Pedagogies in the Wild Conference 2019- Abstract Accepted!

Hooray!

My abstract for the upcoming Pedagogies in the Wild Conference has been accepted!

This is great news because I already have an abstract accepted for the international 2019 New Materialist Reconfigurations of Higher Education Conference (Dec 2-4th 2019) and this conference follows straight after (4-6^th December) and is at the same place – the University of the Western Cape (Cape Town, South Africa).

I am working towards a research trifecta: 2 conferences and fieldwork in the one trip.

This conference is being affectionately referred to ‘the D & G conference’.

That is because it focuses on integrating the work of two highly influential scholars whose work is transdisciplinary and has had ‘epic consequence’ in many fields – Deleuze and Guattari. Gilles Deleuze is a philosopher and Felix Guattari is a psychoanalyst. Some their most influential works are: Anti-Oedipus, What Is Philosophy? and A Thousand Plateaus. They have written extensively together on an array of topics. In particular for my project, their work has been foundational in extending New Materialists understandings.

The Pedagogies in the Wild Conference 2019 is being run for the third time and is solely focused on unpacking, exploring and apply Deleuze-Guattarian thinking and approaches.

As many regular readers of this blog know, my research is complexified by interrogating various aspects of power relations – such as gender in/justice, post-colonialism, and what/who are academic/research/educational ‘experts’.

The session I will be presenting is based on a publication I currently writing with my amazingly brave PhD Supervisor Dr Sherilyn Lennon.

Here is what I presenting

Title: Cycling-with-through-and-on the edge of the PhD supervisor-candidate relationship: A post-humanist bike ride to a different place.

Abstract: Traditionally, the PhD supervision relationship is predicated on a supervisor as expert – supervisee as learner/novice model of knowledge transmission. Most of the supervisory work is performed either on the university campus or via digital channels that allow the ‘expert’ to direct the conversation and establish the performance expectations for both candidate and supervisor. But what might be possible if the formalities and associated materialities of this power structure were to be disrupted and reframed?

This session presents insights that emerged when a PhD candidate and her Supervisor shared a bayside bicycle ride in Brisbane, Australia, to see what would happen. While the candidate was an expert bike rider, her Supervisor was far less experienced and somewhat anxious about her (st)ability. The bicycle ride was viewed as a way of deliberately disrupting and displacing traditional notions around academic performances, spaces of learning and who gets to navigate.

What emerged was surprising, revealing and uncomfortable.

The bicycle ride enabled encounters with/in the world/self that worked to queer the way in which both Supervisor and candidate understood their relationship. We contend that the candidate/supervisor relationship is an iterative and dynamic entanglement of forces wherein subjectivities, bodily performances, past experiences, fears, technologies, planned and unplanned encounters are forever and always entangled.

Influenced by Baradian philosophy, this session focuses on the material-discursive-affective phenomena that emerged as the experience of riding-with the candidate/supervisor. In this way “systems of entrapment that manifest power relations in the academy” and “instigate codes of conduct and…exclusionary practices that can limit how academic knowledges…are produced” (Charteris et al., 2019, p. 2) are able to be troubled, re-thought and re-balanced.

What is Pedagogies in the Wild Conference 2019?

Here is more about the conference: The recent #Rhodesmustfall and #feesmustfall protests have set South African higher education on a new course towards transformation, focusing on equitable access to higher education, Africanisation and decolonisation.

Similar movements have reverberated across the globe, addressing issues of neoliberalism, for example in Canada, the UK, the Netherlands and Chile; racism, as in Ghana and the US; and curfews on women students in India.

This has raised important questions regarding knowledge production; continuing structural racism, patriarchy, homophobia and transphobia; the use and value of western theorists in research and curricula; and who gains epistemological and physical access to higher education.

On the other hand, we have seen many productive junctures between pedagogy, education studies and the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari. In particular, there has been a focus on cartography, schizoanalysis, corporeal theorising, rhizomatic learning and nomadic thought in socially just pedagogical praxis.

These junctures and innovative genealogies and methodologies can both address these issues and be further improved and made more precise by engagements with what it means to transform and reconfigure pedagogies and practices in higher education.

My Conference Stream – Topic 2. Spaces, Spatiality and Unschooling

Topic 2. Spaces, Spatiality and Unschooling: Places of/and/un/Learning in Higher Education

How can we challenge assumptions such as ‘knowledge belongs to experts’ in favour of materialist/experimental/experiential collaborations in teaching and learning?

Expanded Conference Topic 2

Higher education spaces are usually considered in relation to how they optimise student learning and, increasingly, how they optimise marketing potential to attract new students.

In addition, meanings of ‘space’, ‘place’, ‘environment’ and ‘context’ are often elided, and it is taken for granted that learning happens in classrooms, seminar rooms and lecture halls.

Such discourses take space for granted as a neutral background on which human endeavour is located.

Unschooling (in a meta sense rather than the narrow sense of homeschooling) resists this kind of pedagogy in favour of building real communities and replacing dry, nationalist agendas with different kinds of training programs, learning opportunities and methodologies, apprenticeships, internships and mentorships.

Unschooling thus represents a material politics aimed at genuine social freedom and enjoyable learning. Normative ways of understanding space and schooling are challenged by Deleuze-Guattarian understandings which, instead, conceptualise space as an entangled ‘constellation of human–nonhuman agencies, forces and events’ (Taylor, 2013: 688) within which objects, bodies and things do surprising and important if often unnoticed and mundane work as material agents and actants.

