Last November was Digital Citizenship month for the Open Online Experience (OOE13) and I was led mentor for the month. I assembled a collection of resources and activities for the OOE13 website. We held joint Tweet Chats with Post Etmooc about Digital Citizenship and about Digital Leadership; it was great to see the two communities […]

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Years ago, I had the opportunity to hear Chogyam Trungpa speak in New York City.  At one point in his talk, he said “LEAP.”  I thought to myself, leap where? … Continue reading →

I’ve been thinking about this post all day, and reading other people’s blogs has helped me clarify my ideas further. It all started with Cathy Davidson’s video in the MOOC where she interviews ppl about their fave teachers and one … Continue reading →

I sometimes wonder why I bother to write my thoughts down as there are so many thoughtful responses and replies to the "uncertainty" question Dave Cormier posted this week in #rhizo14. Often I write to clarify my own thoughts on my path to figuring out the "I don't know, but I hope to find out/understand." And I read from the community to help me in that process and also from the sheer delight of seeing how other people think, because it is not how I think.

There is Kevin's excellent post on how he views uncertainty which marries nicely with my ideas about change. It helps that one of the books that was recommended during ETMOOC (I think) was the "The Half Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know has an Expiration Date" by Samuel Arbesman. What we learn changes and mutates over time, as does what we teach. Where's Latin, for example? I only got one year of Latin because there were not enough students who wanted to take it ( I loved Latin too!) And yet Latin was the staple of higher education 100 years ago.

I loved Jaap Bosman's post about the place of wonderment in uncertainty. I know I feel anxious and frustrated as I learn new things, but also exhilarated and I am soooo pleased with myself when I finally understand how something works. Learning something is rather like opening a present (and I rip my presents open rather than try and save the wrapping paper, though that has been changing too as I grow older!)

Lou Northern's discussion about the place of ego and it's barrier to being open to uncertainty was a great read but I, like Frances Bell, was struck by this phrase "What am I assuming that makes me so sure that I’m right?" I love this.

But really, I am not sure about the idea of embracing uncertainty. Life is uncertain at its core and the only way we have to deal with it's very unpredictable-ness is by clinging to certainties. When we teach in the elementary panel, we are encouraged to create a place of safety for the learner. Isn't that in conflict with the idea of embracing uncertainty? For life and sometimes learning are not safe. Can we only embrace uncertainty at a certain age? When we have internalized the reality of living in an uncertain world?

Certain things are certain for now. The sun will rise and fall, everything born will die, gravity still works, ice is cold. So should we only teach the concrete, for only that is true and all else, fleeting and ephemeral?

I don't know.

This is my way of continuing the conversation that started in y/day”‘s #rhizo14 hangout… It was the most “watchable” hangout because Dave brought people in to discuss (what a “hangout” usually is) in the main room, which was recorded and … Continue reading →

I just participated in the first #moocmooc live Twitter chat on #FutureEd. I wasn’t sure what the topic would be, but it strangely intersected with some things we had been discussing in #rhizo14 for various reasons. I can’t capture it … Continue reading →

So this week in Rhizo#14 (Rhizomatic Learning) we've been asked to discuss Enforced Independence or what happens when we give people the opportunity to make educational choices in what they choose to learn, how they approach tasks and complete/not comp...

Cathy Davidson encouraged us in #FutureEd to share who is our fave teacher and why… I had a couple of people in mind, but then reading other people’s responses (and also the interviews in the last video) inspired me to … Continue reading →

I tweeted this earlier today: This is the unweek of unMOOCS, with uncertainty theme in #rhizo14 & unlearning theme of #futureEd. I am unworking unhard in all of it I say all of this jokingly, but also in seriousness, both … Continue reading →

I have been thinking about ways to create a structure that acts more as support, scaffolding and launching pad than a prison. How can we create a learning environment that can help students learn about learning, their learning, while still meeting the administrivia requirements of the system?Last week in week in Rhizo14 we were exploring […]

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I decided to reflect on elements of a good professional development experience, because today, three things happened at once: 1. I gave a workshop that I thought went really well. I have given this workshop in some format or other … Continue reading →