Category: BCC Project

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Summer Project is complete

The Bicycles Create Change 8-week Summer Program for 2016 is complete!!

 

Hooray!! After a very intense and rewarding 8 weeks, the Bicycles Create Change Summer Program has concluded! Congratulations to Sachie, Gabriel, Juliet and Mauricio for all their hard work, dedication and collaboration. So this completes the official structured course of our innovative 8-week Pilot Internship Program – which means we all get our Saturdays back!!

This Program was unique from other internships in many ways, primarily because the core program principles and design features were tailored to specifically meet the individual needs of each of the participants who have no prior Australian workplace experience. Fundamental to this program was developing more effective intercultural communication skills and competencies through collaboratively working with an array of professionals and locals so that students have a more authentic and meaningful experience of living and working in Australia. As we wrap up and reflect on the experience, the team has come up with eight key insights that they have identified as the main skill areas that they best connected with and improved throughout the program.

 

We learned a lot about ourselves, vocation skills and working in teams, with each member co-creating their own experience and unveiling differing outcomes, acuity and competencies. Today we discussed the valuable learnings and provided feedback for consideration regarding the impacts and challenges personally and those that are experienced by international students navigating connection and interaction in Australian workplaces. We came up with a number of suggestions to be more responsive to the helpful and hindering factors which international students encounter during their work – either at university or in the workplace.

Connections

It was very interesting hearing what the team had to say, saw how the internship was designed to highlight the importance and necessity of connections and working with experts/mentors. We discussed the usefulness and magnitude that working alone, in pairs and/or as a team of four had for the interns. With this understanding, they had a collective realization that collaboratively working with others was more than just a skill, but was also a powerful learning process and required co-creation. This was a revelation and (a now) imperative for a number of the students.

Weekly Tasks

Each week different tasks were set for the interns, which to complete successfully, relied on them to discern, practise and then reflect on the significance of effective team organisation, ability to spontaneously interactions with strangers, relating to clients, building rapport, running meetings, networking and partnerships.

Art Bikes

We still have some outstanding tasks like our public ART BIKE PRESENTATION held on Sunday 13th March at 10.30am at the Bethania Community Garden, Lota, Brisbane. Please come on down and join us if you are in the area! At this informal event, the team will each present their Art Bikes and discuss the social issue that it represents. We are looking forward to seeing some of the lovely people who donated the bike for this project there and it will be a great way to practice all the skills we have been working throughout the program.

Team Member Guest Blog Posts

As part of the Summer Program, each team member has also been researching 5 blog posts to be published on this blog. The content for each of these posts need to be sourced in their first-language – which means we can access information about bicycles project in other countries that we might not otherwise have access if they are not in English. These posts will be published later this year so keep an eye out for them!

 

For today – it is with relief and happiness that we conclude our official contact hours for this program. I am very proud of all the team members, mentors, supporters of this program and, of course the community who have helped and contributed as we progressed – Well done to all!!
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A bike in my life – Re-cycle Dreams Community Storybook

On the weekend, I went out into the community to get more personal stories about ‘a Bike in my Life’ to add to the Re-cycle Dreams Community Storybook project I have been undertaking for a while.

The idea is simple – to invite community members to contribute a story about a bike in their life. It could be an experience, a dream, a wish or a memory: whatever they want. It has been a great pleasure meeting people at different locations and times, chatting about bikes and life and all their associated spills, skills and thrills.

Some people write poems, others draw, most people write a story about a memorable time on a bike. The narratives are all highly personal, perspicacious and heartfelt and they always make me smile. Some retell crashes, awesome rides, theft, new starts, misadventures, romance, youthful happy times and everything in between.

All reflect the impact that riding has had in the heart of the contributor.

All are handed to me with a smile and a wistful look in the eye.

New location – Wynnym Foreshore (Brisbane, QLD).

On the weekend, I went out for my first time in Queensland to collect some stories. Sachie from the Summer Program joined me and we had a lovely couple of hours down on the Wynnum foreshore chatting to local families, collecting people’s short stories. We watched the afternoon change from bright sunny family picnics and games to a blowy, overcast afternoon where dog walkers and fitclub participants were weaving in and out of each other, vying for path access and stability against the increasing offshore winds.

I have been collecting these stories for a number of ‘Community Engagement’ days and will be using them to produce an ebook, which I would like to offer on for free on this blog (will keep you posted). It is a very rewarding activity to undertake and I thoroughly enjoy interacting with people and enlisting their contributions. For me it a highly enjoyable way to take action and bring bicycle riding to the forefront of people’s discussions while promoting more random acts of bike stories exchange and extending the love of cycling!

Here is a quick sample selection – click on the first story and click the X to enlarge – you can then scroll through each one to read. Enjoy!!

 
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Bicycles Create Change Summer Program 2016

Today is the end of the first week of the Bicycles Create Change Summer Program. This inaugural internship is an 8 week collaborative skills development program, which is specifically tailor designed for – and with – four progressive international students from various linguistic and cultural backgrounds and study majors. The program has three main areas, namely, business project skills, general professional skills and an individual project (self-directed). It was a very busy first week and there are some very interesting outcomes, exchanges and reflections already.