Theoretically, such work draws on and takes forward the rich traditions of feminist and postmodernist understandings of space developed by Doreen Massey, Henri Lefebvre, and Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy of space and striation.

This theme therefore wishes to open up debates about higher education spaces by considering questions such as:

What is the role of architecture, design and infrastructure in higher education?
How might the materialities of higher education spaces and places be conceptualised via inter-, multi- and post-disciplinary frameworks?
How can we take account of the importance of places of informal learning?
How does the iterative materialisation of space-time-matter come to matter in higher education spaces?
How is higher education being spatially reconfigured in relation to global flows of bodies?
Which/ whose bodies matter in higher education spaces?
What new spatial imaginaries are needed for higher education to thrive?
How can feminist new materialisms in its overlaps and divergences with Deleuze-Guattarian philosophy aid us to produce new understandings of space-place-matter entanglements in higher education?
How can we challenge assumptions such as ‘knowledge belongs to experts’ in favour of materialist/experimental/experiential collaborations in teaching and learning?
What kinds of material and affective potential does unschooling offer us for thinking about curriculum development in Higher Education.

Pedagogies in the Wild Conference 2019- Abstract Accepted! — Exploring space-place-matter re-imaginings. Image: Joana Coccarelli

03/08/201903/10/2019

We established a Feminist New Materialisms Special Interest Group at Griffith Uni

The theoretical framing I am using for my bicycle-education PhD is feminist New Materialisms (fNM). Actually, it is more than just a philosophical perspective and as a doctoral researcher, I have to understand this ethico-onto-epistemological approach super well in order to apply it to my PhD.

I am lucky that my supervisor Dr Sherilyn Lennon is already immersed in this field and has been an invaluable resource and guide in unpacking FNM complexities.

In a recent meeting, I said to Sherilyn that I wanted/needed more time to process and experiment with fNM approaches. I asked her if there was any academic Special Interest Groups (SIG) she knew that I could join. She had been part of an informal fNM SIG previously, but it had disbanded due to lack of official support. So, the opportunity and need was there to establish an official fNM reading/discussion group at Griffith Uni.

Success! We now have an official FNM SIG at Griffith!

Sherilyn is my convenor mentor. We applied to Griffith Institute of Educational Research (GIER) for support and were successful.

What did we do at the first fNM SIG?

We plan to start with a monthly reading and discussion group and then see what organically happens as opportunities present and requests are made.

Our first meeting was on Thursday 1st August 2019 and we had 12 attendees.

The first meeting was semi-structured with the discussion focus being: The emergence of feminist New Materialisms.

The two stimulus resources were:

Reading: Pierre, E. S. (2014). A brief and personal history of post qualitative research: Toward “post inquiry”. Journal of curriculum theorizing, 30(2).
Podcast: Click on link to access audio. New materialism by Karen Sellberg. Number 11. April 2016. Queensland School of Continental Philosophy.

We started with a welcome and an introduction of attendees: name, connection to Uni and how we plugged into fNM – and an acknowledgment that ‘matter matters’ to set the scene.

We wanted to keep the discussion open to whatever came up, so we had three questions (traffic light ) for people to think about and write their answers down on coloured post-its. Teachers call this a ‘think, pair, share’ activity, which is great because everyone contributes individual ideas to the collective discussion.

Here are our traffic (green = enabling, yellow= interesting, red =constraining) light questions and responses.

Red responses
Orange responses
Green responses
‘Traffic light’ questions

Then we formed smaller groups to share and discuss our answers – and whatever else bubbled up.

Each group discussed different aspects and ideas.

We put all the stick notes on the wall to create a gallery walk so we could pass by and read other people’s thoughts and ideas. It was a way to see what other groups discussed and it was super interesting to see what other people were wrestling with.

Sherilyn pulled one idea off the wall for the whole group to discuss in more detail.

The time went so quick!

Sherilyn and I wanted the meeting to honour central fNM tenets – like being open to change and what emerges in a moment. I also really like the idea of not just discussing ideas, but also actively and collaboratively producing something original (gallery wall) that did not exist before.

It is very FNM to recognise and (re)produce matter that can only be created in that very particular ‘entangled’ moment made up of the room, ideas, bodies, histories, location, identities, artefacts, concepts and all the other processes and practices that made the meeting what it was.

The meeting was a great start and we got very positive feedback.

It will take a few meetings to get into the groove, but I like having a semi-structured activity (with an collective production) that can then opened up and modified as the groups see fit.

We will be having one meeting each month for the rest of 2019 and I am very much looking forward to it!

A massive big thank you to all the participants and to GIER for their support.

Overview of feminist New Materialisms

Over the past 20 years, New Materialism has become an umbrella term used to represent a range of theoretical perspectives that share the re-turn to a focus on matter. It is an emerging theoretical field that encompasses four main streams: Speculative Realism, Object-oriented ontology (OOO), Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and feminist New Materialisms (fNM).

In the last 15 years in particular, fNM have gained considerable attention as a consequence of a unique approach to considering the agency of all matter. In using such understandings habitual human-centric ways of thinking, doing and being are disrupted as an ethico-onto-epistemological approach emerges. This approach is capable of bringing together multiple disciplines as it redistributes agency through material, discursive and affective forces.

European Universities (in particular Utrecht Uni which has a New Materialism Research Centre) have enthusiastically adopted fNM and are currently the most active researchers in the field. While Australia has a growing pool of fNM scholars, a similar uptake is yet to be seen here. This is surprising considering that the movement has been primarily driven by a number of internationally-celebrated Australian feminist scholars including Rosi Braidotti, Elizabeth Grosz, Claire Colebrook, Vicki Kirby, Bronwyn Davies and Jane Kenway.

