A Principle of Uncertainty; managing a relationship with time

While trying to write and think about how to frame a proposal I've come up with relating to value added tax on books (19% here in Chile), I've come face to face with one of my greatest fears... something, that although not precisely disturbing and in spite of my ability to recognize it, I'm still not quite skilled enough at managing... I´d perhaps describe it as the tension that I perceive when planning for and coming up with alternatives to get from where I am, at this moment in time, or more precisely, where I just previously left off, to where I imagine i'd like to be or where I feel I need to be a few years into the future. [now that i'm looking over my initial handwritten draft, the confusion seems more comprehensible, but i'll continue]

I imagine that the relative ease with which i'm currently able to recognize this emotional conflict/opportunity probably has to do with the fact that recently I've been spending the larger portion of my time engaging in activities which I enjoy and simultaneously believe to be both necessary for my professional development and personal growth. [a light pat on the back and a brief search and description of the cause of those emergent thoughts/emotions]

Somehow being engaged in those activities has enabled me to reaffirm/confirm/modify my personal views about my place on this planet, the relationships I currently have with the few people I interact with and by extension it seems, about how I ought to behave in order that my brief presence here have the least possible negative impact on all the living organisms and life sustaining systems i either come into contact with directly or whom/which i, through the decisions i make consciously or otherwise, indirectly affect in ways i can/can´t imagine/possibly imagine respectively and respectfully. [remembering that i´m not alone, that i am in fact part of something far bigger than myself]

When faced with such a seemingly simple task [writing about a topic i know relatively little about so far, a task which I myself put forth, it seems odd, given that I believe myself to be, in general, someone capable of making unique observations and divining insights which at their best happily surprise others, that it would be/is so difficult to concentrate/focus on the present in order that i might bring to bear the talents i've nurtured and skills i've practiced during the last decade, if not more, of my life in a single session of creative expression. [some more confusion with some self doubt thrown in for good measure and ending with a brief evaluation of my self worth]

The only conclusion, if you'd call it that, is that I still have a lot of work to do on this self assigned project and work to do in cultivating  a sense of patience and clarity of thought/action before i'll feel more comfortable about handling the uncertainty that seems to naturally accompany any creative endeavor, including this pilgrimage called being human. [at this point i was coming to the end of the page and since i like to keep one idea on one page i had to wrap it up quick.  i remind myself to be more patient, give myself more time and that i needed to get back to work/living]

In conclusion:

I was a little hesitant at first about publishing this post, being that it doesn't really make much sense.  Clearly I did decide to make it public, partly because there are a lot of times when getting the job done involves recognizing/managing/overcoming a lot of these seemingly trivial internal dramas and partly because it seems we generally don't consider these kinds of exercises as part of our work processes and as a result make little or no room for them even though we all know they occur quite frequently.

¿What strategies or coping mechanisms do you, dear reader, employ/deploy when managing a relationship with time?


x

Doce cosas que aprendí de Chile, el país en que vivo

No sabía que para sentirme digno y útil como ser humano tendría que conseguirme un trabajo

No sabía que el desempleo es la raíz de la desigualdad en el país

No sabía que los emprendedores en Chile se crean entre políticos del gobierno de turno

No sabía que el acceso a empleos y la remuneración de mujeres eran verdaderos obstáculos para extender los meses del posnatal

No sabía que en un país con pleno empleo no tendría que salir a buscar trabajo sino que recibiría ofertas mejores de empleo

No sabía que tan solo escuchar los anuncios mejoraría mi calidad de vida y la de mi familia también

No sabía que re-destinando un punto de la tasa de cotización del Seguro de Desempleo (en un país con pleno empleo) beneficiaría durante toda su vida laboral a los trabajadores

No sabía que existía siquiera, distinción alguna entre obrero y empleado y que por tal clasificación los trabajadores no tuvieron acceso igualitario a beneficios médicos ni beneficios frente a riesgos laborales

No sabía que los alumnos de educación superior, por preferencia, querían trabajar mientras estudiaban, y que ambas actividades se pueden compatibilizar creando contratos especiales

No sabía que por consecuencia de políticas publicas serias y honestas enfocadas especialmente a l@s chilen@s más vulnerables y la clase media, que todos pudiéramos tener una vida más plena y más feliz

No sabía que con poner en mayúscula la "U" y la "N" de la frase "unidad nacional" se podía referir tanto a un conglomerado político formado en 1936 y, a la vez, a un feriado que después de tres años, sin dar señales de lograr su propósito, se suprimió

No sabía que prestando deliberada atención durante tan sólo seis minutos (más una hora de análisis mas menos) que pudiera descubrir tantos indicadores de mi propio ignorancia respecto un país en que he vivido durante diez años.

