DESIGNING A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Taking the course "Leaders of Learning" at HarvardX (EdX) this Summer (MOOC addiction)
Design challenge (last assessment): Flexible Hexafunctional Model


(click on the image to enlarge)

YES, ALSO TWITTER

I finally decided to sign in and get a twitter account. Well, 2 accounts. I had been very reluctant to join twitter but I somehow managed to find personal benefits (they're clearer when it comes to companies and their marketing, PR and advertising management). It's practical to have a tool to share quick thoughts and images+thoughts, as well as content, directly, instead of having to include or attach it in an email which might get sort of forgotten in the inbox since forwarded content is normally not a priority.

@yolda_gn 
more serious/professional-like and academic contents

@_sumireneko_
tweets about curiosities, personal thoughts (and news?), hobbies, etc.

I though that, by having 2 separated accounts, it'd be more comfortable for followers, since some may have no interest in personal issues. An viceversa....there might be followers who might not like to follow more "serious" contents. Having these 2 accounts I can also follow different kinds of account profiles to re-tweet contents.

Last but not least, my aim is not having huge amounts of followers but sharing content with followers who care. I do prefer quality to quantity.

IDEAS COLOURING FEELINGS COLOURING IDEAS: SOMETHING ABOUT AFRICA

It’s not been a long time since I started developing a greater interest in Africa. Back in 2002 or so, at university, we did study a bit about Nigeria, focusing on contemporary politics and some issues concerning its society and history (it’s all linked, indeed). I enjoyed it but that was all. I later focused on Asia, in which I’ve been really had a keen interest for many years (why does the East –not only the farthest east- attract me?) and enrolled in a 2—year master course on Asian (and also Oceanic) studies.

Less mainstream

I tend to be especially receptive to information about less popular issues (i.e. the dimensions beyond mainstream culture and mainstream topics) since I’m not exactly very conventional. By “not very conventional” I mean questioning settled beliefs, actions, conventions and not following them if there’s a better or rather rational, healthy or beneficial option (it doesn’t mean being an outsider or a radical follower of whatever).

So, I found myself with colourful, intuitive ideas that formed feelings about those rather-unknown fields, dimensions, issues. And, these ideas and feelings brought an increased curiosity, which made me seek information and other ideas. 

Knowledge is dynamic and it’s quite impossible to acquire 100% knowledge about something (or is it?). Concerning Africa, I went for geography (in fact, we had studied quite a lot of world geography at school, lucky me) to refresh blurred data I had about the continent. Then came cinema and literature, and also languages. I also took part in a language volunteering program (helping learners of Catalan) and my partner was a guy from Senegal. Ah...and the latest, yesterday (February 6th) I went to a book presentation by Mactar Thiam Fall (books on Wolof language in relation to Catalan) which included a short documentary.

Shapes, colours, scents

The shape of the feelings I had initially sort of changing after having watched some movies and reading African literature, but the colours remain. Geometrical patterns in brilliant colours, movement, simple lines, some kind of purity, the ultimate causes of a broad smile.  It somehow feels like digging into oneself and feeling the warm and bold scent of the soil from some forgotten and uncorrupted place.

However...

Of course there are also some negative ideas and criticism, as it happens with most places we read about. But here I just wanted to focus on positive ideas and feeling.

LA PLATEA ESDEVENIA LLAC

En la xerrada donada pel Lama Thubten Wangchen en la seva visita a Granollers (23 de gener de 2014, al Centre Cultural La Caixa), els darrers moments van compactar l’auditori i, alhora, el van fer fluid, com si ja no fóssim éssers diversos amb alguns interessos comuns. Els 2 mantres que es van cantar van fer que aquell espai esdevingués una mena de llac. Ulls tancats per percebre una altra claror.

Mantra de la compassió (Avalokiteśvara)
Oṁ Mani Padme Hūṁ









Mantra de la saviesa (Mañjuśrī)

Oṃ A Ra Pa Ca Na Dhīḥ

Una sala de butaques.

Canviaven els cossos i canviava la percepció de tot plegat. 

Sense temps, sense espai. 

Un llac.