Piecing Together A MAZE into AMAZE

As I reflect on the second half of the course, I think about all of the new concepts I was exposed to and attempted to assimilate into my realm of understanding.

I had often read wikis, but had never thought of contributing to or creating one. I was not familiar with e-portfolios, although I had been required to create my own webpage before in other classes.

I was overwhelmed and intrigued with all of the dilemmas and ideas that my online classmates brought to the table as many of them strived to reinvent themselves from f2f instructors into online “guide on the side” cyber instructors. Their experiences gave me a better perception of the problems that cyber instructors face as they try to model a virtual class that reaches and is meaningful to as many students as possible.

I struggled with new technologies and contemplated the best approach to each problem as it arose. I was very familiar with being an online student and yet had not attempted many of the new projects that challenged us. How to negotiate the maze? How to master the technologies? I have such a passion for this medium and yet I have so much to learn.

I love the potential of wikis. What a great way to corroborate on and build new bridges of collaborative knowledge. I can see the possibilities for e-portfolios. How many more dimensions can be explored with an e-portfolio as opposed to a paper resume’? It gives each designer the opportunity to continuously improve his/her portfolio through reassessment of where he/she is today as opposed to where they were yesterday. There is also the availability of the use of so many varied mediums to enhance its content, add new dimensional qualities and make it much more interesting and engaging for potential readers.

Maybe that is what I love best about the world Online, the new dimensions that it adds to each of our worlds. Virtual classrooms force us to stretch and to form new dimensions of education. As an instructor, it is no longer enough to be the sage on the stage. It is no longer enough as a student to read a text and regurgitate the content.

There is a huge web of knowledge dangling in front of students in cyberspace and it has many different routes and many different angles. It is up to the cyber instructor to help to create clear maps to help students navigate through the maze.

This body of knowledge is like a huge body of water, constantly moving and changing with immeasurable depth. One can learn to surf the waves and appreciate and respect the depth of the currents or one can be swallowed up by its power.

I think the greatest thing that I have taken away from the second half of this course beyond the teaching and learning principles and the new software is an even deeper appreciation for the power that the Internet has and the power that it has as a potential lifeline of educational advancement for so many.

When Jacque talked about the student who is gaining an education in a rural area in Africa online, my heart leapt at the potential. That is the complex power and the simplicity of the potential this medium holds. It can literally move mountains and open doors for those who have not been able to scale these obstacles in the past. It can bring knowledge to their doorsteps with the simplicity of the click of a button. And that potential is not just a stride for that singular human being, but it is a stride for each and every one of us because their ideas can add to this one giant wiki we all are a part of called humanity.

I hope to improve my skill levels as we move forward into the next class. Hopefully, I will polish the skills I have began to develop and continue to learn how to successfully translate learning into learning and teaching.

This class has been “a maze” but piecing the puzzle together has enabled it to become an “amazing” experience.

The Velveteen Rabbit and How Online Classrooms Become REAL

I just finished reading Margery Williams’ “The Velveteen Rabbit” to my young niece. It is her favorite book and the book like the rabbit in the story is getting pretty shabby, but it is still such a beautiful, meaningful book and just as poignant as the first day that my mother read it to me. As I dim the light the words echo in my mind . . .

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?” “Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.

It doesn’t happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

What a wonderful story. It is an analogy of how I feel about creating an online classroom. I don’t want it to just contain proper text and content or proper formatting I want it to have personalities and feelings.

In the book, the velveteen rabbit becomes a real living rabbit at the end and visits the boy. I want to do whatever it takes to breathe life into my online classroom so that students enjoy visiting, chatting and freely exchanging thoughts and ideas so that it can become a REAL classroom experience, one that they can refer back to and one that evokes pleasant memories of a relaxed learning environment.

I think this is the single most important and most difficult element of online classrooms to successfully achieve. After you understand that, you must work hard to offer many differently shaded rooms of learning where individual students can walk through and congregate in and get comfortable with the learning style that suits their needs.

