Nicola Avery · @NicolaAvery
9th Oct 2010 from Twitlonger
@JGChesney, @suifaijohnmak #PLENK2010 thanks to both of you. Will come back about collaboration, separately later today - I was thinking after listening last night to the Elluminate discussion - exploration of learning and psychological theories is important but also needs physiological processes too. For example, getting stuck, losing or gaining motivation, this can be affected by sleep patterns, exercise/fitness, nutrition - it is a more intense topic in week4 which is going to demand more physiological brain processing - for those of us (include myself in this - having spent less time in education than other colleagues, even though it is in a native language).
With other demands on our time etc would we examine everything else and make conscious decisions to take allowances of this additional need for physical processing and provide appropriate ways of enhancing it through diet - through taking exercise etc
Having done cck09 and this to week 4 in both - I need more physical stamina (in the same way that I do for martial arts) to not give up when feeling a bit tired, to breathe through some negative thoughts if feel overwhelmed, to get relaxed and flex muscles in order to continue, have a drink of water etc I am surprised a little by the similarities actually.
But if you do not do a form of endurance exercise then getting to week 4 of an academic course is very hard to adjust to. This brings in the psychology processes - I found an old essay I wrote as part of an education degree I did in early 90s on self concept and academic performance.Can't go into it now or this comment will be very very long but where people think that they have too much to do, find it challenging (as mentioned in the forums this week) etc there are a range of psychological studies which have looked at motivation, habit forming etc As someone interested in how people are learning, I would want to know more about how physically tired they are, have they eaten well recently etc etc As we are exploring uses of technologies to help learn together - all the physical processes between being in one position for long periods of time etc - all needs to be taken into account.
So to consider relationships between learning theories and PLE is not enough for me personally - it will not tell me enough about why someone may or may not be learning something. Needs to be more holistic for want of a better word. My PLE needs to include planning for what I do when I get stuck or go into temporary meltdown - I need to be evaluating the health of my PLE continually as well as the health of my PLN. Need to look at why psychologically I might not be asking others something, not contributing something and whether I would need to.
It depends on what I think I would like to achieve - would I like to opt for a high-endurance PLENK or high-endurance CCK - if so - then health of PLE and PLN are essential, if I would prefer a more passive PLENK and CCK I guess I would be less concerned. What does interest me is finding ways of using technologies for students who are looking for more high-endurance ways of learning.