As an emerging methodology, fNM is being taken prominently in the field of educational research. Those working in this field are contributing significant insights while laying the foundations for a profound shift in the way we come to understand educational issues, teacher education, and professional and educational practice-based learning.

At Griffith, we have a number of academics working with ANT, but few engaging with fNM. My supervisor, Dr Sherilyn Lennon, is publishing in this space and I am using feminist New Materialist thinking in my PhD. Given the excitement and emerging nature of this way of thinking, a fNM SIG at Griffith University provides an opportunity to directly engage in the discussion and lead a feminist New Materialist Research Group that will brings together PhD Candidates, academics from Griffith and other institutions, scholars and interested parties to more deeply, critically, creatively and actively engage with fNM. The field of FNM is still being chartered. This makes it an emergent and dynamic space in which to be researching.

The aim of this fNM SIG is to:

To build a vibrant and productive community of FNM researchers and professionals who cross-pollinate ideas while growing new research projects
To participate and contribute in this emergent theoretical field
To bring together researchers with trans-disciplinary and cross-institutional knowledge as a means of creating hybrid rigour
To support GU HDR candidates who are using FNM thinking
To grow research, researchers and research practices and networks
Establish Griffith/GIER as active in the FNM space
Leverage and extend Australian feminist scholarship

31/01/201903/10/2019

Writing an Annotated Bibliography

At some stage in most postgrad programs, students will need to complete an Annotated Bibliography.

The style, format, content and purpose of an annotated bibliography differs depending on intent, discipline, timing and approach.

I completed an Ann Bib of 15 key feminist New Materialism articles when I reframed my PhD theoretical framework.

It was a very valuable exercise. Not only did it require me to be judicious in selecting the articles, I put to work a different set of reading skills, applied critical appraisal to each, achieved a deep learning about the topic, and it formed to guts of my dissertation’s Theoretical Perspectives (Chapter 3).

Some of my Postgrad students have been asking about how to do an Annotated Bibliography – so here are some ideas on how to approach it.

Writing an Annotated Bibliography. Bicycles Create Change.com 31st Jan, 2019. — Image: Skidmore Library

What is an annotated bibliography?

Annotation = notes (critical notes and evaluative comments)

Bibliography = a list of readings/research sources

An annotated bibliography is a summary account of the available empirical research and literature on a specific topic.

As well as a general outline of the research source, it also includes your own concise analysis, reflections, critiques, evaluation or any other comments and notes of each source as to how the source is linked/useful for your own research project.

Devising an Annotated Bibliography

If you go online (academic websites and YouTube are a good place to start) there is a plethora of information about on how to do an Annotated Bibliography.

One quick caveat regarding the information below.

There is no one way to do an annotated bibliography.

The following format is my own enmeshed format that suits my interest, needs and style. The content, length and focus for your purpose may differ – so be sure to do you own homework and experiment.

If you are doing an Anno Bib for a uni course – make sure you consult your supervisor, tutor or manager to see how/what elements best suit your project or what style they recommend.

I developed my own format based on three imputs: my own ideas/needs, some ideas gleamed from Prof Robert Talbert, and info from UNSW

1. My Enmeshed Annotated Bibliography

I wanted a longer format Anno Bib because I was reading complex theoretical and praxis articles in-depth.

I included a few additional elements: what type of article it is, how many times it has been cited, my own questions the article raised, interesting terms/concepts and vocab with the page number included for quick referencing if needed later.

Here are the elements in my Anno Bib.

Full APA Reference details
Article: This is a (style/type) article*. This article has been cited XXX times.
The context is …
The ‘big’ guiding question/s from this field this paper is addressing is …
The Lit Review background focuses …
The specific RQ of this article is …
The methods used…
The authors conclude/results are that ..
The strengths of this text is ..
However, the limitations are ..
The authors did/not answer the RQ they posed by… (optional)…
Some unique or helpful special features of this article were ..
Other relevance or usefulness …
How this paper relates to my study …
Useful ideas or key terms …
Ideas & Questions …

Here are the first two entries of my annotated bibliography using this format Download

* The style or type of article are:

Data-driven papers
Theory building/ Theory testing
Conscious raising papers
Agenda Setting papers
Position papers
Methodology
Review article – comprehensive summary of research on a certain topic
Perspective, opinion, and commentary – presents the author’s viewpoint on the interpretation, analysis, or methods used in a particular study
Original research – hypothesis, background study, methods, results, interpretation of findings, and a discussion of possible implications
Clinical case study/Clinical trial

2. Prof Robert Talbert

Prof. Robert Talbert is one of my favorite academic bloggers (alongside Dr Inger Mewburn of the Thesis Whisper and Dr Pat Thompson at Patter).

Prof. Talbert uses a Get Things Done! (GTD) approach to reading research articles, which I find very productive, so I’ve gleamed a few ideas from his approach.

Here’s an example of Prof. Talbert’s approach.

3. UNSW

UNSW recommends that contents of an annotated bibliography can contain all or part of these elements (depending on the word limit and the content of the sources).

