I tried. I watched the videos. I read the articles. I was going to do the assignment – seek signals, put them together. I became indifferent and wandered away. I didn’t dislike McGonigal, she just disinterested me. Nothing there to grab ahold of. Toffler, Gibson, Godin, and now McGonigal. It’s not you Jane, it’s me and my poor history with futurists, but it’s time for me to move on.
On the other hand, the PLN assignment grabbed me. I put a lot of time and thought and effort into it. I don’t use the Google suite that much. Never really had much cause to meaningfully yet. Getting the chance to use Sites was good for me alone, but all the better that I was pushed into a box of showing my PLN. I’ve never dropped a feed anywhere either. Never had a need, but I like it. I could do that again on my own server when I have the time – and offer a like space to students interested in doing it themselves. It also affirmed my choices in a good way. I think I’m doing ok there – in the connected arena.
The assignment made me think of how important PLNs must be to so many people in so many ways, and how most probably don’t give much thought about it. Healthy humans strive for connectivity, for like minded people, things, ideas. The most popular sites in the ‘net reiterate that notion – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit are connectors – the experiment still continues with these – good or bad. I am thinking much more about my network and how I can add and take effectively.
What I did do in honor of my new acquaintanceship with connectivism is read How the Internet Is Complicating the Art of Teaching in the Atlantic about connecting teachers with OERs and the opportunities and tribulations with sharing coursework. Textbooks are/should be done. They separate themselves from connectivism in a very apparent way. The criticism of the textbook market is well placed and worn and I won’t add to it here – the article did make me think about how this data warehouse could be come meaningful and, as the article asks well, how to make it personal. Teaching is an art and science and my bet is always placed on the teacher who can take the personal and make it meaningful for others. To live in a time where someone can create and teach what interests them most, to the point where they are willing to give a piece of that in service of other’s learning, with the the hope that there are more than a few who are interested too, is exciting and a connected world that I find a future in.