We’ve had a kind of staff development day today (feeling bit angst-ridden after it). Anyway, here are a few personal action points resulting from the strategic objectives we came up with:


One of our objectives was ‘to find ways to innovate in our own practice‘. The final two pieces of work I’m undertaking to complete my Masters are both fairly innovative – one on connectivism & connectivist knowledge, drawn from my experiences on Massively Open Online Courses like PLENK 2010 and CCK11, and another on the use of video in learning. My own PG Cert tutees have been quite deeply involved in the latter as, since October, they have been very tolerant in agreeing to have their reflections, presentations and peer feedback recorded on video and then made available to them online to revisit as they progress on the course. It’s nowhere near as easy as the techno-evangelists make out, what with making sure everything is charged up, figuring out strategies to minimise editing and uploading time, and the psychological side of things; knowing when people aren’t comfortable being filmed, minimising the actual impact of the camera on the reflections and feedback people come out with. But I’m hoping that my tutees will get something from it and we’ll all come away from the experience having learned something; whether that’s ‘don’t bother with video, it’s not worth the hassle’ or ‘stick with it, it can really influence students’ learning.’


So – the use of video is an innovation in progress. Over the course of the next twelve months I am also planning to incorporate some of the Connectivism ideas into the support I give the PG Cert participants as well. We’re piloting the University blogging service this year for the participants to use for their research journals. I’m sure not everyone will take to it, but I’m planning some activities to introduce those who *are* interested to the use of blogs within a learning network. I am also planning a learning group activity where participants create concept maps of the ideas and theories informing their action research, and then collaboratively work these into a larger, interlinking concept map.


Another one of our key objectives was to find ways of exchanging ideas and examples of good work. There is a whole load of fantastic work done by PG Cert participants that could be shared much more widely – both across PG Cert cohorts and more broadly across the University. I have a project planned this year to capture 5 minute pecha-kucha-style videos of PG Cert graduates talking about their action research projects: What they did and why; what they learned and what they will do next. I want to experiment with offering these as live, interactive sessions and as catch-up sessions with asynchronous discussion & questions.


Improve our communication with diverse groups of staff using diverse methods:  I think video communication has the power to add something new and exciting – and a more personal feel. It’s got its drawbacks – in some ways it’s more accessible that text – in others less so. I recently started using short video recordings or screenshots to communicate with PG Cert participants, and I’m planning to start using this to give 60-second trailers for courses – such as online tutoring, and perhaps to give general feedback to the group a more personal edge. We are mercilessly bombarded with e-mail these days and I suspect we need to be more realistic about what people actually read and what they don’t even open. It’s not just about getting our all-staff e-mail strategy sorted; it’s just as important to have a useful, informative and instantly accessible web presence so that the moment someone *is* interested, they can find what they need.


Reflecting upon the day itself, it was weird – I didn’t feel like I said anything interesting or useful – in fact I found it difficult to say anything at all – and I felt oddly uncomfortable. Our facilitator – Sean Blair – was excellent, and this made the day bearable.


I think I have a strategy that helps me to get through life, a key part of this being to accept the things I can’t change and try not to focus on them at all. There is the potential for huge disappointment if you hold onto things too tightly and I try very hard to just focus on my own thoughts and actions – things I *do* have control over. I care deeply about my own teaching practice and the way we run the PG Cert course but I guess I feel pretty strongly – although until now subconsciously – that the strategic direction of my department is not something that I have any say in.


Perhaps it’s a control/responsibility issue; maybe I would rather have no say in something whatsoever and just ride any waves that came along, than feel the weight of responsibility of being part of a decision, and then having to deal with the frustration of it not going my way, or – far worse – the decision *I* had pushed for being a huge mistake.


I couldn’t bring myself to sign up for any of the action points at the end of the meeting, which I immediately regretted enormously but didn’t know how to solve. I normally volunteer for everything and I’m a big believer in collaboration. The primary concern in my mind was that, on the evidence of today’s performance, I would be of no use whatsoever to the process and would just get on everyone’s nerves. An interesting learning experience but I’m left feeling unsure about what to do with the knowledge; it depends whether I actually *do* have any say in the strategic direction of the department or not, and to be honest I have no idea. Yes, I’ve been asked, but it’s not the same thing.