DD: 'Deutsche' Days

Hi guys!

Do you like my picture?It was taken during the last few days! I was supposed to study but I really need a break from everything. So, I left with some friends and we visited our friend Mauro who studies in Mannheim (Germany). I really had a wonderful time!

Mannheim is a typically 'deutsch' city and I loved it. In particular, I enjoyed the culinary specialities, such as 'Bratwurst', 'Brezel' and soooo many sweets and liters of beer!! I already miss them ;-) Moreover, I visited Heidelberg, which is a mediaval city characterized by a wonderful castle. I walked thousands of stairs to reach it but it was worth it! The view was exciting..WUNDERBAR!

Now it's time to study again but after this break I feel more relaxed and I can do my best! Thanks friends ;-)

Elisabetta

SPECIAL THANKS

Dear guys,

as I wrote in my last post, last week I had my last English lesson. It was a very sad moment because it was the last university lesson of my career, so the very ending of an important and significant period in my life (all these 'last' makes me so sad!)! Moreover, these lessons were not only really useful but also amusing and I had a really good relationship with my professor Sarah and my classmates.

I really appreciated this course for many different reasons:

• I feel I really improved my English (I'm supposed to be a C1 student now ;-) );
• I improved my computer skills (sooo many discoveries!);
• I became a blogger (and I love blogging!);
• I realized I like taking pictures;
• I knew my classmates better and I made new friends thanks to our working groups.

Are you jealous of my achievements? I think you should ;-)

Finally, I want to thank all those people that made this journey with me. A special thank goes to my professor Sarah for her helpfulness, her innovative lessons and her critical teaching, and another goes to my working group (in alphabetical order Anna,Cristina and Michela ;-)) because thanks to their corrections and their collaboration and cooperation I improved not only my English but also my way of learning. A thank goes to all my classmates because they make this year unique and useful...thank you guys because I feel I improved as a student and as a person.

Ok after my 'Oscar speech' I think I could cry :-( but don't worry as I already said I'm going to keep on blogging ;-P

Elisabetta

CHRIS MARTIN'S SUCCESS

Hi guys!

Do you know the song Viva la Vida by Coldplay? I love it and it was the soundtrack of my last English lesson...sooooo sad!!! But let's reflect on it! I never thought about the meaning of this song but we did it in class and I think it was really interesting! If you don't know the song here you have the complete text!

What do you think? I think that the meaning of the song is really complicated and well hidden! However, my interpretation is that the song is about SUCCESS! When you are a successful person you are like a king, but success is something changeable and it stands 'upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand'. Success is linked to corruption, people who want to manipulate you and enemies who wait for your errors too. The only persons that can help you are those who really love you. They are the only ones who can be your 'mirror, sword and shield', they are like missionaries in the foreign world of corruption. I think that the song ends with a glimmer of hope because now the protagonist is aware of the negative sides of success and can redeem himself.

I think that this interpretation is linked to my personal vision of success ;) However, there are so many different interpretations of the text even if not an official one! Some people think it is about the fall of Satan, or the French Revolution, or the decline of the Church (here you can find a complete range of interpretations I 'stole' from my professor's blog ;)). One interpretation I particularly like is the one about love given by a friend of mine, Mario. You can go on his blog and read it because it's really beautiful ;-)

Bye

Elisabetta

Reflective blogging: my PLE is a galaxy

Hi guys!

..he he..I know what you are thinking: What is this scheme with all these stars and arrows? I introduce the mindmap of my Personal Learning Environment to you ;) I decided to divide and represent it as a GALAXY because I think that my learning environment is like a night sky composed by a constellation of stellar elements. They are all fundamental and necessary to enlighten the night of ignorance that characterizes a mind without knowledge! Today I am so poetic, don't you think? May be this is because I'm studying for my exam of Medieval English Literature ;-)

First of all, I'd like to explain what a PLE is. Indeed, there are many definitions and interpretations of this concept. If you are curious about them, my English professor Sarah gave us a complete and exaustive explanation in her blog post. In simple words, my personal interpretation is that a Personal Learning Environment is the whole of techniques, approaches and technologies we use to increase our knowledge. So, a PLE is very 'personal' and is different from person to person because our minds work in sooooo many different ways!

