Week 18: 3rd May – 9th May

Personal and Cultural Development

I have been waiting for this week for a very long time: it was time for my first ever professional massage – nervous doesn’t even comprehend how I felt, I didn’t know what to expect. The ‘nervousness’ turned into confusion upon arrival. Alex and I were directed to a ‘waiting room’ which consisted of just a waiting area with a curtain posing as a wall. We then went back to ask if we could use the spa facilities because that was part of the deal, and otherwise we would have been left waiting for an hour until our appointments with absolutely nothing to do. We were happy to be given keys to the spa, but walked in not prepared to see naked people everywhere. Swimming costumes were not allowed at open showers or in sauna. No robe or slippers were provided; they appeared to be for hotel guests only. Needless-to-say, I changed into my bikini and went on a search to find the Jacuzzi. It ended up it was amongst swimming pools, water slides, an outside pool, a bar, amusements and a Hesburger (Finland’s answer to McDonalds). Bizarre doesn’t even give it justice. The woman at the desk advised us that we could stay until 9pm (we were there from 3pm) and put a Hesburger bill on a tab under our key numbers and pay when we leave – but what on earth was a Hesburger doing in the middle of a health spa?! We felt that fruit or healthy snacks would have been more appropriate. Having said that, we ended up going for a Chinese after spending 3 hours at the spa!

While at the spa, we swam through automatic doors to the outside pool – which was cold. I don’t know why I was surprised by this considering we are in Finland! Finally, we got to the proper Jacuzzi which calmed my nerves before my treatment. I was going for an anti-stress neck massage that actually included the back, shoulders and head as well. I don’t know why I went for anti-stress since I’m not stressed at all – perhaps I felt like my body was stressed after all the travel and Erasmus activity over the past few months; being a student is a hard life, it takes its toll! Anyway, I went for the massage and of course I got the masseuse that spoke no English whatsoever, so that was an interesting experience! Initially when I went in I didn’t know whether I should talk or not, like that awkward moment in the hairdressers – do I start a conversation or not, and if so what do I talk about? But, in this instance, the language barrier solved that problem! The massage itself was a really weird experience; there were moments that were lovely and relaxing and others when I wondered why I was putting myself through this torture! Muscles were being poked and prodded at that I didn’t even know existed! I have some sort of knot in my shoulder that I knew would be some trouble but the pain was blinding. The masseuse seemed to know this and in response concentrated more on that area to the point where I just wanted it to end! There was a great moment where I thought it had ended but really she wanted me to turn over – the torment wasn’t over yet! Eventually it ended, leaving me feeling a mixture of relaxed and wondering what new muscles I was feeling in my back that I had never felt before. It was straight to sauna after that – proper Finnish style this time! What a relief it was, a great huge stone stove sauna then to cool down in the pool to finish.

Professional Development

The professional highlight this week was a demonstration (or an experiment, rather) for the same module that I’ve had the four hour seminars for. I was a participant in an experiment with eye-tracking technology; something I never even knew existed. The class was given in a small lab that contained, at first glance, a normal computer with a video camera placed above it. It was explained, however, that this ‘computer’ was, in fact, the eye-tracker that looked like a normal computer monitor but had infrared camera running along the bottom. First, I was put through a calibration exercise in which the infrared cameras tracked the pupils of my eyes. I was required to look at a red ball with a black dot in the centre. The ball would move and I would have to follow it with my eyes, without moving my head, similar to the test done at the opticians. The rest of the experiment was recorded on camera. I had to look at two pictures for ten seconds each and answer observational questions about them. The eye-tracker detected where I looked in the pictures, in what order, and for how long. It was interesting to see everybody else’s reactions as well as my own observation and attention to detail. It seems I have a bit of an artist’s eye apparently, because I took at the entire picture, including the background, rather than just focusing on the details in the foreground. The video and data was played back to show how and where my eyes were tracked and the fixations I had (the bigger the dots, the longer the fixation).

The next experiment involved reading scientific texts under different situations, for example a stressful time limit, or a purpose that solely requires memorisation. I learnt that this is new in educational research, but has been used for quite some time in the marketing field for creating advertisements and web pages. The main purpose of the current research in education is in reading and reading comprehension. It can be particularly productive in use with children with learning disabilities to show improvement (for example, with smaller fixations) and give positive feedback. It can also be used to investigate pupils’ reactions to situational and motivational factors in reading or learning in general. It is anticipated that the future use of eye-tracking in education will include guidance on how to make textbooks, such as designing the layout of pictures and text to gain the most efficient reading and learning. All in all, this was one of the most interesting classes I’ve ever been to, and has once more increased my motivation to write about the topics and issues that have arisen in this module.