Things I got #rhizo15 – thank you

 Over the past few weeks I’ve been participating in an open course on rhizomatic learning #rhizo15. Now that it’s sadly come to an end this week, here’re some reflections on my experience – not really just of the course, but how participating has contributed to my practice:

Getting involved… well, I started a bit late and joined in at week 2, I think. I was curious mostly – that’s why I thought I’d get involved. I had a look around and decided not to use facebook, mainly because I don’t, and instead follow the conversation on Twitter and blog posts. I started doing some drawings and posts myself when I found I wanted to make my own voice heard, which I enjoyed. Being in the open… was a mixed experience for me. On the upside I made some great connections, found a lot of interesting things and got very generous feedback and comments. Confidence building and stimulating on the whole. However the kind of open conversation and thinking can be hard to get into when day to day your work isn’t like that and it took me some time to find the right space in my day and in my head to engage with what was going on. Being a learner on an equal footing… is probably what I found most difficult. In my day to day work I don’t often get to give feedback or collaborate with others as a peer on an equal footing and being a learner #rhizo15 made me more aware of my own mindset and how valuable it is for me to switch my perspective. That leads me to my last point, which is …not knowing things. Both the format and topic of this course were interesting in this respect and I enjoyed not knowing things, the freedom that this kind of approach brings with it.

Thank you… like many of the other participants that have reflected on their experience of this course I feel mine has been profound for me and my open practice. I am deeply grateful to have been part of it and I am also pleased to have made the effort to engage. It somehow brings to mind the game invented by Mary Poppins to tidy up the nursery, Well Begun is Half-Done. Having made a start, I’ve gotten further down the path than I had anticipated. It’s always good I think to end up somewhere you didn’t plan to go – and that has certainly been my #rhizo15 experience.

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Time for #rhizo15: Follow the tortoise

This weeks post for #rhizo 15 is all about making time and finding your own way.  Or it’s all about one of my favourite stories. The story I am thinking about is a short book published by Michael Ende, author of the Neverending Story, in 1973. The book is called Momo (and you can find some information about it on Wikipedia). The main character in the story is a girl called Momo, but the character I like best is a tortoise called Cassiopeia. It’s s special tortoise. It can make words appear on its shell and it can see a little ahead into the future. But in the story it also uses its innate slowness to navigate through the adventure at is own deliberate pace.

How does this connect to being part of #rhizo15 things? Well – this week’s prompt, about building a practical guide, made me think about what I found most challenging about trying to participate and the two things I came up with were finding time and deciding on the pace and direction of my journey.

In the story Momo’s world is shaped by the frantic pace of the grown ups around her. Efficiency rules progress, time for stories, listening and caring disappears. Her fight against the the ‘Grey Gentlemen’ (who steal time) can only succeed with the help of the tortoise. Together they walk slowly, carrying their own time with them through the city on their adventure. In many ways that is what I have been trying to do, to set my own pace, to make my own rate of engagement slow down and to create space for things which are hard to do when you are in a hurry.

By trying to discover things at tortoise speed I’ve probably missed a lot of interesting things and conversations which I would have found valuable. But at the same time the freedom to take things slowly has stopped taking part from becoming an item on my mental to do list. Instead I have imagined those weekly prompts or ideas that I have come across as messages appearing on the back of my tortoise – and used them as a hint, a trail to follow. For me, that’s been what I wanted out of this experience more than other things. Space and time to think – sometimes in company. Like an imaginary friend from childhood I am hoping to keep my tortoise as a reminder that I have time and that I am free to decide my own path.

P.S. If you haven’t read the book, I would wholeheartedly recommend it.

How do you learn #rhizo15?

This week I am not going to write much on community/conformity. Instead I’ve decided to read, comment and reflect on what is being contributed across the community – to help me think and draw about my own question for this week: ‘How do you learn #rhizo15?’ .