You also know that although you must create different opportunities and venues for different learning styles, you must also infuse a spirit into that online classroom that will meld students into a singular REAL unique entity that exhibits a well worn comfortable atmosphere where they feel alive and where communication flows freely and easily.

The perfect REAL online classroom won’t feel forced or stilted, it won’t feel campy or contrived, it will feel natural and easy as the discussions and chat rooms continually generate “AHA” moments and “OH NO” feelings, and comforting reassurance from other students and guidance from encouraging instructors.

But just as the skin horse said, “It doesn’t happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time.”

This is encouraging for a novice like me, because I know that it will take me awhile to be comfortable enough with all of the teaching methods and learning styles for them to become second nature and to not feel manufactured and plastic.

I will have to work hard at making the learning comfortable and inviting to all learners especially those who approach with trepidation.
I always have to remember that every student who enters my online classroom may be coming to my tiny room in cyberspace as a first time online learner.

The atmosphere may be as scary and unfamiliar as that first day of on ground school was for me when everything and everyone seemed so daunting and unfamiliar.

I have to work at creating the same warmth that I felt from the smile of my first on ground teacher as she made me grow and develop a sense of belonging. That is an important part of the online environment---the moment when students realize that they are integral parts of making an online classroom REAL, that they truly belong.

Their foibles, their thoughts not always so gingerly stated, their mistakes, their uniqueness, these things are all part of making it REAL. Imperfection and impatience, excitement and elation, candor and cohesion, small words and big ideas, languish and levity, doubts and dilemmas, missteps and giant leaps---there is room for all of these; in fact they are needed if I am to ever hope to make my online classroom REAL.

I am busy now searching for the right “chairs” that will be comfortable and suitable for all visitors and the right brew that will be inviting to everyone who knocks at the door and enters with a wee bit of reluctance and a dab of fear.

There has to be a big fireplace where people can congregate with others and feel the warmth of the ideas as they are heaped upon the fire to fuel the flame and heat the room. A fire that burns brightly enough to illuminate the room and cast large shadows that will create memories and a valuable learning exchange and with flames that leap and dance excitedly toward the ceiling and draw other students near.

If the elements are right, students will feel comfortable enough to visit often and to take off their coats and sit awhile and exchange ideas and REAL learning will take place. Hopefully they will leave an authentic part of themselves behind when they leave and that part will be valuable to the next learner. Maybe just because of my intense love of learning, it can become REAL for someone else.

I know my online classroom may not be the most elaborate or the most eloquent, it may not have “things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle”, but I hope that the carpet in the entry is well worn and the comfortable chairs show their constant use and may admittedly sometimes appear shabby, because as the skin horse so aptly put it, “But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are REAL you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

Slaying My Demons

“You gain strength, courage and confidence

by every experience in which you really
stop to look fear in the face . .

Do the thing you think
You cannot do.”
Eleanor Roosevelt


This quote has been reverberating through my mind lately. Every time that I cower at the mention of a new skill that I must acquire----every time I tell myself I cannot possibly accomplish what is expected of me----every time I feel that I am not equal to the task at hand, I think of Eleanor Roosevelt and this quote that is indelibly written within the recesses of my brain.

I don’t know if I can meet the challenges of teaching . . .but I can learn. I can learn and I will therefore conquer my fear of teaching.

Although I do not come from a teaching background and the concepts of learning styles and constructivism were new to me I will prevail. Once I took the DVC inventory and learned more about constructivism, I started to innately realize how important they were to learning both on ground and online.

My curiosity was piqued by the different styles and the importance and difficulty of trying to accommodate them in an online learning environment. I quickly realized how difficult it is to create a balance of learning style opportunities that would successfully attract and hold the interest of different learners. I also realized that one had to be reticent of your own learning style so that you do not overshadow your online class with your own preferences in learning.

I had also never thought about instructors having different teaching styles. It seemed like teachers were divided into two camps-good or bad, before I learned that there were different types of teaching styles. I didn’t consider the fact that different teaching styles might not be well suited to different students and their preferences for learning. Some students might prefer a delegator while others prefer their instructor to be primarily an expert to be comfortable.

