The View From Above

As many of you already now (listen to me...I'm writing this as if thousands of people actually read this) I just returned from a week long trip to Canada, where I spent a wonderful week in Montreal. OK, it was actually 5 great days and one that really, really sucked bad...I mean, since when does it ever go from 60 and sunny to 20 and snowing on the 27th of April!!!! Global Warming my Ass...I didn't bring a coat, and I froze my tuckus off. I should lay blame for that squarely on the already square jaw of Al Gore...but I already blame him for losing the presidency in 2000. I mean come on...it was gift wrapped, AL. You had Clinton, economic prosperity, and you were running against a moron- but you had to make out with Tipper at the convention, bleech...

OK- enough of that. So anyway- Montreal!



Montreal is an amazing city. It's got old school European charm, and a modern flair. The people are friendly, and the restaurants and shops are amazing. Like everywhere else in Canada, they are nutty about hockey, and I had the good fortune of being there when "Les Habitants" were fighting for their playoff lives.

However, The best part of Montreal hands down is getting to see Susan. Susan is my friend for the last almost 20 years, and the last Prom date I ever had...she's also the only woman whose ever kept up with me doing vodka shooters...but she's got kids now, so we won't dwell on that one.

So for at least one fine evening last week, Susan left the kids with her wonderful hubby Patrick, and we found a swanky little restaurant and a fine bottle of Shiraz. The she asked me the best question I've been asked in quite sometime....

"Russ" she said "What in the hell is wrong with you Americans?"

Now from 2000-2008, I could have simply answered "Dubya" and we'd have been satisfied...but it's gone so far beyond the idiot from Texas anymore. We've gone beyond simply bullying the rest of the world to spread our own little blend of democracy (two creams and one sugar with mine, please) to ripping ourselves apart in the name of keeping our own form of rugged individualism alive and well.

You look at the news now, and I wonder..what the hell is wrong with us? We are moving from the land of the free, to the land of "papers please." We are so afraid of our own shadows and our own need for entitlements that we regularly create fearsome enemies, so those who swear to protect us can help to chip away at our rights. Just look, in the last 10 years, we've made enemies out of gays, lesbians, Hispanics, Muslims, and hell...anyone who pretty much isn't a white male follower of Jesus (and that's Jesus as in Christ, not the guy who cuts your lawn and trims the shrubs.)

What is wrong with us? Why is it so much easier to tear down, instead of build up? To hurt rather than help? To take life and happiness instead of spreading ideals and joy? What strikes me as odd, and it has for some time, is that those same folks who praise their piousness are the ones that strike out against the poor and the ones that look to build people up and out of their situations. Take the recent example of Glenn Beck railing against "social justice" and people like Jim Wallis who spend their lives worrying about the plight of the poor. Why...you might ask...because it might take a few bucks away from the wealthy.

I could go on and on...but the stuff in Arizona is still to aggravating to cover here, and i think that it might even exacerbate the point even more. I suppose if I had to answer her question...I'd point out that Canadians just seem to like one another, and have a degree of respect for positions which are not their own. They seem to get the idea that while there is an "i" in society, it's not the focal point of the word, but rather just an integral piece of making it all work for everyone.

Finally Friday

Well it's Friday, and my quest for SAP knowledge in Montreal is drawing to a close. I've gotten some good classwork in this week, and still managed to spend sometime working...OK, more time working than I wanted to have to deal with...but it's a living.

The nice thing about the SAP Basis job is that it's a lot like the work I did both at UT and The Andersons administering the Banner and Baan software systems. SAP just seems alot bigger and more imposing.

Montreal is a beautiful city, and other than freezing my buns off the other day when it went from a springy 60 to 20 and snowing in about 12 hours (that will teach me to leave my coat at home.) It's been nice to see the old city, see what the Forum has turned into (good bye hockey...hello Movie Theater) and to see some old friends and their new families.

What's most interesting to me about Canada though is the Canadians...such a reasonable group of people. Now I see on the news that there is a group of lawmakers and activists who are following the Lee Atwater/Karl Rove handbook to a Tee, and trying to divide and conquer anyone who doesn't look or sound like them. However, most of the people I've seen up here seem to legitimately want to look out for one another. They care about rights and how the world might visualize their actions- in fact, it seems that the only disagreement i've seen up here has been the occasional arguments about how far "Les Habitants" will advance in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

So thank you Canada..it's been nice to visit a place which still seems to have it's wits about it. It's nice to see a sane country without the need for shouting over tea.It's been nice, but now it's time to go home and hear stories about Chelsie's junior prom.

