The Good, The Bad, and the 1%

It has now been 6 weeks since I started this online unit and it surprises me how often I find myself thinking about it. I'm not sure if it is because it is my first online educational experience, or just the nature of the unit but I find that I teeter between trying to stay up to date with the constant stream of information, developments & communication and enjoying logging into find the weeks activities. Never before have I engaged so much with a unit where I find myself working or at least looking at it almost daily. However, in this time I can highlight two moments which which I found mentally draining and two that have amazed me!!

CHALLENGING MOMENTS

1. Online Units and the 1%

The first two weeks of this unit were rough for me. I didn't understand how to approach the work load, nor did I comprehend how active I would need to be in working out the information or communication. In the second module I completed all the activities, not realising that I would have to document this through a quiz. Lo and behold there goes the 1%..... At that point I was ready to quit. I was on student connect, my cursor hovering over the un-enrol button because I thought I couldn't do it. I had never done an online unit and now this one was kicking my butt in the 12 days I had been there. And weekly tasks? Not something I'm used to because apart from the face-to-face time I often like to sideline units until I have an assignment due. But this unit is different, there is an element of participation that is intimidating and exhausting to think about. But it is so fulfilling to be able to stay afloat. I feel now that I have adjusted to the nature of it and the minute I changed those notifications to once a day IT. CHANGED. MY. LIFE. Now that 1% seems okay to be lost, yes it was annoying (and still is because I did the work), but if I didn't lose it I wouldn't now understand how to stay on top of the weekly tasks and feel good about the work I am doing because I am active in it. I'm communicating, collaborating, and creating. All the things I wanted out of this unit and that's what I'm putting into this PLN. I've learnt online units are what you make of it, and I guess that goes for everything too, the more you allow yourself to be immersed in something the more you can take away from it.

So goodbye 1%, you will be missed but I thank you for the good times while they lasted.

2. Co-Creating Rubric Task

Second to the online unit is the idea of creating the rubric. There was NO WAY that I was going to take the lead on that activity because not only did I have no idea how to navigate Wikispaces, but I've never created, modified or edited a rubric before and for that I am so thankful for the 4th year upgraders. After the initial "oh crap how am I meant to even help with this" moment, I introduced myself to the group and began to look at what others had put in. I felt way more comfortable adding in text for the blank boxes while always commenting "if you want to change anything please do!" Because let's be honest here, I still have no idea if what I was doing was right in any way. Now that it is finished I like to think that the whole task could be considered a success, because it looks good and if I was getting marked by it I think I'd be okay. And if it is being used for Assessment 2 I guess I will be. So yeah, this was a challenging moment but with the help of my fellow 459'ers we got through it!

AHA MOMENTS

1. Tweetdeck

Full disclosure: I'm a millennial. I grew up in a time where technology was already becoming strongly embedded in life and education. Let's be honest, my mum still believes that I was born with a pre disposed knowledge of computers, iPads and 'the google'. This may be true, however the unlimited uses of technology is still a mystery to me and that enigma was highlighted by Eleni Kyritsis, a twitter wizard who showed me the magical world of Tweetdeck! Twitter always seemed so hard to keep with, forever scrolling to make sure you didn't miss anything interesting or useful but now with Tweetdeck I'm able to organise and view not only users but hashtags as well! It's definitely a brave new world out there and Tweetdeck helps manage it so you can make the most out of Twitter.

If you want to get amongst the world of Tweetdeck click here.

2. Creating a PLN

The PLN. Now this is something that I didn't realise I would enjoy creating. I started off with the stock standard theme from Wix and then spent maybe 30 minutes thinking "Okay what now?" What did I know about creating a Blog? Let alone an educational one that was meant to be innovative, creative and informative. After procrastinating with near every available change of page background I decided to post an example of a website I created last year for unit. From there I started to look at other PLN's as a type of blog inspiration - blogspo. After realising most people were just in the same boat as me I started to follow the weekly directions and post the activities that we would be completing and slowly but surely 'The Teaching Playground was born! Realising the potential of this site I quickly got to work on the little inner workings of Wix and the widgets and gadgets I could add to make it more effective and interactive.... A twitter feed of our unit hashtag #EDFD459 has been my latest gizmo to go in and I love it! The idea that myself and my visitors can view our 'feed' while traipsing through my blog connects us all on another level. This PLN has not only forced me to join the world of online blogging but showed me a whole new way educators can connect and collaborate and I know that my teaching will be better off for it.

I can't wait to see what else I can add as I learn more about Learning Spaces.