• Educational Research – module completed – assignment due early September
• Reflective Professional Development – module completed, final summary due in with balance of portfolio next Tuesday
• Learning & Teaching – module completed and passed
• ICT in Teaching & Learning – module completed and passed
• Thinking Skills – module completed – assignment due September
• Independent studies module – still to be approved – anticipated for completion December 2007
• Dissertation (triple module) – topic tentatively selected – due October 2008

Looking back over the year, my favourite bit has been thinking skills. I have been frustrated at the lack of time to put in the amount of reading needed to do each assignment justice. I am also very aware of my tendency to wide and shallow learning, and the fact that it is totally inappropriate for a dissertation. In order to do myself justice, I will need to focus on the material for my dissertation at the expense of much other material that I read, and I am having anxiety attacks at the thought of being out of the loop.

I guess I’m just going to have to bit the bullet and get it done and behind me.

The first is helpful in terms of criticality – identifying the money behind research.

The second deals with the use of Google as a research tool.

I think these will be of great help when I come to do my dissertation.

The pedagogy of play has long been appreciated in early years education – teachers have been teaching through games and songs since time out of mind. With older kids, though, there has been a tendency to move away from any learning activity that could be considered fun. Perhaps there is the fear that this would devalue the learning experience by equating it with entertainment. There seems to be a growing number of secondary teachers who are beginning to use games as a tool to teach a wide range of subjects from economics to history. Consequently, there is a growing number of providers who are developing simulations to fit this purpose.

By extension, some providers have ventured into the world of corporate learning, but it is a tough sell, and I think the reason is similar to that encountered in secondary and higher education. Not all Training Managers are happy to spend their tight budgets on something that could be lumped together with entertainment rather than learning. There are those who are forward thinking enough to see past their own assumptions and knee jerk reactions to harness the power (and pedagogy) of play.

I for one am looking forward to the day one of my clients joins these ranks…

By and large, the course appears to focus on an education system in stasis, which makes it an imperfect fit for someone who works in the field of blended learning, which is in a permanent state of flux.

Nevertheless, there seems to be a willingness to accommodate me, which is encouraging.