Struggling to Compose My Own Symphony for Cyber Learning

It is the wee hours of the morning, the house is quiet and the white glom of the full hunter moon is shining in through the windows. I have been quietly sitting in the shadow of the moonlight reflecting on the journey I have taken during the course of this series of online teaching classes.

Before this class I was content to be an attentive member of the online audience, content to listen and learn as the melodious strains of harmony from the orchestration of good online instruction floated past my ears and engaged all of my senses. I recognized the beauty of the music of effective cyber teaching/learning when all of the sounds of the instruments are brought together in a near perfect balance by the conductor/teacher.

I have listened and learned from many different maestros of the online environment, all the time constructing my own melody of learning in the recesses of my mind. This music I wish to create for interpretation by a potential audience of students haunts my mind now day and night. It must evoke emotion yet elicit learning. It must strike a chord with the listeners that will spirit them forward long after the performance has stopped.

When I came to this third cyber class, I was asked to move from my comfortable seat in the audience and step onto the platform, assume the podium and pick up the baton to conduct the orchestration of my very first original composition ---my own symphony of cyber learning. As I now stand on the podium, I know that as conductor I have been given access to all of the complements of a successful orchestra. The resources, the technological tools, the able assistance of the maestro and the knowledge that I have gained from others while listening from my seat in the audience are all freely available and await the movement of my baton.

My role has changed from attentive listener to that of creative conductor/teacher. The tools are all here as I look out from the orchestra pit, but it is now my job to take all of the potential that lies before me and conduct the varied instruments so that their tones flow together into something harmonious that is pleasing and meaningful to my ultimate audience, the students.

Although I have a clear impression in my mind of the melody that I want to produce/teach, I have struggled these few weeks with getting the right mix of “brass to woodwinds”. I have learned the importance of not letting the percussion section overpower the sweet soft strains of the strings and take over the orchestration. I have learned that the music must envelop and seep into the listening audience without being harsh or unpleasant to their ears. It must not be out of tune with the listener. It must not be too sharp or too FLAT.

In order for the music/design to be synchronous a delicate balance must be struck. It is up to me to meld the beauty of the individual instruments and to conduct and create the light and shadow of the music I wish for them to produce. It is up to me to build in the pianissimos and the fortissimos. I must create the crescendos as I use my baton to direct the elements. How to take all of the complexities of the instruments and mold them into something that is simple enough to be easily comprehended?

The ultimate ambition as conductor is to be the conduit that allows the music/design, to become the bridge between the instruments of the orchestra (the knowledge) and the minds and hearts of the audience (the students) so that the ultimate goal---learning, can occur.

As the conduit, I have also struggled (of my own volition) to compose my own original score instead of trying to conduct someone else’s work. This has made my role more harrowing, but I know my own heart and I would never be satisfied if I did not learn to successfully compose and conduct my own unique score.

A score that has now been struck and restruck as I endlessly try to create that elusive piece of music that my audience will identify with and respond to; and that can evoke some of the same emotions that I feel when those same electrifying strains of online learning echo and play over and over in my own mind. I struggle to create harmony from what at times has been chaotic cacophony.

Every note must be examined because although it may show promise on paper, it may not translate to the ears of the audience when played. If I as composer/conductor cannot convey the possibility of the feelings that the music is meant to exude to the audience why should I be allowed to stand on the podium? What will be gained from the experience for the student? Could all potential passion and love of this medium be lost with one sour note?

What good is the talent of the orchestra if the conductor does not bring out the best of it? What worth if the composer does not give them an exceptional score to play? The music means nothing if it is dissonant and no one is enticed to listen to it.

Thus it is as I sit tonight in the moonlight looking across the cerulean landscape reflecting on the place on the cyber road of online instruction where I stand. I am midway between “useless noise” and vibrant melody as I continue to rescore the bars before me. I know that a place on the podium is earned and I would not covet that position were it not so.

I also know that I can create music for this realm and that I must successfully transform it into a symphony of learning for the masses. Parts of the score that I have committed to paper are quite good and other parts are nothing but incomprehensible bits of noise. I knew from the outset that this task would not be easy and that great compositions that unite the composer/conductor, the orchestra and the audience would not just leap to and from the paper, at least not for me.

