Ok… I did my very first tweeting today.
In the morning I played along with #DigitalGaurdiansEg Twitter Scavenger Hunt and that wasn’t so bad. People posted pictures and other people guessed what the pictures were. I didn’t get to the party until late, so for me the asynchronousity of it was an easy way for me to learn the ins and outs of replying and loving something. I also got to learn the “tabs” for keeping up with content.
Then came the afternoon live tweeting with the #OpenLearning18 group… Oh my… I’m so out of my depth. I felt unsure of what to do in the beginning and as we progressed I felt that I couldn’t keep up. Understand… there were only like 8 of us, but it felt like 80 to this novice. I muddled through and think I did well enough in the end. I didn’t try an original post, but I did lots of replying and (to my mind) supportive commentary.
After the chat was over, I went back to the pre-syllabus, and remembered seeing Sue Erickson’s post about surviving and thriving. I re-read it and bullet 4 struck like lighting. I don’t have to be on every post, comment, or blog. I get to choose, I’m not supposed to do everyting… Wow.
I know for some of you this will sound crazy, but for me this concept is profound. It was recently commented by my co-worker that I don’t say no to anything I’m asked to do. As a librarian and contentious employee, why would I say no to a request? If it’s in my power to help, I help. If it’s not, I find someone who can. I have always been this way and it works for me.
So for me this translates to… As a student why would I not do all the work? I have always been an overachiever who read the syllabus and some of the material before the first day of class. I tried to get assignments, readings, and homework done early. I was that student in class that had the orderly binder of all the materials annotated a week before it was discussed.
In this setting, I have to teach myself not to do it all. I need to remain flexible but focused so I don’t overwhelm myself. I have to choose my path which may be the through the woods and not on the road everyone else is on. And I have to learn that that’s okay.
