learning

Well it’s been a week since we were inducted to the MA in Person-Centred Education at Sussex University.

In addition to the welcoming and procedural stuff, we had a great session lead by my new postgrad supervisor called Dr Carol Robinson. Carol has worked with that dear Michael Fielding (Prof.) chap on Student Voice and other erudite, emancipatory matters.

Carol got us thinking in new ways about the benefits of keeping a learning journal, in preparation for our first 5,000 words - a Learning Biography. (All of which links into the MA so I will update a previous post with more on what that entails. Wonderful.)

So when to right in the private learning journal, when to write on the Learning blog, and how to start linking with critical theory and practice in putting together the assessment piece (Learning Biography)? All links with the Reggio project’s strong focus on documentation and social construction on learning/meaning making.
Private v public. Who are we writing for and why? How do personal and communal utterances of ’self’ create identity. Is it all just irrelevant navel gazing? These seem to be recurrent themes as a writer, communicator, activist type… now budding academic? The blogosphere offers a rich site for these questions.

Scroll to the end of About this site re: this too.

I’ve had an abstract accepted for a conference in Denmark this March too. European Society for Research on the Education of Adults - Network on Life History & Biography - “Concepts of Learning?”.

For better or for worse, this will NOT be the Australian Denmark where Lee Loo’s wine making love now resides, but far colder climes.

So that is a whole other dimension on who to write about the self, about one’s thinking and journey for a whole different audience. But not so much writing as conceptualising.

I guess I’m having a bit of a quantum leap in human becoming when it comes to the formalisation of my learning and thinking.

I guess it is important to head for whatever outlet, audience, medium feels the most compelling write now (intended).

I guess I will continue to learn and become in communal connection with you all around me - friends, family, colleagues, learning partners.

One of the key aspects of the session at Concepts in Learning will be to look at this notion of how we learn in community. And I will be inviting everyone that attends the session, and others, to call a Danish number I have booked on Skype, or come to this blog, and enter the conversation. The abstract is here for those that are interested. ESREA 2007 paper

I guess I will hoping this blog has been given a little better attention before 3 March then. But the biggest question… do I go back and edit out the bits that are not part of the identity I wish to portrait to these new colleagues (eg. Dorking, England oh England) or offer up the whole lot.

I guess the answer is here.

Suffice to say, it’s a tricky line to walk. I come back here sometimes and think… “Hmmm, maybe life would be easier if I was willing to sign up to a unified, codified discipline of identity,” eg. never reveal a thing until it has been fully researched, processed, articulated, edited, peer-reviewed and put into dead tree for posterity.

Looking back over the journey, I guess that’s not to be.

Phew.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 22nd, 2007 at 9:52 pm and is filed under Early Learning, Education, General, Learning Biography, Learning communities, Reggio, Student or Learner Voice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.