The presentation on Friday and a survey

Looking forward to the presentation on Friday - I have added another version to the bottom of this post without my little video so I can talk through it, the feedback from others on my plan has been very helpful. It has given me some ideas to focus on especially the cultural and sustainablility issues.
I have devised a very small survey - mainly due to the limited number of questions available on http://www.surveymonkey.com/ to those without a full account - hopefully this will give me some feedback to use - I am also going to try and print the questions to bring to Friday's presentation.
Click Here to take survey

Flexible Beauty Plan version 2

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Click here to listen the audio from the presentation on Friday

The new version

So - here's version 2

Flexible Beauty Plan version 2

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I thought I would update it online and then use this for my presentation next week.

I have added the survey tool to my blog and would appreciate your feedback.
I am trying to write a survey on survey monkey but am struggling to decide on the questions I want to ask and the answers I really need!

This 2nd version is 10 minutes long and is a little more condensed than previously.
I have also talked about the particular educational theories behind my idea.
The first would be to cater to students different learning styles based on the VARK model, giving students who are visual, audio, reader/writer or kinaesthetic learners different material for study.
I also have related the plan to constructivism theory - I feel that if students produce their own portfolio of work that they can refer back to, reflect on and construct for themselves, they will feel more empowered and take ownership of their learning rather than being "spoon fed" the requirements to pass the course.
I have just noticed that both my children have been through their pre-schooling using this learning theory as they both went to Montessori pre-schools and experienced the wonderful constructive learning environment that Maria Montessori developed in the early 1900's.
Dr. Maria Montessori’s innovative approach was that “Education should no longer be mostly imparting of knowledge, but must take a new path, seeking the release of human potentialities.”
What a thought for us all as educators.

I would also link the plan to Jerome Bruner's scaffolding theory where students have supports to their learning.
These supports may include the following:

Resources
A compelling task
Templates and guides
Guidance on the development of cognitive and social skills
These supports are gradually removed as students develop autonomous learning strategies, thus promoting their own cognitive, affective and psychomotor learning skills and knowledge.

Comments would be appreciated and any feedback will be used in my evaluation of the plan

The Flexible Beauty Plan

So here is the plan

I hope it is going in the right direction and would love some feedback - the learning curve for me has been using these multi-media resources to document my learning.

Posting this presentation proved a challenge in itself - but I may be able to point Leigh in the direction of a great tool called "ispring" that converted my power point and audio to a .swf and then I could upload to slideboom!

So many ideas; so little time!

"The beautiful thing about learning is no one can take
it away from you" B.B. King

An insightful quote from the legendary blues singer and songwriter - not sure where it originated or in what context - but a great quote for our course none the less.

So - I've come to the point of summarising my findings of the last few weeks! My thoughts go back to the beginning of the course when we had to set up the blog, and introduce ourselves and the feelings that that invoked.

To summarise my feelings I would say I experienced the following:

• Fear - of the unknown methods and applications


• Surprise - at what I knew how to do and what I managed to do


• Intimidation - some of the course participants looked like they had been blogging forever and made me feel inferior about my blog


• Isolated - not sure that this has still been overcome really


• Inquisitiveness - I loved learning more about the topics we covered


• Proud - when I did something myself and got some feedback


• Fun - especially searching through you tube funny video clips

If I look at all of the feelings I experienced through this learning process I have a clearer picture of what our students must go through; which in itself is something I know I tend to forget.

I have so many ideas for flexible learning as I have stated previously in my blog that I still can't say that I have come up with my plan; as to thinking about the wider issues such as universal design, cultural sensitivity, access, equity and sustainability, I think I need to formalise the plan first and then directly relate the plan to those areas.

SO - the plan - or rather the ideas!

• Idea 1 - new assessment for Anatomy and Physiology - has to be done for my students this year - but course descriptor states written test - so unable to change that - looks like that idea won't work. Also I need to be aware that if I do change the assessment method it would have to go through approval procedures etc. and not sure that approval would be granted


• Idea 2 - Moodle - what a muddle - Have a meeting next week with the EDA from Timaru to discuss this option and according to the Charter is something that Aoraki would like to use more of - but time frame and paperwork etc. means that this probably won't be an option that I can develop. Our PD day in Timaru alerted us to the availability of moodle and the talk by Selena Chan certainly opened up some further thought on that possibility.


• Idea 3 - Develop some flexible learning resources for the students particularly in the area that I teach either - Skincare, Aromatherapy, Indian Head Massage, Body Massage or Anatomy and Physiology - not sure if this is going to fit the course requirements though?? I love the resources that the Chef's at Otago Poly have developed and would love to be able to develop something along those lines for my students - particularly in the practical areas even with something like eye lash tinting - my issue here would be health and safety -would I want this resource being open access when there is a health and safety issue? The risk I also have is that students will miss class because they know they can catch up "on-line" - this is probably something I need to give detailed thought to - how would I control access, and in what context would students be given access to material on-line as the nature of the course is face-to-face.


• Idea 4 - set up a course blog with links on-line quizzes, mcq tests etc. use the blog as feedback mechanism - amongst other things - again think this is too wishy-washy for my flexible learning plan - the risk here is that it may not prove to be as useful as some of the other ideas -


• Idea 5 - ?????

There are many considerations that I need to take into account before I could proceed with any of these ideas - timing being a key consideration, along with privacy issues and cultural awareness, especially if I was to develop the resources for subjects like Massage.

All questions and concerns that I am still trying to fathom out answers to, and decide what my focus is going to be. Any helpful guidance would be appreciated!