Random Idiots Speed My Day Along

Spencer Pratt is an idiot....

But OK, he's a harmless idiot, with no apparent following other than 16 year old viewers of "The Hills" but apparently that gives him license to become a social critic...take the example of the new video from M.I.A called "Born Free."





Now I'll caution all of you with weak stomachs...it's a rough video to watch, and it's taking on a brutal set of topics in it's treatment of racism, genocide, and the tactics of the police state. No, it's not set in modern day Arizona, but the scary thing is that it could be. We are so dense anymore to the erosion of the basic right that make up our cherished freedoms that we are all to willing to give them away to the first carnival barker or tea salesman that comes along and frightens us with a story about people who are different.

Now in my neighborhood, the police haven't come busting down the doors looking for redheads....but they didn't do that in Germany in the early 1930's. It took some time before "papers please" became a yellow star affixed to your chest, and the seizure of your property because you were different.

In many ways, I assume this video mimics M.I.A's own experience growing up in Sri Lanka, where the government oppressed her family and the Tamil people for most of her life. I would think that these types of things are very real to her, and should serve as a modern day warning to those who think it's ok to discriminate and round up people who are different. Even if it's politically expedient, it's never right to legislate hate and discrimination...and yes, that one was for Arizona.

Anyway, that brings me back to my buddy and noted social critic Spencer Pratt...apparently Spence was a little bored sitting in the waiting room for his wife's latest plastic surgery adventure and he tweeted this little gem about MIA:

"The music artist MIA should be kicked out of America today for using the US flag on her Nazi like hit squad in her new music video!"

Are you kidding me?

So if you make a statement which offends Spencer-look out, you'll be joining the people who the police think might be illegal in Arizona and be run out on a rail.

Spence...buddy, stick to what you know best (whatever the hell that is) and leave the thinking that involves the firing on more than one synapse to the rest of us.

The way to open debate on something that offends you, is to talk about it, to rally against it and move public opinion using the ways of the pen and the lectern...not to simply escort the offensive ideas out of the nation....or as MIA shows us...out to the desert. If you think that there isn't a very short correlation between what MIA artistically presents and what is going on in the world today...please, turn off "The Hills" and turn on the real world.

Back for More

As you can probably tell, I originally posted to this blog as a means of passing my educational Technology Class back in "Ought Eight" but then class ended...life got fun with the kids getting older, and the job at UT getting tougher, and with things in general getting a lot busier.

So in some ways, I got away from doing what I like to do- writing. I've done the Facebook thing, and I've posted to other blogs...but it's never really been the same. Essentially, I put my curiosity and thoughts on hold- and with the current state of American Politics (still my passion) that's been really tough for me to work through.

I've had a lot of thoughts in the past year or so, but little inspiration to write them down. I've had little inspiration to explore what is going on inside my head and the thoughts on what our system is devolving into have basically just staid in my head. I've watched the group of friends that I went into my PhD program finish their degrees, or move on to other adventures...but i'm still here, and i'm still full of ideas. I think it's time to ignore the writers block of the last 16 months or so and start sharing my thoughts again.

Look out world...I feel inspired again.

So what should anyone who has the misfortune of stumbling across this going to see...well just what the title implies...Rambling Meddlings and Endless Banter from the liberal mind. I try not to close off discussion from any point of view, I mean in the grand scheme of things...it's not the point if you want a free flow of ideas and a way for ideas to be shared. Everyone, as one of my professors signs his email responses "is entitled to their own wrong opinion."

There's lots to discuss...i'll be back with some first steps soon.

It's the end of the class as we know it....

Sometimes good things come out of bad situations....

Before I get to the post for this week, I just wanted to thank the good people of Perrysburg for all the assistance they have shown my sister and her family after the fire that nearly destroyed their home this past weekend. It certainly says alot about the character of people when they pull together to help like this.

Anyway...on to the questions;

we were asked to conside the following:

-Do you see any patterns in your responses?
-What do your entries tell you about yourself in a DE environment?
-What do you think you could have done differently or would do differently next time as a learner in DE?
-What do you think you did well?
-What values did this experience give you unlike other on-campus courses you have taken?
-What suggestions would you give to someone else who might consider DE in the future?
-Would you take another DL course? Why?