About my mindplan, I'm aware that it's a bit complicated but don't worry I'm going to explain it to you. As you can see, the first main division is between FORMAL and INFORMAL learning. Indeed, my learning is linked both to a more institutional context, for example at university, and to a more informal context, such as my everyday life. This first binary division is then developed like a mirror. Indeed, my formal and informal learning are composed by the same stellar elements: People, Places, Acting and Gathering information.

People that help me for my formal learning are my professors, classmates, colleagues and more in general all the people I meet in an institutional context. On the other hand, my informal learning is linked to my family, friends, and all the people I meet in my everyday life.

The most important Places for my formal learning are the university, my (actual and future) job-field and virtual places as the Internet. This latter is also fundamental for my informal learning that is composed by my home and the places I can see travelling and where I live too.

My Acting has some common features for formal and informal learning: speaking, reading, writing, listening. Moreover, my formal acting is linked to exams and presentations, while my informal acting is characterized by activities such as chatting, blogging and using Skype.

I divided the Gathering Information Star into two parts: physical and virtual. The physical part is totally different for formal and informal learning. Indeed, formal learning involves notes, books, conferences and dictionaries; while my informal learning is linked to more unconventional means such as TV, radio and music and newspapers. About the virtual part, formal and informal learning are strongly linked. Indeed, the Internet, Web 2.0, Del.icio.us, Wiki pages, blogs and forums can contain both authoritative and more informal information. For this reason, I considered them both formal and informal way of learning.

Now you know almost everything about how my mind work ;-) What do you think about my scheme? I made two new discoveries during its construction! I learned that you can 'draw' these kind of maps by using Freemind or Microsoft Publisher . I opted for Publisher because I think it's simpler and allows you to use different symbols, and because I needed STARS ;-)

I think this is my last Reflective Blogging as homework and this is really sad :-( But don't worry because I'm going to continue using this blog because I really looooove it!

Elisabetta

Opinion-polls: WE LOVE SUMMER !!!

Hi guys!

I have to admit that the results of my Second opinion-poll about our favorite season are not very representative (only 6 people voted :-( . However, I decided to publish the verdict because the winner is my favorite season and so the winner is....drum rolls....SUMMER!!!!!

As I wrote some posts ago, my new opinion poll is about the name of my future cat. I said 'future' because he is still living with his mother ;-) Help me in my choice pleeeaaaaaseeee ;-)

Bye,
Elisabetta

PS I want to thank Anna for her suggestions about my cat's name. If you are curious about them look at my new opinion-poll under my photo ;-)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

'God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers'
(Honoré de Balzac)

Happy Mother's Day
to all those women who are or are going to be mothers!

Elisabetta

Reflecting Blogging: INTERNET as a BOOGYMAN?

Hi guys!

This week I'm going to write to you about the risks involved in using the Internet. I reflected with some friends and we realized that the main problems you have to face while using the INTERNET are:

• privacy violation,
• identity problems,
• running into unwanted sexual, violent or illegal content,
• viruses and Trojan horses
• cloning,
• unconscious clicking
• unwanted sexual, violent, illegal contents,
• copyright infringements,
• false information
• addiction.

Ok, the list is a bit long but don't panic ;-) If we read through it carefully we can notice that all these troubles can be avoided using the Internet in a CRITICAL WAY. Now I'm sure that you are wondering: What does 'in a critical way' mean? I have an example for you! I use Facebook almost everyday because I think it's really useful to keep in touch with my friends who live abroad, and I share photos, links and other information with them. For this reason, I avoid having in my list of friends people I don't want to share my personal information with, or I use some filters ;-) So, we have to apply the same behaviour we have in our everyday life to our Internet life! For example, I don't think you usually tell your secrets or show your photos to the people you don't know, or you strongly believe in everything you read on newspapers or you see on TV.

I think that to be a RESPONSIBLE USER is fundamental especially when we have children using the Internet. This doesn't mean that we have to prevent them from using the PC because of the unwanted content they could find. Indeed, Internet is a new technology and contains useful and interesting information for children too. The important thing is that they use it with the help and supervision of an adult who should be the captain of their navigations ;-)

Do I reassure you about the Internet? I hope so, and remember that Internet is like our real world: neither safer nor more dangerous.

Bye,

Elisabetta