Discussing Performance

I have been involved in coaching canoe slalom for the last two months. It is a busy time of the year in Australia when athletes compete for places in Australian teams. I travel to the Penrith Whitewater Stadium twice a week from my home in Mongarlowe. Each visit involves a 600 kilometre round trip and during these trips I listen to Radio National … there are some great programs at 4 a.m. to help focus my attention on the very quiet roads (I missed this program on recommendation and social networks!).
All week I have been musing about the CCK08 wrap held on Tuesday morning (Australia time) and it is fascinating how many other items have attracted my attention this week. I thought I would bring all these strands together in this post to explore some of my interests in performance and the connectedness of people and ideas. My most recent journey on Saturday morning (28 February) was the catalyst. During that journey between Braidwood and Tarago I listened to a fascinating discussion of whistleblowing in the workplace between The National Interest‘s presenter Peter Mares and Labor MP Mark Dreyfus, the chair of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs committee. The discussion was framed by this observation “History tells us that there’s usually a high price to be paid for whistle-blowing. Organisations being challenged understandably turn nasty and there have been few protections, even for individuals who act out of a sense of honesty or integrity.”
The next hour from Tarago to Exeter was filled by Music Deli. Many years ago I worked at Dartington College of Arts and became fascinated by ethnomusicology at a time when my interest in ethnography was developing. Saturday morning’s program provided a great stimulus to reflect on those times. In the program there were two studio sessions the first featured the clarinet player Bobby Dimitrievski and his band from Sydney. He talked about his Macedonian musical heritage. In the second session, Italian musician Enrico Noviello sang, played and talked about traditional music from Puglia. I was enraptured by Bobby and Enrico’s discussions of oral tradition in music making. The podcast can be found here.
Early on Tuesday morning I was set for the CCK08 discussions and was keen to be part of the sharing ethos so prevalent in CCK08 and to be involved in the practice of connectedness. Stephen wrote that he was delayed in participating in the Elluminate session by clearing snow at his home, I failed to arrive at all because of Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3 Lulin). Conversations about CCK08 between the thirty-two participants went on without me and I became an asynchronous participant! However, I did see the comet pass over my part of Australia and thought that the once in a thousand years experience was a very important moment for me. (It was interesting to note other networks at work during Lulin’s journey and noted this set of photographs from the Alborz Mountains in Iran.) On reflection CCK08 was that kind of experience for me too.
I have written a number of posts about CCK08 in this blog and most of them are reflections-in-action. I have written some reflections-on-action too. As a result of CCK08 I think and act differently. My understanding of teaching and learning has been transformed and I hope I have a group of friends who will amplify my understanding and practice. My participation in CCK08 was part of a wonderful cosmos of energy, thought and engagement that CCK08 brought.
I have stored many of the resources shared in CCK08. I am storing my photograph of Lulin too!

I took a series of photographs with a Fuji camera using varying settings. Some of them have no trace of the comet! In retrospect that seems to be some course participants’ experience of CCK08 as they discussed the tools and knowledge required for participation in CCK08. Throughout the course I discovered new ways to communicate and share. I hope that by taking a fallibilist approach to learning I grew my understanding by the on-going inclusion of ideas and tools.
I mentioned earlier that I had been listening to Radio National. It struck me that no one talks about being a lurker of radio channels. I discovered the term ‘lurker’ during CCK08 discussions and note that it reappeared in the Wrap discussions. I have assumed that each of us has a different approach to engagement in learning. I find it hard to use the verb ‘to lurk’ let alone call someone a ‘lurker’. I noted too that there was some discussion about what to call a CCK ‘course’. I have tended to think of courses in a very literal sense. In the sport of canoe slalom participants navigate their way through a series of gates. On natural rivers the flow of the water varies as does the course of the river. Water courses and canoe slalom courses vary enormously even during the same event. I felt very comfortable in CCK08 and like Oh Laura was ‘a glass of water longing for the ocean’. I think the Wrap had some excellent suggestions for CCK09.
What struck me about many of the participants in CCK08 was their polymath interests. Last week there was enormous discussion about another polymath, Gail Trimble. This post attracted my attention on Thursday last week. I read, in particular, that:

The acclaim she has received for her stellar knowledge – “In the cautionary poem by Hilaire Belloc, what was the ‘trick that everyone abhors’, practiced by Rebecca…” to which she correctly answered “slamming doors” – has not been one-way. She has been ridiculed on social networking sites for being too geekily smart and one newspaper this week asked: “Why do so many hate this girl simply for being clever?”

I find it remarkable that a person with such a wonderful knowledge could be viewed as a threat to anyone. It seemed to me that CCK08 was able to celebrate knowing and the introduction of guests amplified the course for me. I am hopeful that CCK09 will develop its use of guests and the explicit role of the external voice that Dave Cormier provided. I am keen to participate in CCK09 and to be part of the evolution of a very special community. Next time around I may be even a participant in Moodle!
Whilst pondering all this I was dipping into Facebook and catching up with friends. One of my friends, Michael Herlihy, has been very active this week and has posted some great videos. (I have posted this about one of his video posts.) Michael posted two videos about sport performance and the videos provide an excellent end to my week of contemplating performance and the connectedness of people and ideas.
CCK08 opened up the enormous possibilities of growing through sharing. I have spent much of my last thirty years in elite sport. In this environment it was assumed that success was based upon secrecy. Michael’s video post about the analysis of Irish sporting performance offers an interesting juxtaposition of the openness and secrecy debate.
Alistair Gray offers this assessment of Ireland’s performance at the Beijing Olympics
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1OOZ2qaKM4&hl=en&fs=1]
This is Pat Hickey‘s response
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfS56Va0Zc8&hl=en&fs=1]
The Irish Times gives its take on the review of Irish Olympic performance here and provides this brief summary of the key points of the review of performance.
What is exciting for me is that this discussion is a public one. CCK08 has given me enormous confidence to pursue an openness approach to performance that recognises that sharing enables transformation. There have been so many instances this week where the power of sharing is so evident. I see possibilities everywhere. I am excited that they are real opportunities rather than imagined connections.