Provide the full bibliographic citation
Indicate the background of the author(s)
Indicate the content or scope of the text
Outline the main argument
Indicate the intended audience
Identify the research methods (if applicable)
Identify any conclusions made by the author/s
Discuss the reliability of the text
Highlight any special features of the text that were unique or helpful (charts, graphs etc.)
Discuss the relevance or usefulness of the text for your research
Point out in what way the text relates to themes or concepts in your course
State the strengths and limitations of the text
Present your view or reaction to the text

This is a comprehensive approach to critically reading literature. I like the idea of including the background of the author – which is good for tracing a concept’s genealogy or the development of a prominent author’s argument.

Here’s a UNSW example of an Anno Bib, but for postgrad or PhD purposes, this is far too simplistic, but you can see the general idea/format.

There are as many ways to do an annotated bibliography as there are students. Have an explore online to see what elements you need to include – and be sure to talk others (especially a supervisor or tutor) on other recommended formats.

Undertaking and annotated bibliography is a very worthwhile activity to get to know a topic in detail – and it is a very necessary and sought-after advanced academic skill.

Best of luck if you are conducting an annotated bibliography!

18/01/201918/02/2019

IECHE Fellowship Application

I am very lucky to be working at a university where I have access to conference opportunities where I can contribute in discussions about educational best practices at the higher education level.

One national example is last year, when I presented my From EAS to Collaborative Internship: Lessons and insights where bicycles create change (a pilot international student program I developed and delivered) at the English Australia state teaching conference. It won the Queensland 2018 Bright Ideas Award and EA sent me to present the same session at the national conference.

This year, I am looking further a field.

IECHE Fellowship Application. Bicycles Create Change.com. 18th Jan, 2019. — Image: IECHE

The International Exhibition and Conference in Higher Education (IECHE) is an annual international exhibition organized by the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

This week, I applied for a IECHE Fellowship.

Up to 100 IECHE Fellowships are being awarded by the Saudi Kingdom so overseas higher education professionals to attend and join in conversations about global best practices.

What is the IECHE?

The adoption of the new by-laws in Saudi Arabia will make the 2019 conference particularly important as local universities will be managing more autonomy and facing a significant cultural shift in the process.

The Saudi Cultural Mission sees this event as being invaluable to encourage participation, enhance collaboration and build partnerships between Saudi and international higher education institutions, and to develop mutual understanding about the issues that govern and influence the quality of higher education worldwide.

Each year an international advisory panel helps select a theme for each conference, design the program, and invite international experts and scholars who are shaping higher education policy and practice throughout the world.

Apparently over 3, 300 people attend this event. Past IECHE speakers and panelists include Nobel laureates, vice-chancellors from the world’s most prestigious universities, ministers of higher education, and leading researchers from every continent.

The theme for the 2019 IECHE is Transforming Saudi universities in an era of change.

What is the IECHE Fellowship?

The fellowships are offered to international educators, researchers and policy makers in higher education and cover a costs for airfares, accommodation, meals and conference participation.

Fellowship selection is based on diversity in geographic location, gender, age and experience.

I worked hard on my application. Given that I am at the intersection of many of the selection criteria, I think I have as good a chance as anyone else in being awarded.

I am genuinely interested in attending this event and in the opportunity to experience Saudi Arabia for the first time.

It will take a fortnight for the fellowship applications to be processed.

Fingers crossed!

19/12/201820/01/2019

I won a CSSS scholarship!

Hooray! Great news!

Two months ago I applied for a Griffith Continuing Student Scholarship (CSSS) – and today I got notification that my application was successful!

Woohoo!

This means that after three years of doing my PhD part-time, as of January 1st 2019, I’m going full time for the next two years and paid a stipend to complete my research!

Awesome!!

The scholarship means that I can take a step back from teaching so much and focus solely on completing my PhD and publishing a few journal articles.

I put the CSSS application in about two months ago. I worked hard on it and did the right thing by seeking advice from a couple of academics on how to boost my chances. I made edits and changes as needed and then submitted it with fingers crossed knowing because the CSSS is quite competitive.

Getting the call

I was in a shopping center at an Apple store when I got the call. I was putting my laptop for service and sitting at the customer desk with all the other customers. My help I have just gone up the back for a couple minutes so I took the call when my phone rang. It was GGRS letting me know that my scholarship application was successful. What a great call to get!

After I hung up the phone I couldn’t help myself.

I turned around to face the store, and no one in particular, and called out excitedly to anyone who cared to hear:

“I just won a super competitive scholarship which means I’ll be paid to complete my PhD research for the next two years!”

The store erupted into unified joyous celebration of clapping and cheering and people’s congratulations.

The couple next to me was smiling broadly and the woman said:

Can I give you a hug? It sounds like a hug-worthy event.

Hells yeah, said I! It was a lovely hug and a very memorable moment.

Three years into my PhD and I know how important it is for motivation and progress to celebrate milestones and achievements.

And this is certainly one to celebrate.

So what is the CSSS?

Griffith University offers a limited number of merit-based scholarships are available to continuing HDR candidates who have successfully confirmed their candidature and are progressing well with their research. The Continuing Student Scholarship Scheme is designed to provide financial support to outstanding HDR candidates, with the purpose of accelerating progress to thesis submission.

My application entailed two steps.

I had to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) outlining my academic basis for scholarship eligibility (i.e. qualifications, publications etc.), confirming I meet all other eligibility criteria, and provide a referee report from my current principal supervisor.
Once the EOI was assessed by the HDR Convenor, you can then submit an application.

I had discussed with Dr Christine McDonald (our much respected HDR Convenor) that I was going for this scholarship. She was fully supportive. She gave me some excellent advice on some extra bits to include in the EOI and application and went into bat for me during the moderation meeting where they ranked and argued over which applications the committee was going to award scholarships to. I have no doubt that my application success had a large part to do with her input. Thanks so much Christine!

