Thursday 10 March 2011

postscript to my first post!

Just wanted to add: the reason I chose this particular picture is because for a number of reasons it resonates: the picture was taken towards the end of last year. It was the end of my first year as a lecturer, and myself and my four North Island colleagues (who you may have read about in Christine's blog!) decided that since we had spent a year challenging and supporting our students to learn new skills, we would challenge ourselves to do so too. We were organising an end-of-year celebration for our first years, and decided that we would weave each of them a flax flower, and make them each a card describing some aspect of how brilliant they'd been. So I gathered some harakeke from my land, and together we learned how to weave (and laughed, and told stories) right through the evening until we had enough for everyone.
In many respects I feel like I'm back there - learning a new skill, feeling nervous about 'getting it right', and challenging myself to step outside the comfort zone.

May the musing begin...

Kia ora, and welcome to my blog. My name is Suzanne Miller, and this is my first tentative baby step into the world of blogging, one I would never have made were it not for the Flexible Learning paper of the GCTLT at Otago Polytechnic! Let me tell you a little bit about myself...

I live in Horokiwi, a small rural community on the doorstep of the Wellington metropolis. Although I live literally two minutes from State Highway 2 near Petone, its my wee chunk of country living where dial-up rules (no infrastructure) and mobile wireless costs the earth, but I do it anyway. I live on a 4ha block of regenerating native bush with my partner, our three children (who prefer to remain anonymous 'cause this is too uncool), three chooks called Dusty, Janis, and Madonna - choc fish to anyone who can see the connection - and canine friend Hine.

My work world sees me educating both undergraduate and postgraduate midwives, and providing homebirth services as an LMC midwife. I find teaching incredibly stimulating after 20 years of practice as a midwife, and relish the opportunity to re-engage with educational theory as I have both in my teaching role and now, again, being a student in the Teaching and Learning course. I completed four papers last year (luckily could RPL two of them!) and will hopefully finish the last two this year.

I'm keen to explore this flexible learning topic because my lecturer role sees me using a variety of teaching tools - the Batchelor of Midwifery programme is a three year degree offered via a blended delivery model, which includes online tutorials, face-to-face sessions, online modular 'parcels' as well as supporting student midwives in clinical placements as they gain hands on experience in midwifery. In addition to this I am the Course Co-ordinator of a postgraduate paper, Evidence-Informed Practice, which is is undergoing revision this year as it transforms from two 15 point papers into one 30 point paper. I'm hoping that along the way I can develope some ideas for keeping this new paper fresh and lively for participants - though I do concede there might be a challenge with keeping research statistics fresh and lively tehe.
Onward and upward!