I could lay down the baton and walk away content to assume a plush seat back in the audience, except for the fact that the symphony still lives in my mind, the orchestra awaits my direction, an eager audience stands in the wings---and there is always a place in this vast cyber realm for a new composer/conductor to create his/her own interpretation of the potential beauty and value of online learning.

With the morning light, there will come a new opportunity and a fresh new perspective on the task before me. I will once again humbly bow to the audience, look to the orchestra, raise my baton and resume work on my symphony. I venture forth confident that I can become a credible conductor who can convey the potential through the music. The dream is that those that listen will hear a harmonious score of all of the instruments and the audience will produce their own interpretation of the melody they hear, and create their own lyrics for what they perceive.

I am just the conductor; I can only raise my baton and do my best to orchestrate the instruments (elements of online instruction) and attempt to create a connection through my music. Music that can make the invisible visible. . . The shear magic of music that can draw an awaiting audience as it has me deeper and deeper into the aura created by the distant sweet strains I have heard of the unlimited potential for learning that permeates this realm.

The elements are all laid bare here before me; and that ethereal melody still resonates in my head, if I can only coax the fragile notes onto the paper . . .

Postscript to this entry: This was a metaphorical interpretation of how I have felt about learning to design online courses. This has been a challenging task for me. In the beginning I had difficulty writing good, clear learning objectives. These two links were helpful to me:
Learning Objectives:
http://www.oucom.ohiou.edu/FD/writingobjectives.pdf
http://www.med.fsu.edu/education/FacultyDevelopment/objectives.asp
I also had issues regarding making good choices for interactivity in the course. It is very easy to try to over deliver and over promise. I love some of the new technologies

http://c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/index.html

and am anxious to try to employ them. However, I have worked hard to tone down this early design and rely on the “kiss” method. (Rome was not built in a day!) This link was helpful for me in that regard:
http://innovateonline.info/pdf/vol1_issue2/Guidelines_for_Establishing_Interactivity_in_Online_Courses.pdf
For me, the able assistance of my instructor and fellow classmates was the most helpful. Their support was appreciated and buoyed me up when I was struggling. This link was also a good one:
http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/conrad.htm
I was able to see the brilliance in the design of some of the more seasoned members of the class. I was also able to see the advantages of using a textbook (although I still wish to be able to successfully design courses without the use of a textbook also). I have not lost any of the passion for cyber instruction and I am confident that with time and experience I will be a competent instructor, if for no other reason than that passion that I have for this medium. I will ultimately be able to orchestrate an online class with aplomb and I am anxious to assume the baton!

Conquering the Arena

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
Teddy Roosevelt


This famous quote is from Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. TR played many roles and withstood some very tough personal trials in his life. His first wife, Alice, and his mother died on the same day in 1884 and he spent two years in the Badlands of the Dakota Territory mastering his grief by living in the saddle driving cattle over a desolate landscape. He ultimately was called to the Presidency at the early age of 43 after McKinley was assassinated and had more than a few critics as he crusaded to secure National Parks for the enjoyment of millions of future generations of Americans. He knew victory and he refused to allow himself to succumb to defeat.

I have been reflecting on his phrase “ . . .the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, . . . who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming,”

I can identify with what TR was saying. I feel like I have just entered the arena and my face is already marred by dust and sweat and blood, as I have erred and can identify with coming up short again and again as I struggle to master the design tools of the infrastructure for online learning.

In the online teaching arena, mastering the art of creating good learning objectives (a new experience) has definitely been a stumbling block for me. In the beginning it was a nightmare, because I struggled with finding and suggesting the appropriate action verbs. I immediately realized the vagueness of words like understand and demonstrate and wanted so badly to be concise that I then overcompensated and made lengthy wordy objectives that cried out for brevity and clarity. One of the most helpful tools for me (besides the aid offered by my colleagues) was found in these word wheels based on Bloom’s taxonomy that helped to guide my thought patterns.




http://www.cobbk12.org/sites/alt/training/Blooms/circle.GIF




http://teaching.uncc.edu/files/image/resources/pedagogy/diagramforwriting.gif


My second big hurdle has been being able to effectively align all the elements with the vision of the big picture I want to see emerge. Do my learning objectives effectively align with my content resources, my student-content interactions, and my student-student and student-teacher interactions/activities? I continue to create and re-create to make my work and my vision meld together.

