This week I am focusing on two aspects of my learning challenge: my Travel Journal and Road Trials. The Travel journal has been how I have tracked mode of transportation used as well as distance traveled. It also allowed me to track areas that I believed needed improvement, my observations on skill improvement, and any notes on my general feelings. Rather than posting the entirety of the journal, I have condensed the statistics to a weekly level and marked down the highlights of the comments.
Week 1
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Week 2
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Week 3
Biking 37.2 km Busing 0.0 km Driving 2.8km
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Biking 44.7 km Busing 10.5 km Driving 0.0 km
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Biking 57.1 km Busing 0.0 km Driving 22.8km
Shaky when in bike lanes, sticking to quiet backroads, shifting is difficult so hills are a challenge. Reduced speed on downhill sections due to riding the breaks, balance is still not great so signaling is problematic. My bum is pretty sore from seat. Hands get very sore, very fast. Not sure what that’s about.
Much less shaking, still riding the breaks on hills, but I am trusting the bike a lot more. Traveling busier roads and better at taking corners more sharply. Bum isn’t as bad, but hands still getting tired quickly. Big hill on cook and hillside is still tough, often dismounting halfway through.
Using the right shifter is much easier, still working on using the left. This is making hills much better. The sore hands were from over-squeezing the handles so I am practicing a more relaxed grip. Added some downtown biking to my daily biking. Car drive was to Costco and to grandparents house.
The second focus of this week’s post has been to evaluate my improvement in a quantitative way. With three trial I have been collecting data to chart my improvement. The first test is a test of balance. I set out a long corridor of cones and must bike slowly through without running over cones. I count the number of hit cones. Finally, the test must take AT LEAST 20 seconds to complete to avoid speeding through the run. Each trial was run 5 times and the scores averaged.
The second trial involved stopping distance. There is a large hill in my neighbourhood that I use for this trial. The distance and inclination of the hill is consistent and a landmark is to mark the initial breaking point. After coasting down the hill and passing the marked spot, breaks are applied and the distance needed to fully stop is measured. 3 repetitions are made and then averaged.
The top speed calculation is taken over a short distance of 300m. The distance is traveled at maximum speed and then converted to km/h. This test is done 3 times weekly with the scores averaged. This is better than doing three consecutive sprints which would have diminished results.
The final trial is a course to test maneuverability. This tests is used to practice the ability to make sharp turns at both high and low speeds. The course is set up in the same configuration using a parking lot markings for consistency. The time to complete the course is measured. Each cone” hit” adds a further 5.0 seconds to the final time. Three runs are made each time with the scores averaged.
A particular strength inherit with learning how to do a physical activity is the unconscious repetition that must occur. Even after the skill begins to become a “background process” your brain and body continue to refine the execution. As opposed to learning how to ride a bike initially, the adaptation of technique to a different style of bike can seem quite passive when compared to learning skill from scratch. While not entirely similar, I can see parallels surface learning and essentially coasting along with previous knowledge. To increase in skill, one must constantly invest energy into not only practice but critical assessment of results. In the case of biking, the mindfulness of your actions shows deep-learning, rather than “going through the motions” which exemplifies surface understanding. Engaging with a group for discussion and discord is a proven way to increase understanding of a topic. There is a group of bikers at Uvic that have lunches on Wednesdays and I was added to their mailing list. This way I am able to meet with other bikers and benefit from their experiences. It also will give me a chance to express my experiences and perhaps get some feedback. A large focus of this weeks readings revolved around blended learning. This led me to go onto some biking threads on Reddit to get involved in their online community.
Roadbike Reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/roadcycling/
The Handbook of Blended Learning: Global Perspectives, Local Designs
Teaching Teaching & Understanding Understanding
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMZA80XpP6Y&feature=youtu.be
Teaching in Blended Learning Environments:
Creating and Sustaining Communities of Inquiry
EDCI 335 - Learning Design 
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