The application was quite intense. I had to put together:

a covering letter
a Continuing Student Scholarship Scheme application form
a referee report from your current principal supervisor
an updated research outline and completion plan
an updated CV
evidence of research publications or other research outputs (achieved since original application).

The whole application took far longer than I excepted. But of course, it was well worth the effort. Not only did I get clarity around my PhD progress, but the end result was well worth the initial effort outlaid.

I am super excited about going full-time and super motivated to make the most of this opportunity.

2019, here I come!

28/11/201801/01/2019

NiAcaWriMo

Source: 15five

Many creatives use a month-long challenge to encourage productivity.

My personal favorite is still Skull-a-Day by Noah Scalin.

Last year, this blog covered the month long illustration challenge of INKtober and showcased Walt Cahill’s whimsical cycling illustrations.

Many of us would love to undertake a month-long challenge.

But work, family and hobby demands often get in the way.

Two days ago, I came across the National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo.

In this event, I saw an opportunity to adopt certain principles of NaNoWriMo to use in an academic context that would not detract time and energy away from my current work/research demands – but would, in fact, be a productivity kick-starter!

What is NaNoWriMo?

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) happens every year, It is an Internet-based creative writing challenge to write a 50,000-word novel from 1^st to the 30^th of November.

The National Novel Writing Month website started this challenge in July 1999 with only 21 participants. In 2010, 200,000 people wrote 2.8 billion words and in 2015, 430,000 participants completed 50,000 manuscripts.

This is a great challenge to get inspired, build a regular writing routine, overcome writing anxiety and writer’s block, and also be part of a highly active online community.

Using NaNoWriMo for academic writing

During NaNoWriMo, it is the length of the draft, not the quality that is the main goal. Editing and polishing the document comes later.

Producing writing is a constant pressure for academics and PhD candidates.

Essentially PhDers are assessed on their writing output. PhDers are required to, at a minimum, produce an 80,000-120,000-word high-quality dissertation and at least one peer-review journal article in order to fulfil their candidature. Having additional publications, conference proceeding and other written documentation are also expected.

That is one of the reasons I started this blog – to force myself to write regularly.

I love the idea of a writing challenge. I have not been producing as much writing as I did when I first started my research and my usually productive writing routine has slipped.

Although NaNoWriMo is a novel writing challenge, I am going to use it as an opportunity to apply some of its principles to jumpstart my academic writing productivity.

Many NaNoWriMo ideas are transferable to an academic writing challenge.

So I went on an online binge to glean some of the most useful NaNoWriMo approaches.

As an R &D homage to the original NaNoWriMo, I’ve called my initial checklist (below) NiAcaWriMo – or Nina’s Academic Writing Month.

Here’s what I came up with….

NiAcaWriMo

Have all equipment and materials prepared.

This includes working tools like the keyboard, monitors, laptop/desktop, notebooks and any other paraphernalia needed. Delete Netflix or any other distractions. For me, this also meant setting up a dual monitor stand-up desk and putting my laptop in for a service and updating the operating system and all software.

Spring clean and organise your workspace.

To create productive energy and focus, declutter and spring clean your workspace. Clear out any distractions, tidy up or better yet, remove as much as you can out of your workspace to make it a lean and clean studious area. Dust off screens and keyboards, and wipe down any surfaces, IT cords and equipment as recognition that this space is open to new and fresh ideas. Commit to keeping the space clear by not allowing others to put anything in your workspace, clearing your desk at the end of each day and only keeping the basic work materials needed on your desk.

Prepare a soundtrack.

Some people listen to music while working, others prefer silence. Either way, know what kind of soundscape is most productive for you. When I work in an open office, I use ear plugs as well as high-performance ear muffs (a technique I use on public transport as well) if I want quiet and little sound. Or I use headphones with my own soundscape. I have had great success with alpha, beta and gamma binaural beats, which I used to complete a 17,000 minor thesis in four days. Another option is classical or instrumental music with no lyrics. Or have background music in a different language so your brain is not subconsciously engaged with the lyrics, but focused on your written language. For this technique, I’d recommend the French R & B duo Les Nubians album Princesses Nubiennes. Other creatives swear by having the same song on constant repeat which helps to create a consistent and familiar flow state. Find what works best for you.

Tell others about your challenge.

This means getting your significant other/s, family, work colleagues and friends on board with what you are doing. This will save a lot of misunderstanding and issues in the future and people will be a lot more understanding and supportive. If you are upfront with your purpose and time frame, then measures can be taken to organise and negate possible future complications such as invitations and drop-in visits and even further to include things such as house cleaning and grocery shopping.

Protect your focus

For one whole month, you need to make your writing challenge top priority – and this protecting your focus. This step requires you to know what you need to do your best work, what time of day you are most productive and that you put into place strategies to minimise interruptions and stay productive. This can include setting a schedule or a daily timetable. Or read some key literature that is not only inspiring, but is at a standard you wish to achieve. For academic writing, I like to have 3 journal articles that are my gold standard – two by my favourite author in my research field and another on a different topic whose style, expression and vocabulary I really enjoy reading. Another way to protect your focus might is to set your phone to silent and leave it in another room for your sessions. Or use an app to help your focus and build self-control, or a productivity app that helps avoid distractions, like Cold Turkey, which I recommend to postgrad students.

