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!
