IN PURSUIT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

What a perfect class to have been involved in during this crazy time of online EVERYTHING. I feel like this was the best time to be in this class as we were all researching, using, experimenting with these tools as a matter of survival. We were able to bounce ideas off each other and gain knowledge not just in a "what if" sense but by ACTUALLY utilizing these tools. I hope that we will all continue to have adventures in new (and sometimes not-so-new) tools as they come along and make well-informed decisions about whether or not those tools need to be added into our repertoire - OR perhaps even replace something. I think this is where the potential pitfalls lie....so many of these tools are good - great, even. BUT are they what is best for what we need, what the students need, what the class needs? I think having a rubric that applies to the content we are teaching will help greatly in this manner. We need to look beyond whether the tool is FUN to use and just a way to fill ti...

Newsflash: I am not interesting! Not in the sense that I'd be a popular result on Google anyway! I retraced my exact steps for the initial vanity post and - even though we've been assigned things that may have produced some results for others - mine remained EXACTLY the same. Well - one search turned up an image a bit earlier....but besides that? Nada. Zilch. Nothing different from before. I actually think that having a minimal presence like this is a GOOD thing in education. I feel like it means that I've nailed down my parameters in a way that any person doing a random search for something inflammatory is NOT going to find it. My profiles on the different platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) are all private enough that you have to go through ME to get to them. (Unless you're skilled in the art of hacking - and then, more power to you. I'm STILL very uninteresting - posting only things that I would be ok with my parents reading/seeing) I also feel that ...

I saw a meme the other day that said something about "You survived April. Welcome to Level 5 of Jumanji". Ha! Boy, doesn't that about sum it up! We have experienced so much upheaval, confusion, change, disappointment, pain, bizarre behavior, and plain old chaos in the past month that it's easy to forget some of the things that we've gained. Many of us have had to slow down as our extra-curricular lives & schedules came to a screeching halt. Many of us have been able to see our families more and appreciate what they add to our lives. Some of us have been blessed to be able to still work and contribute to society and to bless others in return. And some of us (like teachers) have been asked to stretch and grow in ways that many might not have ever expected to have to stretch and grow. Do I think that distance online learning is here to stay? Long story short? Yes. Maybe not as the sole platform for instruction and education....but I don't think it's going...