Rainy Day Reflection

This feels like it has been a really big thinking week.  We have had some great discussions this week in our forums, and I feel like my thinking is really getting some traction.  I am particularly interested in how the work we have done so far is beginning to dovetail into my own work, especially the work that I do with teachers and technology.  One of my big areas of interest is how to use technology to collaborate asynchronously, and how that asynchronous collaboration supports face-to-face meetings.  I often find myself having conversations with colleagues, both classroom teachers and consultants, about using technology tools to create collaborations that are rich and meaningful, as well as convenient.

I really enjoyed the Google+ Hangout we did on Thursday.  I think the most interesting part for me was thinking about how we all interacted online, in the absence of a lengthy list of norms (something I often include in my trainings).  I thought we all did really well, although some of the long pauses (due I think to the absence of body language, which made it hard to tell when someone was finishing their thought) were just shy of awkward.  It did really help to have someone (in this case, Jane) keeping us all on the same path, with a few minor deviations.  It was a great way for us to have a chance to have a faster-paced, more organic conversation (as opposed to my typed and obsessively pondered forum posts).

I am looking forward to our next face-to-face, as, even with the Google+ Hangout, it feels like a long time between classes.