Prepare body and mind

We all know looking after the body and mind is important during intense work bursts, but the challenge is to make it a priority in order to sustain productivity. This includes eating well, being hydrated, taking regular screen breaks, doing regular exercise (until sweaty), getting adequate sleep and generally looking after your overall well-being. Build these elements into your daily schedule to ensure you protect your focus and keep yourself working at the optimal level. Have a look at A Year of Productivity for other strategies to help prepare the body and mind.

Other NiAcaWriMo considerations

Once prepared, you then need to put it all into action.

This is an area I am still refining. So below is an outline of some tactics I’ve found to be incredibly helpful in consistently producing written work.

Morning Routine: I have had great success using a priming morning routine that I have adapted and personalised over the last three years.

iThinkwell. Over the last two years, I have attended two iThinkwell workshops: Turbocharge your writing and Seven habits of highly successful research students. I still some of the strategies from these workshops. If you get to one of these sessions, get your library to order the companion books which cover the same material so you can still get ahead.

An additional bonus is that iThinkwell have a range of awesome free resources to track progress, manage time frames and organise priorities.

Prepare the next day the night before. One key technique is starting a new day fresh and proactive, is to prepare what you are going to do the next day before you leave your desk the night before. Identifying The Next Thing is a quick and easy way to get a new productive day started without wasting any valuable energy or focus on planning the day, you just get on and do it. Some writers like to leave a question as a stimulus for the next days’ writing session, or dot points that need expanding on, others leave notes to complete, or end the previous day mid-sentence so there is an idea to complete the next day and continue on.

Have a daily goal. I have a PhD friend who has a daily goal of writing 250 words a day. Another academic I know has committed one hour every day for the last five years to writing. Whether it is time, words count, tasks or any other goal, having a clear daily goal is a good way to set the intention for the day, track progress and establish milestones of achievement.

50,0000 words in a 30-day month equals 1,667 words per day.

Take each day separately. Keep in mind that progress is based on day-to-day productivity. Set-backs are inevitable. Don’t be too hard on yourself and be realistic. There will be blow-outs, mess-ups, crappy days and interruptions – this is part of life and work. If you struggle one day, reset and try again the next, but don’t try and catch-up as this adds extra stress. Take each day as a stoned alone session and accept that there will be ‘good days’ and ‘bad days’.

Know what a ‘good day’ looks like. How do you define ‘a good day’ of work? What does it look like? Is it producing a 500-word outline? Or writing 1,500 original new words? Reading a journal article? Having this clarification means that you know when you have achieved it. If this is not clear, you are at risk of ending each day feeling like you have not achieved your goal and could have done more, no matter how much your produce.

Garbage in, garbage out. Be mindful and actively manage what you allow yourself to be exposed to. This includes TV, social media, movies and the news – and also people. Remember the quality of your output is determined by the quality of the input. Read quality literature, reduce media exposure, unplug and read more engaging books.

Acknowledge milestones and reward. As you progress with writing, acknowledge micro-successes and milestones achieved. Having small rewards helps track activity, recognise breakthroughs, monitor improvements and boost motivation.

Writing is not editing. Writing and editing are two different skills, yet many people edit as they write and this can hamper progress and flow. For NaNoWriMo, participants are writing a 50,000-word draft. There is no editing at this stage and this a good idea to keep in mind. Many people get distracted while writing by fact-checking, looking up a definition, searching for a ‘better word’ or stopping to insert an accurate reference as they write. Doing these during the writing phrase inhibits ‘writing flow’ and focus. So the aim is to get ideas in writing down on without stopping to edit.

I use the write fast, edit slow – and the read a bit, write a bit, edit a bit adage to instil the distinction and importance of doing each of these tasks regularly. Another way to achieve the writer’s flow state as advocated by Blindboy is to write with fire, edit with ice.

Next steps

I only found out about NaNoWriMo this week, so it was too late to participate this year.

But it has inspired me to get organised and get back into my writing routine.

Who needs a formal date to write? A month-long writing challenge can be undertaken at any time!

Take this blog post as an example: just writing about this challenge has produced a 2048-word blog post and helped clarify my next steps and preparation for NiAcaWriMo. That in itself is already a valuable and productive writing activity.

As we come up to the end of the year, I’m gearing up for a NiAcaWriMo challenge in the new year.

And I will certainly be looking out for NaNoWriMo next November.

So if you have any kind of writing project, perhaps now it the time to get inspired and create your own month-long writing challenge to crack the whip and get those important first words onto paper.

Happy productive writing!

The content and ideas included in this post are my own with additional ideas and facts sourced from NaNoWriMo, NY Book Editors, Storyist, Writer’s Digest, Jerry Jenkins and Wikipedia.

13/10/201817/10/2018

Malala – teachers, girls, rights and education

This week I’ve been working on my PhD Ethics Application for my PhD. As I do this, there have been two international dates that have individually been very important, but collectively add gravity to my Ethics Application. This has caused me to reflect deeper than usual in light of work I’m now doing around ethics, benevolence and risk.

Two key dates

Internationally, World Teachers’ Day was held on 5 October.

Celebrated in more than 100 countries world-wide, World Teachers’ Day was established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 1994 to recognise the role of teachers in society.

Last year on in Instagram for World Teachers Day, I celebrated the wonderful guidance, work and role that Dr Richard Johnson had for me in my decision to go into teaching.

Then, on 11th October, it was International Day of the Girl Child.

International Day of the Girl recognises the unique challenges that face girls globally and the enormous potential for change girls possess. So the main aims of the day are to promote girl’s empowerment and fulfilment of their human rights while also highlighting the challenges that girls all over the world face.

