Author Archives: Michelle Pacansky-Brock

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Prompt 6: Final Reflections

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Prompt 6: Final Reflections

Here is your prompt for Week 6: March 2 – 8.

In your Week 6 blog post:

  • Take some time to reflect back to the start of our Reflective Writing Club.
  • What were your objectives for this experience? Do you feel that you have achieved them?
  • Discuss any unexpected outcomes you have had as a result of the Reflective Writing Club.
  • Discuss any new or improved skills you’ve acquired through this blogging club and share how they will contribute to your work.

Before next Friday, March 2nd, complete all 4 steps on the Weekly Assignment list.

 

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Prompt 5: Unplugging

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Prompt 5: Unplugging

This week’s prompt is inspired by this sketchnote by Tanmay Vora (@tnvora).

Unplug sketchnote

 

Here is your prompt for Week 5: February 13-March 1.

In your Week 5 blog post:

  • Share your strategies for unplugging. All ideas are welcome, big and small.
  • Perhaps you’d like to present your ideas this week in the form of a sketchnote? Some of our club members (@KatiePala) have been participating in the #SketchCUE challenge to learn this cool form of expression. Maybe you’d like to join in?

Before next Friday, March 2nd, complete all 4 steps on the Weekly Assignment list.

 

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Prompt 4: Beautiful Mistakes

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Prompt 4: Beautiful Mistakes

Here is your prompt for Week 4: February 16-22.

Mistakes are part of life. They happen every single day. We have conditioned ourselves to hide them, even feel shameful about them. But our mistakes are what lead us to the most valuable learning experiences of all.

In your Week 4 blog post:

  • Reflect on your professional experiences and identify one mistake that, while may have been painful at the time, resulted in growth and development.
  • Discuss how you, as an educator, might (or do) frame mistakes as valuable (and good) in your professional role.

Before next Friday, February 23rd, complete all 4 steps on the Weekly Assignment list.

Your Mid-Point Feedback, Please!

Check out the great line-up of sessions @ONE has planned for CCC Digital Learning Day on February 22nd! Registration is now open (and it’s free and open to the public!).

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Prompt 3: The Impact of Digital Technologies

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Prompt 3: The Impact of Digital Technologies

A Look Back at Week Two

I know, I know — this week went fast didn’t it? As spring gets closer and our days get longer, they sure do feel shorter. Fewer of you responded to Prompt 2 and I’m hopeful we’ll see some additional posts show up in our blog feed soon. Remember to include #CCCWrite in your post somewhere, ok? That is part of what triggers your post to appear in our blog feed.

On to Week 3!

Here is your prompt for Week 3: February 9-15.

In recent years, digital tools have changed what we do and how we do it. When I started teaching in 2002, I never would have dreamed that I’d be sharing videos of myself and reflecting with educators around the world through something called a blog. Yet, here we are! For this post, take some time to reflect on your professional role (or roles) and the ways that digital technologies have impacted you.

In your Week 3 blog post,

  • Compare your current professional experiences with your professional experiences at the beginning of your career.
  • Discuss how digital technologies have impacted what you do professionally and how you do it.
  • Has your professional identity shifted at all as a result of the emergence of digital technologies? What about who you interact with and how you interact with them?

Before next Friday, February 16th, complete all 4 steps on the Weekly Assignment list.

Check out the great line-up of sessions @ONE has planned for CCC Digital Learning Day on February 22nd!

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Prompt 2: Conferencing

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Prompt 2: Conferencing

A Look Back at Week One

You all made week one of our Reflective Writing Club a smashing success! I have been touched by the deep reflections you shared this past week in response to Prompt 1: What do you know now that you wish you’d known then? Did you see Sheri Edward’s great slide deck of her her takeaways from our first week? I hope you’re feeling more confident about blogging and more connected to our community (like I am!).

On to Week 2!

Here is your prompt for Week 2: February 2-8.

