CCK08 I'm still here...

Today's CCK08 Daily includes a link to Ken's post, wondering if there is anyone else still out here. YES, I am! And enjoying the process.

My "participation" has changed and is changing. The CCK08 Daily makes it very easy to graze - interesting links and commentary appear in my inbox every morning so they are included in my morning skim and read along with the BBC news summary and Stephen's OLDaily. The summary is good and bad. It comes to me so I see it everyday. However, it somewhat limits the serendipity effect in that I'm not looking so broadly through a much bigger hopper of feeds.

I read some of the posts by fellow CCK08ers, either through the CCK08 Daily or the feeds that come through to Google Reader. Post titles are key to selecting what to read. If the title is provocative or slightly twisted, I'm there!

The feed of feeds is an interesting experience. Just dealing with the volume during those first couple of weeks was overwhelming. You could feel the frustration level of many participants. It was a bit like drinking from a fire hose. I suspect that had a significant filtering effect on the type of participants who continued to lurk and actively participate - aka Geoffrey Moore's crossing the chasm. Some of us gained new respect for feed readers with a flexible user interface that matches individual feed consumption preferences.

I usually read some or all of the weekly readings. If something moves me and I have time, I post to my own blog. If I comment on someone else's blog, I usually replicate that or make reference to it in my own blog. I bookmark most things that might be worth going back to and tag them as CCK08 in del.icio.us. I'm a digital pack rat, so I love knowing that these are just sitting there - all neatly tagged and formatted, until I come back for them.

The Moodle discussions content is too academic for my interests. It demonstrates that threaded discussions can be much better for actual discussions that individual blog entries with or without comments and links. Theory or not, I want to know what connectivism can do.

The live presentations are enjoyable and provide a sense of connectedness that comes with synchronous interaction. I join the live sessions when I can. I occasionally view the archived ones.

Though not actually producing the deliverables, I have been thinking about the assignments. For me personally, applying the learning to my courses is more helpful than writing an academic paper or creating a complex network diagram.

I'm also teaching a couple of online courses and subjecting students to some of this connectivism stuff. I'm a big believer in active learning and active research. There is some push back from students who are supposed to be that scarey NetGen. The literature suggests that they are going to demand that education change to be in line with their expertise with instant messaging, social surfing and multiplayer video games. I wish that it were so. We are having fun exploring the internet, Web 2.0 tools and learning in ways new to them. But as a group, they aren't the wired adventurers that I dream of guiding.

I really appreciate the collegiality of those still here. It is nice to come back to the warmth and companionship of the CCK08ers who are thinking and practicing connectivism. It is good to know that I'm not alone. Thanks to all!
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