I came to appreciate through all of our topical discussions that creating a successful online learning environment would be arduous and very time consuming. I also now know that it will be a matter of trial and error. I also know that it will ultimately be an original conceptual design melded by the learners. A good class must have a good solid structure, but it must also be able to incorporate some flexibility to accommodate customization for that particular class blend and the particular chemistry of each group of learners.

I appreciate the fact that the instructor must make the learning environment as comfortable and devoid of foreboding aspects as possible. I realized that a good instructor must have an introductory activity that will engage and encourage students to be self-assured and to become one in the learning environment. He/she must be available for communication daily during the term, so that students do not become discouraged or feel isolated in an online class experience. He must also constantly be measuring the cadence of the class to make sure that he has not fallen out of step with their immediate wants and needs.

I also realized that it was possible to successfully create a small working group of students who can come from totally different academic backgrounds and through the use of online communication mediums like cyber chat rooms and discussion boards meld them into a functioning unit that create a very viable learning tool through cooperation and open communication. I, also, appreciated all of the other groups and the many web sources that I was able to glean from their excellent group presentations.

I appreciated once again the value of an online presentation with an open question and answer platform as I enjoyed the valuable information that Ms. Martin imparted to us about being an online instructor. I was buoyed by the fact that she had not had an on ground teaching background and had even considered that this factor had perhaps been an asset for her as she came to the medium with no preconceived ideas.

I was pleased to hear that as someone who lacked a lot of experience in on ground instruction, I, too, could potentially make lemonade out of what I had previously perceived as lemons. I had been grappling with my shortcomings as I read the experiences of my seasoned classmates and Ms. Martin gave me encouragement to continue to bring my own unique voice to the table.

I also learned how to successfully create a blog. Granted I have a great deal more to learn about bringing this tool to life, but I am enjoying the process. I have already started a blog for our students. At this point, it is just a place for them to find event information, find new vocabulary words, explore interesting new reads, try valuable research websites, express their ideas about past activities and workshops and suggest new activities. However, I will continue to work to improve the content every month, and I am very pleased by the response we have already had from our students and the staff. It has the potential to be another useful communication tool between staff and students.

I have enjoyed reading the vast range of ideas that each student has brought to the dance as we communicate on the discussion boards. It is comforting to hear that others are experiencing the same trials and tribulations that I am.

I have once again been humbled by technology. It can be a valued friend and an unrelenting foe and one must learn to ride the ebbs and flows of the waves and refuse to give in to the foibles that occur. It is damning when you cannot figure the problem out, but it feels so exhilarating when you finally breakthrough, solve the puzzle yourself and can move forward.

Finally we have just started to explore the use of e-portfolios. This is the first time that I have been introduced to this online tool. I can already see some of the possible uses of this new compiler of knowledge and experience. I am once again hesitant as we begin our foray into electronic portfolios. I have already been bolstered by reading about the same fears expressed by my colleagues.

With each new concept, I wonder how I will choose to add that element to my own online class. How will I infuse activities to create camaraderie? Will I be able to touch the minds and hearts of my online learners in this high tech environment? How will I use the group learning concept? How will I assuage the fears of novice online learners? How will I use the chat room, the discussion boards, graphics, audio, video, etc., etc.?

I am comforted by the fact that I have also had my love of online learning expanded. I have always loved the concept and the possibilities, but I have now come to appreciate the vast difference between a well designed web course and a transplanted version of an on ground course that has literally been “plopped” online.

I have taken quite a few online classes and have seen an evolution in the online class environment from a foggy, gray environment consisting mostly of merely taking online exams, submitting online papers and watching uninspired Powerpoint presentations to a much more vivid landscape where live presentations and open live communication have become commonplace.

I also know that a new medium does not go from infancy to maturity overnight. It was a long journey from the first home telephone communication to today’s cell phones. Although I think technology is moving far more rapidly because of our improved means of human communication, I believe that unbelievable advances are always going to be lurking right around the next corner.

