Ali's Ramble

As with much of my reading for these blog posts, I got rather fixated on one aspect - in this case, reflective practice. As educators, we all consider ourselves to be lifelong learners. Think about that, though; it’s become a real cliché. Do we all really know how we learn best? How do we know that our own learning has been effective? What we think of as learning, as practitioners, may not necessarily be real, embedded learning. Reflection is greatly emphasised in teacher education. However, reflection and reflective practice are different entities. Moon (1999) says that reflective practice is an active dynamic, action-based & ethical set of skills, placed in real time and dealing with real, complex & difficult situations. It’s quite common to hear teachers argue that they already “do” reflective practice, simply by thinking over a timeline of events. It is more than just self-awareness. To me, reflective practice is purposeful thinking about actions and their outcome...

It’s no secret; I adore learning. Learning is ALL about making connections, so this post is my favourite by far. The Oxford Dictionary defines interdisciplinary as “relating to more than one branch of knowledge”. For someone who lives to learn, and to help others learn, the connections or branches are potentially limitless. Mind-mapping tools didn’t quite cut it for me when building this map. My connections are related to me, but also separate to each other, each one inextricably linked by its’ value to my professional world. The lightning rods represent both current and potential dynamic connections to a wider community. Each one permeates other connective groups in different ways (which may not themselves be connected) and all are connected to my practice. There are always potential connections arising due to my background in biotechnology and my connections in the wider education community. Interdisciplinary learning has been seen as vital for a coherent curric...

My school has recently restricted the use of social media on our school network. When discussing the issue, there was real debate as to what “social media” actually is. Dictionary.com says “websites & applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking”, whereas WhatIs.com and IT Connect (2017) both view social media as online tools of communication allowing collaborative interaction & content sharing. Several studies highlight the use of social media as a teaching tool to enhance study and motivation. Interestingly, much research in this area is conducted in the tertiary education sector. However, students of tertiary age have different perspectives, age-related psychology and motivation than primary and secondary school students. Consequently, though most “digital citizens” are comfortable using social media on a regular basis, the benefits for use in teaching & learning may be quite subjective. (Silius et al, 2010; IT...