In the midst of these two major international commemorations and working on my Ethics Application – it is Malala Yousafzai who keeps popping into my head.

Malala – teachers, girls, rights and education

For me, Malala is the common thread the weaves these three events together and directly links them to my PhD. I can’t decide if she is an archetype, hero or champion (or all three) – but I know that she is the perfect embodiment of all the issues, pressures, challenges and dynamics my research is looking at.

My PhD explores NGOs that donate bicycles to rural African girls for greater access to secondary school. So, I read a lot about education, teachers, schooling in rural areas of developing countries, the feminisation of poverty, sociocultural barriers to girls’ education, gender equity and other local and inter/national geo-political issues.

Most people have heard of Malala.

Malala’s father was a teacher at an all-girls’ school in Pakistan. In 2008, the Taliban forcibly closed down their school. Malala publicly spoke out about the rights how girls have the right to an education – she was 11. She was shot in the face as retaliation. After being moved to the UK for her recovery and for safety, she continued to speak out for girls’ education.

She received the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2014 and was the youngest-ever Nobel laureate. She continues her advocacy and activism work. She travels to many countries to meet girls fighting poverty, wars, child marriage and gender discrimination to go to school. She has spoken at UN National Assemblies and internationally and established the Malala Fund which invests in developing country educators and activists, like her father, through Malala Fund’s Gulmakai Network.

I feel very humbled and inspired by Malala’s story, courage and persistence. She is a remarkable role model, advocate, change agent and activist. I have always been incredibly grateful for having the privilege to undertake my PhD. It is also a way

And on weeks like this one, Malala is a reminder of how important it is to continue and intensify the efforts for girls education.

And with this in mind, I head back to Ethics.

17/11/201714/12/2017

ReImagining Education for Democracy Summit

Life ever stops. Mixing bikes, research and work is my challenge AND my pleasure – as regular readers well know! As a change from our usual bike posts, this post is a little indulgent academic wankery. It has been a very busy week with my new 10-week course starting, a 4-day family trip and a 3-day conference to attend – among other things. Now that peak crazy period has passed, here’s an update of the RE4D Summit (conference) that has been the focus for this week. Cheers! NG.

Earlier this week I attended and presented at the ReImagining Education for Democracy (RE4D) Summit.

It was the first time I have attended this conference and I was very impressed.

To get details of each session – here is the Conference Program.

Essentially, this conference uses Critical Pedagogy perspectives to unpack and explore aspects of contemporary education research, policy and practice that are complex and challenging.

The Summit has a strong political undercurrent with sessions wrestling with issues such as globalisation, the role of the state and markets, technocratic models of education and how equity, access, fairness and social justice are being addressed in schools and within wider educational dynamics and systems.

So what was the ReImagining Education for Democracy Summit?

This event was an awesome 3-day conference that covered an wide range of education policy, process and practice. There were 5 keynote speakers, a free public lecture, and event called Pedagogy in the Pub, and over 80 presentations in the form of symposiums, focus panels, individual research papers and workshops.

The was a wonderful range and scope of the presentations. You can always tell a good conference when you are conflicted about what session to go to for fear of missing out on other sessions.

My Presentation

My presentation was part of a symposium with 3 other presenters.

As a group, we had developed the abstract (see below) and each of us contributed a differing perspective to our main contention.

We decided to go for the practical, for the personal and for the challenging.

Unfortunately, on the day one of our speakers (Ian) could not make it, so we were missing the male perspective, but it also meant that we had more time.

Here’s the abstract for our symposium:

Our presentation was awesome.

We had a great topic and some really interesting and unique expreinces and difficulties to share.

Naomi started us off by presenting her experience of being a mother whilst doing her PhD to tease out some key political and neoliberalist tensions. Sherilyn followed up with a little more methodological view to processing some key transformative ‘moments’ she had during her work disrupting educational and social structures within in her own local community.

Then, I ended by outlining some of the practical ‘shadows, cracks and hauntings’ that I have experienced in my work and telling 6 stories that hit at the heart of when things can go wrong when working on gender justice.

This format worked really well and the session was a pleasure to be part of. The build-up and layering of ideas from one presentation to the next was strategic and served well to show the individual, dynamic and complex nature of the work we do as well.

I told a few stories that I have not told before, which was a little daunting, but I was glad that my presentation struck a cord with the audience and reminded people that there are ofter negative ethical, social and other consequences of the work we do that need to acknowledged, shared and addressed.

Here’s my abstract for session on the symposium:

Did I mention that Prof. Michael Apple, his wife Rima and Prof. Pat Thomson from the academic blog Patter (among others) attended my presentation? Talk about a big gun audience!

Following the symposium, I had a number of audience members come up and say how much they enjoyed it – which was very affirming!

I was touched when one woman said that she was very moved by the stories and that my presentations really made her think. She said it was so important to share stories of when things go wrong and to acknowledge that there are dark sides to research, researchers and researching – and I agree!

As a final boost, I was stoked when a friend sent me through this Twitter post that was uploaded from an audience member I’d never met before.

One final thought about the Summit…. Prof. Michael Apple

Prof. Michael Apple

Listening to, and meeting Prof Apple was a real highlight for me.

It was so refreshing to hear his keynote speech on the second day, least of all because it was jammed pack full of provocative ideas. His topic was Can education change society and I was struck by his eloquence and skill as a public speaker. It was truly a pleasure to listen to his educated arguments. He is a consummate orator and gifted storyteller -and a delight to listen to.

