July 2018 – Page 2 – Mrs Simon says . . .

Planning for session 2 week 1

9 July, 201810 October, 2019Marika SimonPlanning and Organisation / UniversityLeave a comment

So, this is it. Tomorrow the second session officially starts. I have planned my week in my usual way from last session:

As you may be able to tell, I have a lot of Teaching Guide writing to do this week, so it is a good thing that I have already gotten started on some of the Week 1 material from my subjects. Hopefully I have allocated enough time, because I am apparently going with my husband to pick our daughter up from the airport tomorrow rather than outsourcing it completely… goodbye sweet couple of hours!

I am wondering if my relatively unstructured planning is sufficient for this session. I tend to make a list of things that need to be done (or that I hope to achieve) in the week and then allocate blocks of time to Uni (the dusty pink unlabelled blocks on the schedule). I wonder if I need to specify some time slots this time around. Perhaps at least allocate a blogging time. Perhaps I’ll allocate Friday afternoon for weekly blogging reflections in both subjects, with bonus slots during the week for particular assigned blog posts or module-review posts.

If anyone is actually reading this and has any tips for how you plan your week to balance Uni with other facets of life – and make sure you get all or most or at least the most vital things done – please share them in the comments!

A weak weekly reflection on EER500

8 July, 2018Marika SimonEER500Leave a comment

I was hoping to get more work done in this last pre-session week but ended up with more on my non-uni plate than I anticipated.

So far I have read the first two chapters of the textbook and taken the Quiz Zone quizzes for them. I blame my one mistake on a misreading, probably due to reading on the computer (though to be honest, I have been mis-reading and mis-hearing things all over the place this week… perhaps more sleep is needed!) In any event, your answer is sure to suffer when you read “quantitative” and the question is actually referring to “qualitative” research theory and methodology. I do feel this validates my decision to read the main textbook in print rather than digital format (Simon, 2018).

As I read through the various epistemological and ontological considerations and positions and the implications for research strategies and methods, I found the following quote from Keith Punch to be inspiring:

But we can proceed to do research, and to train researchers, mindful of those debates yet not engulfed by them, and without necessarily yet being able to see their resolution. In other words, we can acknowledge the connections of methods to these deeper issues, and discuss them from time to time as they arise , without making them the major focus of this book , or of our research. (Punch, 2009, p. 20)

References

Punch, K. (2009). Theory and method in education research. In Introduction to research methods in education (p. 20). London: Sage Publications.

Simon, M. (2018, June 29). Favored format: sifting through textbook options [Blog post]. Retrieved July 7, 2018 from http://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/mrssimonsays/2018/06/29/favored-format-sifting-through-textbook-options/.

Introductory module materials musings

7 July, 2018Marika SimonOnline LearningLeave a comment

The beginnings of a definition

The introduction module to the subject opened with a tidbit of information about digital literature. We were given the beginnings of a definition – noting that concepts key to the notion of literature in digital environments are different degrees of connectivity, interactivity and modes of access. I look forward to exploring the definition of digital literature as we get further into the meat of the subject.

A bone to pick – Why include Why Cite..?

I was satisfied with most of the content of the introduction module and have already posted a reflection on the video interview that presented the views of various emerging UK authors on digital literature. I question the inclusion of one of the materials, though. The following video by UTSA Libraries (2010), entitled Why Cite.. was included in a grey assignment box at the conclusion of Topic 2: Referencing resources.

Continue reading “Introductory module materials musings”

Connecting old and new: Digital literature and historical manuscripts

1 July, 2018Marika SimonUncategorizedLeave a comment

This reflection was sparked by the video embedded below, which was part of the introductory module in INF533, Literature in Digital Environments.

It was interesting to hear the thoughts of these writers both in favour of and suspicious of digital literature. Two general ideas struck me particularly because they connected with some other literature-related items that have recently crossed my social media pathways.

The first connection I noted was from a dissenting voice, the poet Liz Berry, who declared herself “old-fashioned” (SashaHoare, 2012, 1:41) in her relationship to and perception of books and literature. A key point she noted was the historical and personal connection inherent in the physical book – especially secondhand books (2:04). This sentiment turned my mind to two items that had come to my attention this past week, an ABC News piece regarding revision of historical understandings of Western contact with Australia (Thirteenth century cockatoo, 2018) and an article on medieval book branding (Hester, 2018). The use of illustrations of Australasian yellow- or sulfur-crested cockatoos in thirteenth century manuscripts connected with Holy Roman Emporer Frederick II have led historians to reconsider what constituted Western first-contact with Australia (Thirteenth century cockatoo, 2018). I can see Liz Barry’s point as it is hard to imagine the discovery of new information and connections by historians more than five centuries from now from digital literature artefacts in the way that this scholarship has done from these print texts. Another story of historical, but also largely personal, connection comes through the piece on medieval manuscripts (Hester, 2018). The article discusses the value of manuscripts in the medieval era, particularly due to the incredible labour putting into creating them. In order to encourage the return of manuscripts to their originating monastaries, the practice of branding the edges of the volume was adopted. The article goes on to discuss margin notes and other contributions from book owners throughout the ages that add to the stories these physical artefacts tell. Continue reading “Connecting old and new: Digital literature and historical manuscripts”