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The last week has been rather difficult for a number of interelated reasons and this has had some bearing on the progress of my assignment work; Rarely have I known such a challenging pre-Christmas period!
I have had to make a difficult decision imposed on me by my financial situation which is now, as a consequence of the loss of my job and the need to find a new one, pretty perilous. Bills and our home need to be paid for and of course the season of ill will is fast approaching! I have managed to find temporary work for the period up to just prior to Christmas. In addition to this I have secured two interviews for permanent jobs in the next few days and have to prepare for these accordingly. All of these developments have taken their toll on the time available for home study and assignment work and I find this situation frustrating and (dare I say it!) overwhelming. I will simply have to taken advantage of the dispensation we have been given vis the essay but perhaps the same will need to apply to the actual workshop-based ICT bits and bobs. As far as this latter is concerned and after a confused start involving my attention span deficit, some ID/ technical hitches, plus my ability to turn technophobia into an art form, it is only now that I am getting a handle on this component of the course. I need more time to complete this assignment and face the relative embarrasment of asking for an extension (on a parity with the written component) to complete my unsatisfactory ICT bits and bobs.
Tim contacted me a few evenings ago to discuss the course work and because I had all the financial and employment concerns swimming around in my mind I was a bit preocupied and probably sounded rather abrupt or unconcerned.
On the teaching practice front, the job I had applied for as 'Learning support Officer' in the post-16 sector, working in a local college of F.E. in a paid mentoring capacity, had fallen through. Fortunately two of the jobs I have secured interviews for have some relavance, however tenuous, to the teaching practice requirements and hopefully soon I will be able to report of my experience of one of these. In the meantime things are in limbo during this strange bone-chilling snow and frost inflected pre-yuletide period!

The elusive workshop work!

I have been unable to retrieve some of the exercises we have undertaken in ICT class. Partly this was a consequence of an initial problem with my ID which has meant that on at least two occassions I have had to 'borrow' the lecturers ID. On another occassion I borrowed a fellow students memory stick.

The theory component of the course is more within my terrain and reflects my interest in ideas and theories. It will be interesting to apply this to teaching practice when the opportunity presents itself.

A recap of the period 20th-27th November 2010

The relatively long period since the last blog has been rather busy on a personal level and to a considerable degree this has encroached on my studies and the progress of the assignments. Just before this period, on 16th November I returned to the family home to attend the funeral of a family member and also used the opportunity to visit several people and places and attended to various practical tasks in the parental home. My family, and that of my partner, will engage in the annual ritual of coming to stay with us throughout the festive season.
There have been other considerations; My original plan to become an Educational support officer, thereby placing my finances onto a more secure footing and also fulfilling the course teaching practice requirements, failed to materialise due to the inept practices and organisational failure of the agency that acted in my name. Instead, I have had no alternative other than to look for alternative employment, no easy task in the depths of a recession!
During last weeks (21st Nov) lecture we were reminded that the blogs should include references in order to give them some academic veracity. I shall try my best to weave them into the narrative (but not for this blog!) but it does seem a rather odd requirement for a semi-formal, reflective exercise and in this regard there seems to be a considerable excrement quotient!
My mind is exercised by concerns about finding a teaching placement. Oh well, the bells of yuletide ring ever louder, so tommorow we are going to erect and decorate our magnificent Christmas tree.

Prematurely aborted blog!

I've been rather remis with the blog messages during the last fortnight or so but I shall try and make good this great moral/organisational/psychological/ontological...er...biological failing by committing myself to a bit of 'events'- inspired doggeral.
As usual, the technical, IT elements of the course conspire to confound me and I end up feeling like a proper nincumpoop! Nevertheless I feel that some progress is being made and that  formerly delphic knowledge has revealed itself! I can't continue with this particular blog because I think I've fallen victim to a computer virus! I'm off to try and resolve the problem.

A break-through (relatively speaking!)

Ahhaaaa!!! As is usual the case with me the blindingly obvious has resulted in a step forward in my burgeoning (but still fairly rudementary) understanding of ICT. As overelaborated in the previous blogs I understand the principles of the various functions but often come a cropper with the technical side of things. The latest technilogical revelation is a case in point; having been unable to access my blackboard account since week one, as a consequence of confusion with the various passwords for other sites (and having spoken to the IT administrator, who was very helpful), I discovered today that the missing password had been written on a disenbodied piece of paper wedged in the middle of my notebook at the begining of term and had been available to me all along!! Dear lord! I was immediately able to access the blackboard account and the days of having to borrow an electronic identity either from instructor Jan or a fellow student have ended! Another good thing in a naughty world!
As I write I'm waiting for Charles and Tim to arrive for another study jamboree!

Study group merriment!

Fellow PGCE students,Charles, Tim and myself have organised some reasonably informal study group meetings (consisting of the three of us!) to clarify some of the issues discussed in the ICT lectures. Charles is knowledgeable about IT and so he is of considerable help to Tim and myself.
So far we have met three times, twice at my home and once at Tims place which is in West Cross. Because of the latters proximity to The Mumbles we strolled along the seafront in the brisk early-evening autumn air, with the guls bobbing on the surface of the water and the pleasant aroma of fallen leaves and bonfires all around us. A perfect setting for a nice cuppa in Verdis icecream parlour prior to going on to Tims to discuss ICT! I have taken notes (in the form of straightforward diagrams and word pictures as an aid to learning and memory) and these sessions are useful. Unfortunately I had forgotten that we had arranged to meet this afternoon (31st) at my place and instead I visited my family! It was only back at home during the cobweb and decay encrusted Halloween evening that this faux par occured to me!  

Initial technical problems.

The initial difficulties I experienced with regards to the technical aspects of the course were accentuated by the fact that for some reason I was unable to access my student account; the system refused to acknowledge the relevant I.D. which meant that I was obliged to use the I.D. of the instructor or that of another student when accessing my account on-site. Also there was an identical problem when attempting to access my student library account, though in each instance the library assistant was able to provide a temporary resolution and I was able to request an appointment with the library and information services technical advisor who was extremely helpful and clarified a number of technically-challenging (for me) issues. Now it would seem that the initial problem (at least as far as the library is concerned) has been resolved and hopefully the same will be true of the ITC lessons!