Monday, July 04, 2005

Time to get back home!

I have had a wonderful time in Barcelona, not only personally but also professionally. During this last month I have been immersed in the Catalonians way of living. There are many differences with the American (United States) culture, but not as many from the Puerto Rican’s. The Spanish language is well known in Catalunya, food had a similar taste than that of Puerto Rico, and coffee was as great. The division of time is very different though, from both Puerto Rico and the United States. Work days are divided into two time slots: 9 to 1 and 4 to 8. The long break in between, allows people to go home to prepare a big lunch and to probably even take a “siesta”. Not everybody follow this time schedule, others might start earlier or later, depending on their job requirements and responsiblities. Still many stores close during lunch time and open again in the afternoon.

The presentations I made in the Doctoral Conference (Institute of Education, University of London, London, UK) and the V Multimedia Congress (Institute of Educational Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain) allowed me to further clarify my research project. I feel more confident in what it is I will like to research for my dissertation and if everything goes as planned I already have a good draft of what I would present to my committee members.

Without ILET I would not have had this experience, I thank my professors for allowing me to participate in this incredible and wonderful opportunity.

When I first started this blog I talked about having a more relaxed and slower stay in Barcelona. But I found out that people work as much here as they do in the States, the difference is though they work more as a group and take time to be together and share a little of themselves almost every day. Well, at least this is what I experienced when becoming part of the Multimedia Group. The morning coffee break and lunch time was a welcoming environment to get to know each other. It allowed people to refocus and when getting back to work to do as much. The academia environment has many similarities everywhere I’ve been: people work to develop a research agenda, and they teach and work together to develop a community of learners.

Saturday, July 02, 2005

"El V Congreso de Multimedios en la Educación"

We all got together in Barcelona on Monday, June 27, worked at the Institute of Educational Sciences, and at the end of the day made a tour through the city, guided by Marc Fuentes, a doctoral student working with the Multimedia Group. The second day Olatz Lopez, another doctoral student from the Multimedia Group, took us to the Caixa Forum Museum and then to dinner. We all met at Origins 99.9% a Catalonian restaurant that serves exquisite cuisine.

The next day, the "V Multimedia Congress" housed the ILET final event. The ILET group had their own meeting in where we all presented our projects and research agendas: some did poster presentations and others presented for the first time or even for the second time the research projects they have been working on. The only thing was we did not had the time to participate in the Congress' activities, since we had a very tight schedule.

Dr. Dana helped me edit my presentation including the recommendations I had received from the audience before, clarifying questions, and reorganizing it so that it would be more coherent as a research paper. I felt I was mentored as to improve myself as a presenter, revisiting my presentation from a more professional standpoint. I am very grateful of Dr. Dana for his help. It really made my paper a lot better!

At the end of the event, another keynote was conducted as to present the ILET project. Dr. Davis presented the project’s objectives and framework. Three students participated as well, presenting the experiences they have had during the project. The audience participated as well, alluding to their worries and preoccupations of such an international project and the need to keep working in our own communities and countries to decrease the gap between the haves and have not. We argued there is a need to work in our communities and country (as if it was an horizontal task), but that there is also a need to work and collaborate together between countries (as if it was a vertical task) learning about each other, working together for a common good, and hopefully for world peace.

Finally it was time to say goodbye. A debriefing meeting took place at the end of the day (July 1st.) and certificates were handed in to professors and students participating in the project. Through ILET we met students and professors from different schools, we shared research ideas, and had a cultural experience difficult to duplicate. Now it is in our hands to continue to share the work we are doing and to collaborate with each other as a bigger community of learners.