Standard Goodbyes

I just realized this is the last blog I will be writing for this course. I am certain it will not be the last time I return to "Ye Olde English Ant" (not sure why we're British now) but at least in the context of this wonderful world of Digital Literacy, this is the last one I will be writing. So how to end it? Should I summarize all the crazy and innovative technologies we've covered over the course of 12 weeks? I could and believe me there have been many I have literally drooled over the prospect of using in a classroom. I could do that, but what purpose would that serve? My fellow colleagues had the same discussions and read the same articles and reviewed the same technology that I did. A recapitulation of this would be wasted air. So then synthesis! How has this course changed me as an educator? Surely that is the proper route to take right? And of course I have learned and grown from this course. To say otherwise would be at the very least a lie if not worse. I have always thought of myself as technologically savvy in my teaching and in my life. I will say this course beyond simply showing me shiny new tools and literacies has allowed me to see how others might use them. Here is where I feel I found great worth. How I would use an online class blog is different from how Corri or Nina might use one, but knowing these differences only expands my knowledge. And that I think is the keyword when it comes to how this course as changed me as an educator. I have expanded my knowledge and expanded my understanding and expanded my horizons for using digital literacies and tools in my classroom. Irrevocably changed? I cannot commit to that. Altered for the better? Most certainly. So what then shall be the shining prize I take from this experience? What is my climax? To be honest there is no climax, there is only a hunger. This class has been absolute torture. A torture of the best kind to be sure, but torture nonetheless. As the dozen or so individuals that peruse this blog know, I do not currently work with students. I work with check fraud. Slight difference. And while each day I, in a general sense as my soul and mind both yearn for more fulfilling work, clamor for a classroom of my own, no experience and no class since leaving my undergraduate experience has fueled that hunger more so then this one. The things we have discussed, the possibilities we have opened through these amazing tools, and the innovations we have witnessed is more exciting then anything I could fathom. And so this class has tortured me everyday to create, to dream, to think, and to wonder how amazing it will be to use these things in a classroom and not yet have that chance. I know it will come, but it cannot come sooner. To my fellow colleagues, I am sure I will see you in the coming semesters, although I have but two left so get your fill quick! Dr. Oldakowski, Tim, thank you for everything, it has been a pleasure learning from you. You mentioned you had some friends in Florida, keep me posted on anything happening for next fall, rest assured I will be ready and waiting.