Shirleypickford's Weblog

New blogs and social media

Shirley — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 08:55:29 +0000

WordPress is a popular choice with Cohort 14 Learning Through Technology students who started their studies this semester, so I might be logging in here more often. Google+ is also proving to be popular. Induction was held in a private Posterous group and conversations are also continuing there. The university VLE is the official forum for module discussions, but the layout is less attractive and there are challenges with permissions.

A Vision of Students Today

Shirley — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:38:51 +0000

via youtube.com

I wonder what a vision of online, work-based students would be like: a wider age range, different balance of work/life/study interests.

Thanks, Mike

Shirley — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 10:45:57 +0000

Micheál Mathäß

BA (Hons) learning, Technology and Research (distance learning)

“Very high standards are set and met by the learning facilitators and these learning standards are expected to be met by the students also. This is, for most students, a most rewarding challenge.

”

via anglia.ac.uk

Unsolicited praise, unexpectedly published; being a tutor on this degree course is hard work, sustained by engagement with interesting students who offer a fascinating insight into their working lives. All students are in work – usually full time – so it is to their credit that they find a way to balance work/life/study.

Hamish Scott-Brown Photography

Shirley — Mon, 24 May 2010 17:22:09 +0000

The photographer Hamish Scott-Brown is back working in Barga. We have been following his work as he has been taking images in and around Barga for a number of years now. Hamish Scott-Brown moved from his native Scotland to Barga and has been steadily building up a large and comprehensive body of work which focuses on the city and its inhabitants.

We published some of his work back in 2008 – (article here) The images were part of a continuing project which he was calling a visual phenomenological research exploring ‘home’ and what we consider ‘homeliness’” and was for his MA in photography at the University of Cumbria in the UK.

The following year 2009, he had changed the thrust of the work and was concentrating on night images of houses and dwellings (article here)

This year the emphasis moved once again and instead he started researching and photographing abandoned mental asylums.

This week he was back in the area photographing two models using Barga Vecchia as his backdrop. We caught up with him just outside the Casa Cordati using the large pink facade of the centuries old palazzo as a perfect complimentary colour to the green dress of one of his models.

[Click here for slideshow]

Sonia & Mariella.

No…….. the two girls spotted in Barga Veccia on Friday evening were not professional models! They were local schoolgirls Sonia Orsucci and Mariella Ciniglio! These two beautiful young ladies were kind enough to model for professional photographer Hamish Scott-Brown who is at present collating a body of work based on eco fashion and the Scottish- Italian connection. Hamish’s wife Fiona is responsible for sourcing the gowns from sustainable outlets, styling and make-up.

Hamish says that the girls are simply beautiful. Natural and poised with an elegance and sophistication rarely found in such young subjects, the girls take instruction extremely well and are responsive to the photographers direction. In addition the girls appreciate the detail involved in the shoot and work hard to help Hamish achieve results.

Fiona states that the girls have a freshness which is very becoming in contemporary fashion photography and an instinctive aptitude for modelling.

Hamish specialises in portraiture, boudoir, model folios and ‘trash the dress’ shoots.

Artist’s Statement.

International award winning photographer Hamish Scott -Brown is an outstanding contemporary photographer operating at the cutting edge of the industry. His inimitable approach secures his place as a leading exponent and digital artist who provides images of the highest quality and style

Hamish trained originally at the prestigious Bournemouth and Poole College of Art where he studied photography along with so many other great British talents like Turner prize winner Wolfgang Tillmans and world renowned fashion photographer Nick Knight. Recognised by his tutors as an outstanding student, he went on to work as an assistant to names like Tony McGee and John Swannell before operating as a freelance photographer, graduating as a teacher from Strathclyde University and finally securing a post as a Principal University Lecturer.

Progressing education through technology, Hamish also worked with organisations such as The BBC, Channel 4 television and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London developing learning through technology.

