About
Bruce is presently working as the IT Coordinator at an international school in S.E.Asia and studying a Masters in Educational Technology through the University of Southern Queensland.
His procrastination has led to a 2008 of four subjects, a funk band, a new daughter and an appetite for life that will need to be tamed!
His meanderings can be tracked via http://www.bruceknox.com, http://www.klustafunk.net, http://www.vislao.com and a number of other websites inconspicuously related somehow to him. His fingerprints can be found in their design.
Where he received his learning
Born into the sunny climes of Brisbane on the day that Frank Zappa died, he was unfortunately not the reincarnation of the mad guitar genius – although as the twists and turns of life sent him on his way he did invariably find himself much enamored with musical instrument of all descriptions (but more of that later).
Having thwarted all attempts by the QLD education department to remove all passion for learning he leapt into the world after 16 years of learning with a degree that would let him change the world – one pair of shining eyes at a time – a teacher he was.
Not wanting to stray too far from the nest with his new found freedom, he plunged himself into the world of Primary Education and did not come up for air for 5 years. When he did, he found himself in China, and oh – what a smell! It was the smell of adventure and a year of teaching those of the University kind – conscientious, diligent and enthralling medical students of the “I’m almost a Doctor” kind. After 12 months of being enthralled, humbled, amazed and challenged and with the smell of adventure still lingering, he returned to the land of Vegemite and Lamingtons, this time to find himself immersed in the world of those who were proudly proclaiming, “I’m going to be a Doctor, and you can’t stop me!”
It was the world of adolescents, and the smell was not of adventure. It was the cheap deodorant clouding the locker corridor at the end of the lunch break and clinging to the sweaty shirts of the boys in his grade 9 tech. drawing class. After five years of trying to convince his charges that he was, in fact, all for them becoming a doctor (of whom one or two did!) the Brut 33 became so overpowering that he had to run, in search of new aromas.
Laos. Jewel of the Mekong. Home to many unidentifiable new aromas and the adventure of international schooling. Now functioning as the IT Coordinator and teaching IT to aerosol abusing adolescents from more than 33 different nations, life is a box of chocolates.
…and then there was song!
Amidst all this adventure, adolescence and aerosol his feet were kept relatively close to the ground by the magnetic pull of music and all things musical. Never thinking he would ever thank his mother for those seven years of flute instruction, he soon realised that if you can ride a bicycle you can ride a motorbike! Flute, guitar, piano, harmonica, mandolin, drums were the motorbikes and creative inspiration the renewable energy.
…and then there was the little one.
And now, the little one has been out for as long as she was in – 9 months and ticking, licking, sicking, smiling, beguiling, defiling. And would he want it any different?
Would he want it any different?
Not a chance!
And what is he learning now???
Bruce is currently enrolled (as of July 2008) in FET8611 – Emerging Environments for Learning. If you visit his blog (http://brucek.edublogs.org) you can download the Gantt Chart he has created to visualize the study schedule for the course.
And here is what he is working on…
With a job title of IT Coordinator, one of Bruce’s many roles is that of provider of staff professional development in IT. The challenge that lies within is to provide accessible and easy to understand training to an ability-diverse group of teaching and administrative staff with diverse IT needs. In the past, face-to-face group sessions have been held over a set number of weeks, one-on-one sessions have been held and a training website has been set up with downloadable video tutorials related to different aspects of IT specific to the school.
With a large number of staff owning and using iPods, Bruce is investigating how screen capture software, podcasting and iPods can be woven together to create an accessible professional development program for staff at his school. Please take the time to visit and comment as he documents his investigations at (link to come).
