Cloisters

The Magazine of The New Curiosity Shop - December 2005

“So, here it is, merry Christmas,” as the poet once said. A time to relax and take stock of the year that’s been, and also a time to look ahead and make one or two new year’s resolutions.

It’s been a busy year at the New Curiosity Shop, bringing many new courses on line, extending the catalogue to embrace new subjects. I know that many of you reading this will have enjoyed learning online with the personal touch in the past year. In this issue, we talk to Margaret Meldrum who took our course ‘Scotland in the 13th Century.’ She shares some of her experiences of online learning with us.

A Free Gift for Christmas

As it is Christmas, we are giving you a present with this newsletter. Just go to our gift page and you can download a copy of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ in ebook format. This comes from the excellent Project Gutenberg (at http://www.gutenberg.org/) which has been converting the world’s classics into machine-readable form for the past thirty-four years.

Noel Chidwick, reminds us of the New Curiosity Shop’s Scottish connections with an article on ‘the Daft Days’ which fall between Christmas and Hogmanay. There are lots of lesser-known festive traditions there for you to try.

We also introduce ‘Paul’s Puzzle’ this month. Puzzlemaster Paul Holmes has created this teaser for you and, if you get the correct answer to us before the next issue comes out (on 15th January 2006), you have a chance of winning a generous prize. We are offering a free course of your choice to the lucky winner. So get puzzling.

Talking of the new year and courses, why not resolve to improve yourself in 2006? Take a course and broaden your mind. Better still, take one of our courses and learn online with the personal touch.

- Mark Toner, December 2005

Cloisters Contents

Daft Days

Course of the Month: California Dreaming

Being An Online Learner

Learning Online: an interview with student Margaret Meldrum

Paul's Puzzle

New Courses

Drinking in the Daft Days

-Noel Chidwick

“Atween Yule and Yearsmas
Auld wives shouldna spin;
An’ nae hoose should be waterless
Whare maidens lie within.”
- Old Ryme

In old Scotland, preparation for the ‘Daft Days’ - the days between Yule and Hogmanay - included the baking of a quantity of ceremonial fare and the brewing of Festive Ale. Here are a few of the old recipes for you to restore some of these traditions. More...

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California Dreaming

California— there's nowhere like it on earth. This course explores the allure of this state and the diverse groups of people who strive to make this place home. More...

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The Online Learner and The Art of Communication

As I said last month, the web is the greatest publishing medium since Gutenberg's Printing Press. The Internet is also the greatest communication device since the telephone, and let's make it clear now: education is a communication process. Typing a word into Google and following up the links is not learning - it's information gathering. Even then, how often do you really read what you find? Learning happens when you internally process what you have just read, watched, heard, practised: and then you demonstrate to yourself and to others a change or an increase in what you know or what you can do. This BBC site is a good place to go to find out more about what learning is: How We Learn

An online course should be no different to a 'real-world' course: you should have the opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned, to communicate what you have learned. At the New Curiosity Shop all our courses have a real tutor to support you through the course. They have set activities and assignments to test your new knowledge and skills, but how do you 'report back?'

The answer is: take your pick from.. Let's look at a few. More...

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