On The Daily, Stephen pointed us here. This post by Andreas Formiconi resonates with me. I think I am strolling though through those woods but oh the stops here and there have me thinking and exploring many side trips. I haven’t been able to complete a thing but I think that is OK for now and I am just enjoying the journey. I am working at trying to see if I can change some of the “old” thoughts of learning that I still carry around with me. Thoughts like completing all assignments, feeling that I have to “have something to say”, having a clear overall picture when I start, etc. I’m still trying to sift through and figure out how to make this work for me as a participant and a contributor. While I work at a university at heart I am an elementary teacher and as I learn I am always wondering how I can apply what I learn to be a better teacher and help students discover possibilities, too! I want the concepts of “connectivism” or whatever anyone chooses to name it to work in some way for younger students.

Here’s how I’ve proceeded so far….

First I read many of the introductions and thoroughly enjoyed the diversity of our group. It’s mind boggling. I plan to get through more of them. Then I had to take take a look at participants blogs….very interesting and helped me get a feel for the group. I’ve wandered through the Moodle forums. Then I have tried to read the materials and had to end up just scanning and noting where I wanted to return. The list grows. I was unable to get to the Elluminate sessions but did listen to the first one later. The Daily is most helpful and that led to some more side trips of learning.

It took awhile for me to download the CMap tools. I’ve only had time to take a brief look at it and plan to get back to it, hopefully soon.

Next, I’m going to try to carve out some time to comment on some blogs and other places.

Lastly, I have to say it is really strange to be feeling comfortable in a space that normally might be stressful for me. So either I am progressing or I’m totally out of it. Hmmmm.. maybe the lightbulb will come on later on that point but once again, I say thanks to George and Stephen for providing this opportunity.

Flickr Photo Credit: Mist Filled Morning from digitalART2′s photostream.

George Siemens and Stephen Downes have created a massive online course, Connectivism and Connective Knowledge, that now has 1700 participants! I can’t wait to see how this unfolds. George had a great introductory video to help us get started. He suggested that we accept a degree of unsettledness as we move through this course and he talked about how we simply can’t stay on top of all the information available to us. Unsettledness I can handle. I think I’ve been living with unsettledness for awhile, heck, it’s become my way of life. I’m taking him up on his good advice. I thank both George and Stephen for organizing this learning opportunity. I thought earlier that I must be crazy to take this course based on the fact that I already have more than I can do but as I read through all the materials I knew I would be crazy not to take it! Wow! I have literally dropped everything today and spent time reading the course outline, reading a lot of the pre-week materials, reading introductions, and browsing many of the participants’ blogs. George also told us in his video that they thought they would be able to provide us with a broad enough theoretical and conceptual works that we would be able to start to see how this type of approach to learning can be applied to individual classroom and even broader. It’s a 12 week course through the University of Manitoba. Learners all over the world are participating and it is an incredible opportunity. It is so well organized and full of activities. The Moodle forum is the central hub in the course.The conference tag is CCK08. I have a feeling this is going to be an exciting journey. I am really looking forward to this opportunity for learning!

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