On Tuesday I was watching a live session of Alec Couros’ class, Social Media & Open Education. (You probably remember in week 2 we viewed a video of Alec Couros in Teaching and Learning in a Networked World. I recall that it was highly regarded in everyone’s blog posts that week.)
Anyway, his class presentation was reminiscent of the video we saw earlier. He referred to his online residence as “The Blur”. That didn’t really resonate with me the first time, but when I heard it again the other day; it really struck a chord. Probably because now that I’ve had two months experience with the Program For Online Teaching (POT), I can really relate to “The Blur”. Funny – you might say that the blur has become more clear.
At times in this POT course so far, I have been stimulated, overwhelmed, frantic or exhausted, or all of the above at once. That is the blur. When I opened my RSS reader to see over 250 unread items, I felt like I’m going to have to hurry up or I’ll never get through it all. If I were to spend too much time on any of it, I would miss something else important. (Dr. Couros displayed his RSS reader in one of the sessions, and there were over 1000 unread items)
When I heard Dr. Couros acknowledge the blur to his class, it occurred to me that the blur is a fact of life for all of us. It’s always going to be there. So if I want to do a deep dive and spend all day focused on one interesting item, that’s okay. When I’m done, I can go back to the blur. It’s waiting for us. If I missed anything important, if it’s really good, then someone will retweet it or post a link on Facebook or comment about it in a blog, and sooner or later I’ll see it. I found it strangely re-assuring. So my personal take away from all this is to relax and appreciate the blur for what it is.
If you’re interested, Dr Couros opened his class webcasts to the public. Here’s a link to the schedule. He presents many of the classes himself, or has a guest presenter. Last week it was George Siemens.
I found out about the Couros course from a Twitter message while I was exploring Twitter, and I was exploring Twitter because it was a suggested activity for a POT assignment. Is that clear?
Are there any questions?
Hi Norm,
I think you really get a good point. With so many (new) tools to experiment with I sometimes feel kind of behind not trying them all. You’re right when you say that we can always go back and try them again. Since this is a class that I am taking to get a certification in online teaching, I truly feel pressured to try and like everything presented in here… but that’s just me. I force myself so much. I am happy that I can see that there’s light at the end of the tunnel by reading your suggestions. Many Thanks.
– Vanessa Holanda
Thanks for your comments.
I’m like you, I tend to push myself to try and get all I can can from the experience. But I think sometimes the pressure I feel is mostly self-inflicted. When I recognize that, I can step back a little and relax.
I don’t think you have to like everything here. In fact if you don’t like something, say so. It might make for an interesting discussion.
Hey Norm
Yet again a great link – a cornucopia of ideas and strategies. I’m fascinated by Dr Couros’ championing of distributed networks and rhizomatic connections, not least because that seems to be the way our brains work, with more than one node required to bring something to consciousness. That too, is the way – and strength – of courses like these and of democracy.
cheers
ross
Thanks. I hadn’t thought of it like that; in the brain and consciousness is a vast network of connections.
I think the rhizomatic learning concept is on the schedule for Dr. Couros’ course this week. Might be worth looking in.
Yes, the blur… who was that masked connectivist? Except that there are fewer masks, personae and nics aside. Elsewhere I’ve read the blur described as a feral beast. I added Cheshire cat to the metaphor list. A rose by any other name (used that last week in a conversation with an Instructional Design / analytics Change11 participant. Now I have to go back and explain it, if I can.
Vance Stevens refers to the process as navigating (not managing, that would be an oxymoron) chaos, which he assures Webheads and Multiliteracies (#evomlit) participants will become increasing intuitive. I suspect that may be a matter of approaching but never quite getting there. The alternative – other extreme, however, is entropy.
Even without taking the course for certification, there is still pressure and more temptation to take on more, e.g. following another MOOC at the same time. There is the nagging utilitarian voice asking what we are actually going to do with it, use it for, etc.
Forgetting is a kind of triage. What we end up making the most use of, revisiting, staying connected with, will stick. What doesn’t stick, won’t but just might return later… or not. The indeterminancy is both unsettling and exciting.
I remember discussions of rhizomatic learning, being intrigued ~ now reminded to revisit. How can I resist Couros’ class webcasts either? Another on my list.
Your diving and blur images remind of a quote popular in the 60s ~ “the way down is the way out” which was a dominant theme in Colin Wilson’s The Outsider. At the time, I did not realize that it originated with Dante and how to exit Inferno. Wilson wrote on crime and mysticism, both manifestations of extreme outsider behavior, the phenomenology of excess (another way to say blur)
Thanks for reading my blog post and for your comments.
I wish I could write my blog posts as well as you write your comments. Many new things to think about and explore here.
PS You mean not everyone wakes up to 1000+ items in their readers?
By the way there is a similar discussion underway in the POT Facebook group right now, with some good thought for dealing with all the churn.
I like your illustration of ‘the blur’. To think I only work part time and we’ve just had a 2 week holiday (or as I look at it, a 2 week break from class). I had these plans to look at some of the other tools mentioned but didn’t really get there. I did have a closer look at Prezi but I wanted to have a look at the slideshare but it didn’t happen. And then someone introduced me to Symbaloo (I wonder who that was) and that left me playing more. And I wanted to have a better look at BBrecorder as an alternative to Jing – which I did do after I hooked into the syncronised sessions of which I made one of them. Phew, so much to do and so little time. But I know that I can always pop back here and have a look, or tackle my google reader (I’m scared to go in there at the moment as I know there is so many feeds). This is my blue. I think it is important to be reminded of what it is like to be a student so we can see it from our students points of view. What have I learnt about coping with ‘the blur’ – make sure it is easy to find stuff later so students can go back to find it when they realise they need it. In this age of technology, being made aware of the existance of something may be more important than learning how to use it right now if there isn’t a meaningful thing to use it for.
Hope to see you within the ‘blur’!
The Blur is a great description of the amount and speed at which the web, cloud and the tools associated with them are changing and increasing everyday. The best we can do is not to let ourselves become overwhelmed by it all.
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