Fiona's learning experiences

Well, firstly just to update on my current learning experience, I have made my first powerpoint without any assistance! Sam very kindly filmed me on Monday presenting it but as we only have a flip camera with automatic settings quite often you can see and hear me and not see the powerpoint or vice versa, so my next task after writing this is to figure out how to post up both for your feedback.

Best Learning Experience

My best learning experience was with my English lecturer at University. We studied modernism/20th century literature with him from Synge through to Eliot, Joyce and Woolf. He founded a creative writing course and we were his first students.

I can not remember for sure whether it was a literature lesson or a creative writing class, but my most powerful memory of him is when he said in one of these sessions ' I DON'T KNOW, WHAT DO YOU THINK?' It still feels like the most exciting thing anyone has ever said to me.
I felt it gave me permission to have an opinion and that he would consider that opinion or interpretation to be equal to his own. It seemed to be saying I could discover for myself and share that discovery out loud in his class.

That was well over 20 years ago. We are still in touch. I met him for breakfast last month. In his company, I still believe I can do anything.

Worst Learning Experience

My worst learning experience was while I was training to be a theatre designer. A company asked to work with us ( 9 students) on a complex film project they wanted to realise. I knew nothing about the film-making or editing process. We were not shown anything and no part of the process was clearly explained - there was an assumption of knowledge. We worked to points of exhaustion, crewing each others chapter of the film as well as creating our own section yet whatever we did never seemed to be enough. They were always very emotional in expressing how dissappointing we were and how much we were letting them down personally at every turn, a kind of emotional blackmail to finish the project no matter what.

I believe the film won a student prize at the Quadrennial but there was no money to fund any of us to go.

It was a manipulative and exploitative learning experience - maybe this is where my fear of technology started!

Any blogged or emailed step by step instructions on how to post up the powerpoint and the video gratefully received.

Look forward to seeing you on Friday,

Fiona