Buck the status quo #blimage

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/plastanka/

Thank you David Hopkins for once again putting out the challenge! Your latest image from Johan Hansson is aptly named 'Stormtrooper with a camera - The sunset'

My initial reaction was: Here's a green light for horizon scanning. Permission to go out in the wild and seek innovation and innovators! You are on a mission. Bring back good practice and stories of engaged staff and students in the art of learning and teaching. 

Explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.... Ok different film but the image inspiration took me here.

Dare to be different comes to mind. 

Buck the status quo

Chris Guillebeau who wrote the book 'The Art of Non Conformity' suggests that we must be: 

open to new ideas
don't accept everything at face value, but do listen and question

dissatisfied with the status quo
don't be unremarkably average - challenge ideas

willing to take personal responsibility
have empathy, be honest and support those working with you

willing to work hard life is not short of challenges
determination, perseverance and grit is needed

BE INNOVATIVE!


My #blimage challenge is to consider the image below. I look forward to responses! This is open to everyone who wants to write a blog post relating the image to learning, and then pass on the challenge with an image of your own choice. Tweet the link and include the hashtag #blimage. Check the growing collections of posts from people across the globe!

Source: http://imgur.com/5VXMT

Fortunate Learning and Learning Fortunes #blimage

I couldn't resist taking up the challenge once again when Jane Bozarth responded to Jane Hart's #blimage challenge. Above Is Jane B's chosen image. In case you have missed this hashtag which seems to have erupted today, the objective is to write a blog post linking the image to learning and to then add your own image and share with more educators. Blog posts are being curated on Pinterest by Simon Ensor. Also check out posts by Amy Burvall and Steve Wheeler who set this going! You can get the gist from my previous blog post here.

Fortune Cookies

So my first response is I see fortune cookies. What are they? Well a little look at Wikipedia tells us that...

A fortune cookie is a crisp cookie usually made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil with a piece of paper, a "fortune", on which is an aphorism, or a vague prophecy. The message inside may also include a Chinese phrase with translation or a list of lucky numbers used by some as lottery numbers, some of which have become actual winning numbers

The BBC even have a recipe to make Fortune cookies!

Ingredients
100g/3½oz plain flour
1½ tbsp cornflour
50g/1¾oz caster sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 free-range eggs, whites only
1 tsp water
1½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract

Preparation method
Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3. Line a baking tray with a silicone mat. Write fortunes on pieces of paper about 6cm x 1cm/2½in x ½in.
Sift the flour and cornflour into a large bowl then add the sugar and salt and mix well. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the oil, egg whites, water and vanilla and almond extracts.
Place tablespoons of the mixture onto the silicone mat and use the back of a metal spoon to swirl out the mixture into 10cm/4in circles. Leave space between each cookie as they will spread a little during cooking; you will get about five cookies onto the baking tray so will have to cook them in batches. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes. The outer edge of each cookie should turn golden brown and the cookies should be easy to remove with a spatula when cooked.

Place a fortune in the centre of each cookie and while the cookie is still soft and pliable, fold it in half and pinch the semi circular edges together to seal. Place the folded edge of the cookie onto the rim of a cup or glass and gently pull the two corners down, one on the inside of the cup and one on the outside, to form the classic fortune cookie shape. Set aside to cool and repeat with the remaining cookies.

Fortune messages

You can download and print fortunes from various internet sites such as the Fortune Cookie Message Archive. Who'd have thought it was such a big thing? And yet the more I read, the more I recalled vague memories of weddings including these as table favours. I'm not a fan of Chinese food (as it is served in the UK, which I understand is different to China) but realise these fortune cookies are also given out at some point during the meal. 

Reading further it would seem there is a dispute with regards to the origin, with claims that fortune cookies actually come from Japan. The New York Times shares a story about Nakamachi, a folklore and history graduate student at Kanagawa University outside Tokyo, who has spent more than six years trying to establish the Japanese origin of the fortune cookie. 

