Despite a multi-sensate increase, this sense impression overload doesn’t necessarily mean the information will stick. Mason, J (2002) The Discipline of Noticing, p31

On Tuesday the 10th of March were set the task of observing media around the city. Rachel divided the class into groups according to the geography of room 80.11.10. and assigned each group a location. Our group was number 4, there were 6 of us and we were sent to Federation Square.

As I was on my bike, I had to split from the group and make my way solo. 

My iPhone was on shuffle and 2 songs came through my ear buds in transit, Prisoner by The Jezebels and Release Your Problems by Chet Faker.

On arrival, I texted a group member to see if they were there yet. I got no response so started looking around without them.

I saw Daniel Ricciardo’s – Red Bull advert and immediately thought of Alexander Rodchenko and the propaganda artists of the 40s and the 50s. On researching those images further, it seemed that a raised arm was the pose of choice if you wanted to sell an idea.

There was still no word from the group so I continued perusing the site.

Viktor Borisovich Koretskii Moscow 1941

The advertisement on the church at first glance seemed sacrilegious until I realised that it was a cause for the refugees.

Eventually, I was flagged down by a member of our group and this was without the aid of mobile phone correspondence. The group had been whittled down to two thirds of what it was, perhaps distance and lack of communication had resulted in the dispersion of our caravan.

I wasn’t happy with the audio at the time so I revisited the site that evening after work and got this an esoteric Fed Square freebie gem! It was music to spoken word… another reason why I live in Melbourne.

Later that night I realised that for some reason, I had set my phone to airplane mode and when I got home, I began receiving messages from the day. It was gratifying to think that the outside world wasn’t trying to snub me, it was just me that needed to be a bit more on task with technology.

All up, it was an enjoyable experience as I got a chance to get outside and exercise my observational skills and ascertain which media items resinated with me the most.

The cool esoteric performance may have stood a chance but if it weren’t for this conscious media documentation process, I can almost be certain that these sounds and images observed throughout the day would have been discarded and become a victim of the ephemerality of my short term memory.

When entering room 80.11.11, I was greeted by about 100 fresh faces awaiting their first lectorial.

Brian conducted the lion’s share of the presentation delivering the seminar with his warm, avuncular tone, allowing space for an occasional contribution from his contemporaries to relay further information such as how learning will be divided, important dates and that ‘this will be your life from here on’.

Rachel drew up a chart on the whiteboard and Brian asked students to share their thoughts on what they hoped to achieve as far as learning goes. From recollection, the chart was divided into contextual and practical. The learning goals expressed by students were entered into these fields and the responses proved vast and interesting. This gave me some things to think about for my own learning aspirations. Aside from my hopes to enrich presentation and critical thinking skills, editing was mentioned by a student which is definitely something that could help me evolve… as a student.

We then read through a 5 page essay by Katherine Hayles entitled, Hyper and Deep Attention: The Generational Divide in Cognitive Modes arguing that there has been an apparent shift in the concentration levels in developed nation’s due to the increasing use of technology. Ironically, I found myself distracted by my buzzing phone and the fact that the student sitting to my right was masterfully applying multicoloured highlighters to their text when all I had was a inefficient old pen to mark the dates, names and phrases. She had inadvertently made me feel under-prepared so I had to consciously and forcibly negate this ‘hyper attention’ that seemed to be snowballing as each new thought justified the next. Ahhh! Katherine Hayles! ‘Deep concentration’ could prove to be a challenge for me!

According to a report cited within the essay, many students spent 8.5 hours per day consuming media and have evolved toward multitasking. I am a fine example of this as I am currently writing this from work!

For me, the highlights of the lectorial were observing the students’ reactions to questions asked by Brian and the response to the shared learning approach applied by the school. For example, people seemed withdrawn when it came to answering Brian’s questions however, they were more than happy to freely and openly share their thoughts with their peers. I personally think that the latter is where much of the learning takes place.

Low-lights… hmm, I can only remember being really really thirsty, and please note that this is not a portentous clique like ‘I was thirsty for knowledge’ or anything like that, I literally hadn’t taken my water with me and couldn’t bring myself to pay $3 for a bottle from the cafe on principle.

Overall, the seminar allowed me to consider my own learning behaviour and the need to better prepare myself. I’m looking forward to the digital components, such as the blackboard and the blog, coalescing with general uni life so that I can buckle down and get the most out of my studies.