Adult Learners' Week

 Adult Learners' Week 2015 ran from 13th to 19th June. So the question is, what did you learn?

"Adult Learners’ Week is the UK’s largest  festival of learning, and the overall purpose of the initiative is to raise demand for learning and skills. It highlights the benefits of learning of all kinds, learning for work, informal learning as well as learning for personal development." (wikipedia.org) 

I'm currently learning about "Managing Behaviour for Learning" through a free online course from the Science Learning Network, provided by Canvas.net. We've been learning how to positively influence the behaviour of students through our own behaviour. Interesting stuff if you work in any kind of teaching situation (I'm thinking environmental education sessions!).‎

This is the latest in a number of online courses I've taken (others have included "Cultural Studies & Modern Languages", "Community Journalism" and "Teaching Adult Learners") . I believe quite strongly in continuing development, and not just professional "CPD". With the current online learning revolution, a wide variety of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are available to help you learn about a topic in your spare time around your other commitments. 

According to the UK Adult Learners' Week website, adults in the UK would love to learn new skills such as cooking and baking, playing a musical instrument, or learning a language. Obviously some of the more practical skills might be harder to teach through an online medium, but you will be surprised at the range of courses that are out there. Many are also provided by names which carry weight, such as universities or professional institutions. So although you won't be wearing a cap and gown, you will have the chance to study at Universities across the world and benefit from top-quality teaching from experts in their subjects.

Offline education can involve wearing cool threads. Copyright Will Folsom

Why not put your feet up and learn something new in the comfort of your home?

 My advice is, if you haven't already, take a look at some of the websites below (my favourite MOOC websites so far) to find a course that takes your fancy, whether it's for business or pleasure. With free learning in your own time, there's nothing to lose!

• www.coursera.org 

• www.canvas.net

• www.open2study.com

• www.open.edu/openlearn

• www.futurelearn.com

Knepp Castle Estate Rewilding Project Tour

EuCAN (European Conservation Action Network) have organised a guided tour of the Knepp rewilding project on 5th & 6th July 2015. The tour itself will take place on the Knepp Castle Estate in Sussex for a limited number of EuCAN members and supporters on Monday July 6th, with the option of camping on the estate the night before (July 5th). 

The Knepp Rewilding project is the inspired brainchild of Charles Burrell the owner, and is a very interesting example of an alternative and sustainable method of land management. See http://www.knepp.co.uk/  for full information on the project and the Knepp Estate.

Our re-wilding project uses large herbivores to drive habitat changes across the Estate. The various herbivores cows, deer, horses and pigs - affect the vegetation in different ways helping to create a mosaic of habitats including open grassland, regenerating scrub, bare ground and forested groves." (Knepp Wildland Project).

Costs:
Tour of the Rewilding Project only: £10
Tour, overnight camping, supper and breakfast and picnic lunch: £30 (for those in work or retired:) / £20 (unwaged).
Alweston to Knepp minibus transport return:   £15

Please contact nigel @ eucan.org.uk for further information and to reserve a place. You will be asked to transfer the money on booking into the EuCAN bank account.You can also find more information on the EuCAN website at http://www.eucan.org.uk/uk/agriculture-and-sustainable-land-management/

Knepp Castle © Robin Webster

Bonsai Heaven

On 10th May I attended a Tai Chi workshop at a beautiful place in Surrey called "Herons Centre". In addition to workshop space, the centre has 7 acres of grounds which includes an award-winning Bonsai nursery, landscaped Japanese gardens, orchards and a koi carp pond. "It is literally a Bonsai heaven  for anyone interested in the pastime" (www.herons.co.uk). The founder, Peter Chan, is author of "The Bonsai Bible" and numerous other books, and holds 21 Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medals - he knows his stuff! Even if Bonsai isn't one of your hobbies, the trees and grounds at the Heron Centre are well worth a visit.

Bonsai bonanza at the Heron Bonsai Nursery!

Some of these bonsai were over 100 years old.

Herons Centre also has landscaped Japanese gardens,a koi carp pond and an ancient orchard.

A heron!

Almost like being abroad...

The Zhen Wei Academy's Tai Chi workshop was very interesting, covering the whole day and including Qigong, the Yang 85 (long form) and Yang Shi Taiji Duida (rare two-man set). I'm currently training in Shaolin Mizong kung fu with Zhen Wei Academy, rather than Tai Chi. As someone who has done very little Tai Chi before, working through the entire Yang 85 sequence in one day was intense and challenging but I really enjoyed it. Being able to run through the whole sequence at the end felt like quite an achievement; doing this with the rest of the group out in the landscaped grounds of the Heron Centre was very memorable.

Part of the group working on a rare two-man Tai Chi sequence.

Group shot from Zhen Wei Academy's facebook page.

Bioblitz Results

The One Tree Hill Bioblitz, at Langdon Hills Country Park, took place on 3rd May. A Bioblitz, for those who haven't come across one before, is a group effort to find as many species as possible in a given location. We also had over 30 people involved in the event, and for some this was their first experience of surveying for wildlife! It was great to see so much enthusiasm from so many people.

I was responsible for organising the event, and handling the records afterwards - a significant undertaking in itself! After I spent some time working on our species lists from the event (attempting to get identification down to species level, and eliminating duplicates) we had a list of over 136 different species from roughly 3 hours of surveying. That's a new species found for every 80 seconds! The information from this event is being passed on to local and national databases that monitor wildlife, increasing what we know about the wildlife in the area and thus helping us to protect it.

Prizes for the Best Guess (for guesses closes to the final species total) and Best Blitzer (for greatest overall contribution to the recording) have been decided, and Bioblitz t-shirts will be awarded to winners at the next big Country Park event, which is the Friends of Langdon Hills group's Curry & Glow-worm night on 3rd July. For more information about this event or the Friends group, you can contact Langdon Hills Country Park on langdon.hills@btconnect.com or 01268 542 066.