Tuesday, May 13, 2008

FOSS

My colleague, Paul, has just joined the ranks of the bloggers with a focus on FOSS in Education. There have been a number of issues concerning the use of Open Source software in my place of work ( and this is undoubtedly echoed in a number of FE Colleges); I shall be keen to follow Paul's exploration of the topic as he progresses his research activity and provides feedback on-line.

Monday, May 12, 2008

A feeling of community

I have been a participant in an on-line community based programme since January - and am thoroughly enjoying myself. My fellow students are a really great bunch of individuals who have gelled into supportive and open community. The level of trust has developed so well that we are starting to be able to provide constructive criticism and/or advice about our research activity. We can disagree; we can challenge perceptions and provide counter arguments; we find resources ..... and jokes too!

The community has its own social networking environment and we have blogging facilities which seem to have drawn me moth-like to a comforting community glow. I shall continue to post to our blogs but must work to revive this far more public (though probably far less read) forum.

If I am to use this blog to get a wider perspective on my activity then I need to engage with colleagues across the globe with whom I share a common interest. I keep coming back to the Learning Ciruits Blog and, as usual, find myself intrigued by the range of responses to their Big Question. I really like Clarke Quinn's comment on multi-tasking! I shall explore some more ...