Today folks in the network self-organized an Elluminate session where we got together and shared thoughts and responses about connectivism.
A few things that worked really well about this:
- there was organization/facilitation, and a plan. Thanks Ulop O’Taat and Frances Bell
- sharing personal responses and experiences were encouraged (in fact, they were the point)
- student-led presentations designed to engage everyone – they were short and invited everyone to contribute to the whiteboard in addition to text and audio
- it was highly relevant and responsive to what’s been going on (lots of discussion around the topic of, “hey where did everybody go?”)
One thing (of many) we discussed was constraints and borders in Networks. It is easy to reject those on principle in striving to be open and free in a network. But one reason this session happened, I think, is because it was so needed – we benefited so much from this type of constraint (a scheduled time, a plan, facilitation). Networks typically have a large degree of freedom and lots of stuff going on in them. I find myself sometimes lost in the content (trying to scan the environment, catch up, whatever). Today I was reminded about how valuable it is to stop doing that and connect with people. As we have heard throughout the course, the learning is in the connections. Today was a good example of that, for sure. Thanks again, you guys!