Learning Labyrinth

Thing 1 – Task:

Write a reflective blog post based on The 7 1/2 Habits of Effective Lifelong Learners. You may write about anything related to your own experiences or beliefs about Lifelong Learning, and your thoughts about this course. The three things you were asked to consider were:

• Which habit(s) may be most challenging for you to employ as part of your K12 Learning 2.0 experience?
• Which habit(s) will be easiest, or are most resonant for you as a lifelong learner?
• Which habit do you think will be most important for you as you work through this course, and why?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have always enjoyed learning new things and have often pondered the idea of becoming a life-long full-time student. Not that I have any desire to write endless amounts of dissertations and/or reflection papers, but a I do possess a strong desire to learn all that I can within my life. The 7 1/2 Habits of Effective Lifelong Learners helped me reflect on this part of me as a learner and a professional.

The most challenging habit for me will be accepting responsibility for my own learning (Habit #2). In school, I was always a good student and continue to be a hard worker but I tend to get caught up with certain tasks and lose track of time very easily. I am also a self-diagnosed “perfectionist” which inevitably leads to spending too much time on a task that may not be as important as other things that need to be accomplished. Therefore, keeping up with everything that needs to be done without exact due dates will be a test. Balancing this course work along with my professional goals and responsibilities will be a challenge for me to accomplish without procrastinating or letting time “slip away” from me.

The easiest and most enjoyable habit for me will be PLAY! (Habit # 7 1/2). Almost everything I have learned about computers and technology has been the result of playing around with it. Similarly, the most powerful and engaging learning I have seen taken place in the classroom environment has been the result of playing. When we can engage in an activity of our choice or based on our interests, the level of learning taking place is substantially increased. Play is an activity designed to allow us to engage in exactly those activities. I believe that we can take-in and absorb more information/knowledge when we are given the flexibility to engage in an activity by our own means, thereby increasing our enjoyment and engagement levels. When restricted by structured or constrained parameters for an activity by another person, our interest and engagement levels decrease.

The most important habit for me will be to teach and mentor others (Habit #7). In my current role as an Instructional Technology Specialist, I am teaching, assisting and encouraging teachers to use technology in their classrooms. As much as I enjoy learning new and interesting things, I relish in teaching others about these very same ideas and tools. Sharing knowledge and teaching others to apply their knowledge is a personal passion for me. As it has been said countless times and in countless ways, a person who can teach a concept or idea has truly mastered the content themselves.

I feel this course is the perfect segue for me to lead and mentor teachers in building their educational technology knowledge base. Which in turn, will encourage them to engage in more technology enhanced lessons within their own classroom environments? The level of excitement I see from the teachers participating in this course is outstanding. Many are approaching me asking me to show them ways in which they can begin implementing the tools they have explored into their classroom environments. I feel that allowing teachers to explore or “play” with these new tools is raising their excitement, opening their eyes to what is out there and available to them, and providing them with a desire to learn more. Now, instead of me trying to push new technology tools on them, they are approaching me to help deepen their understanding and assist in applying their knowledge effectively in the classroom. I love this effect! I no longer feel like the “bully” in the schoolyard who constantly pushes others around insisting the other kids do things his way. Now I feel the new (not quite popular – yet) kid that everyone wants to know and be “seen” with. This course is exactly the kind of thing that was needed to kick-start what I feel will be a phenomenal wave of technology integration in our classrooms.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 12:51 pm and is filed under K12L2, lifelong+learning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.