Writing is my artistic expression. My keyboard is my brush. Words are my medium. My blog is my canvas. And committing to writing daily makes me feel like an artist.
I just read an article: Vacations won’t help your burnout, which states: “…many of us stress out at work as we prepare to take a vacation, only to face a pile of things to do when we return. What’s better? Carving out small slices of relaxation every day.”
This reminds me of a conversation I had with a customer, when I worked as a manager.
I was working at a tiny Starbucks on Denman, not far from Davie Street, across from ‘The beaches”, in downtown Vancouver. Two doors down was a shoe repair shop. The cobbler worked 6 days a week, and he came in for a triple-tall latte, 2 times a day.
One day we were chatting about vacations and I said something like, “I’m not trying to lose you as a customer, but do you realize that if you didn’t have your 2 coffees a day, you could have a pretty amazing holiday with your wife and kids each year, for the cost of those coffees?”
He took a sip, held up his personal Starbucks logo mug he always used, and said pointing to the cup, “Dave, this is a holiday in a cup, and I get it twice a day!”
How do you, or can you, create your own daily ‘holiday in a cup’?
We were cleaning out our garage on Sunday and my wife was sorting things for a garage sale.
She came across 2 home repair books I’ve used in the past and asked me if we should keep them. “Yes”, I said, remembering one of the book’s usefulness when replacing a toilet. Then “Actually no”, I said, remembering that I haven’t looked at either of those books in years, having gone instead to YouTube.
Just the day before, I couldn’t figure out how to remove an old-style door knob from our basement, and I watched a young boy on YouTube show me how… with his small hands and an off-camera voice that could not have been more than 12 years old.
We are so lucky to live in an era where learning something new is always within our reach. Not just home repair, but new skills and new approaches to the way we think, learn, work, and play.
What are you currently trying to do that you couldn’t do before? How are you expanding your horizons?
“If you only do what you can do, you’ll never be more than you are.” ~ Shifu, Kung Fu Panda 3
When I was younger, I wanted to be Spider-Man. He was the superhero I most connected to because he was a ‘normal’ kid that gained super powers. Unlike Superman, born on another planet, Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and was thus transformed from normal to super human.
I think that was what I was most attracted to: I couldn’t become Superman, but I could become Spider-Man.
In reality, we all have superpowers.
We have the ability to be kind, make someone’s day, change people’s minds, help people learn, and even change their luck.
Vulnerable learners, English language learners, students with reading and learning challenges, all start with a deficit of this currency.
What are we intentionally doing to reduce this deficit?
We don’t all have to use big fancy words, but if our students aren’t articulate and can’t thoughtfully get their messages across, their futures are likely to be hampered.
Be it learning challenges or environmental challenges (some kids grow up in homes where they aren’t read to by an adult, or lack a variety of books, or struggle with a new language), some kids start off with a vocabulary deficit.
But vocabulary is the currency of communication, and how we are able to express ourselves is becoming far more valuable in our amazingly connected world.
I’ve been meditating for at least 10 minutes every day for just over 6 months… and I suck at it.
There are days where I can’t concentrate on my breath for more than 3 breaths without my mind wondering off to a myriad of topics from the mundane to the ridiculous. This is when, in the past, I’d just give up. Before this attempt, I’ve never lasted more than a week without getting frustrated and quitting meditation.
Then in a number of podcasts (and audio books) I listen to I kept hearing things like: meditation isn’t about emptying your mind, it’s about bring yourself back when you realize your thoughts have drifted; And, meditation isn’t about a destination, but rather about the journey.
I tried to change my self-talk, but when I’m 9 minutes into a guided meditation and the guide says, “For the last minute I want you to…”, and I feel like I’ve been scattered for the full 9 minutes, the feeling of ‘I suck’ comes back whether I want it to or not.
So, rather than fight it, I decided to embrace it. Six months in, I still suck at meditation, but I’m less and less upset with my distractions. I’m more tolerant with myself when I recognize I’ve drifted into distracted thinking.