To often keynotes are generic, pussy-footing-dont-want-to-upset-too-many-people-or-prensent-anything-too-controversial. But, Prof Apple went there, giving his ideas on some pretty tricky issues – which was great as it meant you knew exactly what he thought and could agree or disagree with it. So suddenly – hey, presto you have a conversation! Awesome! Thats what a conference is all about after all!

Before the conference, I wasn’t fully aware of who he was and I didn’t fully appreciate the immense impact and influence he has within the field of Education and Critical Pedagogy.

Turns out he is one of the fifty most important educational scholars of the 20th Century and one of the ‘first fathers’ that established this field of inquiry and was a contemporary of Paulo Feire and Basil Bernstein – a big deal in my circles.

And, after following up on some of the things he mentioned and finding out more about his about his amazing political commitment to progressing educational and social/cultural activism, I am now a big fan.

Prof. Michael Apple has written widely on educational and social activism with the most recent being his article Critical educational reforms and dirty toilets: being honest about blockages and contradictions for AARE – a very interesting read indeed (especially given some of the ensuing comments).

I’m already looking forward to next year’s conference! See you there!

To give you an idea of the topics covered, below is the 2017 schedule:

More info please!

The website Rage and Hope gives a great overview of the key thinkers of Critical Pedagogy.

For more details on the main thrust, debates and foci of the Critical Pedagogy movement, Aliakbari and Faraji (2011) Basic Principles of Critical Pedagogy is a clear and easy read to get the basic principles and concepts of what Critical Pedagogy is all about and how it is related to education, politics and society.

20/05/201629/11/2016

AARE Theory Workshop 2016

As support to my continuing PhD bike research, this time last weekend I attended the Australian Association of Research in (AARE) Education Theory Workshop 2016. It was the first time I have participated in this event and I went because my supervisors recommended it Griffith HDR candidates who registered got free admission. I was not sure what to expect, but I went out of general interest – to get inspired, make some contacts and perhaps even get some ideas for my research.

It was a pretty impressive event for a number of reasons. It was a very challenging and stimulating environment, with lots of academic theories, conceptual frameworks and readings being thrown around. It was at times engaging and confusing – but I let it all wash over me. I took lots of notes, contributed to extending my own understanding and I got some worthwhile advice and follow ups from the sessions I attended and the conversations I had.

I got what I wanted out of the experience and would go again. Some session were more helpful than others and I am glad that I went with a clear sense of personal purpose – I felt comfortable and productive.

Lots of big words – AARE Theory Workshop 2016

There were a number of academics from all over Australia and quite a few HDRs at different stages of their research. At first, I found the theorising quite dense and overwhelming. I had to readjust my brain to the intensity and level of analysis. I made a conscious effort to relax and glean what I could. Of course, this meant that the connections and meaningfulness of some of the ideas presented became more accessible and easier to understand – hooray for relaxing and not being intimidated by big words!

It was pretty tiring making sense and engaging with such a high level of interpretive and rigorous dialogue about abstract debates, developments and applications. In many ways it was also quite refreshing as well. I found myself exploring connections and following up lines of questioning that, although not related to my topic, were good fun to explore just for the sake of applying critical thinking to derive some new understanding, reframing or link I could make to a previously unrelated idea.

A few gems

Without going into detail – here are a few gems that I’m still mulling over….

• ‘Glocalization’
I have not heard this term before – the next evolution in the globalisation discourse which highlights the is a combination of “globalisation” and “localization” to describe the relationship of local/global service/products development and distribution – as taken from Glocalization: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogeneity” sociologist Roland Robertson

• The ideas that academics ‘read themselves away from their friends.’

• The Critique Theory perspectives of Normadology/Hautology and Critique as ‘Exile/Contrapunctal’ (Edward Said).

• The idea that research is meant to upset your conceptual framework because this is where ‘learning’ occurs.

• That research is studying ‘spaces’ in between – What ‘space’ are you studying? What part of reality are you trying to study? What is the ‘space’ you are looking at in between?

• That there are stages and phases of (raw) data in research and that you need to develop that into a cohesive ‘story’ to write up

• Luis Moll’s notion of Funds of Knowledge that create ‘unsettling deficit views’ and how that relates to my teaching practice (working with students)

• Research is not about working towards equality in the future, but verifying our equality NOW in the present.

• Interesting to hear Naomi Barnes speak about the amount and type of reactions she received in relation to her article Why I’m choosing the local state school – even though it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles about the public school vs. private school debate that arose from here The Conversation Piece.er article

• I will read George Marcus – Ethnography Through Thick and Thin.

• In Faucault’s Discipline and Power he explores the idea of ‘the soul’ (presentation of subjectivity) and the internalised affect of power and how that impacts outcomes and intersects with matrices of knowledge and power.

• That research work should include an evolution of hybrid criticality as you and the content move through different paradigms (conceptual frameworks are not set but fluid).

• Exploring the difference between anthropology and ethnography

• From the anthropology session, I was moved when Liz (an Ethnomusicologist) said that the aboriginal group she worked with belived that ‘If you don’t have music on your tongue, you are not human’.

• Knowing (becoming) —-PARTICIPATION ———Learning (being)

…..all very interesting – but really, WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?? I’m not sure yet, but I’ll get back to you if I work it out.

I did find out that one of the head academics is a MTBer! He saw the biking t-shirt and came up for a chat about bikes on the second day – hooray for the community-creating bike t-shirts – I was not alone there and SOME senior academics are normal!!