Ta Ta for Now, T509!
I’m not going to lie – I have put off this reflective piece for awhile. Yes, I have tons of other final projects and papers that I’m working on, and yes, I should also be packing for my flight that leaves in the morning. But mostly, I’ve procrastinated because this class has meant so much to me over the past semester, that I’m hesitant to submit anything that marks the “final” formal participation with T509 for fear of letting go. Luckily, the hashtag shall continue, the network that I met will remain intact, and class completion rewards me with lifetime Justin Reich advice! Huzzah!
Turning to a more serious note, I am writing this reflection on my blog – yes, I have one – to highlight a shortcoming of my participation through the semester before reflecting on the more meaningful contributions that I have tried to make. I was so invested in the aesthetics of how I presented myself online (as a millennial, am I not entitled to narcissism, inherently craving the ability to curate self-promotion?) at the cost of actually producing meaningful content on the blog. I’ve tried a few times before to make a larger writing stamp online, with a travel blog here and a personal website there, all to no avail. I’ve realized that I have a huge web presence via Instagram, linkedin, twitter, and facebook, and that I enjoy instantaneous, short participations in online communities rather than elaborate ones. In fact, I have not one, not two, but three nearly completed draft posts that I kept on tweaking, editing, and then not posting. And then it would get to that point where it was too late to post because we’re moving on to the following week’s topic. This anxiety is common in my blogging history. Perhaps it’s because of my history as a debater that I value speaking and in-person conversation so much more than writing, but I’ve always had trouble getting my ideas out in a longer form on a constant basis, and this semester was no exception. Or maybe I’m just a lazy writer.
That being said, I was aware of my lack of interest in blogging from the start, and simultaneously, I wanted to really give twitter a real shot. I tweeted multiple times a week in a few different fashions. First, I attempted to bring in resources on blended learning and challenges with scaling ed-tech. I would spend a good chunk of time each Sunday researching trends and scouring media in search of worthy articles. Secondly, I wanted to engage in meaningful dialogue using twitter, and to this extend, I would often tag other users in my posts, and even cancelled my weekly Tuesday-night meeting twice so I could participate in the twitter chats, which ended up being a highlight of my participation in this class. Third and finally, I’m most proud of my ability to navigate twitter effectively and have a robust stream of posts and people that I hope to continue connecting with and learning from after class. I got a little giddy after Michael B. Horn retweeted a picture of me reading his new book with Heather Staker; I’ve learned more from my classmates than I have in any other class; I feel comfortable asking a question or posing a response that I might shy away from in class.
With regards to my participation rubric, I’m glad that I focused my efforts on my personal learning compass to not just benefit from connectivism during class, but also after our T509 class formally ends. I have found people through my research project and twitter connections that I can work with moving forward, and have strived to even bring our class to nonclass learners. I invited my EPM cohort to class during our MOOC panel with Anant Agarwal, and some of them came to class; I cross-posted our un-hangout to my Facebook and Twitter accounts; I directed a few of my fellow blended learning advocates to our twitter hashtag to weigh in on a discussion. Additionally, I tried to share at least one opinion each week in person during class, and receive feedback both in person and online from my views – this blog that I forgot existed even received two comments after I asked for project feedback!
I'll leave my actual grading suggestion to the document I submitted to the Canvas site, however, but I will conclude with this: Can participation rubrics evolve over time as living, breathing documents? I think they should, and here’s why: from a cost-value perspective, I’m not convinced that blogging is worth it. Sure, it would be nice to have a space on the Internet dedicated to my longer opinions on classroom topics. But factoring in the anxiety, time, and expected value, I think that shorter, more instantaneous methods of communication are more effective. I also think it’s a trend of social connections – look at youngsters’ apps like SnapChat, Yo, or Instagram – to be ever more fleeting.
What this means for me as an educator, however, is that I should recognize my strengths in social participation and stick to them. While writing is an extremely useful and fruitful tool for my future profession, I need to either make a more dedicated effort to longer form writing, or let somebody else have that space. I connect better in these impromptu manners, and I hope to be the type of educator who can form meaningful, personal interactions in the same way that I expect my teachers to have personal mentorships and guidance for their students. Regardless, I need to get over my feeling of designing everything how I envision it, and get to producing, creating, and curating the content that I desire. Design can come later, and is a sufficient but not necessary condition for meaningful participation. I hope to carry this lesson to other projects moving forward.
Thank you for all of the hard work that it took to make T509 Massive this semester, and I look forward to lurking (and occasionally contributing) to the twitter hashtag, and I cannot wait to see what T509 2.0 has in store for the future. Please continue this class – more people should experience social learning!