I also continue to identify with TR’s words: “. . . who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause;”. I do not lack the great enthusiasms and passion for these online learning opportunities I seek to create. I have never once second guessed the fact that online teaching and learning is the worthy cause I wish to conquer and champion. However, I already know that I will never be satisfied or satiated thinking that I have reached the ultimate goal or the ultimate product and that the work is finished. This will be a lifelong process.

I know this cyber-arena’s area and expectations will continue to expand and I will continue “to spend myself”: to write and rewrite, to work to align and re-align and to evaluate and re-evaluate everything that I create long after this series of classes is over. Always searching, seeking and pondering how to improve the resources, the exercises, the activities, and the outcomes along with the outreach.

I have only just begun, but I realize that I will begin again and again until I can with some small degree of comfort construct the infrastructure I so sorely need to breathe depth and breadth and life into the learning opportunities I hope to ultimately see become a reality.

I also have to work diligently to construct learning outcomes with an eye on infusing deeper critical thinking skills. I am learning that a very delicate balance must be struck. I must also strive diligently to create an online atmosphere conducive to critical and creative reflection.

Always reticent of making the climate flexible enough to allow for the creation of activities that incorporate my students’ unique talents, abilities, interests, cultural backgrounds and work to take all of these factors into consideration as I seek to build and bond a community of learners.

“who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly”. Though this vast arena is not without its pitfalls, its peaks, its valleys and its endless dilemmas, I have seen glimpses of brilliance among my colleagues and fellow travelers. Their excellence and criticism drives me.

I have witnessed exchanges that I have never seen in on ground classes and I hear the distant thunder of great things to come. I have already witnessed podcasts, voice threads, wikis, edublogs, egames and the like and I know that this is just the beginning of this new cyber vocabulary that will evolve with each new discovery.
And so I move slowly forward deeper and deeper into the arena ever mindful of TR’s closing words, “so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." Yes, the road ahead is at times foreboding and indeed challenging and my face is marred with the dust, blood and sweat of this arena already, but I will continue to push forward unrelenting and undaunted by any thoughts of defeat and only spurred forward by any criticisms.
Although there is no guarantee given for victory or against defeat, I have laid claim to my small spot in this grand arena and I refuse to lay waste my attempt to climb to the heights that await the unvanquished ahead. I will not settle for being counted among those timid souls that Roosevelt ruefully recounted no matter how steep the clime nor rugged the terrain, ultimately I will prevail. I will prevail and I will ultimately do so with the stamp of my own personal flourish and distinct style. Just watch me.

Small Boat-Big Ocean-Big Dreams

As I climb on board for the third leg of this voyage, I seek a role model to help me navigate the treacherous/breathtaking seascape. I need someone who can shore up my spirits and make me smile at my own foibles. I need someone with guts and grit, someone who’s not afraid to march to her own drummer, chart her own course. That’s why I am looking to one Margaret Brown; you may know her as the “Unsinkable Molly Brown” for my role model.

You may remember her as a passenger on the RMS Titanic. Molly was one tough broad on the maiden voyage of the largest passenger steamship in the world. She was larger than life (although a bit quirky) just like that ship. She was definitely rough around the edges and outclassed among all of the passengers that reeked of old money like the Astors and the Guggenheims on that ship, but she didn’t dwell on the negatives and held her head high and would not allow herself to be intimidated by her fellow voyageurs. She knew the meager beginnings she came from but she also always knew where she wanted to go and she was not afraid to push herself forward until she got there.

When the Titanic collided with an iceberg, she grabbed an oar in life boat six which was only 30 foot long and 9 foot wide and began rowing refusing to dwell on the possibility of failure---it simply wasn’t in her vocabulary. She also did her best to encourage the others in that tiny life boat to not give up hope and stay the course though they thought their prospects seemed bleak and their future uncertain.

You could call Molly unpolished and outclassed but you could never call her a quitter. She refused to give up hope when others from far loftier stations were ready to give up. She could be feisty, bellicose, and belligerent and although people once questioned whether she belonged on that grand ship she never once wavered from her belief that she had contributions to make and she was going to make them.

Molly was a bit unconventional and definitely did not possess the breeding of her peers on that voyage but Molly refused to be intimidated or deterred from her belief that she would not only survive but she would thrive. She had contributions to make! She could not remain on the sidelines, intimidated by the task at hand.