I know that no learning environment is best for every student and there will always be room for a variety of venues, however, I am excited to think about the potential scale of this medium. I am excited about the number of human beings who can be reached and the barriers both physical and psychological that can be breached. I am excited to watch things evolve, but most importantly, I am excited about the potential to be a part of this cyber wave into the future. I am excited to continue learning.

I am ruminating over all of this on this crisp Sunday morning as I contemplate what I have already learned in this class. Queries still pervade my consciousness, can I successfully do this, understand that----the questions whiz like a ticker tape through my brain.

More than anything I know I must fortify myself with the thing I am confident I can do---I can learn. And then I must listen to Eleanor’s wisdom, look fear in the face and continue undaunted, “to do the thing I think I cannot do”.

Stymied Again

It's Monday morning, and I am thinking about how I was once again stymied by technology . . .
I attempted to post my blog late last night when the house was quiet and everyone was already fast asleep. No problem, I thought. I had read through the instructions at an earlier time and everything seemed crystal clear. BOY WAS I WRONG.

Let's see, it was enable html, click on the link and add your URL; that seemed simple enough right? Well, when I went through those steps the box didn't come up to allow me to post the URL. Maybe I was going in to the assignment at the wrong spot, Sharon tried to help and suggested I try my link through the calendar. She was the voice of reason and calmness in my ever escalating mindset. I attempted that---still no box.

I read and re-read the instructions. There must be some little nuance that I was doing wrong. I closely examined every little diagram and word in the instructions---I wrote down crib notes because perhaps my brain cells were dying more rapidly than I had imagined.

I tried again and again. No response. I gave my computer a tongue lashing, albeit a whispered one because everyone was sleeping!! What was it's problem?? Didn't it recognize the fact that I WAS doing the instructions right?? My machine was "mum", totally unresponsive---it seemed completely unconcerned with my conundrum. If only it would utter some response, it would give me a reasonable excuse for kicking it, but nothing!

Then suddenly the synapses started sparking in my brain (who knew it worked on Sunday nights?)and I had an ah-ha moment! Somehow, one of the popup blockers had become engaged on my machine, but I had sudddenly realized the problem and it had been thwarted!!

Once again another evil plot by the tiny demons that set up stumbling blocks on my machine in the middle of the night while I am fast asleep had been foiled!! I beamed with wicked satisfaction and shut the machine down for some shuteye.

But as I pulled the blankets up around my neck and peered into the darkness of the bedroom, the thought, however, did enter my mind---perhaps I HAVE been reading a little too much science fiction.

The Touch . . . The Feeling . . . The Key . . .

“The Touch” from Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam

Michelangelo painted the Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and then painted everything else around that one concept---the concept that a more powerful force "touched" man suggests that an energy came from an intelligence down to man through the sense of touch.

We are blessed as humans with the potential for five senses, the sense of smell, the sense of sound, the sense of taste, the sense of sight and that key sense---the sense of touch.

We sense the world in five different ways but all of these senses are really based on feeling. Someone may have lost his sense of sight but he can still feel the warmth of the sun on his face, or someone may have lost the sense of sound but she can feel the vibration of the music with her feet on the floor.

Both of these senses can be assisted and enhanced by other means of feeling. A sightless person can use a cane to feel for his step, a deaf and sightless person can also learn to communicate by feeling as Helen Keller did, by someone’s touch and learn to feel a new way to communicate by using sign language.

The absence of the sense of taste and smell are indeed great losses but one can still feel the texture of the food and enjoy some tactile pleasure.

Thus it seems evident that the sense of touch is by far the most important of all of the senses. We can survive without the senses of smell, sound, taste, and sight, but it is very difficult for humans to survive without some sense of touch or feeling. We know from experience that newborns who are not touched are stilted in their development.

This sometimes elusive sense of touch is the most complex sense. We can experience a touch without actual physical contact. We have all experienced this feeling of touch and connection when we have been touched by a beautiful picture, touched by love, touched by words and touched by music although we have made a different type of “touch” connection with other human beings in these instances. We know that touch can be accomplished in more than one dimension.

