day 3: zen traveler fail

blogeverydayofjune 4 Responses »
Jun 212011

So I was inspired by some hardcore zen travelers like Fiona, Kathryn and Con to travel with only hand luggage. And much to my amazement, I actually managed to condense my stuff right down and fit it all into a cabin-sized wheelie. Yay me!

Alas, when I checked in at Sydney airport, the very clever ground staff weighed my bag and declared it too heavy to carry on. After all my hard work to reduce my stuff – only one pair of jeans and two pairs of shoes in that bag, people! And no GHDs! – I ended up having to check my bag in.

big gaudy suitcase

my new gaudy suitcase. see the sunlight in this pic? it was taken at 8.30pm!

After one afternoon of shopping in London (with my shopping haul now waiting for me at a friend’s place) and one internal flight with an overflowing hand bag that weighed a tonne, I have succumbed and bought myself a repulsively gaudy, enormous suitcase. All for the bargain price of 45 quid! (Reduced from 150!) So I’ll be sticking my carry on in there for the rest of the trip, leaving me plenty of room for shopping. And best of all, I no longer have to stress about fitting everything back in the way it was originally. That’s the problem with outsourcing your packing: it never goes back in the way it came out.

I admit defeat: I, Kate Davis, am far too much of a princess to travel with carry on only.

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day 2: luton is NOT london

blogeverydayofjune 6 Responses »
Jun 202011

Dear self. Next time you decide to fly anywhere out of London, thou shalt not fly on easyJet and thou shalt definitely not fly out of Luton. Kthxbai.

No seriously, have you ever been to Luton airport? It’s an absolute debacle to get to (so I forked out 63 quid for a taxi) and a debacle to get around. And seriously, if you thought flying on Virgin or Jetstar was uncomfortable, give easyJet a bash. Thank goodness Luton to Aberdeen by plane is a shorter trip than London to Luton by car. After a 4am wakeup (thanks screwy body clock!) I was pretty ready to get to Aberdeen and chill out.

I arrived in Aberdeen at about lunch time yesterday – the i3 Information Interactions Impact conference starts this afternoon (Monday). I picked up the keys for my student accommodation, realised there was no TV in the room (I have a thing about silent hotel rooms – I really need the TV on for company) and promptly headed straight into the city to grab some lunch and some DVDs to keep me company. I had a pub lunch and did a bit of shopping – picking up a pair of Vans because my feet are killing from wearing boots all the time, and season one of Glee on DVD – and pottered around to check out the sites of Aberdeen.

This is a beautiful city. But it’s kind of kooky too: rolling hills, full on ye olde town, and seagulls squawking everywhere! I really, really like it here though – cell-like student accommodation and all! Every one I talk to is super nice and it’s a really picturesque little town. After less than a day here, I know where all the important stuff is – the high street for shopping, Boots for all my pharmacy needs (essential knowledge for travelling with a chest infection), Sainsbury’s for bottled water and snacks, Starbucks for wifi and breakfast, Debenham’s to buy a bigger suitcase (yes, already)…

On returning to my room after dinner last night, I bumped into some other people who are here from the conference. They had a help sheet for the cabled internet in the rooms (didn’t even know there was any!) so I managed to get myself set up and connected. Having internet access makes such a difference. I’ve travelled on my own before and I feel a lot less isolated this time because wifi is ubiquitous. It’s nice to be able to log on to Twitter and say hi to my friends at home, and I’m managing to get a lot of work done using hot spots. This is awesome because it means I’m not going to return to a flooded inbox at the end of my trip. It’s also good because I never have this amount of free time at home, so I’m able to get things done that I wouldn’t at home.

Speaking of which… Better get back to work.

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day 1: london

blogeverydayofjune 2 Responses »
Jun 202011

I’m counting Saturday as my first full day of being away… Thursday was, of course, full of traveling, and Friday saw me exhausted after being awake for 40 hours with only about three hours of napping in between, and pretty emotional to boot. I coughed and sneezed the entire way from Brisbane to Sydney to Bangkok to London. Delightful. I had a nap when I got in on Friday and then met up with one of oldest friends for dinner at an Italian restaurant at Earls Court.

Speaking of Earls Court: I stayed at the easyHotel there (linked to easyJet). I was expecting small and economy style, but man was it small and economy style! If you had to imagine what a bathroom on a plane would look like if it had a shower in it, you’d imagine an easyHotel bathroom. The bathroom is a wet room – so no powerpoints in there for hair drying (queue bad hair days) and not enough room to turn around when in the shower. But the water was piping hot and the pressure good; it was really clean; and an awesome location. When I first got in I had a “oh my God what have I done” moment – it was freezing in the room and the bathroom was not so amusing to just-got-off-the-plane-and-dying-for-a-shower-Kate. There was also lots of road noise and I was in dire need of a nap. However, post shower and nap (which turned out to be quality despite the road noise), everything looked a bit shinier and it turned out to be a perfect place to stay.

