... declare my epistemology......! Thought I'd never be able to say the word let alone understand it! However, just when I thought I knew where I stood, I find yet another thing that relates even better! I suppose that's good really but I'm worried that I might not be able to settle.
However, these comments do relate what I'm experiencing. I'm pretty clear that Dewey is the one and he was there all along. I guess he was too obvious really, but I'm reassured that I can return to him. I love this idea of 'experience as transactions between worlds' (Elkjaer, 2009) as a way of describing Dewey's pragmatism and his definition of experience.
I thought that I was into social constructionism and had written quite a lot although I had feedback about it seeming 'tight' which is exactly what it was - forced. It's still relevant, the idea that we construct our realities and learning and that it cannot be constructed for us. However, pragmatism seems to fit better- ironic really since I'm a pragmatist/activist (Honey & Mumford) in terms of one of my learning styles.
The best part about pragmatism in the Dewey sense is that it is about forward-thinking, about being able to imagine how the future could be based on experience. It's also about experimentation in the light of that imagination, a permission to creativity and innovation. Forward-thinking is also about being solution-focused - "experience is had in the active process of living and life is lived with an eye on tomorrow" (Elkjaer, 2009).
The visual learner in me loves the imaginative bit, in that that's what I do...I see the possibilities in my thought process. Maybe that's why I'm so interested in digital media... it allows me to experiment, it's visual and it's also hands-on which appeals to my kinesthetic/activist side.
A pragmatist researcher isn't bound by having to live by strict rules, theories or boundaries in order to understand a particular areas of interest because pragmatism allows for the researcher to use the rules, theories and boundaries that are appropriate to each situation and that might be different. A bit like youth work really, it's needs-based.
I'm also really interested in the 'pragmatic' link between Dewey and Vygotsky... just never thought I would be!
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Where do good ideas some from?
In the context of my last post, this is interesting - "ideas need time to incubate". Blogging is one of the spaces where this can happen. The thoughts about whether technology is changing the way that we think: that our multi-tasking, multi-modal way of processing information might somehow dilute powerful thoughts, rendering us incapable of producing depth and intensity....
To blog or not to blog?
Am I a blogger? I am certainly attracted to the concept and am intrigued by networks and their formation. Micro-blogging in the form of 'tweeting' fills one space: a good way to pass on links and points of interest and it's curious how people find you and seem to think you're worth following...
Blogging in this format is more complex I think. I go for days or weeks without writing anything, mainly because the thoughts that see to be worth writing about occur when I'm in the car, or waiting for a train or in a meeting - all the places where I don't have immediate access to a computer.
So, how do you set about blogging? There's something about having something to say, and that's wrapped up in feelings of worthiness. Have I the agency to be saying what I'm saying, some might say 'insight blogging': somehow showing the inner workings of my though processes.
Like many, I find the process of writing at the computer easier these days, and I in fact, I haven't kept a journal since I was a teenager. However, this ease of 'cut and paste', of being able rewrite, rearrange and delete thoughts as they tumble out of my head is a useful tool. Something that makes me have to stop and think.
It's been an interesting process, preparing to deliver a short input on blogging for colleagues - http://prezi.com/7dwqt0ki8tiv/blog/ - and it's made me stop and think about how I am currently using this blog as a tool for reflection. It has currently been purely around reflection, posing thoughts that can be returned to or 'parked' perhaps. Next post will be an experiment, based on the wish to of create some dialogue around a specific question to see who's out there, and this will hopefully lead to a collaboration of ideas which takes it into a whole new sphere, I guess.
Blogging in this format is more complex I think. I go for days or weeks without writing anything, mainly because the thoughts that see to be worth writing about occur when I'm in the car, or waiting for a train or in a meeting - all the places where I don't have immediate access to a computer.
So, how do you set about blogging? There's something about having something to say, and that's wrapped up in feelings of worthiness. Have I the agency to be saying what I'm saying, some might say 'insight blogging': somehow showing the inner workings of my though processes.
Like many, I find the process of writing at the computer easier these days, and I in fact, I haven't kept a journal since I was a teenager. However, this ease of 'cut and paste', of being able rewrite, rearrange and delete thoughts as they tumble out of my head is a useful tool. Something that makes me have to stop and think.
It's been an interesting process, preparing to deliver a short input on blogging for colleagues - http://prezi.com/7dwqt0ki8tiv/blog/ - and it's made me stop and think about how I am currently using this blog as a tool for reflection. It has currently been purely around reflection, posing thoughts that can be returned to or 'parked' perhaps. Next post will be an experiment, based on the wish to of create some dialogue around a specific question to see who's out there, and this will hopefully lead to a collaboration of ideas which takes it into a whole new sphere, I guess.
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