My first week of ds106 (summer 2012). It’s great to be back. The camp theme is fun and captures the deep playfulness of UMW folks. Meditating on the trope, here is what comes to mind: nostalgia, continuity, roughing it, fun, homesickness, rules and getting around them, shyness, friendship, self-discovery, freedom. What I have liked so far: the Camp Magic Macguffin site is super easy to navigate. It’s easy to see what’s due and the links to resources are helpful. The Wesch keynote was inspiring (see my last blog post). Glad to be back in tdc. Feeling a bit nervous, but also open to the adventure. Until next week!

Here I am, back in ds106, trying to revive/reinvigorate/re-vision my blog. My goal for this summer is to treat this website as more than a record/space for building my tech muscles in ds106 (though truly that is important enough). I am hoping that through this blog I can explore and experiment with my online identity–I hope to make this space creative, professional, playful, smart, and fun.

The title of this first blog post was taken from Mike Wesch’s talk at the 2011 UWM Faculty Academy, which we were asked to watch and respond to. First of all, Wesch’s talk was inspiring in several ways. He has managed to shape his classroom into a vibrant and collaborative learning community–I aspire to do this at Stony Brook Univ, where I teach. He has pretty radically re-figured his teaching so that instead of simply lecturing on facts and information, he is asking his students to think about larger questions in cultural anthropology (e.g., why are we here?). But more than that, he is asking students to actively create meaning in their lives and in the larger world in which we all live. And technology has allowed Wesch to facilitate his teaching goal, which seems to be about making compassionate connections with others. Awesome.

Back to the title of this post. During the Q&A, Wesch was asked how a faculty member might start building a tech-infused courses/pedagogy. In his awesomeness, Wesch responded by stating that it’s hard. But then he told a goofy anecdote about an American Idol contestant who was letting her nerves get the best of her. A few episodes in she just decided to be in the moment and love on her viewers–after that, she found her groove. This is great advice for educators for so many reasons. Wesch stated that educators have to give up the idea that we are the only ones who have anything to teach in the classroom. Instead, we have to make the classroom a collaborate space in which we are all creating meaning together. And technology can help make that happen, because new media is already doing this. As I am typing this I can see how my thoughts are muddled and vague, but I am just going to keep going here and eventually I’ll figure this all out. And ds106 will help me. And so, my dear ds106ers, I remain humbly and lovingly yours.