Disney – Pooh Reaching For Honey (Photo credit: Express Monorail)

I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I’ve managed to find another honey pot to stick my head in.  I’m not sure if it is another form of procrastination – which I have a PH.D. in – or if it is an undeniable opportunity to learn and gain proficiency in projects I’ve been focusing on developing in my personal and professional growth and development.  Tonight – when I avoiding a dining table full of marking finish – I signed up for a free online Educational Technology course ( if interested: http://etmooc.org/register/).  In my defense, I discovered the course this week at our PD session on Tech in the Classroom, and I was alerted again to the course via an advertisement on the student blog site when I was marking the students’ blogs – I was marking!  So, it could be argued serendipity, not procrastination led me to join.

Alas, I’m a workaholic high school English teacher who is always struggling to make each day better than the last with my children – Luca and Tulia, my love – Cristian, my students, my classes, myself, and my friends – in that order, probably!  I have a nagging  habit of getting stuck in multiple pots – but it is my passion of learning that drags me into these various bee nests.

So, why have I climbed this latest tree?  Well, for the past three years I have been pioneering blogging with my students, and I have learned to do so via trial and error and from the educational community online.  Technology is not a natural extension of my skills – it is a strange and foreign forest that often overwhelms.  But I believe in the transformational power of online learning for both me and my students.  So, I continue to seek out platforms to engage their learning and empower them to find their voices as readers and writers.  I love that blogging allows my students’ hearts and minds to be enjoyed by a larger community of readers, than just me!

But I believe there are many platforms for me to learn and embrace as an educational leader with my students – so it is my hope that Alec and his direction of this #etmooc course will help me build my skills and knowledge for more growth and development that takes our learning to the next level.

Furthermore, next year it is our family plan to live in Argentina for a semester – second semester.  So, I’m hoping this course can introduce me to learning with online technologies as well as, perhaps, open up opportunities to collaborate with my school online.

So, in the wee hours of the morning here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, I bid the #etmooc community a fond hello.

Disney’s adaptation of Stephen Slesinger, Inc.’s Winnie-the-Pooh (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Filed under: ETMOOC Tagged: #etmooc, E-learning