Patterns that I have followed since the first day of the class would be to consider the ideas asked for along with my own experiences and see if I can find some patterns that both I and the readers of this blog can follow up with and learn from.

what makes me different, or sets me apart is that I try to look for connections outside the DL world and beyond the class to see if we can fit these things we are discussing in class into what I think is real world practical experience. Sometimes these things are mundane and somewhat silly (like my homage the Morris Day and the Time) and sometimes they dealt with issues of the class directly...but I think it's critical that we always try to tie real world experience with the class ideas, otherwise it becomes something of an old dusty lesson that goes back to the shelf when the class is finished.

I think I kept this idea in mind, and I think that it served me well in my work. I think that the values that are important transcend the physical classroom though, and it is important to keep this in mind becuase unlike the classroom environment, when you get behind or cannot understand the ideas in place of the DL class, there is not one person other than yourself that is going to notice or be able to ask for assistance. it has to make you think very carefully about what time and effort you are putting into the class, because it is the only way to try to keep up with the class.

my suggestions for the future would be to integrate more of the web conferences, and web discussion areas and times for the class in order to build more cohesive understanding and agreements I think that would allow for each of us in the class to gain a more detailed level of comprehension from both the material and the others in the class. I think that was one of the things that was missing in this class...there was very little direct connection with anyone else in the class.

I think that looking back all the way through my posts, I see that it is perfectly clear that my understanding of the DL classroom has grown, and I am certain that I will be taking more DL classes, and hopefully even teaching one in the near future. I think that DL is a great option to those of us with little time during the day due to work and family concerns, and fully allows us to utilize our time and effort when it is convenient for us. I think that the future using this application and technology is very bright.

not to mention the fact...I enjoy it. I think that is one of the more important, and most overlooked areas of learning. If we have gotten that far, we are doing a very god job.

thanks,

Russ

the waiting is the hardest part

"Don't Let em Kill you babe...dont let em get to you"

Sage advice from Mr.Tom Petty that has come in handy in the last few weeks of the class. It's been interesting to see how grading and observation of students in the DL environment can be both subjective and objective given the situations. I think that the primary cause for the subjectivity in the assessment phase has been that there has been no online, real time contact with each other. In prior semesters classes that I have taken online, we've had at least 1-2 sessions in which we have used chat, voice chat, or technology like Second Life in order to have some real time interactions. While I think that some would view this as not in the core interest of DL education, I think that anytime you can have class while in your living room wearing fluffy bunny slippers, the better your education is going to turn out.



I think that this type of real time activity would be great to help us judge where people are coming from...it doesnt always come through from the written post or email as well as from real live experience.


as far as my paper goes, I'm making some progress. I've always been concerned with the political climate we have these days affecting how we learn, and with the advent of the widespread use of distance learning and web based learning it has made me crazy to think what could be posted on the web that could be used against you.

Academic Freedom, for me, is one of the pillars of defense of the democracy, and in out current age of technology we need to take steps to see that it stays that way. With a sweep of the mouse, you can find any number of things that were written either by or about academics and in some cases that has been used to level claims of terrorism or being unpatriotic. I'm not going to get into the vitriol here...but it's a serious issue that demands serious attention.

Random Topic for class or Journal Post #7

Well this week I think that I learned something that was totally unintended...the power of assumption. The negative power of assumption that is.

in many ways, the last few months have been a struggle for me to move into a place where I think I should be in many areas of my life. Like many people these days, there is a certain degree of financial stress, demands from the workplace that seem unreasonable, and a never ending pull on my time that seems to come from every direction except the one that I want at the time.

So with this seeming pull in every direction from the beast we know as stress, i fell victim to the wide eyed beast of assumption. In the last assignment, I thought that I know what was coming from the web site, and wrote the page on the basis that my audience knew what I was trying to do. For a moment there, I went away from what I knew, which was that this was an online web piece in which online learners were going to be drawn in to by the sheer draw of the subject matter.

That was was my assumption, and it really screwed up what I was trying to do, because if there is any hard and fast rule that should be followed in anything, especially education, it is that we should never think that just because we know who or what we are talking to, or about that everyone or anyone else will. We as educators must follow three rules- know thyself, know your audience, and know your audiences position as well as your own. This is the stuff of true learning- whether in the online classroom or in a physical building.

By not identifying or tailoring my assignment to a particular group, I took a step toward thinking that people would "get" my ideas just because they are there. That is a critical problem, and not only lost direction and audience, but it also lost some of the creative process that is so necessary to stimulating the critical thought that I was trying to gather in the project.

Long story short...it cost me some points, but delievered a lesson that I can use in the future. I think it's a draw at this point.

more to come....thanks for reading.