Me and my shoes

My name is Jonna and I'm 37 years old. I'd like to say young, because I think age is a state of mind, age gives you wisdom, life gives you experiences, age does not define who you are, you do, your personality, your presence, your behavior.  I still feel like I was in my late twenties, yet loads wiser ;) Some might call that denial and predict I'm heading for my forties' crisis but hey, whatever life throws at me, I'll be ready.

I'm a Finn. I come from and live in a city called Pori. Pori is located on the west coast of Finland. I grew up here. I was raised by a single mom. I've definitely got my high working morals from her. I had a normal childhood with school, free time, friends and hobbies. My dad moved to Sweden when I was about six. My older brother and I used to visit him a few times a year, on school holidays. I got used to travelling abroad and meeting people with different cultural backgrounds.

I'm a mother of two boys, Kristoffer and Kasper. My fiancé also has a daughter who stays with us every other weekend. I teach full time and now also study at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences. Besides working by time is consumed by driving my boys to their hobbies, cooking, cleaning, doing the groceries, laundry etc., taking the time for myself to go the gym or jogging, plus there is my significant other who requires attention as do the kids, so sometimes it is hard to find time for studying, reading, writing, blogging.. but I'll make it work. It's the early hours of the mornings and late hours of the evenings which I have to utilize and sometimes, like today, when the writing bug bites you just have to usher kids out the door to do some activities, close the kitchen door, pile a few pillows on the low chair and start typing..

After finishing the Finnish high school in 1995 (our school system is somewhat different than in the US or the UK), I spent a year as an au pair in Chicago, Illinois, USA. A great multicultural year spend with both local Americans and many other au pair girl from Norway, Germany, Brazil, France.. After returning to Finland I studied English Philology for a year and a half at the University of Turku. After this I taught English at an adult college and some course also in a vocational school. Before my life path took me back to Pori I spent three months in Australia, gaining cultural experiences. When the millennium changed I was at the most easterly point of Australia.

Back in Pori I started working at the field of retail and marketing and started studying at the Polytechnic and got my BBA degree in Marketing (2003). At the same time due to family (now ex-husband) work engagements I moved to the US (and partly to Canada) for over two years, my first son was born right before moving. This time of my life was pretty hectic; twelve moves in four different countries within three years while getting married, having two kids, getting my degree, getting divorced, returning to working life. My second son was born in Sweden, to where my family moved less than a month before I was due. After a few months it was time to return home.

Since then (2005) I've been back in Pori. I started teaching English and Swedish at a junior high school. I did not and still don't have my diploma from the uni but I'm now on my to being a qualified teacher on my other field of expertise. Though, I have to say, as much as I seriously do appreciate and value education and being qualified, at the same time I also strongly feel that not all teaching or successful teaching is done with just a diploma. I think one's desire, life experience and personality is a huge part of teaching. I've had the desire to teach since I was little. But this is a whole other topic. I got a tad sidetracked.

I taught English and Swedish for five years and during the last three years. While working as a language teacher I studied at the open university the basic studies of pedagogics and adult pedagogics. Besides the so called normal students (I mean what is normal these days?) I had students with learning difficulties, behavioral difficulties, with foreign backgrounds and language barriers integrated into my classes. I think that's why I'm very keen on the topic of multiculturalism, not just from the teachers' point of view but also from the students'. I'm interested in integrating students with different cultural backgrounds and different language skills into same classes and study groups. And I'm also interested in looking into what sort of possibilities or obstacles these students have. Could multicultural eLearning be expanded into junior high school, college, vocational schools, polytechnics.. What kind of opportunities does the e-learning environment offer..?

You'll have to excuse my thought process. It just hops from one path to another, returns to a previous corner and takes a left turn when the right turn would probably have been more structured. Bear with me.

Currently I teach at a teaching unit of child protective services. I teach junior high school aged children who live in child protective facilities and children who live at home but are unable to study in a normal learning environment. My current job is very demanding as I teach all the subjects on the schedule and teach grades eight and nine simultaneously. I use computer programs and for example information search on line as a teaching tool. I think now I'll be looking more into different possibilities of e-learning.

My shoes reveal quite a lot about my personality at once; colorful, bright, comfortable, outgoing, loud, odd even. That's me. As a multicultural teacher, like my shoes portray, I accept and appreciate diversity. I'm all about learning about new cultures, new ways of thinking and learning and processing etc. I like to think of myself as a world's citizen (We have this saying in Finnish). Geographically I've been to places, travelled to different continents, been to the US, the UK, Australia, Jamaica, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Latvia.. But from the multicultural e-learning point of view my journey is just starting. My narrative concerning multicultural e-learning is quite short still, but I believe the narrative will get longer by the day with the help of my peers :)

My online study background is flat – just like my shoes (in the pic). This does not mean I never wear high heels, I do, in real life. And now I'd like to start wearing high e-heels in the online reality as well. This is my first actual online course I've enrolled in. I was a little hesitant at first, since I'm aware of my flat IT-skills. But the module content and the multicultural aspect was and is very appealing as is the opportunity to learn something new. I already managed to set up a blog. For some it's as easy and as common a thing as having tea in the morning but for a person like me who has a type of a IT-phobia it was a big thing.

By taking this module I'm expecting to gain  and form a comprehensive understanding of the whole field of multicultural e-learning, the enablers and factors that affect multicultural e-learning. I'm hoping to increase my multicultural awareness and deepen my understanding of the meaning and role of culture in e-learning.

I'm also very excited about the opportunity of peer learning and looking forward to learning new practical IT-skills in the form of blogging and expanding my comprehension of terms such as benchmarking.

Like I said on my post ( http://www.jonnaantila.blogspot.fi/ )  mine and my shoes' first impression of the module content was very overwhelming. This is probably due to my shoes poor IT-skills or rather the lack of online study experience. Taking a course online is challenge in itself for me and my shoes. My shoes are pretty nervous and hesitant about new technologies but willing to learn new things. My shoes are excited about the multiculturalism and student diversity. My shoes do not understand all the terms, concepts and contents of the module but are brightly confident that the key features of multicultural e-learning will become more clear after a few mile on the online road.

My shoes are ready and eager to grow some serious e-type heels and in order for that to happen I'll be definitely looking forward to, hoping and needing diverse learning support both theoretical (terms, concepts, contents) and practical (blogging) from my peers.  

May I have the permission to take a walk in your shoes?