Can we touch and truly feel other human beings in cyberspace? This is our paramount concern in online high tech, high touch environments---can we still really bridge the physical distance that separates every human being in the learning experience by using a spiritual form of touch and feeling that bridges that chasm??

This is the challenge we face as we enter this new frontier. We can see a “flat” impression of our fellow sojourners in a picture, we can hear their voices streaming on the Wimba connection but can we create this illusive sense of deeply touching and feeling the hearts and minds of our fellow travelers in cyberspace?

How do we experience a multi-dimensional construct of these shadows in cyberspace? What will work best to breathe life into these forms so that we can truly connect and feel the depths of their beings? What will bring them alive to each of us as we search to create a deeper, more meaningful bond?

This is the problem that we are working to overcome in this new realm of cyber realism. Perhaps I am a dreamer, and perhaps I prefer to dwell on the future and the positive resonance of why not instead of on the current shortcomings of why?

For you see, I envision a not too distant future when the current online environment will seem antiquated. We stand on the precipice of an online world where we will be able to smell the acrid smell of sulphur as we work on our understanding of chemistry or smell the sweet scent of the roses as Elisabeth Bennet rambles through the garden in Pride and Prejudice. I see an online environment where children will be able to touch a screen that will transform into the feel of a reptile.

Think only of the difference between Pong or Pac Man and the Wii environment of today. What a difference! It was not that long ago that MS-DOS was an exciting new means of communication!!

The new technologies that Jan has introduced us to makes me realize more than every that our role as instructors in cyberspace is to remain as perpetual learners, always willing to open our minds to the possibilities and to be willing to constantly embrace change, and change again.

We must be willing to learn and relearn and learn again and again as we are forced to cast off traditional methods and notions that no longer are applicable in these uncharted waters.

I feel certain that all of these new applications, all of the ever changing technologies, and the constantly evolving nature of this seemingly endless frontier will sometimes seem daunting. There will be moments of disappointment for all of us when we feel that we will never be able to bridge the chasm that sometimes seems so evident as it lies between us in cyberspace, but I am also confident that there will be those indescribable moments when we have breakthroughs of brilliance and when they occur we will feel rewarded beyond our wildest dreams.

Who can forget the moment in the Miracle Worker when Helen instructed by Anne Sullivan finally realizes that she can communicate and touches everything wanting all that input and realizing that she could communicate in a medium that many had shrugged their shoulders at and simply said could not be done. ( I know even now we are surrounded by doubters).


But that moment in the Miracle Worker, that is the type of “ah-ha” moment that I am waiting to be a part of experiencing and creating. There are no limits to human potential and there are also no limits on how we can “touch” other human beings or in how they can learn.

Keep believing in the potential. Keep looking up and just as Michelangelo did-----pick up your brush and paint all of the other senses---everything around that one key concept----touch. I can feel it now, online learning is going to be a masterpiece of human ingenuity and we all have an opportunity to add brilliance and color to the canvas of what could be our own magnum opus.

Flying Solo on the Blogosphere

"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure , the process is its own reward." Amelia Earhart

The first blog I have ever created . . . I feel a little like the Amelia Earhart of the blogosphere today--ha! ha!

Here goes it feels like a rather wobbly takeoff. . . although I have taken several courses online, I am far from an expert in this medium. I have been blessed with capable instructors and I have enjoyed their insight and the insight of the other persons in the classes.

For me, online classes without voiceover, have had some of the charm of old fashioned letter writing. You cannot wait to read and absorb the perceptions that others have as they put pen to paper or rather digits to keyboard.

You realize how amazingly similar we all are . . .kindred spirits . . . the same fears, the same insecurities when we are faced with the unknown . . . and yet how different . . . a kaleidoscope of talents that are seen through the gorgeous colors of each wordsmith.

You realize that you don't have to be face to face with someone to get to know them. It is possible for hearts and heads to connect without hearing voices or seeing faces. Being able to hear their voices or see their visages are just added bonuses.

