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Start writing fiction: a free MOOC through FutureLearn with The OU
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| From E-Learning V |
Fig.1 Something I wrote 40 years ago ! (age 13)
The last five weeks I’ve been following the FutureLearn MOOC ‘Start Writing Fiction’.
Extraordinary. I’m on my second pass. I came through early, and now return not wanting to get ahead of the conversation. Particularly useful as I am actively writing at the moment, so this is the best of all learning because it is applied. Regarding character it about giving them shape, depth and ‘points of interest’ – more 6D than even the 2D we are asked to get away from. I visualise characters as hedgehogs with many prickles, but only a few of these matter to the story – though all of them matter to the notebook which I’m gradually coming to care about more and more, cursing the times I ‘have a thought’ and don’t get it down somewhere safely. I am hugely pleased to be here and very proud to be an OU graduate already – not, sadly, from this faculty: yet!
I’m finding the oddest of balances in my life too:
- Writing for myself from 4.00am to 8.00am.
- Picking up work from 10.00am.
- Evenings from 5.00pm to 9.00pm
I am often ‘poolside’ teaching or coaching swimmers.
Delighting yesterday evening to be back with some squad swimmers I last saw four years ago – now in the mid teens, some achieving amazing things in the water, all at that gangly stage of youth development my own children have come through in the last year.
The issue then is how or where or why I fit in the OU module L120 I committed to. Learning a language is daunting and outside my comfort zone. What I do know now, not surprisingly, is that all learning comes about as a result of concerted and consistent effort over a long period of time.
Teaching, coaching and mentoring
I have done and do all three. Are coaching and mentoring subsets of teaching? Yes, though I don’t have to have been the teacher to do either. Another person can be the teacher and that teaching could surely have been done through a book, video or game? After several months doing a Rosettastone language App where or who is my teacher? Perhaps my wife is my mentor and buying in time with a person will add coaching to the mix.
I wonder if to be taught is akin to taking a train or bus ride, while self-directed learning is like riding a bike? That learning like this is like driving a car where through choice the passengers are either fellow learners and the tutor/educator?
Timing would be a key consideration for me – which would relate to pace, variety, purpose and spreading myself around the ‘class’. I will be in a studio like ‘class’ this afternoon for three hours. The groundwork has been done by others, in this context I am a catalyst and sounding board. The teaching will have been done, I don’t know the students well enough to mentor them so it as ‘coach’ or ‘consultant’ that in small groups they will have me for 10-15 minutes each. I have learnt to set a timer on this, not just setting a stopwatch on an iPhone anymore, but going in with a large egg timer – A bit theatrical but it keeps everyone’s attention. Reflecting on ideas about ‘the lecture’ what the above means to me is exploiting the live nature of it – I even consciously dress for the part.
Increasingly I am coming to cherish the values of teaching live and in the flesh for me ‘the teacher’ and for the students. All the more reason to milk these up close moments and cherish them for what they are compared to being disembodied and at a distance online.
‘Lego Education’ are worth looking at.
Fig.1. Coach training with Bill Furniss, Nottingham
The Amateur Swimming Association, who train all our swimming teachers and coaches up to the highest level through the Institue of Swimming, have a hundred or so Open Learn like modules that take typically 2-3 hours to do including things like ‘Coaching Disabled Athletes’ and ‘Working with athletes with learning difficulties’. And other important refresher modules such as child protection.
Fig.2. Learning for disabled students needs to be tailored to their specific needs
As we have now seen on H810 : Accessible Online Learning – far more so than in the general population, there are specific and complex needs. The general disability awareness for sport says, ‘see the ability not the disability, play to their strengths’ – as a coach you have to identify strengths from weaknesses.
Fig.3. Using an endless pool to examine swimming technique
Once you are working with an athlete then you find you need more specific knowledge on a, b, or c – which might be an amputee, someone with cerebral palsy, or no hearing. Each person is of course very different, first as a person (like us all), then in relation to the specifics of their disability so a general course for tutors and teachers then becomes a waste of time.
Fig.4. Lego Education using Lego Techniks
If we think of this kind of e-training as construction with Lego Techniks, then once you’re past the introduction a ‘set of bricks’ should be used to assemble more specific answers and insights – even getting users – in this instance a coach and athlete, to participate in the construction based on their experience i.e. building up hundreds of case studies that have an e-learning component to them. The Lego Educational Institute are an astute bunch, their thinking on learning profound, modern and hands on.
Perhaps I should see what I can come up with, certainly working with disabled athletes the coach to athlete relationship is more 1 to 1 than taking a squad of equally ‘able’ swimmers. Then apply it to other contexts. And Lego are the ones to speak to.