 

Focus: This is an explorative and cooperative participant-focused program, with an emphasis on extending academic skills, developing professional business skills and fostering greater confidence and experience in each participant’s individual specific industry.

 

Rationale: Many students complete their academic bridging studies in December, waiting for 2 months until the end of February for Semester 1 to start. In most cases, this 8 week period is dead time – some go back home to visit family, but most others pass the summer waiting for Uni to go back – in both instances, English proficiency often declines significantly after such an extended break from set study routines. It is very difficult for international students to secure summer break paid work or internships. For the lucky few who do, the work is often menial, fastidiously supervised and devoid of the interns being afforded any genuine ownership and responsibility for the tasks undertaken. Inspired also by Sir Kenneth Robinson’s argument that education kills creativity, this program applies an almost action research element of reflection feedback into praxis loop.

 

The aim is that the participants have direct authority to generate their individual, pair and groups requirements to achieve each of the academic, professional and creative details. This is crucial so that students can have be able to demonstrate that they have experience with the top ten intern employability skills of reliability, willingness to develop new skills, consistency, dealing with constructive criticism, efficacious time management, ethical conduct, prioritising tasks effectively, displaying initiative/self-motivation, commitment to producing superior work and demonstrating professional behaviour (Gault, Leach & Duey, 2010).

 

Perspective: I wanted to look at what it would look like if interns were more directly responsible for the planning and management of their work experience program, so that there could be a move away from the ‘student/learning’ mindset, to better harness and capitalise on each participant’s professional skill and expertise. With this in mind, I designed a program matrix of tasks, processes and resources that gives prominence to enhancing “a greater awareness particularly of their leadership, project management, organisational and team working capabilities” (Jones & Warnock, 2015, p 212).

 

Participants: There are four participants for this program; Sachie – Liberal Arts undergraduate (Japan), Gabriel – Masters in Social Work (Cameroon), Mauricio – IT Masters (Colombia) and Juliet (India) who is undertaking a Masters in Special Education (Autism). I will post intermittent highlights as we progress and you can expect to see guest posts from the participants as they report on bicycle initiatives from their respective corners of the world.

 

This program is being modified and adapted as the each task is undertaken, completed, discussed and reflected on – with the focus being more on the critical reflection of the process. There is much still to plan, deliberate and connect for this program and it will continue to be a work in progress. It has been fascinating to see the solo and team progress, achievements and decisions made thus far already. Although time consuming and slightly stressful at times, it has already proven to be a very productive and gratifying enterprise and I am delighted with the participants’ enthusiasm, commitment and energy so far.

 

Bicycles Create Change: Summer Program
Source: Vehr Communications

 

Gault, J., Leach, E., & Duey, M. (2010). Effects of business internships on job marketability: The employers’ perspective. Education + Training, 52(1), 76-88. doi:10.1108/00400911011017690

Jones, H. M., & Warnock, L. J. (2015). When a PhD is not enough: A case study of a UK internship programme to enhance the employability of doctoral researchers. Higher Education, Skills and Work – Based Learning, 5(3), 212-227. doi:10.1108/HESWBL-05-2014-0013

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CONS-U-ME BLUES Art Bike

The pre-loved high-end bike in the picture below was on sale at a property auction. No one wanted it – it was too old and daggy and from the reaction of the crowd appeared in no way cool enough to buy, let alone ride. I looked at this forlorn bike and thought of the previous owner who had purchased, loved (I hoped), and ridden this bike – then it has been cast out after however long and was now forgotten and miserable. It was a sorry sight to see; as it seemed that there was still so much more spunky and happy times to be had with it– yet here it was discarded and sad long before its expiry date.

Considering how rapidly bike technology, marketing and styles change, my heart broke: that no-one wanted this bike anymore, that this bike had been so quickly and uncaringly superseded – and although it was in perfect working order at auction, was regarded as objectionable and obsolete.

So I took pity on it and was the only person who bid on it – and got it for 50c.

On my way home from the auction, I found a bag of clothes someone had tossed on the side of the road. All the clothes were brand new – tags still attached, never worn. Amongst the clothes were a set of blue athletic work out tracksuits, not dissimilar to those I’ve seen people wear on an exercise bike. It felt very serendipitous and ironic acquiring these two items.

I was inspired to create this art bike as I acquired both passion (bicycle) and fashion (clothes) items on precisely the same day. As well, both were items I have bought on a number of occasions elsewhere. However, on this day, I was even more strongly, blatantly reminded of the immensely wasteful and consumeristic society we live in; personified by these two items presenting themselves so closely and prominently within the same hour. It was both saddening and humbling.

So I refashioned these two items together to generate a new, valued and wanted artefact, that urges us to be more mindful of products we buy and to be more prudent with our passion and fashion purchases.

As the title of this art bike CONS_U_ME BLUES identifies, this bike highlights how often our CONSUMErist society CONS YOU and ME into buying more and more products – the result of which, when honestly critiqued, makes many of us quite depressed and BLUE.

