Punto finale!

End of courses.  Thank God!  The first course ended today - I submitted the cumulative project!  I hardly know what to do with myself now with all this extra time on my hands! (joke!) It's been such a constant going, going, going over the past weeks.  Perhaps I could get some needed sleep, or sit down to eat a decent meal!  Course #2 should end in 2 days, with the team project - unfortunately we are not quite ready!  It's going to be a big push for those 2 days.  Okay, so I understand the rationale behind team projects - building a learning community and a community of practice (interacting/sharing ideas/problem-solving/enhancing critical thinking skills, etc. etc. etc.), but honestly my feeling is still "Down with team projects"!  Apparently though no one in HFU shares this feeling!  But I find it is s-o difficult to correlate team projects and member roles in the online learning environment.  Someone has internet problems, or someone has another important meeting, or someone has to work on yet another submission for HFU, and no matter whether the allotted time is 6 weeks or a few days, the project always seems to get done in the last sleepless day or two before it is due!

Very interesting though to see the course reflections posted by fellow classmates for both courses.  Our facilitators must feel gratified, that despite all the noise and complaining, the students learnt so much, are appreciative and will use the new information and technologies learnt. (I'd like to continue to blog! I'll continue to refine my techniques for digital storyboarding, I'd like to continue to use mind maps!) Great job by our facilitators. They are the best! Yeah!  I'm looking forward to the next 2 courses, with God's help.

The Digital Story - another difficult thing to do in this intense, but interesting course.  Not difficult in terms of the technicalities, but in terms of moving me out of my comfort zone; something this online course seems to have been doing from the very beginning.  Perhaps this technology tool should be used simply to teach a lesson (as in a Science lesson), or a particular educational concept! Telling a real story about a real person (as myself) turned me inside out and drained me, making me question what I thought was me, as well as my reasons for choosing to do this online course.  Perhaps this is one more case of fools rushing in where angels fear to tread?

I had a bad weekend! I hate my job! I hate the students! I didn't want to talk to anyone!  I didn't want to blog!  I was wallowing so much in my pity party that I put my foot into the professor's little trap! Now he is gloating and I'm being punished with extra research on one of his pet topics! He's even willing to watch me struggle to find the resources on my own!  As if I didn't have enough work already! But fair is fair - if you do the crime, you do the time!

One of my favorite little stories that keep me inspired is called "The Cross Room".  In this story, a man carrying a cross approaches God and complains that the cross he's been given is too heavy, he can't carry it anymore.  So God tells him to take the cross to the cross room, place it in through the front door and choose another one from the back door.  So the man goes around to the back, looks in at all the large crosses in the room, returns to God and says "I'll take that little one there by the front".  And God replies "but that's the one you brought in"!

This is really what got me out of my pity party, along with talking with some good friends.  I'm reminded always that when I think I have so much to complain about, others have far more burdens to carry and they carry them without constantly questioning "why me".  I'm sorry.  Give me back that same little cross!