Tuesday 27 May 2014

We are in week 5 of my eight week online course studying the best use of social media in adult learning situations. I am still struggling to find my identity and define what kind of teacher I want to be. As I journey through this teaching certificate I am suddenly looking at all the teachers and coaches around me and trying to define what makes them good and how would I do it differently.

Last weekend I took a first aid course. I found myself thinking about how the instructor was teaching us instead of the information that we were supposed to be there to learn. He involved us, he made us repeat what he said and he made us repeat it again so that it was burned into our memories. I feel that he was a very effective teacher. I understand that he has to get us to just react in an emergency and not stop to think about what to do. The reactions should just happen from repeated memory patterning. This is because the brain slows down when it stops to think and in an emergency time is often your enemy. This is what I have been learning through my other classes in my Provincial Instructor Diploma Program.

While all study and no play makes Sandra a dull girl I decided that today I would check on Facebook to catch up with what has been happening with my friends. I see that my good friend from high school is at a conference in Kuala Lumpur where he is expanding his technology knowledge. When I met my friend he was struggling to catch up to his peers in grade 11 as he had been kept back for another semester in grade 10. When I graduated he said he would be staying in high school for one more year to catch up and make sure he had enough credits to graduate and then he could also stay on the track team for one more year. At that time I was unsure of what he would choose to do with his life. Well he has made great choices and while he was a solid friend to me then - he is an inspiration to me now. He has not only excelled at learning as an adult but also at teaching. 

I would like to share a quote from the conference he is attending that is very worth sharing. +Rod Narayan has just posted the following: "Love this quote from the Deputy Minister of Education Malaysia "Doctors can save lives, teachers can save a generation" #desasia." Thank you Rod - you are certainly doing just that with your students. And yes - I am following Rod on Twitter now!!

I guess I had better get back to my research on ways to use social media to transform education...

Thursday 22 May 2014



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Muddling in Moodle by Sandra Gore is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at //goremaysandra.blogspot.ca/.

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As I work through my on-line course I am being led to investigate copyright and copyright infringement. We have been asked to find examples of copyright infringement lawsuits and to share them with each other. The concept of copyright is not foreign to me - it seems to me that if you made it then you should get credit for it! But that is my small world thinking perhaps and the on-line world is fraught with peril.

I have found a report of a company that used a picture of Omaha Nebraska and ended up with a lawsuit for $8000 for posting the picture without permission. (find the article here) The company eventually settled with a payment of only $3000 but what a costly mistake. This could be enough to put a small emerging company out of business.

We have also seen how a copyright which was used correctly then expired and the resulting "art" had to be removed from the internet. Check out the report from the Ottawa Citizen as they discuss Chris Hadfield's adventure into copyright space.

Let me know if you have any similar stories to share!

Tuesday 13 May 2014

I have been challenged to build this blog and to fill it with items of interest in my "field of expertise". I am not sure if it is more of a challenge to fill the blog or to identify what my "field of expertise" is exactly. I do not have a red-seal trade to blog about. I do not have a university degree to blog about. I don't even have a scintillating hobby to blog about. What can I offer? Parenting tips could be a powerful source of interest these days - but my kids are young adults and are wonderful (especially when they are getting along!) and don't require much parenting from me these days. I could blog about my job as an administrative assistant - but I have a great boss and team in the office and I am only working here until August of this year. So I guess the more obvious choice would be to blog about my journey as a student on my way to becoming qualified to teach adults.

I have recently signed into an on-line class that requires me to become more electronically savvy. What a challenge for this linear brain. I am struggling with the connectivity portion that demands that I tweet, FaceBook and blog for the next eight weeks. I have long maintained that my life is my own until I give it away on FaceBook and I am having an inner struggle with the concept that I have to now let everyone else know what I am doing at any particular point in a day. Privacy is a concept I have prized and this is a real eye opening concept to have all the accounts I have just signed up for. My content must be my own - no copy and paste - no risk of copyright infringement. All real challenges in a modern world when one wants to stay up with technology and communications.

