giovedì 17 maggio 2007

How do we learn?
So, this is the last e-tivity we have to do! Wow, it’s incredible to realize how much we’ve learned in these few months! But I’m not going to talk about this since we have all said a lot about it in our papers. What I want to talk about is my PLE map.I really had a lot of fun doing it! Of course I had to do it with Word because I couldn’t do it on Internet! I struggled a bit with text boxes and arrows, but I was very proud of the result at the end! I have divided the components of my learning environment in 5 main groups (text, audio, places, people and learning by doing) and then I have put a series of things inside each group. The only exception is the “learning by doing” group: it would have been impossible to list all the things I do during the day that make me learn something! At first I had thought of dividing formal and informal learning, then I wanted to separate the different "subjects" to learn; at the end I chose to operate this kind of division because most of the elements of the map could have been part of several groups.
So, these are the groups:
  • text: manuals, books, magazines, Internet
  • audio: television, radio, Internet
  • places: classroom, dance competitions, stages, dancing clubs, gym
  • people: classmates, colleagues, employers, friends, family, teachers
  • learning by doing
It's not been easy to draw it and I probably forgot to mention important elements of my learning process. I hope I'll have the possibility to add new things to my mindmap in the future because it would mean that I have found new ways to learn. The most important thing now is to start exploiting as much as possible all these learning opportunities!
Love,
Viola

mercoledì 16 maggio 2007

Hi everyone!
I haven’t been posting anything new for a very long time! I’m really sorry but this last month has been crazy! I finally moved in with my boyfriend and I can assure you that it’s not easy to go to class, work, study and do the houseworks!!! Anyway, the course is almost over and we are not going to have to write posts for our e-tivities! But that does not mean I’m going to disappear from the blogsphere! But I’ll probably make some major changes, like writing in Italian as well, so that my friends who don’t speak English can take a look!
Before writing my last “mandatory” post I would like to thank first of all Sarah for giving us the possibility of entering this big world, and then all of you as well for having read (and hopefully reading in the future) my posts and having given me precious comments.
I hope to keep in contact with you in the future an if this will not happen...GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF YOU!
Love,
Viola

lunedì 7 maggio 2007

The wide weird world of wikis...

Hi everyone!
As most of you, I experienced the world of public wikis for the first time as well, and...I felt like a child moving the first steps out in the big world!
The wiki we contributed to last semester was "OUR" wiki, we could write about things we liked, using the words we preferred and pretty much following our own rules! We were in a sort of familiar environment, whereas now we have been pushed out of this "nest"! And the rules are very different...

No more slang, no more "I": the key words here are facts, evidence, formality and impersonality!

But after the first impact I have to admit that it didn't go so badly! I had the impression of really being contributing to something important and useful for other people! As soon as I have time I'll try to see if I can edit some pages on Wikipedia as well; it's awesome to think that one day someone could look for a word on this online encyclopedia (as I have done many times) and use for their research something I have written!

Love,
Viola