Status report: Adding experts and graphics to the course

I will start with a confession: I have not yet reread the binders of material from my ION course. I look at them and think of at least six other things to do, including laundry, vacuuming, and, if you can imagine this, working on client projects. My house is clean, which is nice, but that is not getting this course written.

One thing I have done, however, is to contact experts in various aspects in writing, publishing, and promoting a nonfiction book and ask them to write or record something on their subject matter. As always, I am touched by the generosity of creative people in my field. Ask for something, and they say, “Sure. Happy to do it.” No hesitation. Just, “Sure.”

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No Wonder Retail Businesses Are in Trouble

I definitely think my next job is going to be as a mystery shopper. Decent customer service seems to be an endangered species. This week has been particularly notable for its frustrating shopping experiences, and I have finally decided a rant is in order.

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Running Out of Reasons for Not Writing My Course

If I thought I was going to graduate from my ION online course and immediately start writing my own, I was mistaken. It’s a bit more complicated than that—well, more than a bit. Writers are notorious for procrastination. In our line of work, it’s called “sharpening pencils.” I think that’s a throwback to the days when we wrote in longhand and had to do so many things before we could actually put words on paper. As we graduated to typewriters and then computers, we found more creative ways to put off the inevitable. I think I have now come up with the best one yet: Stop whatever I am doing and run to the nearest Apple store to buy a new computer. Sounds extreme I know, but that’s exactly what I did.

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Limbo Land (between the end of one thing and the beginning of another)

In a  recent blog post on transitions. I wrote:

Life transitions are confusing. Between endings and beginnings is a fallow space where nothing seems to be happening. Actually, it is a time of quiet creativity and renewal. Something new is in the works.

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Good news for older learners: The mind does not retire!

The grades for my online course came out today, and I am pretty excited. I got an “A” and was ranked in the top 5 percent of the class. After eight weeks of intense effort and more than one crisis of confidence, I feel pretty good about that. I kept track of my hours because I wanted to know how much time I had put in. It came to eighty hours, which seemed a staggering amount of time; but when I went back to the earliest emails, I read that we should be prepared to spend from eight to ten hours a week online. OK. So, ten hours a week for eight weeks equals eighty hours. Had I not done this little exercise I would have sworn I put twice as much time as anyone else. Not so.

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The course is over, done, finis!

It’s hard to describe how it feels to unclench my whole body, which has been a wee bit tense for the last eight weeks. Probably the person who is the most aware of this is my sympathetic and supportive sister, who hears about it daily.

Having said all that, I must add that taking this course was one of the most significant things I have done in years. People come to me with an idea; I help them turn that idea into something tangible: a book. I logged into ION with an idea; this course has taught me how to turn it into something tangible: an online course. Continue reading

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In the home stretch of my online course

I just turned in my final project today and can’t convey the feeling of relief. The assignment was to write a module for the course we intend to teach. I spent twelve hours on it, which seemed excessive; but now that I think about it, I used to spend that much time writing complex and difficult articles. In those days I was able to sit (at the typewriter) for long stretches of time without turning into a pretzel knot. (I was in my thirties then. LONG time ago.)

Like all previous assignments, when I first looked at it, I thought I will never be able to do this. Like all previous assignments, however, I did it. It helped a lot that several of my classmates posted their final projects immediately, so I could see what it was supposed to look like when done correctly. In addition to doing our own projects, we were expected to read and comment on several others. At first, they seemed uniformly fabulous, but as I read I became more discerning. Some were more fabulous than others. A couple were extremely well written. I told one of my classmates that if I were his editor, I would be out of a job.

I was surprised to discover that I am not the only one who will be teaching my first online course. There are others who are just as apprehensive as I am. No matter how good professionals may be at what we do routinely, we tend to experience a crisis of confidence when it comes to something we have never done. I am in very good company on that score.

I have received one critique so far. The first comment was “Awesome!” I’ll take that kind of feedback any time. The module I planned was on how to write a book proposal, which is difficult enough to explain in person. Trying to describe the process online proved to be even more challenging. This isn’t the kind of situation where I can meet someone for coffee and talk through that person’s confusion or concern. On the other hand, we can plan synchronous (real time) discussions on the phone, gotomeeting.com, or Skype, which is beginning to feel like a very good idea.

Besides planning the module, we were asked to describe the technical requirements for our course, as well as its strengths and weaknesses. I was pretty understated about both, but a classmate pointed out that one of the strengths of my course was my own experience teaching it f2f (face-to-face). He suggested I include that. This same person was quite forthcoming about his lack of experience teaching online and his struggles with technology. I thought that was quite courageous and something I might also add.

I will actually get to submit my final project twice—once early enough to get some feedback and again as the “final final” to be graded. That provides a great opportunity to make improvements before I write, “Please grade this one” in the subject line of my post. One of the things we will be graded on is grammar and punctuation. Taking no chances, I sent my draft to my trusted editor, my sister, Judy. You may recall that she edited my memoir, Words To Live By. How lucky can one be to be related to a top-notch editor? Believe me, with me as a client, she will never be out of a job!

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Learning to Teach Online

I am a long way from teaching my online course, but as I read and research and learn, I am becoming more aware of the many things I will have to build into it as I design it. In the course I am now taking, we are in the midst of analyzing another course—a real one—based on six categories that range from instructional and Web design to support and resources for students. As an instructor/facilitator I will have to do the following: Continue reading

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The Space Between Endings and Beginnings

Life transitions are confusing. Between endings and beginnings is a fallow space where nothing seems to be happening. Actually, it is a time of quiet creativity and renewal. Something new is in the works.

When most of us consider beginnings and endings, we usually start with beginnings–a new relationship, a new job, a new project. It may seem backwards to start with the end of something, and yet it is so logical. I first read this concept in a book called Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes by William Bridges and wondered why it had never occurred to me before. Continue reading

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Needed: a GPS for the new world of distance learning

I am more than half way through my course: two modules down, half way through the third. Most of the time I feel like a stranger in a strange land. Despite all my years of using a computer and exploring the Internet, I spend a lot of my time LOST. There are two aspects to life online: the first is to complete the tasks; the second is to post it in the right place so that fellow students (learners) and the instructor (facilitator) can see it. It is the second aspect that is befuddling me. Continue reading

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