So I come to this class, without all of the pedagogical pedigree that many members muster. I don’t bring the technological genius or effusive experience that many of my knowledgeable colleagues have, but I am ready to grab an oar and ROW toward the goals I have for myself. This voyage is not about me being pitted against the other seafarers, but rather it is about me against this cyber sea.

I am not afraid of getting tossed and tattered and I am not afraid of having to swallow a lot of sea water because I know that no matter how long this voyage takes me or how small my boat and how large this sea---I intend to harness the underlying power and majesty of the medium and not only survive but thrive.

Granted, I don’t have the teaching experience, but I have listened and learned from the voices of experience in this environment. I have not stood as a fixture in front of a classroom, but I have spent many hours observing from the far corner in the student’s chair.

I have also been a pupil in enough online courses to know what I have liked and what I have disliked. I have been in cyber classes that were engaging, close up and fast moving. (They have far outclassed the on ground classes that introduced me to academia). Cyber classes that were so interesting that I couldn’t wait to log on and learn. Whether it was at 4 a.m. or at midnight, I found interesting viewpoints and materials to ponder and I was awed by pristine moments of brilliance.

And I have also been in cyber classes that felt distant and disconnected where it seemed there was truly not another soul within an infinite distance. The landscape felt so desolate that I felt that I was all alone in the desert with no hope for rescue and no desire to trudge on. I was parched and yet could not find a single thing to quench my thirst. What was responsible for such a major disparity?

I have witnessed a glimpse of the good, the bad and the ugly. I realize the importance of meeting the needs and challenges of all of the students in the classroom from the technological wonder to the first time online student. I know that clarity is so important. If navigation is fraught with obstacles---frustration can be crippling. I know the need for clear objectives and outcomes. I know the design must make the experience dynamic and interactive. I know the importance of good communication that becomes an effortless and exciting exchange of ideas. Perhaps even more importantly, I know that online teachers must always be willing to remain online learners----cyberspace can be humbling and it is also a great equalizer. It does not suffer stagnation well.

I know that designing a class will continue to be a work in progress long after this particular class is over. New technologies, new advances, new theories, vast horizons, multicultural members, change course, change course , and change course again. Re-evaluate, re-tool, re-learn, re-think and re-main willing to keep reaching for what may at times seem unreachable or unteachable.

I also know that the boat I bring to this challenge is small and the ocean is very deep---it is almost unfathomable. Yes, I am unpolished. Yes, I am inexperienced and a little rough around the edges, but I also know what I am not. I am not willing to stay on shore, play it safe, solely in the on ground environment.

I have been a passionate advocate of online teaching and learning from the moment I first saw the cyber sea before me. I love the medium and I am watching the possibilities expand and grow by leaps and bounds before my very eyes. The article posted about online learning being more successful than on ground classes just confirmed what I already felt about online learning---it is going to be the tidal wave of the future and the wake is going to be huge and change the educational landscape forever.

So that is why I will pick up my oar and begin to row and even though my strokes may be uneven and often unsteady, my boat small, my navigational skills crude and I may wander off course . . . I can unequivocally state that I will definitely not be the fastest or the most impressive passenger on this voyage, but I will make up for what I lack in expertise by what I have in desire and determination. I know where I want to go, what is True North for me---and I am definitely going to get there no matter how long the personal trip is for me or how rough the seas.

For you see for me there is no turning back, I have been captivated by the possibilities, the potential, the mysteries that lie over the horizon and just like Ms. Brown, I have the strong belief that I have great things to witness, great demons to conquer, and great skills to master if I intend to reach my personal goals.

Enuf’ said, it is time to throw off the bow lines, leave safe harbor and pick up my small oar and ROW!

" I'm King (Queen) of the World"

Hello Dr. Watson can you hear me? Now I know what Alexander Graham Bell must have felt like when he uttered those words and reached into the darkness to connect with his colleague, Dr. Watson, for the first time using his newly created device called the telephone. In that brief moment, the floodgate of possibilities opened in his mind and he saw a glimpse of what the future held.

Now, granted, the miniscule feat I accomplished will not go down in the annals of history or transform the world in any way, but for one shining moment I was a kindred spirit with Alexander Graham Bell.