‘Lego Education’ are worth looking at.
The thinking is considered, academic and modern – written in language that is refreshingly clear and succinct given the subject matter. The idea of ‘flow’ – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – is included while the ‘Four Cs’ of learning is a good way to express the importance of collaborative, self-directed construction and reflection:
- Connect
- Construct
- Contemplate
- Continue
Accessibility, impairment and e-learning
Given the start of the Paralympic Games last night it is hardly surprising that disability is a topic or theme on TV, the radio and in the press. Even the Simpsons’ satire yesterday evening – the one where the school is split into girls and boys and Liza dresses up as a boy and becomes the object of bullies – had a powerful message regarding equality. It should be about seeing the strength while not ignoring the ‘weakness’, but accommodating or compensating for it, that it is the lack of x, y or z that makes the disability more of an issue that it needs to be.
Is it just about money?
It took a Paralympian wheelchair basketball player to point out how countries that hadn’t the provision of the richer economies had older, clunkier, heavier wheelchairs.
I watched a piece of theatre for deaf people by deaf people. It reminded me of comia del arte – highly physical and rumbustious. I hadn’t the slightest clue what was going on, certainly no idea what was being said. Had I someone twlking it through how different would the experience have been.
How do the movies portray disability? From Richard III and Frankenstein, to Finding Nemo, Slum Dog Millionaire and Avatar. Even Dr Who where Darleks, and certainly Davros, are disabled beings in wheelchairs with a wheelie bin, plunger and egg- whisk for limbs.
It takes being ill, of confined to a bed or wheelchair to get some sense if it, or having a close relation, infant or elderly in a state, or phase of amelioration or deterioration to feel it personally. I broke a leg badly enough and far enough away from home to require amabulances and special flights, hospitalisation then a wheelchair. For some months in order to get into the garden I pulled myself about quite happily on a large wooden tea-tray. We knew it was temporary, indeed within six months I was riding a bike and walking with a stick and six months after that competing in the swimming pool and on the rugby pitch – wherein lies a stark difference, the disabled person is very likely to be set inspite or despite of treatment and how the disability came about, indeed their situation is likely to be more complex with medications, care, a deteriorating prognosis even.
There is mental illness and disability in the family too – depression, learning difficulties, aspergers and autism. I’d even dare to say that being exceptionally bright or that ridiculously isolating term ‘gifted’ in the case of my late father isolated him.
If we wish for inclusivity when will the Olympics and Paralympics play out simultaneously?
Perhaps at a club level I should suggest that once a year we do this – having an inclusive event in contrast to the other exclusive events we run or take part in.
As I reflect I need of course to bring it back to H810.
The Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) runs a workshop for coaches who work with disabled athletes – there is an online module too which I will sign up for. Annually we apply for a national award called Swim21 which includes an audit in relation to disabled swimmers – we ticked every box without question with qualified personal, watertime set aside, entry into internal and external galas and working with our local leisure providers but is this enough? If the bar isn’t that high no wonder it is easy to get over.
You don’t learn to swim by reading a book …
An applied degree must therefore be situated in the workplace?
Too much theory without practice was described by the owner of a successful specialist engineering firm in Germany today as ‘like trying to learn to swim from a book.’
Apprenticeship in Germany run for 3 1/2 years of which 8 months a year is practical. The remainder of the year they go to a special school. ‘If you only learn theory it is like learning swimming from reading a book so you need both.’ Leonardo Duritchich, Chief Technial Water, Sief Steiner Pianos. The Today Programme, 27h36, Wednesday 17th August.
I agree, though when it comes to swimming, there are some great books made all the better in electronic form. This is ‘The Swim Drill Book.’
Putting into practice what you learn, learning construction rather than simply knowledge acquisition; I believe this to be the case with something like The OU Business School MBA, something I needed each time I started businesses in the 1980s and 1990s.
As a swimming coach it matters that you swam competitively and/or still swim. A flightless bird cannot teach a bird to fly. So engineers learn through doing, often from apprenticeship. Junior Doctors need to put in the hours, solicitors start as trainees, the list goes on. It is particularly the case in the TV business where after starting as a trainee producer I was happier with kit, shooting, editing and drafting scripts, learning my trade, something that an a degree had not prepared me for.
Comments (from other blog platform)
Birds fly instinctively. They are not taught.
I think you’re confusing coaching with instructing. If you read the works of Tim Gallwey or John Whitmore you will realise that coaching requires expertise in coaching and not the subject in hand. It is helping people to learn and break through internal barriers to improvement rather than teaching them.
