I've done a bit of an about face since my last post on my next learning steps as I wrap things up at UWM in a couple of weeks. Last post I was thinking about my next program. Now I'm looking forward to the freedom of learning independently. The books we had for classes were great, but I know over these 20 months my personal reading has suffered...how could it not at six credits a semester? I've been kind of jealous of my wife's personal reading of late. I'm one 20 page paper away from that.
The worm turned for me about a week ago when something switched in my head. I asked myself, why do I think I need to pay someone $2000 a class to learn? Before UWM I learned quite a lot from books and blogs. I bet I could again! I've been pretty faithful to my favorites - Blue Skunk and Dangerously Irrelevant, but I haven't done much online reading beyond that. With new initiatives coming for 2012-2013 I need to more deeply explore Edmodo communities and see what others are doing with iBooks Author. I also want to start making connections with flipped classroom groups as we dip our toes in that water as well.
Beyond my interests that relate directly to my current job, I want to dive into my more nerdy curiosities - economics, human resources (management and development) and learning gamification. I've even looked into buying textbooks for macro/micro econ and HR. That's how deep the nerdiness goes right now. We're lucky here in Wisconsin to have Games+Society+Learning folks at UW, so those resources aren't far away.
While I'm enjoying the last challenges at UWM I'm looking forward to these different directions. In the recent Shifted Learning podcast the trio chatting talked about the idea of badges being used to prove that you learned or can do something. I have a lot of odd interests. It's too bad that so much today is based on a transcript. If I dive deep enough into HR, why can't I earn credentials for what I know? Why does it all have to be based on higher ed accomplishments? I feel like our Department of Public Instruction here in the Badger State went hog wild in the late 90s and early 00s pinning a different administrative certification to every possible job title under the sun. Why? Will taking two classes make me more prepared to be a instructional technology coordinator? Or are these things just in place to keep money flowing into graduate schools?
I've read a great deal and listen to people talk about these possibilities quite a bit over the last few years - taking all the best classes different schools have to offer online and mashing up your own degree. I'm optimistic that this will happen sooner rather than later. I'm hopeful that our children have more flexible learning options when their time for higher ed comes...heck, it would be great if it came before that!
The worm turned for me about a week ago when something switched in my head. I asked myself, why do I think I need to pay someone $2000 a class to learn? Before UWM I learned quite a lot from books and blogs. I bet I could again! I've been pretty faithful to my favorites - Blue Skunk and Dangerously Irrelevant, but I haven't done much online reading beyond that. With new initiatives coming for 2012-2013 I need to more deeply explore Edmodo communities and see what others are doing with iBooks Author. I also want to start making connections with flipped classroom groups as we dip our toes in that water as well.
Beyond my interests that relate directly to my current job, I want to dive into my more nerdy curiosities - economics, human resources (management and development) and learning gamification. I've even looked into buying textbooks for macro/micro econ and HR. That's how deep the nerdiness goes right now. We're lucky here in Wisconsin to have Games+Society+Learning folks at UW, so those resources aren't far away.
While I'm enjoying the last challenges at UWM I'm looking forward to these different directions. In the recent Shifted Learning podcast the trio chatting talked about the idea of badges being used to prove that you learned or can do something. I have a lot of odd interests. It's too bad that so much today is based on a transcript. If I dive deep enough into HR, why can't I earn credentials for what I know? Why does it all have to be based on higher ed accomplishments? I feel like our Department of Public Instruction here in the Badger State went hog wild in the late 90s and early 00s pinning a different administrative certification to every possible job title under the sun. Why? Will taking two classes make me more prepared to be a instructional technology coordinator? Or are these things just in place to keep money flowing into graduate schools?
I've read a great deal and listen to people talk about these possibilities quite a bit over the last few years - taking all the best classes different schools have to offer online and mashing up your own degree. I'm optimistic that this will happen sooner rather than later. I'm hopeful that our children have more flexible learning options when their time for higher ed comes...heck, it would be great if it came before that!
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