How can I convey that feeling? I felt like Jack (Leonardo De Caprio), standing high on the rails of the bow of the Titanic as it glided through the icy dark waters, fearless, arms outstretched, ready to accept all challenges as the icy wind of the North Atlantic danced by his cheeks in the relative darkness.

“Yes, that’s exactly how it felt, me the Charlie Brown of cyberspace, I was at the peak of my game and Lucy wasn’t there to trip me or berate me. I am almost afraid to even whisper this, but it was GREAT. It was superb, exhilarating, exciting, and FUN!

I stumbled out of the chair after I signed out of that realm, dazed and amazed, but for that one fleeting moment the thought permeated my mind, I DID IT---for that one moment---I felt like shouting, “I AM KING (QUEEN) OF THE WORLD”.

Now I am not for one moment foolish enough to believe that I performed this feat WELL and I am certain that my colleagues did not think beyond the notion of, “When is this OVER?” but, you know what, that is perfectly okay, because for me, I have broken through the barrier. I have overcome the self imposed fear I had of “steering the bus” in this other realm. And the best part for me is that it has opened up so many possibilities!

My mind has been buzzing with ideas for cyberspace classes and online learning experiences since I signed off and silence again muffled my mike and the voices from cyberspace no longer hummed in my headset. Now the quest becomes closing the gap between what I WANT to be able to create in cyberspace and what I am currently ABLE (due to lack of skill level) to create technologically.
I have to ramp up my capabilities. I need to learn soooooo much more about harnessing and conquering virtual worlds, animation, video, better audio, etc., etc. and I need to work on improving my own small part in the segue of this production----my content, clarity, the flow of my class,etc.,etc.

Before I can begin to bring any of my ideas to fruition, I have to learn so much. Because you see some people dwell on WHAT IS, but I am one of those dreamers who revel in WHAT MIGHT BE and the door has been “cracked” open and I have seen the first sliver of light slipping through and now I want to be able to open that door by gaining the knowledge I need to bask in that light and make that light bright, clear, warm and shining. A bright and shining light that can be seen and appreciated by others, and can serve the purpose of shedding a reflective prism of knowledge to those who find it both worthwhile and enjoyable.

As for me, I am so excited about opening that door and ramping up for all of the possibilities that I can’t wait to gain the skill level to throw the door open wide and bask in the light. It will take some time for me to morph into the cyber instructor who can generate a really worthwhile “shining” cyber experience in an online class, but there is a tiny voice inside telling me, you can do this, you have discovered a new outlet where you can relish in the creativity. You can develop the skills needed to do this. This is only the beginning, but I have tasted the exhilaration and I have glimpsed that sliver of light and I am anxious to move forward to the next level.

I feel the passion growing and I know what needs to be done. It won’t be quick or easy, but I know whatever I have to do will be worth it. I am so certain that I can pry open that door and ramp up the candescence of the light until the gleam will be quite impressive. One day that light may be so brilliant that you might even need to squint, but you won’t be able to avoid being drawn to that light like a moth is on a summer night.

As for me, I will continue to revel in these new beginnings and keep preparing---peering forward imagining the potent light that is going to pour through that door when I am capable of opening it.

I am certain, I can do this, so sure in fact, that I may go out and buy myself some sunglasses so that I will be prepared when that day arrives when I can finally swing that door open wide and that light shines forth for miles.

We Are Not in Pleasantville Anymore . . .

As we have progressed through this series of online teaching classes, I have seen my understanding of this medium continue to change. Long before I began this series of classes, I ventured forth into my first experience with online learning. Looking back on that first class, it was more like a correspondence course online.

It was taught in the Wimba environment, but there was little communication with the instructor or my other classmates. There was a syllabus online and through that single electronic document the students were instructed what to read and accomplish; and where to submit the papers that were due in the class. The class was shrouded in silence and lack of communication between members.

Submissions were returned days later with red marked comments, both good and critical about the contents and a red number grade was posted at the end of each submission. There was no discussion about the materials studied and only on rare occasion would a student venture to post a question of his peers about the course. It really seemed taboo to do so.

You could e-mail the instructor, but generally he would not respond for over a week and sometimes it would be to admonish you to follow the information he had provided in the syllabus. The class was very bleak and gray. I really don’t know what kept me moving forward at that time, perhaps the dream that there could be something more.