I couldn’t convince myself that I was getting better until I accepted and embraced the suck.
**UPDATE: August 12, 2019 – found this image and thought it was worth sharing:
When you’re innovating, it takes a considerable amount of time before the benefits of that innovation can be seen. What that means is that after the excitement of creating plans, and the thrill of collaborating towards a wonderful vision… You won’t arrive at the benefits of your labour right away. That lag time is not easy. It can be disheartening, discouraging, and even leave you doubting if you’re on the right path.
At some point you’re going to be stuck in an innovation time lag. When that happens, it’s the work ahead of time to create a vision, and to help get everybody on board, that will help to see you through to the rewards.
Vision before perspiration gets you past stagnation and on to elation.
To not use Google is like choosing to use a horse and cart on the information highway.
To not use Wireless is like choosing to use a boat to deliver a trans-continental phone message.
To not use your own devices is like choosing to walk across gravel barefoot while holding your shoes.
We have disruptive forces within our reach and it is exciting to speculate just how far we can go… If we accept that these forces transformative, and use them as such!
I started my run at 11:13pm last night. Jogged for 12 minutes, then did some sprint/walk intervals home. Nothing really special, but critical. Critical because since January 4th, I haven’t had less than 4 workouts in a week and this week I only had 3.
The same thing happened with my meditations. I haven’t missed a single day. I usually meditate in the morning but there was one night last week that I realized I missed it, and although it was after midnight, I stayed up later to do a meditation.
Why does this matter? Because cheating is a slippery slope… especially when you cheat on yourself.
If you are on a diet that has cheat days, use them, but if you find yourself cheating on other days, well then you are only cheating yourself.
So, last night I started my run at 11:13pm. My streak continues…
I tweeted to Bill Ferriter about how time flies, and that we are getting older saying,
Age is 2 things:
1. A state of mind.
2. A state of the body part that aches the most.
I will often say silly things like, “My mind is 31, my body is 51, and my back is 71″… doing a plus/minus of 20 years (which was 10-15 years when I was in my 40’s).
Here’s the point… I’m not getting younger and more than ever, NOW is the best time to start.
I tried over a decade ago, now I’m going to do it – a short daily blog.
For Week 1 I shared ‘Open Matters‘ with a bit from the reading, and an Open Education Manifesto that I put together in 2011.
For Week 2 I shared ‘“More Free” #OpenEdMooc Week 2‘ with a reflection on Stephen Downe’s 2012 post on the topic of why BY-NC-SA is more free than suggested in the Creative Commons.
I really haven’t done much more that summarize the readings, add a bit of reflection, and some of my thinking (previously) influenced by others… nothing really new, just summaries and review of things I’ve already thought about.
For that reason, it was refreshing to see Lisa M. Lane discuss OERs again.
“I’ve posted a number of times on Open Educational Resources, and mentioning these might help explain why I subject the entire issue to serious criticism, a small sigh, and a raised eyebrow…”
Go ahead and read the post, and the comments (please).
I found this refreshing because this was the first of the learner contributions to the course that went beyond summarizing the reading or past thinking, and it was also critical of the conversation.
Even my post on “More Free”, while somewhat argumentative on the Creative Commons ideas of what is more or less free, was still just reiteration of Stephen Downe’s idea, which he again mentioned in the last 38 seconds of his video, in this week’s course content (shared below).
In the course so far, Lisa’s post was the first student contribution that I’ve found, which promoted conversation and discourse. Discourse is actually the thing I most appreciated about a previous project involving George Siemens and Stephen Downes, “Online Connectivism Conference: Healthy Discord”
This discourse is something that I have seldom seen in the world of educational blogs. There seems to be an unspoken etiquette about being non-confrontational when discussing ideas on other’s blogs. Essentially teachers don’t criticize others’ opinions. Even when there is disagreement it is often polite, reserved and… well, annoying. On the other hand, there seems to be thoughtful discord and discourse happening in the Connectivism conference forums.
