Blog Session 3 (Week 5) - My Favourite Piece of Technology

Write about your favourite piece of technology

Say:

What it is.
When you got it.
How you use it.
How often you use it.
Why you like it.
What life would be like without it.

- 130 words minimum.
- Include a picture.
- Comment on your teacher's post and 3 of your classmates’ blogs.

Hello again boys and girls!

Today I will tell you about my favourite piece of technology. Well, more machine but something that changed my life.

Many, many years ago, before cellphones or even most PCs, when wolves walked the streets at night and people would hunt with rocks and spears ....................... (only joking!).

Anyway, a long time ago when I was 13 years old I had the chance to buy my first car, a shiny red VW Golf. Now as I'm sure you know, I was not old enough to drive at the time, but it was the idea of my Engineer father that I must know how these machines worked.

Sadly, due to my age I didn't have many opportunities to use it as expected, but more to study, take apart and put back together. This resulted in many hours of 'fun' (cuts, bruises and some victory!).

I liked it as it started my following career as a car mechanic, well, more restorations than mechanics, but this introduced me to a new subculture of people and allowed me an interesting way to make some money, even when at university.

I think that without it, life would have been different, as from this I developed an understanding of how systems work and was certainly an influence on my later career as a psychologist. I don't have or need a car anymore, but I will always have an understanding and appreciation for these machines.

Blog Session 2 (Week 4) >> How I Chose My Career

Write about:

- your dream jobs when you were a child

- other career options that you had at the moment of applying to university

- what made you decide in the end

- your experience at university until now

- the kind of job you would like to have

People have many different reasons for why they choose what to do with their life. It could be love, money, fame, or one of the many others. For me it was possibly novelty.

You may ask what I mean by novelty? Well, let me tell you a little story............

As a young boy, the son of a coal miner in the North of England during the time of Margaret Thatcher, things were a little more limited than they are these days. The spectrum of options spread from getting a manual trade, such as a painter or an electrician, to possibly an office job. Now an office job in those days was a little different. It essentially meant that you could work in a call center or possibly get the stability of a low paying government job.

However, there was a third option! Education at that time was free for all, so this opened the doors to possibilities the likes of which I had only dreamed of before. My mind was made up and off I went to college to study art and start my career to fame. Of course, you needed to choose at least 3 subjects, so I decided to choose Business Studies (should I have to face the reality of office work in the future, at least I could be office manager) and a new subject that was offered for the first time, Psychology!

Since then, my time both studying and working in Psychology have been incredible. I have learned more than I ever thought possible. In the end it was a great decision.

Blog Session 1 (Week 3) >> My Auto Biography

For today, and as the first post of this semester, you have to write your auto biographies.
Include:

- Birth info
- Studies info (elementary/high school/ univ)
- Family Info
- Hobbies
- Others...

> Number of words: 120 (minimum)
> Make comments on three of your classmates posts and also leave a comment on the teacher's post.

Andrew Higham was born in Merseyside and raised in Greater Manchester, where he lived with his family until he was 18 years old.

At the age of 18, Andrew left home to study Psychology at the University of Reading, which he completed with honours. After this he then decided to move to Cardiff to study an MSc in Organisational Psychology, followed by a PhD in Educational Psychology. It was during this time that he started to teach classes at both Undergraduate and Masters level.

After completing his PhD, Andrew then decided to move to Taiwan, to experience a new and interesting culture. He stayed there for almost 2 years, teaching English classes and eating as much as possible.

In late 2007, Andrew applied to do Post-Doctoral training at the Catholic University of Chile. A job he would stay in for 6 years, from 2008 until 2014, when he made the move from La Catolica to La Chile. A job he has remained in until this day.

Andrew's main interests are in the design of methods to accelerate the transmission of knowledge and, on a lighter note, cooking and eating as many different types of food as possible and he can often be found hanging out in different restaurants serving all types of food. From fine dining, to burger and fries.