Unit 9 Reflections – Epiphanies of the Week

There are one and a half weeks left in the course. At times it has been overwhelming, frustrating, exhilarating... and practical. I know, that last word does not seem to fit, does it? I will address all in the three things I want to discuss this week.

1. Learner emotion – this course is nearing the end and, as with any learning I engage in, my emotions have migrated from happy and content to significantly frustrated and stressed. At times I have felt that I cannot do it; that I am just not smart enough for this. Only three years ago I completed the Certificate in Adult and Continuing Education program and I have just found it seems harder to learn now. My life context is different – there are added stressors and I am working full time which I was not three years ago and that makes a difference. Out of this experience there are two reminders for me:
• Learning is hard. Imagine learning a new language. How many emotions and frustrations and little victories do learners go through? What is the best way that support and encouragement can be provided, and will the learners see their progress? I have been there, circumstances are different and I will not pretend that I am learning a new language (though the vocabulary I have been learning might argue that!), but there are many similarities.
• Everyone has different context in their life that leads to their ability to assimilate learning.  I am no different and neither are my learners.  What I experience builds empathy, and hopefully I can transfer that learning to my own teaching.
2. Practical application of learning – Monday I “learned” how to use Screencastomatic . I put “learned” in quotes becuase I was essentially a user, not a knower. Tuesday I applied my learning at work and was able to reinforce my learning from Monday and use it in a practical way at work. I was so excited that I could take something I learned and put it into practice in a tangible way. It is not that I have not learned anything in the past two months, but some of it is intangible and hard to express becuase it is not all fully assimilated in my own mind. But this... this was amazing and immediate feedback has been positive. What an awesome feeling to be able to use this digital tool to accomplish a task in a new way! 
3. Digital tools - Working in a book manufacturing plant I am very congnizant of studies and data that show that e-readers are on the decline, along with e-books. Studies show that learning is accomplished more fully when a learner uses a textbook as opposed to an e-book for learning as there is greater retention when interaction is present with a physical book, and we are seeing greater activity in the publishing world for traditional books and booksellers. I have often looked at online tools in much the same way as an e-book reader and my epiphany for the week is that they are not the same. This might seem obvious to some, but it was not to me and so it has been a considerable shift in my perspective in a very short time. Before I started this course, I finally opened an Instagram account. I found out that it is quite easy to use. I know that I do not use it to its full capability, but if I needed to, I could figure it out. Then this course came and the technology requirements were what felt like an enormous burden (for me), but look at me now! I can video conference in Tutela (with a little support), I can run double monitors and external navigation tools (keyboard/mouse) thanks to my son's teaching. I am active on Twitter, and this week I created my first screen cast, and then transferred my learning to the real world of work and created one there. The key in any learning is to take what you learn and apply transfer of learning principles. I am not doing it all at once, but hey – I have now written a blog post 10 times (if you count the first one), and I have organized my blog resources so that things look better, make sense.  I have not done that before this course either!  And I have used technology to do it. I know the learning is not done. There is sure to be more as the week goes on and the course finishes, but it is enough for me that each week that I have learned something. When technology is not frustrating, it is pretty awesome. And I am proud of myself for moving past fear and prejudice to openness and competence – even if it is basic competence. The next step is not quite so scary! 

So, what is the bottom line from this week? It is threefold - I want to show learners empathy and have them know that I do understand; I want to find ways to help them apply what they learn in practical ways; I want to develop my own digital literacy so I can help develop learner digital literacy because sometimes you just do not know how great it is going to be until you get there.