One day recently while driving home on a foggy, rainy gray evening, it dawned on me that online learning and now the experience of online teaching has reminded me of the book and movie entitled “Pleasantville”. If you have ever experienced the book or movie, you will know what I mean. (If you have not, I highly suggest that you do).

In the beginning of the movie two young teens were transported through time to Pleasantville only to find themselves in a “nineteen fiftyish” world that was very gray and drab. Everyone lived the same style of life (original thought was completely discouraged), wore the same clothes, ate the same foods, did the same activities and lived the same gray existence.

The library books were all blank and if anyone questioned the system the town’s people were appalled and the wrongdoer was admonished and shunned for his actions. Life was very dull indeed. During one scene, one of the new interlopers asked where the road led that went out of Pleasantville, and the flat reply was, “nowhere the road just goes in a circle to Pleasantville”.

People there lived stagnant, uneventful, albeit pleasant lives and had learned to settle and adapt to the colorless vista. Settling for okay was good enough---it was wrong to question or expect more.

That is why when our two young interlopers came to town and started to awaken people to the fact that life did not have to be lived in such a dull, gray landscape where all of the people were even depicted in black and white, suddenly some of the people started to think for themselves, develop new ideas and show curiosity about what life could be like and as they did they began not only to see a vivid colored world around them, but they also turned from black and white into beautiful , technicolored, animated individuals themselves.

Of course, the people who were fearful of change and accepted the gray world became immediately shocked and fearful of their transformations and demanded that things turn back to the status quo and they turn back to their original black and white demeanor.

However, the people who had experienced living life in color could no longer accept living the gray all too pleasant life in Pleasantville and were unwilling to be forced backward into that bleak, drab, lackluster albeit safe existence.
Living in Pleasantville, reminds me of entering the learning environment in cyberspace.

When I first entered this other world, everything was quite gray. There was no color in the online classroom and every student was surrounded by a deafening silence. People who questioned the silence were made to feel odd and were ignored or admonished by others and everyone seemed accepting of his fate.

When one spoke about online classes in on ground classes the uneasiness was palpable, both from on ground instructors and on ground classmates. The notion of learning anything online was dismissed as frivolous and as utterly impossible---a waste of time and energy. Something that was not worthy of the time it took to openly discuss it. Students were ashamed to admit they were taking classes online. Pleasantville was alive and well all around and few people were willing to challenge that theory.

However somehow, through that bleak, gray environment I had managed to dream that what I had experienced could become something much more than what I was currently witnessing. I drew this hope from what I knew from the past. The first telephone transmissions, the first television broadcasts, the first radio shows had all been primitive but they had grown and transformed beyond their inventors wildest dreams. Why couldn’t this medium expand and develop in the same way?

At that time the College of Business had no online courses. There was some part of me that wanted to see more possibilities breathed into the program and that is what drove me to question the status quo. I penned a letter to the President of the University and asked quite simply stated, “We are moving into the 21st century----why didn’t the College of Business offer any classes online? Was GSU not afraid of being left behind in the gray dust of the past century? Could they afford not to advance into the future if they wanted to keep their enrollment growing?” The following fall term the first online classes were offered in business.

Thus began the catharsis for me. I have seen the transformation begin and continue. I have sat in on those first poorly executed drab gray online classes.

And then slowly I started to see the first glimpses of color as people were encouraged to post comments on an open discussion board. I have beheld the reluctance of people fearful to post their thoughts online or have their ideas exposed to their cyber classmates fearful of a Pleasantville rejection. I have also had people scoff at me for choosing to learn online. Pleasantville people who have forgotten that learning is not a "one trick pony" and that it can be accomplished in many ways in many venues.

The road OUT of Pleasantville has brought me here, to this series of classes, to this venue, where my once gray surroundings have become much more color specific.

I have had color breathed into this environment through lively interactions with my classmates. I have had color breathed into this environment by having exchanges with people real time on the other side of the globe. I have had color breathed into this environment by seeing a video commentary of one of my classmates, breathed into his blog journal. I have had color breathed into this environment by having real time talks about ideas and challenges with my classmates who have proven to be kindred spirits who though sometimes fearful, are not willing to settle for living in Pleasantville.

And through the support of my online colleagues, my forward minded cyber instructors and my own dreams of what might be, I am approaching the potential of the unlimited color spectrum that can be created in cyber classrooms with an open mind and an open heart.

