Finding I need to think more about sharable representations of practice

Well this was going to be a tweet but even the quote was too long. Having had one student volunteer a complex flowchart to demonstrate a technique they'd developed, and which caused another student to balk at it, gave me the urge to send a Peter Goodyear's (2005,p120) quote into the ether:

'much of what is worth learning in a rapidly changing field of practice already exists as 'working knowledge' embedded in the working practices of professionals in the field.'

The trick is, how to facilitate that, especially at a distance. There are 'tool' and 'training' issues, some of which are explored in http://www.researchinlearningtechnology.net/index.php/rlt/article/view/11162/12858#

Goodyear P (2005) Emergence of a Networked Learning Community. In: G. Kearsley ed. Online Learning: Personal Reflections On The Transformation Of Education. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications. Available at: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8INcUQxCb2EC&lpg=PA113&pg=PA126#v=onepage&q&f=fals

Goodyear P and Steeples C (1998) Creating shareable representations of practice. Research in Learning Technology. 6 (3). Available at: http://www.researchinlearningtechnology.net/index.php/rlt/article/view/11162

Shared Paths Blog

Finding the right picture to serve as a positive image for a learning design can be a laborious process. When you strike upon just the right one it all seems worthwhile. Blogging is one of the foundation informational forms of the current era and it is important for knowledge workers of all ilks to be gain a reasonable level skill with it. I am introducing students on a medical education course to blogging and here's what I found:

This is perfect in several ways. It hints at the variety of people who are on this learning trajectory (or path) at the same time, with different reasons, ages, speeds, technologies and opportunities. There is even something in there about the benefits of resting a while and having a good old-fashioned conversation. The text, 'Please slow down and keep left', hints at a kind of highway code - bloggers also need to be aware of each other as they participate, even if their peers are not co-located.
There is probably even more to this metaphor than I have sketched here but, for now, I just say thank you to Elliot for sharing and to whoever it was in Birmingham that designed and erected the sign!