Finishing Touches

Finishing things is always hard for me, some of it is the "ADD"ness that runs in my family, but I think the primary reason is a combination of being an artist, a perfectionist, and a sentimentalist.  As an artist there is always more that can be done to improve things.  In a painting I can always add a paint stroke or splash of color, in a poem there is always an adjustment to the punctuation or changing a word, in finishing a project it is a point of letting go, stepping back and knowing that the project is far from done, but only really just a beginning.

I guess that is why I love creating on the Web.  It is both fluid and alive; while at the same time, it is snapshots in time, and fixed forever.  It is sharing things with the world, and yet feeling that I talking to an individual in a personal and private room.  Finishing the hypothetical class syllabus for me is many of these things.  I've tried to stay within the realistic parameters of teaching a first semester Composition class at Lansing Community College.  Given what I have in the portfolio, if they called me this week and offered me a position teaching that class, I could be ready to teach by next week.  I have kept all of my documents as separate files so I can update and modify them as needed.  The spreadsheets to generate the work management flow are all live so these could actually be used.  The only thing that would be scaled back is the discussion circles back to discussion boards until I could get that design off the ground. 

Now for the sentimental part, it is really hard to say goodbye to classmates...and fortunately for many of you it won't be goodbye because I still will be working with you. And I am always delighted to hear from old friends and classmates.  This class has really made me think deeply about the possibility of going for a PhD, and choice of department.

The field of using technology in education, online education, Massively Open Online Classes (MOOC), accessibility for the marginalized, global educational competition, non-traditional educational opportunities, growing student debt, and a possible looming educational bubble (much like the housing bubble that we are still reeling from) are areas of extreme importance and the need for advanced research is imperative.  Millions of dollars are being invested in new initiatives that are often without theoretical foundation (and often even without a business plan)...things are changing at a breakneck speed and I would love to be a part of the dialog to hopefully help make things better. Hence, the deep consideration of the "next step" and what department or direction can best help me get there.

The link to the new "modified" site with improved visibility, more gender neutral photos is up.  Not all the pages have the modified pictures and the videos are not posted since this is just a prototype.

  Click here to visit my test site-

My final portfolio is 80+ pages long  (half of it is title pages so it really isn't that much) and I don't want to overwhelm the blog to post the entire thing, nor do I want to fill your entire inbox, so I would be delighted to send it via email to you-- you can discard it if you want or glance through it... that way no trees get killed, only a few irritated electrons. Please email me to get your free copy of the syllabus---if you are brave enough- it is a huge file.

(so I can avoid bot spammers)- send your email request to "shillai7" with the "@msu.edu" ending.

One last thing- I found a great book at the MSU library in the new acquisitions.  "Enhancing the Quality of Learning: Dispositions, Instruction, and Learning Processes" edited by John Kirby and Michael Lawson. It was extremely good as I was finishing my teaching philosophy statement and my lesson goals.  It examines foundational learning issues, but it has several articles that are closely tied to the principles of this course. I highly recommend it.

 

 I will miss all of you, but just like my syllabus I hope that the connections we have built are not something we just set aside, but the foundation for great things to come.