Week 3 - how's the energy

Well, no boat analogies today ...as with a number of ideas similar to this (blogs, journals, etc.), I started strong but am kind of backing off ... sigh .... not sure why that happens and I'm trying not to let it but sometimes if it's not a 'required' activity it's tough to keep at it unless it's something you personally really enjoy. And so, I'm looking back over the older posts and determining 'am I getting anything out of this' - the answer is yes, but I'm not certain yet about articulating what.... But just the yes answer is enough to have me blogging again. :) ISWO has been marvelous - over the last 2 days I haven't been as active as I should have been and I'm feeling a bit guilty especially since it is our team's week to head up the discussion. What's been nice however is that each of us has taken responsiblity for a 'day' - for the post (Marcia had proposed brilliant ideas for the week) and for some of the moderating and so that's helped me catch my breath. Had two evenings of company - dinner and amazing visits - and so I focused time on those activities.

Day ??? - Present, here, really .....

Not sure what day number this is of the ISWO course .... about half way through week 2. I'm struggling a bit this week about being present - about being truly and honestly present for my classmates who deserve that level of commitment. However, I've got some kind of flu today - actually came home from work and am trying to plod through things slowly. Really, more than anything I want to just curl up with a novel, water, and then fall asleep .... trying to get through the readings so that when I do post I can do so with semblance of intelligence.  It's got me thinking though about ensuring that presence online - whether as facilitator or participant. Being genuine is important so maybe it's okay to say - you know, I'm feeling crappy today so I'm probably not going to be as 'on' as I'd like to be - more later, I hope ............

it's a couple of hours later and I've been playing around in the moodle skills workshop I'm participating in .... was a lot of fun, and for some reason I'm feeling much better about moodle. It helps that this week in my face to face class we opted for an online class -- I couldn't attend class this week as it was convocation at UVic and I walked across the stage to get my PhD -- I was able to add a forum (which is pretty simple, but still .....) and I'm thinking about what else I might add .... I'm teaching an online course that starts next week and I'm hoping that I can take what I've learned in the moodle workshop to make the course more useful and dynamic for the students ..... 

Start of week 2 - much ado about nothing

Spent the weekend at Ganges Harbor, SaltSpring Island. Headed over via sail on Saturday - full sunshine, blue sky, gorgeous day but very cool/cold. Decked out in survival suits, new sailing boots (fully lined - amazing, warm boots), and good gloves so were toasty warm. A storm was forecast for Sunday with winds in the Strait of Georgia expected to be 25-30 knots (that's about 50+ km/hr) ... we decided to stay put at Ganges and head home Monday when the winds were forecast to be much lighter (10-15 knots). Like many 'storms' the predictions were much more than reality ... winds were not bad on Sunday. Was nice to just relax however, read, cook a pot of stew, wander Ganges, and just take it easy. But it got me thinking also about whether we make predictions also about how things are going to be 'online' - interactive, community, Web 2.0, etc., etc., etc. .... In reality though are we living up to the hype and the predictions? Or, do we start strong then fizzle out due to other demands, to just so many options/opportunitites, or to just not enough 'oomph'? Do we promise too much? Are we clear with what kind of experience we are trying to achieve? And, as was noted by a classmate this week - what about the responsibility of the students / colleagues - what if they don't want to build/develop the same kind of community we are envisioning? I don't have any answers on this as we begin the second week of ISWO .... I'm also not sure of what my expectations are for this week - for both the course, and for me ... I don't want to be all 'wind and show', I want to be engaged and present and thoughtful .....

Week 1 done - Batten down the hatches

Well, week one is done - big sigh, I'm caught up on things, actually a bit ahead and pretty much done the readings for week two. Sitting at Ganges, on Salt Spring Island waiting out an expected storm. We are expecting 25-30 knot winds today and rain. For those of you who deal in 'land' measurements that's probably 45-50 km/hr winds - not ones we want to be out in. Had a beautiful trip over yesterday - sunshine and blue sky - chilly, but that's what survival suits, fully lined sailing boots, and gloves are for.  Finding that the forced slow down and no distractions has been wonderful for reflecting on the course so far -- for reading and rereading the posts to date, for thinking ahead, and for being able to take a bit of a sigh, let the shoulders drop, and look around. Ganges is a neat place - I'm not a fan during the summer as it's insane with boats/people, and we're not 'dock' people - would much rather be anchored somewhere .... but this time of year it's quiet and peaceful. There's a shop that hopefully will be open today that had a beautiful necklace/earring set in the window and there's an amazing kitchen store on the island that I want to wander through. .... Along with that I'm watching the birds, the seals and the otters, and enjoying a lab/pit bull cross puppy that wanders over from another boat looking to be petted. Being here helps to force that slow down a bit, to think about things, to raise my head from the screen and take a longer look around, to appreciate nature in all its forms - whether sunny, mild and calm, or blowing like a banshee and howling. I'm thankful for the heater aboard :), and for the quiet .....

Day 3 --- Hmmmm still in it

I am amazed and the posts and exchanges in the course - and yet I shouldn't be - my colleagues are exceptional, brilliant, and very thoughtful. I have little to add to the Day 1 post - managing to keep up, and I'm finding that I'm thinking more about the course and topics - in particular the work-home balance (it was work-life balance but I''m shifting to work-home balance) ..... starting now to look ahead to 'week 3' when our team manages the facilitation - trying to think of ideas now but so far nothing has crystallized. We'll be dealing with 'team in trouble' -- lots of ways to consider this topic: from the pespective of the team members as a team or individually; from the perspective of whomever the teams answer to; etc. ......

That's it for this post, not feeling too inspired right now. .....

Day 1 - We're in it now!

Interesting that this was my first thought in pulling this blog together .... the quote is actually from the movie "White Squall" - The movie is about a group of young boys who take their high school aoard a traditional sailing ship - during a storm Jeff Bridges (the skipper) simply says "We're in it now" - it's a pretty apt quote for how I'm feeling today about ISWO ... meant to spend an hour first thing this morning on the course - had time booked, however, that's not how the day unfolded .... the day was busy - a lot got accomplished and it was a great day, but ........ As what happens too regularly, 'person' stuff gets set aside for other priorities. I've set aside two chunks of time each day for the course in order to build in some flexibility and so I'm hoping that will work. ....

The quote though for me is also about the richness of the discussion so far, meeting the resst of the class through their introductions has been amazing - what an exceptional group of people and I'm looking forward to getting to know each of them better.

And the quote also is a reflection on the immersion into technology - into the world of wikis and blogs and forums and pages and moodles and, and, and, and ... we're in it now, and even in the face to face environment technology is never far away. Both my children do not have 'land lines' only cells for example, and that's a pretty 'minor' immersion into technology.

The quote also relfects how I try and get/be involved in various aspects of my life - I want to be "in it now" - want to give my full attention to the activity - whether teaching, increasing my skills in moodle, ISWO, work, visiting with friends, sailing, hiking, running, etc. ....