Yesterday, Donna Fry connected with me on Twitter (she is the reason I jumped on board to take this course ‘with’ her and others. She linked to a Tweet about another open course Learning Creative Learning, and also said, “…I am so far behind in #OpenEdMOOC already (right @datruss ?)”
My response:
Don’t try to catch up, just start at week 3 and move forward. You aren’t doing this ‘for’ others, you are learning ‘with’ others #openedmooc
This morning we connected and had a great Facetime conversation. This conversation was the second time my thinking has been challenged in the course. Donna helped me re-evaluate the value of the ‘No Derivatives’ aspect of CC, which I didn’t see a purpose for, because I thought of it as equally as restricted as copyright. Her example was sharing something controversial, where ‘altered’ works could then cause mis-attribution and confusion about your original message.
Another key topic discussed was that we both learn from healthy discourse (and even discord)… something lacking (so far) in this course.
Donna shared with me (and on Twitter with #OpenEdMOOC) an article by Margaret Wheatley, “Willing to be Disturbed“:
“There are many ways to sit and listen for the differences. Lately, I’ve been listening for what surprises me. What did I just hear that startled me? This isn’t easy – I’m accustomed to sitting there nodding my head to those saying things I agree with. But when I notice what surprises me, I’m able to see my own views more dearly, including my beliefs and assumptions”
• CC0/Public Domain: “No Rights Reserved” — I have created this thing, and you can do whatever you like with it.
…For me, the CC0 decision is a no-brainer. I’m working to make the world a better place through whatever talents and skills that I’ve got. While I want my family to live comfortably, I’m not trying to accumulate wealth. That’s not what drives me. So I definitely feel what Alan says that he’s “given up trying to be an attribution cop”.
Both of these articles have pushed my thinking a bit, both are initiated not by the course content, but rather learner relationships.
Reminding me that MOOCs are more about conversations & connections than content. Thanks @datruss for your time this morning! #OpenEdMOOC
However, I started thinking about why this idea of disagreement and discourse was missing, and that got me thinking about course design. So far, I can see this course being more informational that conversational and that makes me question the value of it being a MOOC, and not just an online course where the student, teacher and content are the primary focus.
To me, the value of a MOOC is that the participants get to openly engage with each other and the curriculum in a way that fosters greater value than if students immerse themselves in the course without the networked connections of other participants.
So here is a little image that I’ve put together to look at the MOOC as Learning Experience.
Venn diagrams are about the relationships between things and I think these relationships are key in a MOOC. Donna says above, ‘MOOCs are more about conversations & connections than content’, and I think learner experience in a MOOC is really about the relationships we have with each other, as much or more than the relationships with the content… if not, where is the value in being ‘open’?
Here is a brief description of the relationships that I see between a MOOC, the teacher(s), and the participants:
MOOC content <-> Teacher
If the material is Open and Online, the design around how things are shared needs thoughtful consideration.
Participant contributions are distributed and so a component like the ‘Learner Activity‘ page is essential.
Social sharing/hashtag/conversation beyond learner activity content is essential.
Participants <-> MOOC Content
Content is open and easy to access and share.
Learning activity is open and easy to access and share.
Content is designed to go beyond information delivery and designed to promote dialogue and discourse.
Teacher <-> Participants
Focus on open, publish sharing
Teacher as provocateur, agitator. The course delivers the content, the teacher inspires the conversation.
Teacher as questioner, not answerer (more socratic rather than a focus on content delivery).
Social interaction – connections and conversations with other learners – are fostered.
I think there also needs to be intentional teacher presence if the conversation isn’t happening, and perhaps intentional teacher ‘tongue-biting‘ when participants are asking the right questions and contributing to each others’ learning.
Ultimately, learner experience in a MOOC is about fostering relationships between the teacher, the content, and the other participants to add value to what the course would be if it were not open.
It is about connectivity and networked learning, not just a student <-> teacher <-> content relationship.
I invite conversation, by all means, go ahead and disagree with me… ask questions, provide alternative perspectives. Help me learn.