Anyway, back to Saturday… I spent the first few hours of the morning working at Starbucks, where I had a decent coffee! Yes, at Starbucks! I was a bit stiff and sore after the flight so I got a massage, which was without a doubt the best one I’ve ever had, then headed off to London Bridge to meet my friend. We went to the Borough Markets, where we bought awesome chicken wraps and a bottle of prosseco. Then we found a spot out of the rain – on the side of the road at the base of a pylon! – and sat and ate and drank and caught up.

We spent the afternoon shopping, and I ended up with quite a haul for my nephew – clothes from the department store sales and Special Agent Oso merchandise from the awesome Disney store. We got served by an Aussie in a quintessentially British pub, downed a bottle of wine, and then headed off for awesome Thai for dinner. It was pretty much the perfect Saturday.

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the social classroom: presentation on teaching in social media spaces

blogeverydayofjune 3 Responses »
Jun 092011

Today I spoke at a QUT innovation in teaching and learning event called Making connections. I spoke about the way I teach INN333: Information Programs, which is a unit about information program, product and service development and delivery. With the influence of new and emerging technologies – particularly web based technologies – being such a huge player in this space, the unit also has a focus on web based technologies, and in particular, social technologies. I teach this unit using a WordPress install with BuddyPress and a whole range of other plugins. We also actively use Twitter, YouTube, Elluminate and other tools. Students undertake weekly ‘play’ activities to get them experimenting with a range of technologies and tools, as well as regular blogging to get them thinking critically about the applications of technology for information program, product and service delivery.

If you’re interested in finding out more, check out my slides from the presentation and a short video tour of the unit site. If social websites are your thing, you might also be interested in a presentation I did a while back on socialising websites for Social Media Club Gold Coast.

I’m indebted to the very awesome Michael Stephens for the idea to use WordPress and BuddyPress as a learning hub (I’m not going to call it a learning management system because that’s not quite how I kitted it out).

The social classroom

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cheating on my 8 june post...

blogeverydayofjune, eBooks No Responses »
Jun 082011

I blogged today over at ALIA Sydney’s blog on eBooks and how the eBook marketplace has matured in Australia over the last 12 months. Go read it!

And while you’re there, make sure you catch other awesome posts from library rock starts like Ellen Forsyth, Zaana Howard and Mylee Joseph! The clever clogs at ALIA Sydney have roped a whole bunch of very interesting people into posting on tech topics throughout June. Keep a look out for more to come.

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libraryhack: qut information studies group youtube playlist

blogeverydayofjune No Responses »
Jun 072011

If you haven’t heard about LibraryHack, you should have! Throughout the first half of the year, National and State Libraries Australasia have been running a data and image mashup competition that closed just recently. Some of the entries are simply amazing – you should definitely check them out! These entries take library data and give it new life, opening up collections in new and exciting ways.

As well as being a lot of fun, LibraryHack is an opportunity to raise awareness around issues and topics related to library data – topics like Open Access, data management, Open Source, repositories, digital stories, metadata and more. The QUT Information Studies Group (the group of researchers and educators who teach in the Library and Information Science, Executive Information Practice, Information Management, and Digital Environment majors in the Master of Information Technology) wanted to support LibraryHack by providing content around these topics.

I recruited a project student to the cause and for the last six weeks or so we have been interviewing a host of experts and creating short videos that are now available on TheQUTube (QUT’s YouTube channel).

The line up includes interviews with people like

  • Paul Hagon, awesome web developer from the National Library of Australia
  • Nicole Engard, author of the book Library Mashups
  • Kathryn Greenhill, lecturer at Curtin University of Technology and Australian library technology guru

Go check them all out!

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on laziness

about me, blogeverydayofjune 2 Responses »
Jun 052011

We crumbed a stack of chicken tenders, bought the makings of my favourite rocket, parmesan and pine nut salad, and pre-cooked a potato bake for tonight’s dinner. Somehow going that last few yards to actually cook the chicken and assemble the salad seems like too much hard work.

Consequently, I’m about to sit down to a bowl of potato bake for dinner.

Is this the height of laziness?

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things i'd really like to do

about me, blogeverydayofjune 11 Responses »
Jun 052011

If there was nothing stopping me, I would do many things.

I’d sleep until noon on a Sunday, just once.

I’d spend an entire day watching episode after episode of Colin and Justin’s Home Heist, Divine Designs, Property Ladder, Relocation Relocation and Grand Designs.

I’d cook a gourmet dinner every night.

I’d have a crafternoon with my friends at least once a month.

I’d make jewelry to go with all the new outfits I bought a couple of weeks back.

I’d read until the piles of books-on-loan and books-I-want-to-read dwindle to nothing.

I’d have a pedicure every weekend.

I’d start every day building tunnels and houses with my nephew while my niece knocks them down.

I’d have clean sheets on my bed every night.