This week, I attended the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative conference in New Orleans, along with about 800 other educators. While I was there, I tried to visualize all of the knowledge being exchanged through the presenter-attendee and attendee-attendee interactions. I wondered where all of this knowledge goes once the event is over.

Conferences are a valuable part of professional learning. At conferences we make and sustain valuable professional relationships, gain insights about how different institutions are tackling familiar problems, and learn about emerging research and practices in our field.  However, attending conferences is expensive, making it a privilege to which many faculty and staff at underfunded institutions do not have regular access. Given this, sharing what we learn from a conference experience is even more important.

In your Week 2 blog post,

  • Discuss the role that attending conferences plays in your professional learning
  • Reflect on one valuable conference experience you had and discuss why you found it valuable.
  • Let us know what happens once your conference experience is over. Do you share what you’ve learned and, if so, how and with whom?

Before next Friday, February 9th, complete all 4 steps on the Weekly Assignment list.

breathe

Reminder: Live Support Sessions on Tuesday and Thursday

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Reminder: Live Support Sessions on Tuesday and Thursday

Wow! What an exciting first week we are having. I’m having such enjoyment reading your first posts and seeing all the great interactions fill our Comment feed. I’ve been reflecting on many of the posts I’ve ready so far.

If you are feeling some struggles getting going, please take a deep breath and know the first week is always the toughest. You are learning new things, solving problems, moving outside of your comfort zone, and working on integrating your online practices into your regular, daily routine. Hang in there — you’ve got this!

And we’ve got you if you need some live support. Here are two options you may take advantage of this week to get your questions answered.

Week 1: Club Lounge Support Sessions

  • Today, Tuesday, 1/30 at 2pm PT/ 5pm ET (led by Todd Conaway)
  • Thursday, 2/1 at 3pm PT/ 6pm ET (led by Michelle)

To join a session, log into our Canvas Course and click on Club Lounge in the left navigation menu.

Here are some alternative ways to get support too.

Prompt 2 will arrive on Friday. Happy blogging!

keep exploring

Some Comments about Comments

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Some Comments about Comments

I hope you are enjoying seeing new posts flow through blog feed! I’m writing this post to give you an update and few tips.

Comments Feed

If you haven’t noticed yet, I have added a new widget in the right sidebar that is titled “Comments on #CCCWrite Blogs” (thanks again, here, go to Laura Gibbs!). This area will show all comments on our members blogs. There are a few stipulations I’d like to make about this feed, however:

  • If you receive comments on your posts that are not #CCCWrite related, they will still show here. There is no way to parse out those comments.
  • If you are using Wix, Weebly, or Medium as your blogging platform, unfortunately, your comments will not appear in the comments feed. This is due to the way the different blogging platforms handle the RSS feed for the comments. I encourage everyone to try different ways of engaging with blogs each week (the blog feed, the Twitter feed, even mosey over to our Members Roster and explore the blogs of folks located near you or really far away).

The Commenting “Experience”

It is typical for a blog to require a commenter to enter a name, email, the comment, and complete a Captcha (anti-spam test). However, as we navigate the different blogs, we’re finding that some of you have set your comments up in such a way that it requires a user to log-in to leave a comment. If you require commenters to log in, it will significantly reduce the number of comments you receive.  If you are wondering what the experience is like for a commenter on your blog, open an incognito or private browsing window in your browser, navigate to your blog, and try leaving a comment. That’s a great test for everyone to do! If you are confronted with a log-in screen, I recommend you visit the commenting settings in your blogging platform and see if you can adjust them.

Twitter or Post?

Interactions on Twitter are great! But please leave your comments for each other directly on their blog posts. This ensures that more conversations can develop in the comment area. Think of Twitter as our backchannel and a place where you can follow your peers and build your professional learning network, which will stick with you long after our Club is over.

Finally, if all this feels kind of messy, you’re right! Remember, learning should be messy. If it isn’t probably doing something wrong. I know there are things that can be improved with this process and I will be reaching out to ask for your feedback so keep those suggestions in mind!