Teaching can go from the sage on the stage of the on ground environment, to the guide on the side of this new medium. A diverse population in a global setting can all converge together in this classroom and not be fettered by location or time zone. Real time cyber discussions can be enjoyed between people of different dialects and different cultural persuasions. Audio and video presentations can be jointly or individually broadcast and enjoyed. (I have even learned a little about the behind the scene language---HTML).

Virtual worlds can be mastered and used as simulations of real world events and practice exercises can be emulated for everything from surgical to historical events, and used as learning or practice tools. Teamwork can be successsfully carried on, without once meeting your team members f2f.

I have also learned that from shared experience and trial and error, one can create a diverse set of learning tools that can reach out to a diverse population of learning styles. I have learned that common sense and a grasp of good netiquette can go a long way in engendering healthy relationships in cyberspace. I have learned that close relationships can be built in the cyber classroom.

I have also had my moment as “King (Queen) of the World” as I experienced my first attempt in a real time classroom as the official “guide on the side” in that classroom. I have relished in the exchange of ideas that were brought forth as people busily bantered back and forth and the class was less about leading and more about sharing. I have also enjoyed the laughter, warmth and humor of my fellow cyber classmates although I have never physically met any of them.

And probably most impressively, during the last two terms I have seen these same people who were once in Pleasantville, start to move from gray, drab, timid beings almost devoid of form to very colorful, vibrant human beings who are animated and vivid well rounded human beings in their new cyber presence.

For you see, these people are not satisfied with pleasant; my fellow cyber trekkers are adventurous risk takers who have moved through the shroud that surrounded them and thrown aside the admonition of “pleasant” scoffers and decided to move from fearful to fearless. They no longer need to ask where the road leads that exits Pleasantville because they have ventured unabashedly beyond the city limits and they have seen all the bright colors and ideas that are there, they have glimpsed the possibilities that lay in the future.

Together we will move forward unwilling to just settle for a Pleasantville “bleakosphere”. Each of us has left Pleasantville behind and I am confident that each of my cyber classmates will add their own rich, colorful gift to the new milieu that is evolving here.

Because the fact is, that once you have left the gray, drab city limits of Pleasantville and the people who wish to continue living the gray, drab, uninspired lifestyle there, there is no turning back. . . The reality is that once you have stepped out of that gray, drab, pleasant world into this VIVID, BRIGHT, NEW CUTTING EDGE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT----who COULD or WOULD want to return?

Are You Going to Take a Seat on the Bus or Remain Immobilized at the Bus Stop?

I am constantly whirling, swirling, cutting, pasting, adding and deleting ideas from my cranium as I move forward through this series of online classes. I have come to realize that with the onset of many instantaneous technologies, globalization and all its sequelae are creating a different
world where people need to be more than just competent to survive in this rapidly evolving environment. Turbulence and rapid change are the bywords of today’s reality.

The world is no place for the inflexible, the unprepared, or the ostrich with his head in the sand. Standing still is not an option. So I have stepped forward, punched my ticket and gotten on the bus, the cyberbus that is.

You, too, are welcome to board the bus, but preconceived notions must be left behind as excess baggage. There are many seats still available. People from all walks of life are boarding the bus, however, if you wish to take a seat on the bus, flexibility is not optional, it’s a necessity.

Capable, open minded people are much more likely to be found on this bus. Passengers are people from all over the world; all races, creeds and colors, male and female, young and old, there are no preconceived notions. Passengers comprise people with many styles of learning (and all will be attempted to be accommodated).

You will find passengers on the bus are more likely to be able to deal with the turbulent environment in which we are traveling by possessing an ‘all round’ capacity centered on self-efficacy, knowing how to learn, creativity, the ability to use competencies in novel as well as familiar situations and working well with others.

Do not be alarmed, but there is no designated driver on this bus. All passengers can and do take the wheel at different times on this trip. The end destination is not predetermined. This trip is not about a destination but rather about a journey.

Getting to know your supportive fellow travelers is critical to your well being, because this journey will be perpetual, literally an elearnity---there is no end in sight. However, if you sit back and look out the window the views are expansive, spectacular and constantly changing and the discussions among the passengers are always enlightening and engaging.