Hamish recently completed his Post Graduate MA studies in Photography and his subjects for study were mostly found here in Tuscany. Hamish spent many months researching and photographing abandoned mental asylums in the region here and further afield in Germany.

His studies invite the viewer to interpret traces of dwelling, being or Dasein and to speculate on the isolation, the loneliness and the incarceration. The closure of these institutions is infused into their very atmosphere. These places were home to many poor souls designated mad or simply less able.Empty emotionally charged spaces, have in some cases, been violated by other inquisitors eager to get a closer look on the remnants of previous habitation.

I want to share with the viewer an opportunity to reflect on these institutions and also, to witness those traces which evidence attempts to build a normal community.Within my images you will find not only bars on windows, heavy doors, disability and isolation, but also communal recreation areas.

The question is, as a viewer, do you look in at these images and see yourself as “The Other”? There were many who inhabited the same space, carers, doctors, visitors and patients?

As you look at the images and venture into this forgotten place, which subject do you become ? Carer or Cared For?” – Hamish Scott-Brown

Hamish’s beautiful book “Manicomio” is published here http://www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/1035531

For some, treasured possessions can be mobilised from one space to another and ‘home’ can be quickly re-established in a different time and space.
For others, material possessions have little value.
Familiar sights, sounds and memories permeate the very fabric of existence from birth to death and, confined within a discreet space, cosseted from the elements, such a space (and no other) may well become “Home”.
As I realised how fortunate in life I have been with all the comforts of a secure loving home, I began to think about those souls who were often institutionalised for no greater sin than being less able or perhaps plagued by mental illness. I searched out a number of locations within travelling distance of my home and beyond.
Manicomio is a series of images taken inside a number of abandoned mental asylums. These eerie desolate and derelict buildings are most often spread across a fair acreage of quiet rural countryside. Built sufficiently out of the way to ease the social conscience, traces of former inhabitants remain both inside and externally in the grounds. Some poor souls remained in locked rooms or wards –‘for their own safety’ while others may have been afforded the luxury of walking out of doors in a secure, permitted area. Many of these people were abandoned and forgotten. These ‘skeletons in the cupboard’ often lived a whole lifetime and died in an asylum which was the only home they had ever really known.
The book is dedicated to those forgotten residents of such institutions and also to those ghosts who remain visible and invisible in the cold interiors and shifting gauzy light. – – Hamish Scott-Brown

………. along with his first publication “The Natural Harmonics of Home & Space” also available to view here

http://www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/536057
……………

From the barganews archives: on this day..

Inter fans take to the streets – 2010

l’architrave restaurato del Biduino – 2010

Melanina closes the soul sessions at BJC – 2008

Alessandro Benvenuti and Il Mitico 11 – 2007

via barganews.com

Inspiring photos that make me want to know more about the eco-fashion project. I never really grew out of the student phase when the only affordable glamour came from charity shops. Supporting all aspects of sustainability adds to the pleasure of retail therapy.

Dee Estuary – SSSI

Shirley — Sat, 15 May 2010 01:07:00 +0000

Locally, on the Welsh shoreline, saltmarsh continues to erode, particularly between Greenfield and Flint.

via wirral.gov.uk

The problem of erosion is said to be particularly on the part where the Flint bypass is not planned.

Coastal Saltmarsh

Shirley — Sat, 15 May 2010 01:02:06 +0000

Saltmarshes on the Flintshire side of the estuary are rapidly eroding.

via cheshire-biodiversity.org.uk

Not much detail given in this summary, so I’ll look for more. I wonder how building a bypass on the edge of the saltmarsh would reduce the erosion?

Setback in fight for Flint bypass: the good news

Shirley — Sat, 15 May 2010 00:54:50 +0000

Cllr Alex Aldridge, who has been fighting for a bypass through Flint for 20 years, said he was ‘disappointed’

via flintshirechronicle.co.uk

… on the other hand, those who have objected to the plans on environmental – and just plain logical – grounds are delighted. Today we had one of the worst traffic jams on the relevant road for months, due to roadworks in Flint. I was in a traffic jam for 20 minutes.