That’s all for now! Have a lovely weekend, everyone.

michelle

 

rear view mirror

Prompt 1

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Prompt #1: What do you know now that you wish you had known then?

Making connections across different points in time is a powerful reflective practice. Your first prompt will encourage you to think back on your life and identify aspects of your personal and professional growth. Identify a time in your past and think critically about differences between then and now. How have you changed? What do you know now that you wish you had known then about yourself, your profession, other people, technology, or life in general?

You may be as creative as you’d like in your blog post. You may choose to integrate a brief video to enhance your writing or embed an image that contextualizes your reflections. Have fun. 🙂

This prompt will also serve as an ice breaker for our learning community. By reading each others’ posts and leaving comments on them, you will get to know one another and begin to make meaningful connections.

Things to keep in mind for your post:

If you need some help this week…

  • Post in the Q&A Discussion: Navigate over to our Canvas Course (be sure you’ve self-enrolled using the link I emailed to you). From the homepage, click on Discussions in the left navigation menu and add your question to the Q&A discussion.
  • Join the live Q&A support session on Tuesday: I will be attending the ELI conference in New Orleans next week and Todd Conaway has generously offered to lead a support session in our Club Lounge on Tuesday, 1/30 2pm PT/ 5pm ET.  Join in and ask your questions live. To get to our Club Lounge, log into our Canvas Course and click on Club Lounge in the left navigation.  Let’s hear it for Todd’s awesome community contribution! Thanks, Todd!

Before next Friday, February 2nd:

  1. Write and publish a post on your own blog in response to this prompt. Be sure to add the tag #CCCWrite to your post.
  2. Tweet the link to your post (not the link to your blog, but your specific post) and include the hashtag #CCCWrite.
  3. Comment on your peers’ CCCWrite blog posts! Each week, be sure to read and comment on several of your peers’ posts. Getting comments is one of the most rewarding parts of blogging and these interactions are what will make you feel like you are part of a community of your peers. There are several ways you can follow and interact with our CCCWrite posts.  Choose the option below that works for you or try them all!
    • View and interact with the posts from the #CCCWrite blog post feed (curated by Laura Gibbs using Inoreader)
    • View and interact with the #CCCWrite Twitter feed.
    • Follow the CCCWrite RSS feed in your own RSS reader (or smart reader) app. A smart reader is an application that “catches” all of the podcasts, blogs, and other feeds you regularly read. If you don’t have one, give Feedly a try. Follow these steps.
      • Download the free Feedly app to your mobile device or create an account using the Feedly web application.
      • an RSS feed (or “smart reader”) like Feedly to catch the #CCCWrite posts. To do so, download Feedly (or your favorite smart reader app) and enter this feed URL:
        • Download the Feedly app or create an account here.
        • When prompted to follow a source, enter this feed URL (created by Laura Gibbs using Inoreader): http://www.inoreader.com/stream/user/1005987531/tag/cccwritepost
        • Now you interact with our blog post feed using Feedly on your computer, tablet, and/or phone.
  5. Reply to every comment you receive on your blog. Don’t leave your peers hanging! Be mindful and appreciative of the time your peers have taken to read and comment on your thoughts. Be considerate of their view points and ask for clarification if you don’t quite understand their point of view or want to learn more.

These four steps are also available on the Weekly Assignment list.

Complete the Ready Checklist

Complete the Ready Checklist!

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Complete the Ready Checklist!

Greetings!

I’m so happy you are here! Take some time to explore this site, which will serve as the central hub for the @ONE Reflective Writing Club.  We have people joining every day and I will be using this blog as our communication hub. Please “Subscribe to the Reflective Writing Club” blog now using the form in the right column of the post page.

Next, complete the items on the Ready Checklist by January 26th and you’ll be in great shape!

Be sure to encourage your colleagues to join us by signing up soon so they’re ready to go on the 26th.

Questions can be posted in our Canvas course (see your email for the self-enrollment link), on Twitter with our hashtag #CCCLearn, or if they’re personal in nature, you’re welcome to email me directly.

Sincerely,

michelle