I'm back again

I've returned from what was a difficult and very intensive teaching session in Bangkok. The unit that I teach there concerns (the strategic planning of) information communication technolgies in tourism, hospitality and events management. Now before anyone asks what do I know about ICT, let me say that the main point of the unit is not to create students who are whiz-bang IT specialists, but rather to equip budding managers with the skills and knowledge to predict and prepare for change (IT is a very volatile area), to manage human resources so that everyone (clients and staff) benefit, and to understand and leverage knowledge management practices.

Knowledge management is a fascinating area. Gene Bellinger writes:

"We learn by connecting new information to patterns that we already understand. In doing so, we extend the patterns. So, in my effort to make sense of this continuum, I searched for something to connect it to that already made sense. And, I related it to Csikszentmihalyi's interpretation of complexity.

Csikszentmihalyi  provides a definition of complexity based on the degree to which something is simultaneously differentiated and integrated. His point is that complexity evolves along a corridor and he provides some very interesting examples as to why complexity evolves. The diagram below indicates that what is more highly differentiated and integrated is more complex. While high levels of differentiation without integration promote the complicated, that which is highly integrated, without differentiation, produces mundane. And, it should be rather obvious from personal experience that we tend to avoid the complicated and are uninterested in the mundane. The complexity that exists between these two alternatives is the path we generally find most attractive."

For those interested, Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi does a lot of work in the area of positive psychology, which is an area close to my heart. He coined the psychological concept of 'flow', and has done a lot of research into creativity.

I like the way one can step quite justifiably and correctly from ICT to knowledge to wisdom to creativity :-).

I keep a blog for the unit and if you'd like to see it, it's here: http://isy00244.blogspot.com/

Way behind

SCU campus Lismore, looking towards Y block

I'm way behind with blogging because it's been so busy at university: end of semester assignments coming in, academic units to renegotiate and redevelop with partner institutions, lots of writing to do for the CHED (Communication in Hospitals Emergency Departments) research project. I'm not complaining, as it's very interesting work, but its been edging more and more into the weekends of late.

And the reason it edges into the weekends is because I don't structure my time during the week well enough!!

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | Video on TED.com

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | Video on TED.com

This is the second of Sir Ken Robinson's stunningly thought-provoking TED talks on education and human creativity. He challenges mainstream thinking with wisdom, experience and humour: a very convincing combination. I'm very impressed with what he's got to say.

Here are some salient quotes from this 18-minute talk, that really moved me:

In challenging rigid, linear thinking, he says "Life is organic. We create our lives symbiotically as we explore our talents in relationship to the circumstances they help create for us."

About diversity: "Human communities depend upon a diversity of talent, not a singular conception of ability."

About approaching people as individuals: "A three-year-old is not half a six-year-old."

And what really touched me (partially I guess because yesterday we had a meeting at uni about the 'new' measuring model (ERA = Excellence in Research Australia) which attempts - once more, same same but different - to quantitatively measure the quality of research at universities), the following:
"We have sold ourselves into a fast food model of education and it is impoverishing our spirits as much as it is depleting our physical bodies."

He gets a standing ovation at the end.

Thanks to my colleague Kurt at SCU who brought this new clip to my attention. Sir Ken's previous talk, equally interesting and persuasive, can be viewed here.

PhD graduation celebration

A wonderful place, a superb full moon rising over the sea, the companionship of much loved family, friends and colleagues, made my PhD graduation celebration a most memorable evening and morning. Thank you so much Fran (and Dieter) for letting us share the space. See here the children dancing on the standing stones ....

Those were the days ...

I found this in my email "out" box, dated 23/08/2004, addressed to my closest colleagues at the university. I had forgotten the email, but not the incident itself (it resulted in a slipped disc, a briefly dislocated shoulder and some bruised ribs). It raises a smile now, a few years on:
>>
Dear people,

Conversation with Tess:
T: Mum, you're not going to work today are you? Not like that you're not.
Me: no, love, I'll stay home today. But how shall I explain to my colleagues why I'm not coming in?
T: Just tell the truth! You're really tired AND you got run over by a couple of donkeys and you've done your back in.
Me: Not sure they'll believe the donkey bit, Tess. It's a bit unusual. Escaped, semi-feral donkeys may not be very common around the university, but hey, this is the wilds of Booyong.
T: To the donkeys themselves they're not unusual; they're just donkeys. And the donkeys haven't seen many lecturers either. In fact they haven't seen anybody I think. Which is why they go completely bonkers when you need to catch them. We're not going to keep donkeys, are we Mum? Horses are heaps easier, they don't go off their rockers like these do and charge you and climb walls and go completely psycho.
Me: Um, no, Tess. We're not going to keep donkeys.
T: Good. They're nuts. How's your back?
Me: Oh, okay I guess. Help me get up.
T: You're not going to work.

love from Mieke & Tess, see ya in a few days ...
<<
It says a lot for my colleagues that they took this in their stride ...

Just sittin' down for a bit ...

... during a walk in King's Canyon, Northern Territory, February 2005. I had been to a CAUTHE conference in Alice Springs and afterwards had gone walkabout for a week in the desert with my friends and colleagues, Noah and Erica. Noah took this photo of me.

With no light pollution for hundreds of kilometres around, at night we slept on blankets under the incredible Northern Territory stars.

On reflection, I think being a university academic is not a bad life at all ...

Another new student at SCU

This little fella was outside my office at the university. Obviously a post-graduate student, even though he seems to have got his trees mixed up a little (you're supposed to eat eucalypt, lad, not Bangalow Palm)

Students today

I am responsible for a subject taught at undergraduate level at Southern Cross University, which has about 1200 students enrolled in it. What amazes me is the incredible diversity in the slices of life that these students show me. At any one time there may be huge things happening in their lives: a baby born here, a new job there; the sad death of a family member here, a near-accident there. And what truly strikes me is how different their lives are compared to a traditional perception of a ‘student’. Most of my students work; some of them full time, and yet they manage to pack in assignments in between commitments. Many of them we never see face-to-face as they travel for work and study by distance education, accessing their learning materials and tutors online (using a variety of sources. Also, I podcast most of my lectures, with varying degrees of success).

One such student is Mike. Apart from studying for a Bachelor of Business, he works as a professional surfer for the company Billabong, and as such, he is sent where the waves are to promote the company’s products and perform other sponsoring commitments. He has just returned from Los Angeles, and he is about to go to Tahiti to surf in the Billabong Pro. Under time pressure, he’s worried and stressed that he is late with submitting his essay and that he won’t be able to access internet, and might not be able to access the library databases for a suitable article to include in his essay. These are honest and real concerns and pressures in his life, and though he may never set foot in a classroom, he’s a real student in a real world.

He’s got some unreal photos though! That’s him on his board.

Here is a very thought-provoking YouTube video on students today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

New student at SCU

Here is a photo of one of the new season's university students assiduously reading the noticeboard. Obviously this is one of those bright, tenacious, flexible, Gen-Y type of students.

You can read more about Physignathus lesueurii, or Eastern Water Dragon, on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_water_dragon

Many thanks to my colleague Dale who took this lovely photo.