Traffic along the way is mostly created by e-learning ephemera: e-mail, ebooks, and other egadgets. Blogs, wikis, ipods, iphones, iTouch and other mobile devices may also be encountered along the road. These are not roadblocks, but communication devices to smooth the way. The potential for multilogue is e-normous.

If you are a passenger you understand the rules of the road: learner centered learning overrides teacher centered learning and teachers assume the seat next to the learner. Every passenger is required to face forward/including the instructor; as all are grasping to be affective learners together on the bus.

The role if you are an instructor on this bus, is not to drive the bus or to map out a “one way only” route. You may be called on to facilitate during the journey. You must be willing to “steer” if a co-passenger asks for assistance. You have a part in the road to be taken, but other passengers also are asked to contribute worthwhile stops and alternate pathways. You can comfort the other passengers when they become anxious if the road gets bumpy and you can warn fellow riders about the potholes of which you are personally aware, but you are not solely in control of this bus---that obligation belongs to all of the passengers.

You also must know that there may be detours, (many of which will be caused by technological malfunctions) some will be arduous and frustrating and some will be fun. However, all detours will be potential opportunities for learning.

This bus is open to all, but many seats still remain empty. Some educators are choosing not to board and to stay at the bus stop. Those educators stuck solely on the ground who once spoon fed knowledge to captive students who were expected to swallow and regurgitate the facts have been cautioned that they risk extinction in the future if they choose to remain at the bus stop.

Riders of the cyberbus enjoy charting their own course. They know the instantaneous knowledge afforded by the Internet and as learners reach for knowledge from many sources unwilling to accept the role of the instructor as he/she was once considered as the all knowing purveyor of wisdom.

Roadside signs tell us that there were 2.35 million online learners in the U.S. in 2005 and that enrollments in online courses have grown approximately twenty percent per year since 2002 (a number that far exceeds the overall growth rate in higher education). The flashing billboard message is clear---cyberlearning is here to stay. The earth is revolving and you must continue evolving.

Are you boarding the bus or choosing to remain behind at the bus stop? Time waits for no man (or woman) . . . and neither does this bus. Is your ticket punched?



“The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence [the world] out.” . J.R.R. Tolkien

"You're going to shoot your eye out, kid!"

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.- Mark Twain

I love Mark Twain. He was not only a brilliant writer, but he had a wonderful self deprecating sense of humor. I can identify with that completely---the sense of humor that is.

If you were me, you, too, would have to have a sense of humor. I am notorious for “belly flopping” on “first” attempts. We won’t talk about the first time I drove a car, the first time I skied or the first time I tried parasailing.

Let’s just say that I am not a quick starter in the gate. It takes me a while to warm up to something different, to feel comfortable in a new role, to succeed in my own mind.

The first time I stood up in front of a group of people to give a lecture that I had practiced incessantly and on a topic that I was very familiar with, I felt like the entire Russian army was walking across my tongue in their stocking feet. My manner was stilted, I stuttered and I almost forgot my name.

Other than the physical obstacles that will evaporate (hopefully) with time and practice, I am primarily concerned about making the class enjoyable and comfortable for my colleagues. Horrors! What was I thinking?

I am going to be facilitating for a room of seasoned PROFESSIONALS for Heavens sake, I must have masochistic tendencies that are laughing “themselves” to death in my gut right now!

It ultimately reminds me of one of my favorite Christmas movies, A Christmas Story, when Ralphie is mockingly told, “you’re going to shoot your eye out, kid”!

My fellow classmates are going to be saying, “she couldn’t teach colors to Crayola”.

Now slooooooooow down, I need to turn this thing around. What’s the worst thing that can happen? I can set a judicious example for my colleagues of the mistakes that one can make facilitating. Even at the worst, that does have some merit, doesn’t it? I would be teaching by example, albeit bad example . . . that’s the worst case scenario, right?

Back to Mr. Twain, and I quote, “Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but a cabbage with a college education.” I have to look beyond the risk and focus on the opportunity for training---be that peach, transform into that cauliflower.

After all even if Ralphie was warned that he was “gonna” shoot his eye out, he still had that tremendous passion, took the risk and he only broke his glasses . . . and life went on, right. Life went on.

Ahhhhhhhhh yes, that feels better. Okay, “Throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor” . . . I have to take that risk, . . . even if I may shoot my eye out!