Hello all from Halifax,
Well, it's time for me to share some of my reflections.
1. What was particularly useful and interesting for you? There were several things that were useful and interesting. First, I really appreciated the tone and style of engagement of the facilitators. The tone was very welcoming and non-judgemental and the style of engagement showed careful attention to what we, as participants, had written and the style of engagement modelled 'meeting learners where they are at'. I appreciated this because of the environment and space it established for me to engage. Second, I appreciated some of the very specific and doable feedback. Being in the position of a learner is a powerful reminder of the the implications of the way we give feedback. Third, I appreciated the ease of accessibility of the readings and still want to read more! I hope I still have access after we're done. Fourth, the process reminded me of the value of teaching buddies and how they can help us improve our work. Fifth, I really appreciate the quality of engagement of the participants -- you can see a budding community in that process. Finally, the ideas related to self-regulation intrigue me and I want to read more.
2. How could you share your learning about and application of metacognitive activities in course design with your colleagues?
Well, I've already chatted with friends about the course and the feedback processes but beyond that, for now, it's a pretty close circle of discussion. I'm ok with that frankly because for now this process is about me and my learning and I need to work through that process.
3. How would you "participant-improve" this Micro FLO for the next participants?
Hmmmm...it's interesting because I think when I gave comments about students needing time to reflect to folks like Derek, that in some ways it was also a reflection of my own needs to take some time to play with and reflect on all the ideas that were coming my way because there were a lot of ideas and a lot of suggestions. I've got lots of experience managing multiple ideas from multiple sources all at the same time and the experience to process and then apply them but I'm not sure I was able to reflect on the value of all of the ideas. This may just be part of the process but I wonder if there is space to suggest to participants to focus on one or two pieces of feedback? I'm also not sure that's ideal given reflection on the various strands of feedback lead to changes, for me, that reflected the synergy of the feedback. I'm not sure how helpful this feedback is but maybe it will provide the facilitators with a valuable insight.
So thanks to everyone who made this a valuable learning experience for me. I may indeed become a FLO-enthusiast!
Cheers - Heather