No preconceived notions, no body language, just the connection of words---it makes one once again realize how powerful the written word is. Someone who you have never met can have a profound effect on your being and your thought processes by the power of the written word.

A big part of this power lies in the exchange of ideas, in the tete-a-tete that takes place online. Distractions are obliterated and the ideas and thoughts become paramount. How much interference and static gets in the way when our subconscious preconceived notions are allowed to enter into the arena?

Online learning is not a panacea for everyone. It is also not suited to every subject matter. However, it can be used to supplement almost any field of endeavor.

I have only been computer literate for about ten years, but once I was introduced to the vast potential for learning that was available online, I was hooked. There is rarely a day that goes by that I do not research someone or something for which I have a great curiosity.

Online learning can be a transformational experience for some. I know that it can sometimes transform a cocooning student into a butterfly. I have seen the relative anonymity of cyberspace make a student stand up with new boldness and conviction. Is he/she no longer bound by any self conscious notions about his/her appearance and therefore feels that one can more freely express ones thoughts because they will not be bound by bias?

I have witnessed a shy, slip of a girl who never uttered a word in a brick and mortar classroom blossom into someone who was willing to offer all the wonderful ideas she had to offer in cyberspace because she was not hindered by the shyness she felt by being in close proximity to what seemed to her, judge and jury.

I believe that online classes offer another venue, a very powerful venue for learning. It is learning without borders---across time zones, across nationalities. Ultimately, it has/will knock down many barriers and let peoples from all over the globe become more acquainted with one another and it will allow us to commiserate with a new found understanding and bond with our fellowmen.

I have often wondered what might have been if this instant access tool had been available as a learning tool for some of the great minds in history like Einstein or Aristotle? Would Einstein have arrived at the theory of relativity more quickly because he would have been able to have had the instantaneous input of ideas from other great minds across the globe at all hours of the night or day?

Would Watson and Crick have unraveled the mystery of DNA earlier because they could have received input from some other scientist on the other side of the world who held the key to the missing link they sought to unravel the mystery of the strands?

The levels of learning that exist are phenomenal. Online learning is not bound by common constraints, it urges forward constantly. It is customizable. If you want to talk to someone about Ansel Adams, adrenal glands or arachnids, there will be someone available who can exchange ideas with you in an instant.

It is also frequently communal learning, as both students and instructor come together through a melding of ideas to broaden and enrich their individual knowledge.

The unlimited accessibility it affords to remote areas of the globe is reminiscent of a sign that I found to be very comforting one frigid night in a 24 hour restaurant on a road trip far from home, "Hot coffee day or night". There is a comfort derived by the fact that the essence of online learning and the exchange of ideas is available day or night.

This does not factor in the significance of having the largest, seemingly limitless database of source material in the world available at your fingertips. How Benjamin Franklin would marvel at how far his concept of "library" has come!

On a personal note, I have come so far in cyber literacy in the last ten years and yet I feel I have just skimmed the surface of the online classroom learning experience and potential.

I want to become skilled enough to work from both sides of the spectrum as student and instructor. I would like to be able to assuage the fears of the returning older students who have not tapped into online learning experiences and I would like to be able to assist some of our high school "cocooning students" to become butterflies via online learning.

However, before I can begin to accomplish these goals I have to hone my own skills and unlock the possibilities that stand waiting in cyberspace. With all of the talent that I am surrounded with in this class, I am certain that I will come away from this learning experience with many new friends and many new ideas that will broaden my vistas.

However, as I make my first solo flight, my biggest fear right now is sending my simple thoughts out into what seems like a black hole of cyberspace, where they will be swallowed up and unretrievable (with my skill level, I feel like I am navigating the blogosphere in a single engine plane with a pen light). I will, however, continue to fumble with the controls, and peer forward into the blogosphere fearlessly looking for signs of the horizon.

It's time to attempt my first landing. . . I think I'll take a moment and google Amelia Earhart . . .