Learning, sharing, getting better

I'm an educationalist. I love thinking about how people learn - how I learn - and I love teaching. Put me in front of a class or a group and leave me to it. I once defined learning as "allowing things to change us". It's more than that, of course, but to me the basic job of the teacher is to enable learning and to encourage the wish to learn. From there everything should follow.

Other people see things differently, of course. There are enough definitions of learning (and teaching) to keep us all going for a very long time. Quite often the books and journals I read, and the web, and mailing lists, suggest things that help me develop my own skills and sometimes make me rethink my beliefs and the way I do things. I'm hoping to pass some of these random finds on. So this isn't primarily a place for my opinions but a way of passing on things I think are interesting, exciting or even just quirky.

Mind you, this is a blog, and I am reasonably keen on my own ideas, so there will be a few of those to. I'm particularly involved with elearning and the use of technology in various aspects of education (especially at Further, Higher and Lifelong stages in the UK) so there may be a preponderance of these topics.

My latest find is a series of videos by Geoff Petty - inspiring stuff on the nature of teaching. I've always liked Geoff's book on teaching ("Teaching Today") and these videos also contain an excellent introduction to constructivist thinking.