Engineers are significantly different from solicitors and doctors. Failure is acceptable for both solicitors and doctors as long as they can show that they have followed the accepted ways that they have spent years practising. Engineers have to tackle original and unique tasks using theoretical knowledge which they may never have applied or may have yet to acquire. Failure is not an option despite lack of experience.
I learn everything from books, magazines and newspapers. I learn about quantum physics from books as opposed to turning up at CERN and asking if I can have half a day on their collider. I learn about the war in Libya from newspapers rather than going there and shooting people. I learn about hydro-electric power without building a dam. I’m not sure about juggling though.
The right leader or teacher will greatly enhance the learning experience and project outcomes
How a ‘contagion of positive emotions’ from and of the right leader or teacher will greatly enhance the learning experience and project outcomes.
The problem is, you need to be there to get the vibe. I dare say parenting therefore has a huge impact on the developing child – nurtured or knackered?
But what does this say about the role of distance learning?
A bit, not a lot. Tutorials from time to time may pay dividends. We should stop being such e-learning purists and meet face to face when and where we can … at least online, if not in the flesh.
And before I go anywhere, thanks to someone for the link to this which I received in my daily maelstrom of Linked In forum threads, emails, comments and what not.
Advances in neuroscience may help us understand the internal mechanisms that enable some people to be effective leaders, and some not. Boyatzis (2011)
The leadership role is moving away from a “results-orientation” towards a relationship orientation. Boyatzis (2011)
People who feel inspired and supported give their best, are open to new ideas and have a more social orientation to others. Boyatzis (2011)
The difference between resonant and dissonance in relationships was tested, for example the difference between an inspired and engaging leader, compared to one who makes demands and sets goals.
While undergoing an MRI scan people were asked to recall specific experiences with resonant leaders and with dissonant leaders. When thinking about ‘resonant’ leaders there was significant activation of 14 regions of interest in the brain while with dissonant leaders there was significant activation of 6 and but deactivation in 11 regions. i.e. people are turned off by certain kinds of leadership. Boyatzis (2011)
The conclusion is that being concerned about one’s relationships may enable others to perform better and more innovatively– and lead to better results i.e. be an inspired, motivating leader, not a dictatorial or demanding one.
How therefore if running a course online does the course chair or a tutor engender these kind of feelings in their students?
The other lesson from this is to appreciate how quickly impressions of others get formed or the neural mechanisms involved.
First impressions count
They impact on how one person responds to another for some time to come. We are emotional beings, however much we’d like to control our behaviour.
The other idea is of ‘emotional contagion’ or ‘emotional arousal’ being picked up in the neural systems activate endocrine systems; that imitation and mimicry are important i.e. you cannot lead at arm’s-length – you have to be there, as must be your team, and by implication, where learning is involved, you students. Boyatzis (2011)
What you pick up in the presence of others is:
- the context of an observed action or setting
- the action
- the intention of the other living being.
‘A sympathetic hemo-dynamic that creates the same ability for us to relate to another’s emotions and intention’ (Decety & Michalaks, 2010).
There are three implications of these observations Boyatzis (2011):
- the speed of activation
- the sequence of activation
- the endocrine/neural system interactions.
Our emotions are determining cognitive interpretation more than previously admitted.
Our unconscious emotional states arouse emotions in those with whom we interact before we or they know it. And it spreads from these interactions to others.
Research has suggested that negative emotions are stronger than positive emotions which may serve evolutionary functions but, paradoxically, it may limit learning. Boyatzis (2011)
i.e. where the teacher shows leadership that engenders a positive response the learning experience is increased (think of the fictional character played by Robin Williams in Dead Poet’s Society, think of Randy Pausch the late Carnegie Mellon Professor of Virtual reality) … whereas negative emotions.
From a student’s point of view if you have a teacher you do NOT like (or no one likes) this will have overly significant NEGATIVE impact on your learning experience.
So it matters WHO and HOW you are taught, not simply an interest or passion for a subject.
‘A contagion of positive emotions seems to arouse the Parasympathetic Nervous System, which stimulates adult neurogenesis (i.e., growth of new neurons) (Erickson et. al., 1998), a sense of well being, better immune system functioning, and cognitive, emotional, and perceptual openness’ (McEwen, 1998; Janig and Habler, 1999; Boyatzis, Jack, Cesaro, Passarelli, & Khawaja, 2010).
The sustainability of leadership effectiveness is directly a function of a person’s ability to adapt and activate neural plasticity. Boyatzis (2011)
The SNS (Sympathetic Nervous System) and PNS (Parasympathetic Nervous System ) are both needed for human functioning.