I live on the road which Cllr Aldridge thinks is a problem and I know that on a Friday afternoon there is a bit more traffic than usual. Any available funds should be spent on more pressing problems in Flint.

Which salt marsh Cllr Aldridge is thinking of? If it is the one I can see from the road, it is the grazing for some very happy sheep (and lambs). The proposed bypass would probably destroy a Site of Special Scientific Interest which not only has rare reeds, but also has swans, herons and ducks. I’d like to see the research that says the salt marsh is endangered – it looks good, and has plenty of estuary birds. Further along the proposed bypass is Flint Castle and the coastal path, neither of which would be improved although they are probably the most attractive parts of Flint.

The proposed bypass would ease the Friday afternoon 4pm-6pm congestion in Oakenholt and Flint. However, it would be an expensive bypass that would then lead into the same road further up – no real improvement for the money. The cars that cut through side roads is unlikely to need the bypass as it is local traffic.

On the other hand, a nice new bypass would compliment the plans for 700 houses on green belt land that would almost complete the ribbon development from Queensferry through to Flint/Bagillt. I wonder where Cllr Aldridge lives?

how it is, how it should be

Shirley — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:02:22 +0000

via twitpic.com

Snap!

Making assessment count : JISC

Shirley — Tue, 11 May 2010 08:38:20 +0000

Anticipated Outputs and Outcomes

Students taking responsibility for their learning by reflecting and acting on their feedback to improve their performance

Improved student perceptions of the value of feedback

Enhanced staff satisfaction from seeing the hard work they put into generating constructive feedback being realised in better student performance and achievement

Technology used to facilitate a process that is ordered, manageable, efficient and effective

Stakeholders across the university will, through the dissemination activities, see how the methods for e-feedback and formative assessment can impact positively on student performance

via jisc.ac.uk

How far has the Ultraversity project got with assessment in a fully online programme? The first four outcomes from a JISC research project have been achieved, the last is in progress.

Students get interim (formative) and final (summative) assessments individually and in (online) groups. Evidence of taking responsibility can be seen not only in redrafts from interim feedback, but also through the sharing of targets and guidance to advise other students. Reflection and action on feedback are encouraged through the introduction of models of reflective practice. Each module concludes with an evaluation of learning that includes analysis and identification of action strategies.

There does not appear to have been a problem with students valuing tutor feedback, except where they are still at the stage of understanding that university tutors may offer different perspectives on complex subjects. The major change that usually takes place during the second semester of the first year is an appreciation of the value of feedback from peers. This is followed by a further stage where the value of giving thoughtful feedback becomes apparent – not only because it is part of the assessment, but because it engages the students with the assessment criteria from a different perspective.

Staff satisfaction seems high, which is just as well because feedback can be very intensive work. There is a tendency within the Ultraversity team to overdose on interim formative assessment, which has led to the development of guidelines for expectations of tutors as, unsurprisingly, students can expect far more than there is time to give. The guidelines include the expectation that, where possible, individual feedback will be copied to online groups so that other students can benefit from guidance.

Reports about technology for assessment often seems to lead to online quizzes, but that is one technique that has not been used by Ultraversity tutors. The technology that supports assessment can be broadly divided into process and management. The processes make use of online discussions that are usually but not always asynchronous. Management is to some extent dependent on software – for example, WebCT offers very useful tracking. Management of interim formative assessment is an area for development, but final assessments from online submission to posting summative feedback is fairly well established in the project.

Influencing stakeholders across the university is still at an early stage.

Grown Up Learning

Shirley — Mon, 10 May 2010 19:31:57 +0000

The distinction between pedagogy and andragogy can be misleading, as school pupils enjoy a more collaborative style as much as adult learners. Also, sometimes my undergraduate students would really like me to just give them a straightforward answer – and in some situations this works better. There is an art in judging which is best in any situation; to get it wrong is human.