For the next few days, I am in Sheffield at the LTEA conference. This first afternoon, I'm really impressed with the planning, organisation, engagement etc. It's a pity the sun isn't shining, because I'm sitting on the 4th Floor of the Library / Information Commons, overlooking the city and its traffic. An interesting session introducing / reflecting on the developments of Second life. Someone has just questioned the presenter about the comment from students that interviewing in second life was found to be more 'authentic' - I think this is in the sense of 'real-world' connections: last year the students were interviewing each other and this time they were able to talk with people from across the world and draw on their 'real' experiences (of second life!)
A nice move in terms of the planning for the event was to get tables of around 6 - 8 people to form a small group and make a first entry into the conference wiki - questions about inquiry / networked. This group could continue to interact.
My other reflection is about the programme and my own journey through the event. Reading the abstracts on the train up here (as you do) I found it very difficult to make choices that followed one of the threads. I have decided to take a 'helicopter' view and to go to the sessions that seem to raise the 'big' questions around enquiry learning. Maybe this is playing to my weaknesses / strengths as a researcher evaluator. Perhaps it also reflects the ways in which SCEPTrE has that 'complex world' perspective?
So now I'm sitting in a session on 'an ethics of inquiry based learning'. A very creative cross-disciplinary collaboration between literature and social work training. A positive experience for students and for the presenters. The students seem to have developed a critically informed reflection, starting from their own experience. The group process and the practical enquiry 'with' service users seems to have enabled students to have developed in remarkable ways. The only anxiety (for me) was the potential threat presented by the University's ethics committee (and other institutional / local government / health service regulations. This was one of the questions - though it was asked very much in a way that suggested these structured regulatory procedures could perhaps learn from this process. I liked that very positive view ... it made me feel I was among friends.
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