They each have an impact on neural plasticity. Arousal affects the growth of the size and shape of our brain. Neurogenesis allows the human to build new neurons. The endocrines aroused in the PNS allow the immune system to function at its best to help preserve existing tissue (Dickerson and Kemeny, 2004).
I FOUND THIS PROFOUND
Leaders bear the primary responsibility for knowing what they are feeling and therefore, managing the ‘contagion’ that they infect in others.
(Is a disease metaphor and its negative connotations the appropriate metaphor to use here?)
It requires a heightened emotional self-awareness.
This means having techniques to notice the feelings, label what they are and then signal yourself that you should do something to change your mood and state.
Merely saying to yourself that you will “put on a happy face” does not hide the fast and unconscious transmission of your real feelings to others around you.
Leaders should be coaches in helping to motivate and inspire those around them (Boyatzis, Smith & Blaize, 2006).
But not any old form of coaching will help.
Coaching others with compassion, that is, toward the Positive Emotional Attractor, appears to activate neural systems that help a person open themselves to new possibilities– to learn and adapt. Meanwhile, the more typical coaching of others to change in imposed ways (i.e., trying to get them to conform to the views of the boss) may create an arousal of the SNS and puts the person in a defensive posture. This moves a person toward the Negative Emotional Attractor and to being more closed to possibilities.
REFERENCE
Boyatzis, R. (2011) Neuroscience and Leadership: The Promise of Insights Leadership | January / February 2011
Boyatzis, R.E., Smith, M. and Blaize, N. (2006) “Developing sustainable leaders through coaching and compassion, Academy of Management Journal on Learning and Education. 5(1): 8-24.
Boyatzis, R. E., Jack, A., Cesaro, R., Passarelli, A. & Khawaja, M. (2010). Coaching with Compassion: An fMRI Study of Coaching to the Positive or Negative Emotional Attractor. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Montreal.
Decety, J. & Michalska, K.J. (2010). Neurodevelopmental change in circuits underlying empathy and sympathy from childhood to adulthood. Developmental Science. 13: 6, 886-899.
Dickerson, S.S. & Kemeny, M.E. (2004). Acute stressors and cortisol responses: A theoretical integration and synthesis of laboratory research. Psychological Bulletin.130(3): 355-391.
Janig, W. & Habler, H-J. (1999). Organization of the autonomic nervous system: Structure and function. In O. Appendzeller (ed.). Handbook of Clinical Neurology: The Autonomic Nervous System: Part I: Normal Function, 74: 1-52.
McEwen, B. S. (1998). Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators. New England Journal of Medicine. 338: 171-179.
Whether on paper or online, learning requires effort
Paper Assignments
I have in-front of me an Amateur Swimming Associations (ASA) paper for the Level III Senior Club Coach certificate. There are 12 sheets, facing side only. The paper is waxed, copyrighted and stamped with the ASA logo. Having attended a day long workshop on the topic, done some reading and from my own experience I complete these assignment and submit. It ought to be submitted as is; this is in part a test of authenticity. I have handwritten my responses. My habit and way of doing things is to have it in a word document, so I load the text and tables, complete the required questions/tasks, print off and submit both parts. Invariably I get a note about the typed up/printed off version being so much better … it takes skills that even I lack to write something in some of the minuscule boxes.
I was discussing on Monday with the ASA how to avoid plagiarism with e-assessments.
I mentioned Nottingham University medical students attending a computer-based assessment. I mentioned software that can spot plagiarism. I struggled however with the kind of forms the ASA uses as these tests seem to be have written with the EXAMINER in mind … i.e. to make them easy to mark. Which also makes it easy to cheat. The answer is the same, not open to interpretation. More or less. This isn’t strictly fair … papers are returned covered in red ink – I have redone one paper.
There has to be a sign in process that is used to identify a person.
How many people cheat? Is it such a problem?
Apparently so. Even with certificates and qualifications it appears easy to falsify documents. And often, these determined people are excellent teachers/coaches who have learn their trade as competitive swimmers and/or on the job, so they know what they are doing, they simply don’t have the piece of paper.
Memory Cards
I also have in front of me a set of handwritten cards given to me by a colleague who has just taken her Level II Coaching certificate. She failed the written paper. She used these cards to test herself. My intention is to put these into Spaced-Ed, as an exercise, possibly to create or to begin to create a useful learning tool.
I like the way Space-Ed prompts you over the week, tests you on a few things, then leaves you alone. You have time to assimilate the information. Is it easy learning? It is easier learning … nothing beats a period of concerted effort and self-testing to verify that you know something or not.
