I call myself ‘old school’. Why? I tend to use pen and paper a fair bit when jotting down thoughts, ideas, questions and taking notes from readings. But therein lies my downfall. Another assignment looms in the not too distant future and so I must add my thoughts here.

The last few weeks have been a huge challenge for everyone right around the world. The reason? COVID-19. I often find myself questioning the reason for undertaking this course now, but of course none of these challenges could have been imagined at the beginning of the calendar year. And so, here I sit, my mind feeling like a computer screen with about 100 tabs opened, too many thoughts and ideas to categorise effectively and reflecting on my readings.

I realise then how paramount it is to be studying the TL course. Information. It is everywhere! It is being delivered on so many different platforms. It is being presented in so many different modes. It is challenging our understanding of intended meanings.

Yes, the information environment at present reminds me of an overgrown jungle.

Information was a word I always thought I understood. Simultaneously I view it as: complex, simple, informative and critical amongst a list of other adjectives. I never really questioned the complexity of the information environment, except to understand that it was something humans needed to know in order to navigate educational opportunities.

My first challenge was realising just how many understandings of information there are. Semantic, classic and data-knowledge continuum. That it could be broken down further on so many levels. That it could be visualised as a part of a continuum in which information could be seen as chaotic and, when understanding is realised, it could lead to wisdom and sensible applications.

I’m very much a visual learner/ individual. To help me understand concepts I’m often drawn to diagrams, graphs or draw my own images to understand my thoughts. I really liked the information heirarchy illustrated in the module. However to understand it clearly I stretched it out on a horizontal continuum. In doing so, I could better visualise the direction data, being objective facts, can develop into wisdom, having a higher purpose.

That there are different types of knowledge and the fact the attributes vary depending on use of information is also important. As teachers, we are constantly running pre-tests to test students individual knowledge. When sharing the responses, we take this individualised understanding to a group level. By applying our teaching content to student tasks, we share the societal knowledge that forms the basis of global, historical, cultural and identity understandings.

So what have I learnt? I think the better question for me is: What have I realised? I realised that I do know more about information than I thought I did. Or better, I understand the complexities of information even more so because I have been challenged to think about it consciously. As teachers we are being exposed to, manipulating and experiencing information every day. We are assisting our students to do likewise. It is part of human nature. The behaviour of information affects how we communicate our knowledge and how we learn to use it to make necessary applications. It is multi-faceted. It is ever-changing and challenging our thinking processes on a daily basis. If we find it complex, how much more so is it for our younger generations?