Gracias Presidente Piñera por ofrecerme esta instancia de aprendizaje.

Assesing learning in collaborative environments

I recently, about half an hour ago, listened to an hour long pod cast ( http://bwatwood.edublogs.org/2009/02/05/individual-assessment-in-a-collaborative-world/ ) about the challenges of assessing individual student progress in collaborative learning environments, hosted by the Center for Teaching Excellence.

It seems like there is a great deal of speculation regarding what works and how it should be implemented.  Among the most notable (according to me, a student) points were:

• 1. student/teacher colaboration on the definition of evaluation criteria
• 2. maintaining an open dialogue between teacher and students throughout the course
• 3. the importance of self evaluation by giving students time to reflect upon their own work
• 4. demonstrating by some means what top quality work can look like by showing work done by previous students in certain cases
• 5. incorporating peer feedback in the assesment of individual student´s work
• 6. the creation and maintenance of a portfolio which more clearly tracks progress, establishing concrete links to past works throughout a longer period of time
  

As a design student, i´ve been fortunate in having some experience with a few of these evaluation methods... due to the nature of the discipline [of design] itself which provides room for creative thought, self critique, peer critique and feedback to name just a few... although I can´t be sure just how much of each of these are taken into account in the final grade by each teacher...

However, as i was thinking about the challenge of assessing student´s progress, it ocurred to me that there might be other methods which could be considered as well...  

I. Evaluating the questions each student asks...

This may sound rather strange at first, but hopefully I´ll be able to clear that up...

Earlier this evening I skimmed over another post ( http://www.teach42.com/2009/02/12/its-not-an-assignment-its-a-creative-brief/ ) entitled "It´s not an assignment, it´s a creative brief" once again echoing the parrallel between the teaching/learning process and design methodology... 

Which led me to think about the some ideas i had played around with a few months ago... how learning starts with just one question... a question that interests me... one that i would be willing to explore, which would give me the freedom to experiment with new content and discover something which would most likely lead to more questions... 

here´s a simplified diagram of the process in broad strokes:

Question #1 -> Experiment -> Discover -> Question #2, etc... 

basically generating a sustainable loop of personalized learning... 

I imagine having a list of questions, from the first to the last... demonstrating the sequence by which i arrived at the final result... in real world terms this means, that at the begining of the semester, i would start with question #1 and throughout the course of the semester would continue recording my questions in the order they came, till getting to number 100# for example (although its probable that the number could be considerably higher depending on the situation, which could also be part of the evaluation criteria...) 

So... by demonstrating that the last 20 questions are markedly more precise or complex than the first 20 questions, and by comparing this complexity to the results of the individual student´s work or colaborations, the teacher could theoretically make a more clear determination of that student´s progress

the other thought that occurred to me was...

II. Evaluating the relevance of a student´s ideas...

This one sounds less reasonable than the first, although there are some instances in which it could be applied at certain stages during the learning process...

Part of the design process involves finding references and precedents in areas relating to the main topic of the project, which allow the designer to create a solid foundation upon which to construct his/her solution... 

When looking back on the project, it should be clear which elements from the final result were extrapolated from these initial references... and as the investigation phase of the project runs in parrallel to much of its development, these coincidences could be used as benchmarks in determining project progress...

In other words, the later stages of any work should be related in some way to earlier stages by some landmark object, whether it be an image, a sample of text, video, podcast, etc... or even another idea originally created by someone else... the key being that these landmark influences be recorded in such a manner that they may be called upon later as evidence of foundation, proof that the student´s idea is related to some previously relevant content.

Both these methods can be accomplished, i think,  if a carefull log of progress is kept throughout the activity, be it in the form of a diary, video, notebook, audio recording etc... (or a combination of all the aforementioned) although it would requiere a shift from traditional note taking strategies which focus mainly on external information to more personalized analysis and reflection of that content, emphasizing a student´s interaction with the information rather than the focusing on the transference of content itself.