Getting in Trouble Because of Assumptions

A colleague of mine attempted to do a video teleconferencing (VTC) session with a remote student yesterday. I had given her the directions on setting up the session and didn't worry. The video teleconferencing just always works. Well, for some reason, it didn't yesterday. My first thought was that she didn't reserve the room. That is unlikely, though. My second thought was that the info I gave her was for one of the video conferencing stations, so the session came up, just not in the room where she was waiting. My third thought was that she didn't know to call AV services or VTC support in Fairbanks to get help. My fourth thought was that even though VTC appears really easy, I really do need to stick around to make sure a first session works and to make sure people know whom to call when it doesn't work. Sigh. I feel badly that this didn't work and my assumptions about how easy VTC is didn't pan out. Lesson learned.

An Emerging Response to Legislative Audit

On Friday I will participate in a "mini-summit" to craft UAA's response to the Legislative Audit on Distance Education at University of Alaska. I reviewed the Audit and a draft response today. I also read an article on Using Emergence by Meg Wheatley and Deborah Frieze of the Berkana Institute.

I wonder how to apply their observations and practices to encourage emergence of new behaviors to the system of distance education at UA. I do think that there change in the air with the one UA-wide login that is starting to rollout.

According to Wheatley, a way to encourage emergence is through connections. The Berkana Institute has a four stage model to encourage connections: name them, connect them, nourish and illuminate them.

Emergence has a lifecycle that starts with networks, then matures to communities of practice. At some point after this, new systems of influence arise and new practices become the norm. This is not predictable.

As I write these words, I realize I need to go back for one more read of the article. I've had an interest in systems theory and a fascination with the concept of emergence. To see that Wheatley and others are intentionally creating environments for emergence to happen is fascinating.

Creating the conditions for emergence of new practices is a fascinating idea. I'll hold on to it as I contemplate the meeting tomorrow.

Finishing Up

The students are just about done. A few have some details to clean up and submit. They gave some feedback on what worked and what didn't work in their last discussion board post. I skimmed and graded the posts, but haven't yet read and replied.

That's something I want to: there have been numerous opportunities for substantive discussion that I was unable to take advantage of.

As I think about next semester, I want to ease in a bit more slowly, spend some time building community. We may start with personal wiki pages and maybe some sort of Jeopardy game about each other. I am also thinking about creating avatars to use in our Elive profiles, in our blog profiles, and in our Blackboard intro pages.

Final Class

We had our final Ed Tech class tonight. It ended on a high note, now there's scrambling to make sure all the assignments are turned in. I think everyone will do fine.

I asked my students tonight what they would take from how I teach as a model. I am curious about how they are thinking about their teaching repertoire and what sparked them.

Flexibility came up a lot. With only one class, it was easier to be flexible. If I had 3 classes with work to track, flexibility can become cumbersome. I need to develop better management systems for work coming in at different times and to different locations. Blogs, the course wikis, the discussion board, Blackboard assignments. Keeping track of comments that are posted to blogs and wikis. Maybe I'll have the next class keep their own assignment lists for at least some assignments.

With commenting and responding to each other's work, there is the issue of when folks do the initial post. I can see that I have lots of room for improvement.

This is surprisingly fun

Half Hour a Day

Stephen Downes had a blog (maybe he still does) called 1/2 hour per day in which he allowed himself to write. I admired that. It's time for me to make another attempt at more regular blogging. I owed it to myself to structure my reflection more intentionally and I owe it to my students to blog more.

This weekend we attended two amazing concerts. Eileen Ivers' Celtic Christmas concert at the PAC and Peter Mulvey at Vagabond Blues. Because we were so awestruck by the performance of Ivers and her band, I purchased my first album on ITunes: An Nollaig, Ivers' Christmas album. I was disappointed that the wren song wasn't on it and it did capture the energy of the concert. Peter Mulvey's lyrics, stage presence and readings of his letters to his nieces and nephews were inspiring. If one wants to write well, well, one has to actually write. Here is my humble attempt.

I would have benefited from weekly writing during this, my first Ed Tech class. It's work though, and not required. But it is perhaps necessary. The reflection both clarifies my thinking and makes it more transparent to the students. In some small way, seeing my thinking as I approach teaching may help them as they face this dauting, humbling task.

There are a dozen or so posts that I haven't written as I've gone through this semester. I can only pick up the pieces and start anew. We'll see how far this attempt goes.