Tuesday 26 March 2013

See You Later Alligator... My ETMOOC Learning Summary


Photo Credit: pfala via Compfight cc



     You know that feeling you have as a kid on Labour Day when your whole summer vacation is over?  Well that is how I feel, except it is not a vacation that I am beginning to miss.  Quite the opposite, it is a whole lot of learning that just happened in the last 10 weeks.

     It was 10 short weeks ago that the adventure began.  And what an adventure it was.  I saw a tweet by someone at 11:00 pm on January 12th about ETMOOC and I signed up and etmooc began the very next day.  I’m glad I didn’t think when I signed up because I had a whole lot of thinking ahead of me. 

What I learned:

Photo Credit: Marc_Smith via Compfight cc
1. ETMOOC is a great place to learn and to be connected to other educators but it doesn’t have to end here.  As we learned with Dave Cormier when he talked about rhizomatic learning,  we are all nodes in a great big growing, organic connection and the learning and creation of knowledge will continue well past ETMOOC.

2.  We need to know who owns our information on-line and we need to be well-Googled.  I’m still pondering the questions “Is anything completely free on-line?  What are the hidden costs?”

3.  Blogs are a great place for reflective learning for students and teachers.  Commenting on other people’s blogs is an important part in learning from them.  I learned so much from Sue Waters.

4.  Everyone has a story to tell and there are amazing tools to help you tell these stories.  Alan Levine's (@cogdog) storytelling tools wiki  is an amazing resource.

5.  Use copyright free materials and give credit for it. (Creative CommonsCompFight etc)

6.  We create who we are.   Your digital identity needs to be managed to convey what you want to say about yourself.  Naively, I am on-line, who I am in person, just a little more guarded about my personal information. 
                        
My successes:

I started to blog.
I participated in twitter chats.
I created a Google account and started some Google Circles.
I used digital storytelling tools such as: Haiku Deck, Glogster, iMovie,  Five Card Flickr, and Animoto to name just a few.
I began to curate my learning.  
I listened to and learned from most of the
Blackboard Collaborate sessions.

Photo Credit: courosa via Compfight cc 

My failures or “I am still working on…”

I did not make strong connections because I still have one foot in the lurker stage of digital participation.
I did not read very many blog posts because the sheer number on the ETMOOC blog hub overwhelmed me. 
I did not respond to as many blog posts as I should have. 
I did not use Google circles effectively to connect with others.

My Biggest Learning

Strangely enough, my most recent take-away from etmooc seems very powerful to me.  In the last session with Bonnie Stewart (@bonstewart), a few people mentioned in the chat that they felt like a fraud.  That resonated with me because that feeling has been with me since I started this course and I especially felt it when I began talking about what I was learning with my colleagues.  They seemed to be impressed with my learning and I just felt like a great big fake.  “I’m not that smart,” I kept thinking to myself.  I remember watching a TED talk by Amy Cuddy called "Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are," and in it she states that, “you fake it till you make it.”  You become what you act like.  So, at the moment, I may think that I am only acting as if I am knowledgeable but I am slowly becoming the part. 



Amy Cuddy: Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are

Sigh… it  (ETMOOC) was great while it was facilitated, now it will just have to be completely self-directed.  I will miss you ETMOC.   I now feel the need to sing the Kindergarten good-bye song.

Goodbye for now….(I may bump into you on Twitter)
See you later alligator… (maybe I’ll curate your work on Diigo)
Toodle-dee-doo kangaroo…(We may wander into each other on Pinterest)
Time to scat little cat… (maybe we'll see each other on Scoop.it)
It’s the end my friend…(so many possibilities - until next time, my friend :)

5 comments:

  1. Fabulous reflection, Jas!
    You are a terrific writer...I feel bad reading your blog, because I didn't participate with etmooc as much as I wanted to. I got very distracted by other commitments and learning opportunities, but really...that is what is nice about a mooc. You can come and go and participate as much (or little) as you want. So, I don't feel too badly...
    Excited to hear that you are a regular blogger now!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Gallit. I was glad to see you in some of the #etmchat's. it made me feel like someone from "home" was there. Also, reading your blog was part of my inspiration to begin blogging.

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  2. Hi Jas

    Loved your post. It was so thoughtful and organized, it appears that your "lurking" has lead to some fabulous reflections

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  3. Great reflection! You shared a lot of learning and it's clear your digital identity is growing as you share and learn with all of us online. In a while crocodile! :)

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  4. I loved reading your reflections of your #etmooc learning Jas. I have read many blogs where participants share their #etmooc experiences, they all describe the experience differently. We shared many experiences and you described them really well. I hope we continue to learn together.
    Rhonda Jessen
    http://rhondajessen.com

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