Blog-A-Day: 6

Learning Design Summer Camp is Behind Us

These last two days have been such a breath of fresh air and a total mind-jumbling drain (in a good way) all wrapped into one. I expected Learning Design Summer Camp to be amazing and it didn't disappoint! We have such an active and engaged community throughout Penn State's many campuses and it was wonderful--especially being new--to be able to meet everyone and make some connections. The topics were all so valid and interesting that after a lively lunch session today on Day Two I was left all but completely drained. I just have so many new thoughts in my head and I've been working to get them onto paper this afternoon in hopes of making some sense out of everything in the next couple of days. I feel that I'm so mentally spent right now that I'm not sure how I'm typing. I LOVE that feeling! I may be crazy but I view it as total accomplishment. Nothing better.

So here are some thoughts for all to ponder:

• Do the communities you participate in help to form who you are? How do you control this?
• Is Twitter really so engaging that a group will continue to use it after a specific project or class is complete but let blogs or discussion groups die right away? Why is this the case?
  
• What does everyone think about blogs and copyright/public information issues?
• Are ePortfolios going to take over? Is it truly due to a generation on the move or are people just tired of killing trees and creating dust magnets out of shelved portfolios?
• Can a blog be used for professional development? In what ways?
  

One of the main themes that is actually clear to me right now was engagement. Hopefully this leads to adoption but let's not skip too far ahead. As evidenced from Camp, we are truly an engaged community and thankfully we have the tools, as well as the personalities, to stay that way. So how do we go about engaging others? Will it be different for faculty, students, administration? We have a really good thing going. Now is the time to act. I traded a good deal of contact information with others and I'll be sending them all an initial "hello" within in the next week. As discussed at Camp, one person can have a good idea... but if you have a group, another person can expand... and another can expand... and another can expand... and then... genius.