maria’s posterous

Maria, you funny girl. I guess I felt the same! Too much info for me. But I felt thrilled too to see we can engage our students in real activities through tech. I'm looking forward to what comes next in this online adventure!

Yes!!!! I felt the same.. Dizzy, stressed out. I had the impression I wouldn't make it. But here we are!!!!

You know, Maria, it reminds me of going shopping for shampoo in the US after living in Brazil for years. There are shelves and shelves of bottles for every type of hair and price range imaginable. I can't seem to make a choice so I just grab anyone and hope for the best. With time and experience, a process that took 15 minutes becomes a thing of seconds. Here's hoping.

Hi Maria
I feel the same. I loved the videos, I agree with their message but I also felt overwhelmed by the amount of information, links. I said to myself "You need to go on, you'll suceed". However I have to admit it is hard.
Maybe it's the same feeling our sts ave when learning a language for the first time. There's so much to learn out there .

I always suspect a computer application which says on the box " Simple, intuitive and requires only a few minutes to learn" when inside the box is a 500 page book entitled "Quick Start Guide"-hang in there babe, it only gets worse from here!!

Hi, Maria.

Spot on! I can relate perfectly to what you said because "Been there, done that."

Your second paragraph was also revealing: "'Easy, easy', I reassured myself. Respiration went back to normal as I came to the realization I have to sort out what's priority and what's not. Good thing is, there's no right or wrong, you can choose whatever path to switch into a tech-savvy mind."

I could also relate very well to what you said in your third paragraph, when you described what happened after you thought about what you could do to begin to use technology bit by bit: "Well, when compared to the wealth of choices we have out there, [my ideas and strategies] would correspond to a nano part of what I could be using to engage my students into more creative, independent, pleasurable learning. Oh, my, bring back that respirator!" Here, I can say "Been there, done that" here, too.

One of the most rewarding (and most frustrating) characteristics of the digital age, especially the Web 2.0 era, is that every time you think you've got a handle on what's going on, you realize that it's evolved into something else or something different might work better. In addition, becoming comfortable with Web 2.0 thinking and Web 2.0 tools never seems to proceed step by step along a horizontal path; instead, it happens by fits and starts and goes backward and forward and sideways, and interrupts itself and reinterprets itself and transforms itself and . . . . . and, well, true learning has never been predictable and neat, has it?

Thanks for making me laugh and remember and think!

Dennis in Phoenix

Dear Maria Claudia,

We always hyperventilate! I'll never forget, for example, the first time I had a text chat with a group of educators in an online course I was taking. I'll never forget my breathless reaction the first time I participated in a voice chat. I thought I wouldn't survive, but I did, and now we're here.

Dennis is totally right when he says that our learning on the Web, and I'd say our learning in general, is not linear. It can be messy. What we need to do is exactly what you've already figured it out, finding our main goals and focus, defining strategies that work for you. That was exactly the idea of the Web2.0 safari. You could take the path you wanted, and If you ask participants here, probably we'll have as many paths as participants.

So, keep focused and remember that every nano addition to your class can have a big impact on learners.

Hi Maria Cláudia,

I am also struggling! But I believe we can make it!
I have checked yappr.com and just loved it.
" Or would helping students out through Skype make up for some of that richness? Or maybe using www.yappr.com for viewing videos in the classroom would?"
Thank you!

Hi, María Cláudia.

I can certainly sympathize with your first paragraph, in particular your very clever (but spot on) "I was appalled by the amount of info h(a)unting me." I've felt the same way and feel the same way, but at the same time, it's obvious that the incredible richness of available online resources is one thing that makes the Web so potentially useful. I think it's very telling, by the way, that you say that this seemingly unending array of information is both 'haunting' and 'hunting you.' I know the feeling well: it's like being set free in a huge mall where there are all kinds of appealing treasures that you can get for free as well as buy but then being paralyzed because you don't know where to begin—so you hold back from taking a look at any of them.

You make an excellent point in your second paragraph—a conclusion that all of us must come to sooner or later: "I came to the realization I have to sort out what's priority and what's not. Good thing is, there's no right or wrong, you can choose whatever path to switch into a tech-savvy mind." Hear, hear! I've come to the same realization numerous times, but I'm sure I'll continue to feel overwhelmed from time to time and will have to come to this realization again and again. My most recerecent iteration concerns a very popular "virtual world" called Second Life: I see great potential for "SL" (as its devotees call it), but there are things about it (a steep learning curve, avatars that all look like Barbie or Ken dolls instead of people) that always turn me off, eventually. This has happened at least five times!

Don't despair or let the Web's "embarrassment of riches" get the best of you! Remember that "Rome wasn't built in a day" and that "You have to walk before you can run" (and 'You have to move before you can step or crawl').

Excelsior!

Dennis in Phoenix