I have just visited  the blog of another Ultraversity student. She has put her research into it and all the websites she ha visited that were relevant to her work. I think this is a good idea as when I'm writing the reference pages and bibliography I find that I have lost some of the addresses and have to spend time carrying out searches in order to find them again. I am definately going to do this next year.
I have just about finished learning activity 3 now, so hope to upload it tonight and start on the next module. This year has gone so quickly and if I'm honest I have enjoyed the degree overall.

This is my plan for the final section of Learning in the Workplace module.

Divide the 1500 words into the following sections

1 Organisational problems and attitudes to PDP for support staff (500 words)
2   Learning in the workplace, reasons for it, ways it is taking place (500 words)
3 How effective has my own development been (250)
4 What has been my response to it, what am I going to do next year (250 words)

 The above is adapted from a help guide for the module and can be found in the resources section of the Ultraversity web site.
Dividing my work into chunks seems to help me greatly, suddenly it doesn't seem such a huge task to complete.

I have been told that I will be changing sites in September to work at another, about 5 miles away. I'm quite pleased as a lot of my friends are also moving there and I will at last have a specific role in ICT as the Technology specialist, sounds good but its really been given to me in recognition of the work I have been doing on the router and with Prodesktop. I will still be doing half Scvience as well so it looks like busy days ahead.

In September 2004 my school is under going changes which will mean working over two sites instead of three and more specifically having all Year 7 & 8 students on one site and all Year 9,10 & 11 on the other. The impact on me is that I will be working with different staff and possibly on a different sites. Its difficult to say what effect this will have on my job but time will tell. I'm not sure what I think really about the changes, it could be a good thing but there again it could be limiting with having students of a small age difference. It will be only for the next two years when we will be all moving into a new building on one site. I think when that happens everyone concerned will breathe a sigh of relief.

Today we made periscopes in science which is a good way of looking at reflection. Ha Ha

There were only two lessons per teacher today as the Year 11 groups have left. Consequently they had a lot of spare time on their hands which they spent in the prep room moaning about the current state of school. If there's one thing that gets to me is people moaning all day. I wanted to escape but couldn't as I had work to do. I realised a long time ago that moaning solves nothing and the best thing to do is to stay positive, difficult to do I know, this degree has tested me to the limit on being positve. I decided to say that the next person who moaned would have to stand on a chair and sing me a song. Needless to say they just laughed but it did stop them moaning at least for a while. Point made I thnk.

I realised today that teachers do not have any idea what the impact on my job  is when they are ill prepared for their lessons. Everything is rushed and then they wonder why somethings just don't work, never considering that there has been no time to check them.

I have read an exam paper for a student at school today and I am wondering if there has been any research done on the effectiveness of this. It isn't the first time I've been a reader but sometimes it feels as if by reading the question, it confuses the student especially if the question is based around information in a table. I am going to try to find out. I realise that the exam board must have looked into this otherwise you would think that they wouldn't use it, so I will make that a starting point. I could use it in my PDP . I also wondered if there was any exams done via an audio tape and if so are they less confusing for the student. Watch this space.

As yesterday was a beautiful day I decided to forget the degree and take time out. I walked Max on the beach, he went in the sea and we had a lovely time even if he did spray me with sand and water when he shook himself. I could swear that he was smiling when he did it. Sorry thats the dog lover in me, or at least Greman Shepherd lover.
Spent the rest of the afternoon in the garden, there's something very theraputic about digging, maybe its the repetition or the colour of  lovely newly dug earth that appeals to me but I love it. I spent the day mostly by myself and it was wonderful to recharge the batteries and to also realise that my work load had eased enough so that I could now begin to do things that I enjoy, instead of it all being based around work.
So all in all it was a wonderful day.
xxx