Reflecting on CLMOOC


Praise To The Teacher Writer – A make I created with Haiku Deck,

Typical of my CLMOOC participation, I am coming late to the game for the last week which focused on “Connections and Reflections” and making sense of all the making and connecting we’ve done this throughout this experience.

CLMOOC was a positive experience for me on many levels. As I’ve noted in other posts, this was a rough year for me professionally and the lessons, experiences, and most important, the people involved in this community helped my find (rediscover?) my professional mojo. I expanded my personal learning network in all my social spaces (Google+, Twitter, and Facebook) which brings me all sorts of serendipitous connections as an educator and learner.

This experience has pushed me outside my comfort zone and reminded me how important it is to encourage our students and the other educators with whom we work to do so as well. It is important because I believe the most growth and learning take place in that dangerous territory between the comfortable and the fearful unknown, but it is even more important for educators to at least curl our toes off the map so we understand how fearful the process can be for our students.

I didn’t participate in all six make cycles as a maker, but I did participate in each as a reflective practitioner as well as participating in some of the live discussions. Some of those makes will show up in my classes and some will show up in the professional development I lead, but all have helped me stretch and grow as an educator and that is a good thing. I wish I had the time to do a thorough look back at all the makes and reflections – it’s on my list but I’m not optimistic…I know I would learn and grow from that experience as well.

Make Cycles:

  • How To pulled me into making against my will – I was super busy at the time and hadn’t planned to participate. I love this make and have definite plans to use both in my first year seminar and in my professional writing classes.
  • Memes are awesome and my love affair has found new energy and outlets thanks to this make cycle and the conversations with others.
  • Games actually inspired me so much that I posted twice (Gaming Biography & Gamers vs. Students) even though I didn’t actually make anything.
  • Hacking was another great experience for me – something I want to discuss with both my first year and professional writing students as well as the teachers with which I work.
  • Light frightened me a bit, even more so than the idea of creating my own game, but I’m intrigued by the idea and continue to check out the makes and reflections of others to see where that takes me.
  • Five-Image Stories. OK I created one (sad but I will share anyway in the interest of education) and participated in some discussions about this make on both Google+ and Facebook. I continue to be intrigued by the possibilities of this make. I think much of what I wrote about hacking could apply here, but I also think I need more time and energy to really create a good five-image story. I like the idea and keep wondering if I can make it work for my comic book class.

I do plan to stay connected and active with my CLMOOC colleagues through Google+ and Facebook (as well as Twitter). I definitely consider them an important part of my PLN. I’ve signed up as an Educator Innovator and plan to apply for an Educator Innovator Maker Badge.

I sure hope this counts as a travel log and I can consider my learning pathways mapped – I envy those who created beautiful visual representations (in fact I’m terribly intrigued by the whole map idea, always have been) but I’m pretty busy planning how to use my  lessons in the fall classes so…

Author: Deanna Mascle
#TeachingWriting and leading #NWP site @ Morehead State (KY): Passionate about #AuthenticWriting, #DeeperLearning, #PBL, #Ungrading, and #HyperDocs.

5 thoughts on “Reflecting on CLMOOC

  1. Poke your head in on the #ccourses and if you are interested maybe we can be an all-Kentucky contingent. I hope your report back on successes and not so successes from the semester. I know I will. See you on the digital highways and nodes.

  2. Thanks for all the work and exploration and reflection that you do. You and I share a lot together over at Digital is with our posts, I know. I appreciate that you came and went, as interest and time fit your needs. That’s how the #clmooc rolls … and I always look forward to your reflective points.
    Kevin

  3. I wish you had posted the 5-word story you hated! Might be a fun experience and encourage others who are reticent. I hope we can stay in contact now that this CMOOC is over – and I love mapping as a concept as well. Thank you for your help and support through this process.

  4. OK, Susan, I added my 5 image story – which in the interest of full disclosure I did post in Google+ for discussion purposes, just not my proudest make.

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