"As she researched the cookie's Japanese origins, among the most persuasive pieces of evidence Nakamachi found was an illustration from a 19th-century book of stories, "Moshiogusa Kinsei Kidan." A character in one of the tales is an apprentice in a senbei store. In Japan, the cookies are called, variously, tsujiura senbei ("fortune crackers"), omikuji senbei ("written fortune crackers"), and suzu senbei ("bell crackers")."

Cookies go stale and fortunes are forever was the title of Fine Art thesis written by David Cavaliero. It is deep and may need further unpacking. However the title caught my eye. Thinking about learning approaches, there are many examples where these may be considered stale and not engaging. The materials shared in lectures can sometimes be jaded or out of date. Perhaps though at the time they were created they were 'of the moment' and captured students curiosity to learn more. The ability to learn is our fortune. Learning fortunes can be anything from quick wins and just in time learning to deep learning and life changing. I feel fortunate to have had the learning opportunities I have had and I hope I am going some way to give this back to my students and those I learn with.  

Can we make our fortune through learning? A measure of prestige in the US is being a company on the Fortune 500 list. What did it take to get there? What's your measure of success in relation to learning? 

Public domain image: https://pixabay.com/en/scales-balance-measure-weigh-blue-309810/

Learning: anytime, anywhere, any social space #blimage

David Hopkins https://www.flickr.com/photos/hopkinsdavid/15957811965/
Birmingham Airport

A few days Amy Burvall set Steve Wheeler a challenge

The sassy tweets that started it all : #blimage challenge #theinternetisweird #collaborativecreativity pic.twitter.com/GoNkDMJ9Nf

— Amy Burvall (@amyburvall) July 21, 2015

Steve's response: Off the rails?

Amy's counter response: Breaking bread with Steve Wheeler

The #blimage challenge then started to take off and spread across the Twittersphere. I picked up David Hopkin's response to Steve: Desks of Doom

What's all about? In short the challenge is to write a blog post prompted by the image on the theme of learning; share your blog post and include the hashtag #blimage. Want to 'share on' the fun? Then inspire someone else by sending them an image.

Unsurprisingly, David paid forward the challenge and gave us the photo above. This was taken at Birmingham Airport by David and artistically enhanced using the iPhone app Waterlogue. The photo got me immediately thinking about informal and creative learning.

Learning takes place everywhere and all of the time. We take it for granted and don't always consider the informal learning we are engaging with in our daily lives. Taking the airport scenario learning can happen through chance conversations, listening to new music, reading a book cover in the book shop, or even through your own smart phone. 

Smart learning

My smart phone provides endless opportunities for learning. Like David I have a collection of apps that can lead to creative activities; social networking apps that lead me to social spaces in which I can choose to listen in or engage in dialogue about a multitude of topics; send and receive emails, text and whatsapp messages; surf the internet; listen to music or audio books; and so the list goes on.

The wait at the airport can be a drag. The lure of the duty free shops seems to have diminished when you can check the price of an item and find it is cheaper online. Making use of the time you have can be filled with a variety of activities using your mobile phone. Granted the home journey from a holiday abroad removes the access to wifi for many of us (and don't get me started on why some airlines provide wifi and others ban it...). However even without wifi we can use our smart devices to write a draft blog post that will save and can be published once you are home; make a to do list using the Notes page or create a new healthy fitness and eating plan. 

In my job I often have to travel in the UK and this is usually by train. Access to 4G connection enables me to catch up with news both from news sites but also my PLN. It is my personal learning network that I value so much. An amazing group of people who are constantly sharing useful information through links to web pages, videos, podcasts and newly published books and articles. They are of interest and relevant because we share similar interests. I have chosen to make these connections on this basis.  

Building a PLN takes time and patience. In the words of William Hickson who is credited for popularising this proverb:

'Tis a lesson you should heed:
Try, try, try again.
If at first you don't succeed,
Try, try, try again.

My  challenge for you is to blog about a learning scenario in response to this image. I look forward to your responses! Tweet me a message when you share your post or leave a link in the comments.

Public domain image: https://pixabay.com/en/spider-web-web-water-drops-dew-399854/