 

Please be more mindful and responsible with your purchases.

 

Art bike: CONS U ME BLUES by Nina Ginsberg
Art bike: CONS U ME BLUES by Nina Ginsberg
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To Blog or not to Blog

I have been posting for about 6 weeks now and I am still experimenting and getting more familiar with WordPress and the ins and outs of blogging. It has certainly been a steep learning curve, but one in which I have enjoyed and gained much satisfaction. I will continue!

As I look ahead, I am glad that I have a clear outline of what it is I want to achieve from this blog. I know that much of this will change when my schedule changes next year to accommodate for work or study. Part of my learning about blogging includes many of the same ideas and concerns that other (academic) bloggers have.

I’ve been wrestling with my own ideas and choices about my blogging. How many complex aspects there are! I can see how it can easily become overwhelming and all time-consuming! I have been very happy with how I have gone about learning the WordPress skills needed and being resourceful about finding helpful advice. One interesting aspect of this has been talking to some trusted friends and colleagues about blogging – and although many of their suggestions echo information I have already encountered, or thought of myself, below are some of the more interesting ideas they have raised:

  • You are all excited now because the blog is new and you have many ideas – but you will soon run out of things to say.
  • Comments are a great way to bounce off ideas, get suggestions, look at things from a different angle and consider aspects that did not occur to you at the immediate time of writing.
  • You will spend more time posting than working on your dissertation.
  • The focus of your blog is totally different from the same old diary product and news bicycle blogs – your emphasis on biking projects and community development is so positive and engaging –it sets you apart and makes your content interesting to a much wider readership.
  • Warning- how regularly you blog sets a precedence and an expectation. Can you maintain it and/or are you okay when your posting timetable changes?
  • You can make a massive online income from your blog – you can advertise and get a passive income – that way you won’t need a scholarship to study!
  • Doing a blog is like hard drugs – once you start with blogging, it is a downward spiral into twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and Integra – next stop social media addiction – goodbye Doctorate.
  • Are you writing for yourself or an audience? What if you end up with a large readership that will influence your content, approach and process?
  • The blogosphere is a perfect platform for your work – you can share ideas, connect with your community activities and network with an array of people who are interested in biketivism – which is precisely what your research is focused on.
  • It is a great way to document and record your thinking and research – very helpful for you – and you will be surprised about how interesting it will be to others.
  • Be clear about the time you have and will afford for the blog – otherwise, it will get out of control and before you know it you will have spent four hours on one blog post and still not be happy with it.
  • Your spelling is so terrible –aren’t you self-conscious about everyone seeing your mistakes?
  • Careful – there are academics who will read your blog and steal your ideas and publish them for themselves – be selective with what you share.
  • Great idea to find your voice, clarify some ideas and get into a regular writing habit.
  • Be careful of people’s comments – the public can say whatever they want – and they will. This has the potential to have an impact on your ideas and skew your thinking and confidence, both positively or negatively. This is a major concern in writing your thesis.
  • It is an excellent way to process and test ideas – you will find that you often go back to ideas to include or edit later.
  • People all over the world love bikes and they LURVE talking about them – your blog will be perfect!
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Bike Blog List

It is a fine line between unstructured online (re)searching for this bicycle blog and procrastinating.

I found myself teetering on this fine line earlier today – that was until I came across the mother load.

Bicycles Create Change

To put this in context – as I am relatively new to blogging, it has been a steep learning curve coming to grips with Word Press, content selection, time management and getting the right balance between subject matter: finding my ‘voice’ – something which will no doubt evolve over time. This is also one of the primary reasons for starting the blog, To have an accountability partner helps track my ideas, writing and process over time. So it is not surprising that I have been fact-finding about blog tips and advice – much of which has been incredibly helpful and immediately effective.

Part of the investigation into this new genre has been discovering and reading other blogs, especially those that contain similar themes to mine (bicycles, gender, community), which I have enjoyed immensely. I was impressed and slightly daunted by the array of cycling blogs. It seemed that many had a similar format: personal ride diary style, news and events; cycling shops and groups; bicycle style, product and lifestyle. This brings us to the mother load – Let’s go for a Ride.

Today my job was made that much easier and more enjoyable when I stumbled across Let’s go for a Ride website.

Their resources page provides an extensive list of (goodness knows how many!) links to women specific bike blogs.

The list has 3 main categories:

Women’s Bike Blogs

Cycle Chic Blogs

Other Bike Blogs

It was a delight to sift through some of the blogs, select a title, read a little, then move on to the next one…perusing, smiling, drinking tea as I went.

Some of the blogs are full of amazing photography, others transported me to mysterious places by travelogues, others again were full of training dates and race plates – and some others, sadly, have ceased to be – the last post left standing there, as testament to one woman’s freewheeling exploits (*sigh*).

I have since returned to this list and am still exploring some of the new blogs.

I find great satisfaction in fossicking around in a particular blog and looking through their archives – I hope you do too! Enjoy!!