connected learning

I have already mentioned in another post how I stumbled upon Connected Courses, how it was basically a call to arms from my friend Maha Bali and how I extended that call to another friend Carla Arena. I’d browsed some of the pre-course resources available on their site and remember finding it most invigorating to read Mike Wesch’s reflections on why the whys are so critical for the whole open and connected learning environments to thrive. I then watched the amazing video suggested for inspiration, This is Water by David Foster Wallace, and was absolutely blown away by it. All that had really struck a chord within, yet little did I know that it would yield precious fruit so soon. I guess that’s my why for sitting here and writing this post right now. I feel truly compelled to make a record of the process which naturally ensued after that in order to reflect on the project that blossomed from it and, of course, to share it with all of you guys #ccoursers #rhizo14ers #edcontexters #clavierers and all.

So the following day I shared the link to the This is Water video with a fellow course supervisor in my institute. He watched it, was blown away by it, and moved to share it on with other fellow course supervisors in my institute. I have to say that I had no idea that what it might have happened right there and then, the moment I shared that link with my friend, was that a seed was being sown, and his subsequent sharing it forward would be the watering of that seed, which began growing, and showing, and stirring the creative juices of those it touched.

Flash forward a few weeks. Yesterday night I came across Jim Groom‘s tweet on Mike Wesch’s video Why We Need A “Why?” and was instantly reminded of the exhilaration I’d felt when I first read his words on the importance of ‘whys.’ It was while I watching this amazing talk by @mwesch that it dawned on me that I’d already been put into motion to make an old project fly, one which had been sitting in the back of my mind since the beginning of the year, even before I went on my rhizomatic learning experience, even before starting my blog. I’d been longing to find a way of nurturing stronger connections among my fellow course supervisors. I truly wanted to see the ten of us be part of a close-knit group, reflecting on our educational leadership identities, exerting/exercising our agency, in the hope of boosting our professional self-confidence.

So it was that about three weeks ago I seized just the right moment to share my idea of a collective website/blog with my fellow supers. The idea itself had sprung up from the depths of my mind a while back, but it hadn’t yet been aired up to the point of being ready to get out of me in the form of a ‘what if’ sentence. The idea was instantly embraced by all. It was as if it’d been there all the time, just waiting for it to be articulated into words somehow. The next step was to find our why. Somehow I instinctively (creative juices spilling out) drawn by the idea that we needed to have our very own ‘why.’ Together we managed to come up with our mission statement, our why. And it is amazing to see how all this movement to fly this collective venture has generated just the kind of flow, the kind of dynamic which is naturally bringing us closer together, both professionally and personally. We are connected.

We will launch our collective site soon, probably this next week, and we are very excited and happy about it. It is just awesome to see how empowering it is to allow yourself to be moved by your ‘why’, and yesterday, watching Mike Wesch talk about it, made me realize the magnitude of the journey we’ve just embarked on as a group. I am certainly sharing Mike Wesch’s talk with my fellow supers for more inspiration. I have a feeling that these words might linger and yield new fruit within the work we do as teachers and administrators:

If you’re animated by the ‘whats’, by what you’re supposed to teach, you’re gonna be constrained by the model of learning that that entails, which is to say just how to deliver that content. But if instead we’re animated by a ‘why,’ then suddenly the ‘hows’ become open. ~ Mike Wesch

So, I guess we have found one of our ‘whys.’ Thanks to #ccourses for the inspiration.

To connections and to learning!

Ever since Rhizomatic Learning or Rhizo14 came to an “end” (those of you in rhizo14 will get the inverted commas around end there), I have been moving on to the next thing in my life. So it appears that my next cmooc thing is shaping up to be CLMOOC, aka Making Learning Connected. I blame it on Rhizo14 anyway, since it was Terry Elliot, a fellow rhizoer, who sprayed in a bit of clmooc scent inside our rhizomatic zombie asylum on FB (yet another rabbit taking me down yet another rabbit hole. Cool!) I must confess, though, that I am approaching CLMOOC in a rather suspicious manner, as if I were about to make my best friend jealous by hanging out with a new friend who seems to be just as cool. (ok, ok, almost as cool!) Anyway, inbued with a communal spirit, I decided to accept Anna Smith‘s invitation to participate in CLMOOC’s first hangout of its 2014 edition and give this new friend of mine a fair chance of winning me over.

I guess it worked.

I had been mulling over the theme for Make Cycle 1, browsing other participants’ makes on the G+ CLMOOC community (which hasn’t begun growing in me as of yet. I mean G+, not the community.), Twitter and FB. Even so, connecting with the group of CLMOOCers on the hangout yesterday was so meaningful, and that got me thinking about what ticks me as a learner. It’s important for me to feel that I am connecting with people, real people. And having a hangout like the one we had yesterday does give me a feel of being welcome within the community. Which takes me back to my experience in Rhizo14, and the very reason why it has become such an important thing for me. It’s all about the human connections, after all. Also, I guess that having a sense of audience, which was something that came up during yesterday’s hangout, knowing that there are people out there who are just as interested in being creative and learning together as you are.

CLMOOC officially launched on June 16th, with the release of the 1st make cycle, so it has been, what, four days? Just for kicks, here’s a short list of what I’ve have already learned so far:

Terry Elliot shared a Spotify playing list with me on Twitter. I had never heard of Spotify. As a matter of fact, they have just launched here in Brazil, and I love it. I’m totally hooked. Thanks, Terry!
Simon Ensor shared WordFoto with us. I’d seen those cool photos but never asked how to make them. Dowloaded the app. Playing with it. Love it. Thanks, Simon!
My new friend Sheri Edwards came to the rescue when I cried out that I hated Google+ on the FB group. She taught me what that +1 button thingy do, and I finally got it! Yey! Not a big fan of G+ just yet, though. Let’s see if CLMOOC will change that. Thanks, Sheri!
My new friend Christopher Butts shared his on-the-make make #1 with us yesterday in the hangout, showing us Thinglink. Had never heard of it. Looks really cool. Thanks, Christopher!
My new friend Michael Buist mentioned during the hangout yesterday that he finds it hard to differentiate the types of Creative Commons licenses (so do I, Michael!), so another new friend Michelle Stein shared an a-w-e-s-o-m-e video tutorial, which I had never seen, and I have looked for something like that, I swear. Thanks, Michael for asking and Michelle for answering!
Just this afternoon, during lunch with my cohort and dear friend Claudio Fleury, I briefed him about my latest cmooc adventures with CLMOOC, and he was kind enough to share stumble upon with me. Absolutely fabulous! Thanks, Claudinho!
And I learned how to paragraph in FB comments. Ha! Thanks again, Terry! *Duh moment* 😉

…and it has only been four days? Okay. Quite promising, indeed.

Sooo, after yesterday’s hangout and my babbling about being all over the place with my mind and my need for silencing the noise from time to time, the Twitters began tweeting and I was suddenly hashtagged #mindfulness. Okay. There’s a thought. I have decided I will make a How to boost your mindfulness guide for make cycle #1. It’s still a bit jumbled up in my mind (as it should, right?), but it’s gradually shaping up into… a blog post, most certainly, and… imagery? Maybe… I will certainly explore some of the tools fellow CLMOOCers have been using and playing with. We’ll see. That’s cool. And I know that if I need some help, all I have to do is shout!

Oh, and Rhizo14 (jealously watching from a corner of the room)? Of course I will concoct a CLMOOC Make just for you. Because you’re so special. Rhizo14 risotto, anyone?