new post - reflections

This will undoubtedly be a long post.  I have many reflections and comments.

I ended Bill's strand realizing how much I LOVE 'theory' and how much Bill truly taught.  There's no disrespect meant when I say that I've honestly learned more from Bill's strand - thus far - than the other two.  Of course, there are miles ahead of me and I suspect that the REAL learning of AR will be the bulk of learned material.  Bill's strand directly led me to my point of focus for my AR project.  I had no idea what a Community of Practice was until this semester.  Now, I find myself picking out CoP's all over the place -- all over our community and in the city, the state, the nation, the world.  Interesting!
I have to admit that I completely enjoyed each and every assignment Bill gave to us -- including the WoW game!  I won't continue playing the game, mostly due to lack of time, but it's opened my mind to a different way of thinking and learning for many people.  I've even considered using Second Life as a learning tool in some way.  That's still brewing on the back-burner.

I had trouble understanding what was expected for a couple of assignments but I've deeply enjoyed the comradery between the various groups with whom I've been involved/assigned.

I've done an un-explainable amount of reading, note taking, etc. and have written a Lit Review, outlined my AR Plan - and all will be submitted.  I've found over 60 usable articles/books/etc. that are pertinent to my topic.
There were some minor issues about various conversations, time tables, 'absolute' formats, and silly things that really don't need to be hashed over here.  I did feel a bit of tension and disorientation while searching, finding, hunting, locating (etc.) links and various 'helps' and 'aids' within Sakai and the other sites we utilize.  But, it seems there is always some student within the group(s) that has found it and I need only post a message asking where to locate, and 'voila!' there it is!  I have to admit that I'm used to a bit more structure within university programs, but I understand the delimma of coordinating large amounts of information and technology, especially when so much new technology becomes available almost DAILY!  <sigh>

Quite a few hours in my week are spent hunting for the newest and best tech tools (and ICT) that might be usable/appropriate within the Scholarly CoP's where I've chosen to conduct my research.
I've bonded well with both Programs at my University and I've been accepted as 'an expert' of sorts by the profs and students.  That's encouraging and also helpful for performing the research.  I've chosen to call the position I'm attempting to create: Hands-on-Support (HoS).  The HoS will be a CoP within itself that works WITH the various departments (faculty, students, IS Dept., library staff, etc.).  These CoP's work well in their own right, but they tend to 'tangent' off one another with no real glue holding together the departments -- an HoS CoP could be the answer.  A main concern I have...as I've been observing...is how LITTLE time the faculty and the IS Dept. have for just looking up and researching various tech tools and ICT that could make the classrooms better places of learning.  The teachers are nearly begging for the tech tools (in most departments) but they have no time (or expertise?) to find the right tools (at the right price, for the current students) and no time to learn/teach the tools, no time to assure the tech tools they are using are the best and most current for their classes/programs.  This is where an HoS would be valuable.  This HoS CoP would be the group handling these time-consuming tasks.  I want to point out that the HoS CoP would actually include various faculty members, current students, folks from the IS Dept., librarians (and such) because everyone has contact with tech tools and hears about new things here and there.  It would be a sharing point, with the "steward" of the HoS (me, for now) being the main person to be conducting weekly research about new tech tools and keeping up-to-date about the tools' use in the classrooms.
If an HoS CoP is eliminated or lost....the tech tools eventually become obsolete, and then un-used.

I'm working with the ESL/CELE Program and the Missions Program.  I've decided to have the two programs start to work together in various ways.  The Missions students (aka 'multi-cultural workers') will eventually be in contact with folks from various countries around the world and might benefit from the contact with the ESL International Students.  Also, this interaction is a safer place for the students to interact than with folks they don't know outside of the institution (chat rooms that are safe and secure, and geared toward ESL students are hard to find...if there are any).
The ESL/CELE Students might benefit from interacting with the Missions Students as they continue on their endeavor to learn the English language.  Northwest Univ. is a Bible College, so the Int'l Students can also benefit from learning various theological terms that the ESL student will need to know for mainstream classes when they move from the CELE program into regular classes.
This is a small blurb example of the benefits of these two programs working together via an HoS CoP - there are plenty more.

I have many tech tools and ICT researched and learned already...I've started to introduce a few to the two programs, I will observe how well the tools work and 'quietly' change out the tech tool if it appears to be useless or hindering in any way.  There's no sense in using technology just for the sake of technology in a classroom.

I am beginning to develop my AR website - I've chosen the various components and I have the website design in mind.  I'm using EverNote to store various sites, blurbs, docs, etc. that I'd like to make a part of my AR website.

Design Group seems to be going well.  We all have our strengths and I believe we're 'ahead of schedule' if I understand correctly.  I like my group and I'm happy with the topic we chose -- even though we did switch topics in mid-stream, I think it was a good and wise change.

I've signed up for the FETC in FL and chosen a few booths I'd like to visit (via the website Margaret created) - I have my barcode for entrance into the exhibit hall.  All is set to go on that adventure.

I think that's all I'll type for now.  I know I will think of more later and I will add it.  Eventually, I will be copying and pasting only my AR blog material from this particular Blogger...to put into my website and have a separate Blogger for just AR.  It will be nice.
Peace.