project and graduate.

Assignment One - Project Proposal
Part 1: Rationale

A discussion of the information/knowledge management problem and its rationale
A review of theoretical and professional literature relevant to the problem
A discussion of the dimensions to be considered in selecting a preferred solution
An outline of the preferred solution and an explanation of its conceptual framework
Approaches to project evaluation and possible criteria that reflect industry standards where possible
Bibliography of reading

Part 2: Project Plan

A statement of the information/knowledge management problem
Aim and objectives of the project
A detailed plan for implementing the solution including a timeline and statement of resources required
A list of the evaluation criteria to be applied
Name, position and contact details of your professional supervisor; the plan should be signed and dated by your professional supervisor
Name of your academic supervisor and contact details; the plan should be signed and dated by your academic supervisor
Your name, signature and date

Research topic

2008-08-02T10:22:00.000+10:00

I have been thinking about using Social Exchange Theory as a critical perspective for my Social Network Analysis Project. I am looking at KM Blogs and they way information travels across blogrolls. Here are the factors influencing my thinking:

Network Attractors
Learning Theory
Complexity Theory

Do these variables combine to create 'bloggers'? Let me try and explain my thinking.

Social Exchange Theory underpins this examination of the topic as it is a way of explaining why people blog. It postulates that bloggers must receive so benefit from their effort, as it is a return on effort (ROE) rather than a return on investment (ROI) transaction. I would also like to look at Bandura's theory of tridacdic reciprocal determinism, and how that links in with the notion of power. This would also link to point three and the way power lies in the ties rather than the individual (CAS?).

Network Attractors are those people that act selflessly, or at least consider the perspectives of other views and benefits to the larger organisation. Paradoxically, this opens them up to benefits of having a wider network. By blogging for no perceived benefit, are bloggers actually receiving benefits from say hit-rates?, comments? What are the costs apart from time? Abusive comments?

Secondly, the act of writing as a way of learning, of actually acquiring, or reshaping your understanding of a topic by 'talking' about it in your head. Drucker said play to your strengths, and learning by reflecting is way up there, even for those with other learning style preferences. Is this a form of double-loop learning? Is it an essential aid to knowledge creation? The SECI models Combination mode? Or Kolbs' OADI model and his Design mode?

Thirdly, complexity and the creation of knowledge through the act of thinking. Snowden says you don't know something until you need to know it. By keeping a journal you are exercising those resources, making connections. The act of thinking stimulates those muscles and makes them stronger. When you are writing you are also creating work for an audience, and effectively you are having a one-way conversation with them, they are your 'phantom' community, and their thinking influences you as much as yours.

I also like the subtle yet polar qualities of chaos and complexity, and want to explore them with this project, but am not sure how to do it, or it is wise to further add to the mix?

Lenses, what are we filtering?

2008-07-08T12:43:00.000+10:00

I've been pondering what to say in Wiki presentation that I'll be making to my colleagues and wondering what I should highlight in the 15 minutes I have allocated.

Less is more, is a maxim that makes a lot of sense to me as a designer, and is also indicative of a Knowledge Management philosophy that uses such paradoxes when knowledge is in play - complex, yet governed by such simple rules.

So I'm thinking that rather than talk about the 'how-to's' and getting amongst the trees, we should stand back and see the forest. This may help us get a sense of how our changing paradigm of work is altering the tools we use to do this work. That a large shift from Information to Knowledge work is occurring, and its only the way we look at something that makes it visible or not.

Let me give you an example. I was doing the shopping the other night and had picked-up a basket rather than collect a trolley, as I expected to be in and out fairly quickly. I soon realised my mistake when I looked at the shopping list and had already filled my basket with toilet rolls. I knew the trolleys were stored at the other end of the store (tisk), but thought while I'm down this end I'll pick-up some disinfectant. So I did - only there was a trolley in the way that one of the packers had left after unloading their products. I saw this trolley as something in the way, because I was on a mission to pick-up the bottle of disinfectant and then go to the other side of the store. It didn't fit with my model of what I was doing at the time, it was no longer a trolley but an inconvenience to move. Luckily I widened my focus enough to see what a goose I was.

I guess I'm saying that we judge things by our internal rules, those unquestioned assumptions we use as the stage to examine every objects from. A wiki will not be seen as an innovation if viewed from the light of 'previous' work habits. How does it more efficiently replace the 'Policy and Procedures' manual stored on a shared drive? Should the question not be about how to contribute amendments to the 'Policy and Procedures' manual?

This moves it from the old paradigm of Top-down hierarchy to a flatter structure (or Nonaka's Matrix structure) that can provide additional benefits, such as:

Employee Empowerment/Engagement
Information Capture from the coalface
Open Comunication
Expert Input

So that's my post today - seeing one thing makes you blind to others, its what lenses you wear that determine what you see.