So - if this is to be a blog by me it does not have to be about me. I have found a wonderful video to share that speaks about taking ME out of Social MEdia and focusing on we. I feel that this is a must watch for anyone who is starting an on-line adventure. Now let's see if I can shift my focus to we and find worthy information that will make a difference in a life. Enjoy this TedTalk by Kylie Lang.


Enjoy the day!

Sunday 11 May 2014

Mothers' Day

Today is a celebration for mothers everywhere. Some want breakfast in bed, some want a phone call from their children, others can only spend their day remembering time spent with their kids. There are so many ways to celebrate your mother or your mothering...

My family decided that we should spend the weekend camping so I woke up in my warm bed in our 1972 SportsCoach. Yes that is the lovely retro camper that came with white shag carpet from front to back and up the walls! We have had the camper in our little family for 22 years and have enjoyed many trips with it. I had decided early on that if I had to leave my house for the wilds then I had better have a good sleep so that I would not be a bear to the rest of the family. With a little shopping I found a queen size mattress that would literally fold in half and we could therefore get it into the back of the camper. This has proven to be the best investment ever because now when the kids say they want to go out in the woods I am assured of a very comfortable sleep!

So back to my Mothers' Day... How did I spend my day? I made coffee for those that need a shot of caffeine to get their day started. Then I cooked bacon, scrambled eggs and pancakes for the seven of us. Then I cleaned up the dishes, washed down the kitchen area of the camper, cleaned the bathroom and stowed everything that had been used and prepared for the trip home. I had the momentary thought that many mothers would resent that they had to not only cook the breakfast but they would also have to clean it all up. Then sanity set in.

I spent the the morning with my children. They did not argue and they thanked me for breakfast when it was done. Beyond that I watched as they worked together to break down the campsite without being told what to do.They laughed with (and at) each other. They showed me that beyond being siblings they are also friends. They showed me that they can use manners when least expected and that they appreciate the things that I do for them even though they may not vocalize all of those thoughts. Thanks kids for showing me that my journey through mothering has shifted to a new phase where I can enjoy the fruits of my labours and I can step back and enjoy the beautiful people that you have become. That is my gift today. Thank you Katy, Paula and Graham. Now I just have to find a way to celebrate with my own mother!

Happy Mothers' Day!

Friday 9 May 2014

I have spent the day looking over other people's blogs and wondering what I should add and what I should say. This whole experience makes me feel like I should have something really important to put out there in cyberspace! So in my journey through other blogs I looked at content and then I came back to my own blog server and looked at some of the options. One of the options asks me if I want to earn money by placing ads on my blog page. Well that seemed like something a starving student would be interested in doing! Then I started to look at how the ads are matched to the content.

Now - back to the blog that really got my attention - This Recently Married Man Just Realized Marriage Is Not For Him - by Seth Adam Smith. The sentiment was quite nice. The comments were varied in opinion and the pictures of him and his lovely wife were good. As I was reading this post through FaceBook and not on his actual blog I clicked on the Viral News Stories link (which is a user name for 10fing.com) and I was able to read his story. The startling laugh came at the end of the story when the "ad matching" device had inserted an ad for "How to fix your marriage" by marriagemax.com and then there was an ad for a divorce lawyer! Now really - I am sure when Seth wrote the loving words about his wife and marriage he never intended the words to be accompanied by an ad for a divorce lawyer!

I guess that means that I will forgo the earning potential of putting ads onto my blog!! Who knows what might end up on my blog!!

So while I spin my wheels I have another great song for you to enjoy!

Thursday 8 May 2014

"The talking head is dead, but the need for thought and reflection will only increase." - Jose Bowen

As a teacher being a student, I am remembering how to open my mind to new experiences and concepts. My journey to the completion of my PID begins with this small step into the on-line world of blogging. Let the adventure begin!

Enjoy the Talking Heads while I think and reflect on all this...