Whether electronic, or paper … or the spoken word, there is always a bridge to gap, a translation, as it were, of the information a person wants or needs to assimilate and this assimilation process.
Common to all is EFFORT.
Do you work hard at it for longer periods of time … or divide the task up into smaller chunks? Which works best? For you, or anyone? Is there a definitive answer? No. It will vary for you, as with anyone else. It will vary by motivation, inclination, time available, the nature and importance of the topic, the degree to which this topic is covered in print or online, or in workshops and in the workplace. In deed, my contention, would be that the greater the variety of ways to engage with the information the better it will be retained and the more useful it will be when required in a myriad of ways to be applied or is called upon.
On reflection
I learn from writing something out by hand. I learn again when I type it up. I may not be engaging with it ‘in the workplace;’ but there is engagement non the less through my eyes, hands and fingers. Similarly the person who wrote out this pack of 71 cards (both sides written up) was preparing themselves, afterall, for a written exam. She knows her stuff poolside, her struggle (as I know is the case for many) is translating this into exam-like responses in a highly false setting, away from a pool, from swimmers, having to read words to respond in text, rather than reading an athlete (observation) and responding with a fixing drill or exercise.
The Coaching Philosophy of Bill Furniss: coach to Olympian Rebecca Adlington
Fig. 1. Coach Bill Furniss taking a group of prospective ASA Level 3 coaches
The following notes were taken at a talk given by Swimming Coach Bill Furniss, Nova Centurion Head Coach and Coach to Olympians such as Rebecca Adlington.
This talk was part of the UKCC/ASA Senior Club Coach course.
WHAT IS COACHING ?
Produced a great long list between us which Bill simplified to being performance driven. i.e. if you’re not improving competitive performance you are not coaching, you are teaching (or supervising).
‘Coaching is a process which involves a rational approach to the improvement of competitive performance through a planned and coordinated programme of preparing and competition.’ Bill Furniss
‘This process embraces both direct intervention strategies and the manipulation of contextual variable affecting player preparation and performance.’ Bill Furniss
e.g. A swimmer doing 20 x 100 reps on 65 dong them on 67 told to increase stroke count, reduce weight work and/or go faster over the last 15m
Only two people count; the coach and the athlete.
Some Essential skills:
- Plan
- Organise
- Direct
- Observe
- Evaluate
- Instruct
- Communicate
- Demonstrate
- Share Knowledge
- Strategies
- Counselling
- Motivator
Some Personality traits:
- Having total belief
- Being intuitive
(It makes me realise why directing TV & coaching swimming have so much in common – the targets of the coach working with athletes to produce a result like the targets the director has working with actors to produce a result).
‘Coaching is NOT a haphazard, trial and error affair, but involves a series of orderly, inter-related steps.’ Bill Furniss
‘The coaching process designates the steps the coach takes in determining, planning and implementing coaching action.’ Bill Furniss
The steps involved in the coaching process:
- Data Collection
- Diagnosis
- Prescribed plan of action
- Implementation
- Evaluation
- Adaptation
- Overload
- Progression
- Specificity
- Both short & long term
Where have all the boys gone?
They find it too structured and methodical
It does n’t allow boys to be boys.
‘Swimming is becoming a girls’ sport.’ Bill Furniss
CF the US College System.
Coaching Philosophy
‘Your philosophy and style doesn’t matter … as long as it works and it works for you … and is appropriate for the context in which it will be applied.’ Bill Furniss
‘It is superhuman what we ask them to do – everything hurts, even their hair hurts.’ Bill Furniss
Ref: Coach: A Season with Lombardi. Tom Dowling. 1970.
The appropriateness of your philosophy to the context within which it will be applied.
Swimmers are starting to move around and leave coaches because they want a particular style.
‘This coaching lark is a bit more complex than you thought.’ Bill Furniss
Day One H807 Innovations in E-Learning
6th February 2010
Though eager to get my mind into gear and to put some thought into my reading on innovations in e-learning the day has to be spent with the swimming club. What has organising nine swimming teachers and 120 kids into 10 grades of class got to do with e.learning? What could be further away from what e.learning offers than swimming? dance? gymnastics? Yoga? What contribution can e.learning make in terms of helping the swimmers pick up more, let alone the teachers or parents.
It is in this variety of demands and users and user expectations where I would hope e.learning comes into play – it is learning that the user can pull down when the need or interest suits them, it can be personalised and tailored too. The journey they take to understand what they are doing and the length of the journey they take is up to them.
From the top of my head. What else would you expect from a blog?
Mind Bursts 