DoOO will have its last session next week, and I must admit I’m pretty sad. This has been a wonderful experience, and one particularly needed in the February doldrums. So, with the experience drawing to a close, please humor me as I indulge in a heaping dose of navel gazing. Ok, so I could be all academic about this and call it “thoughtful reflection”, but realistically I’m just not big with understatements (hah!). Plus, there’s nothing wrong with belly button worship anyway. I sing about it to my kid on a regular basis. So, how has DoOO rocked my world? Let me count the ways:
It’s so easy to lose sight of the big picture: between prepping for class, teaching, grading, committee work, advising, and cobbling together whatever dregs of time are left to work on research, we simply don’t have the opportunity to think about what we do all that much. But sitting with my cohort talking about teaching and technology and what we do in general gave me that giddy feeling I used to get when I was a student. Leaving class and thinking things through. Mulling over what people said. Getting inspired for new projects. All of this happened in my cohort (Rush, wed @11 am. We’re #1) and it was glorious.
It’s been especially useful to me to hear peoples’ perspectives on the place of technology. Not everyone shares my enthusiasm, and hearing this from people willing to actively think about this instead of just opting out has been eye-opening for me. I love doing this stuff, but the over-enthusiastic puppy thing can be counterproductive (not to mention annoying.)
[note: for the record, I do not destroy furniture. But becoming caught up in shiny new things? Guilty.]
I also don’t want to give short shrift to all the tech knowledge that’s been imparted. DTLT staff have been AMAZING as usual. Every single one of them has helped me with tech issues, and followed up, and dealt with annoying questions… I’ve learned a great deal, and the old “learning to fish” cliché has been dialed up to 11. I even know how to make my own nets. OK. That’s enough mixing of random metaphors. I need to go enjoy the rest of Spring Break before all that advising and grading falls on my head like a pile of clinker bricks.
All this to say: it’s been grand. I’m going to miss our weekly meetings when they’re over. But over-enthusiastic puppy that I am, I won’t stop working on this stuff. It’s too much fun.
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