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