I’d ban Fireman Sam from ever seeing the light of day in my house again.

I’d spend at least one day a week catching up with dear friends, like Lissy.

I’d write a children’s book and sweet talk a lovely friend into doing the drawings.

I’d add a trip to the Netherlands on the end of my forthcoming UK trip, and spend the whole time indulging my love of Dutch painting.

I’d only use Narciso Rodriguez shower gel.

I’d learn how to use my grandmother’s beautiful mahjong set – or re-learn.

I’d build myself a simple life, but ultimately, one not too different from the one I have now. Just with more time for friends, family and fun.

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redefining the ingredients in blended learning: blending synchronous and asynchronous activities

blogeverydayofjune 4 Responses »
Jun 052011

[First: a disclaimer. I am still very green in terms of my experience as an educator. What follows are my impressions of blended learning, which have been formed through my limited experience as an educator and my ponderings on how to get the right mix for online students. These are not necessarily a reflection of my institution's philosophy on blended learning, nor are they necessarily indicative of the approach taken in the course I teach into.]

I’m in the midst of writing a paper on one aspect of a large blended learning research project I’ve been working on for about the last 18 months. The paper looks at our experience at QUT in teaching a dual mode cohort (both online and face-to-face) while aiming to realise the benefits of blended learning.

And I’ve been thinking: what is blended learning for wholly online students? If we can never see those students face-to-face, what ingredient should replace that face-to-face interaction in the blended learning mix? For lots of institutions, lecture capture has been the answer to that question. I’m not convinced lecture capture is the answer – at least not in isolation.

These days, I aim to teach face-to-face classes that require student participation. Instead of telling students how it is, I prefer to work with students as they figure out how things work. Class time is for engaging in activities and discussions and hearing from guest speakers. With this approach, recording the lecture does not necessarily allow the online students to realise the same learning outcomes as the students who were physically in the room (although they may indeed walk away with the same content knowledge).

More and more, I’ve been wanting to replace the term ‘face-to-face’ with ‘synchronous’. Rather than seeing my students in the flesh, I think it is, in fact, more relevant to say that I want to be in a ‘ teaching space’ with them at a single point in time – whether that space is a physical or virtual one is largely irrelevant. If I think back to the activities I’ve run in face-to-face classes this semester, I can’t think of one that wouldn’t have been possible to run via Elluminate. Some of them may even have been easier to facilitate and more meaningful in that environment.

For me, blended learning is more about mixing synchronous learning (technology assisted or face-to-face) with asynchronous activities (predominantly [but not necessarily exclusively] online), than it is about mixing face to face and online. And this means that online students can engage in a blended learning experience without ever setting foot on campus.

But what drives students to select online courses rather than face-to-face courses? I’m aware that geographic distance from campus is only one contributing factor. For many online students, it is simply not possible to be in a single place – any place, campus or a home study – at a predetermined time. This means that it might be as difficult for an online student to attend a class in Elluminate as it is to come into campus for a class.

Where does that leave blended learning? Are educators chasing an unattainable dream by trying to achieve blended learning for online cohorts? Or do we need to rethink the balance between flexibility and learning outcomes? Are there any learning outcomes that can’t be realised through asynchronous interaction?

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voiceless

blogeverydayofjune 2 Responses »
Jun 022011

[Update: I'm calling this week and my state of being my "fug of sick". Just in case you were wondering.]

I woke up this morning and it seemed I had misplaced my voice. And I don’t just mean my voice is croaky. I mean it’s gone completely about 80% of the time. If I give it a rest for a couple of hours I seem to be able to squeak a few sentences out, but then I can actually feel my vocal chords clanging around in my throat (well, I imagine I can, anyway!).

Problematic. Voice is kind of the essential tool of a lecturer. It’s also pretty necessary for wrangling two year old twins, taking phone calls, and even for telling the doctor what’s wrong with you.

Alas, voiceless I am.

The last time I lost my voice was… hmmm… maybe 2003. And I distinctly remember it taking weeks to come back. Obviously, with the month I’ve got ahead of me, I kinda need it back on the double.

I’ve been sick now for six days, which is fairly unusual for me. I get my fair share of colds, but usually manage to work through them and come out the other side pretty quickly. This time, I’ve been hit fairly hard. I’ve had several false starts – I keep thinking I’m getting better, then it all goes down hill again.

I am terrible at being sick. I really suck at resting. I bore ridiculously easily. I get frustrated when I’m too tired to work. I am just not good at being idle. Or, more to the point, my brain rarely *is* idle, so when my body decides it has to be, I get frustrated that I can’t keep up my usual pace. And I stress about all the things I’m not doing. I am just really, really annoying when I’m unwell, and perhaps more so to myself than anyone else. Or at least I’d like to think that. My family would probably tell a completely different story.

And on that note, I’m off to find someone to give me some sympathy… just need to find a notepad on which to write out my woes to secure optimum mollycoddling.

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