While those who want to control education, open and interactive moocs may indeed be threatening experiences, yet this one is different — it is threatening because it is envision on a connected, maker model. It is described as:
a collaborative, knowledge-building and sharing experience open to anyone interested in making, playing, and learning together about the educational framework known as Connected Learning
Its threat is because I do not see myself as particularly creative, and I do not make much (or much tangible, that it). In raising this concern a couple times on the #CLmooc tag, I was reassured that creativity and making and connecting with others around us is more a state of mind (I am creative if I think I am creative), and this experiences is as broad or expansive as I want it to be.
OK, in the spirit of connected learning and making . . . here goes.
This said, I have been tossing around two ideas that fit somewhat into a creative, making frame, and I want to start by mentioning one of them, poetry.
Poetry?
Yes, poetry.
Many who I work with and interactive with online, along with those in my professional life, may not know that my second master’s degree in in English and American Literature. In fact, my thesis was on a selection of Walt Whitman’s poems, specifically in his Calamus cycle.
In drafting this post, I came back again and again to his work, which I have before me in hardcover, along with a link to it electronically, Whoever you are, Holding me now in Hand which I am quoting here:
WHOEVER you are holding me now in hand,
Without one thing all will be useless,
I give you fair warning before you attempt me further,
I am not what you supposed, but far different.Who is he that would become my follower?
Who would sign himself a candidate for my affections?The way is suspicious, the result uncertain, perhaps destructive,
You would have to give up all else, I alone would expect to be
your sole and exclusive standard,
Your novitiate would even then be long and exhausting,
The whole past theory of your life and all conformity to the lives
around you would have to be abandon’d,
Therefore release me now before troubling yourself any further, let
go your hand from my shoulders,
Put me down and depart on your way.Or else by stealth in some wood for trial,
Or back of a rock in the open air,
(For in any roof’d room of a house I emerge not, nor in com-
pany,
And in libraries I lie as one dumb, a gawk, or unborn, or dead,)
But just possibly with you on a high hill, first watching lest any
person for miles around approach unawares,
Or possibly with you sailing at sea, or on the beach of the sea or
some quiet island,
Here to put your lips upon mine I permit you,
With the comrade’s long-dwelling kiss or the new husband’s kiss,
For I am the new husband and I am the comrade.Or if you will, thrusting me beneath your clothing,
Where I may feel the throbs of your heart or rest upon your
hip,
Carry me when you go forth over land or sea;
For thus merely touching you is enough, is best,
And thus touching you would I silently sleep and be carried
eternally.But these leaves conning you con at peril,
For these leaves and me you will not understand,
They will elude you at first and still more afterward, I will
certainly elude you,
Even while you should think you had unquestionably caught me,
behold!
Already you see I have escaped from you.For it is not for what I have put into it that I have written this
book,
Nor is it by reading it you will acquire it,
Nor do those know me best who admire me and vauntingly praise
me,
Nor will the candidates for my love (unless at most a very few)
prove victorious,
Nor will my poems do good only, they will do just as much evil,
perhaps more,
For all is useless without that which you may guess at many times
and not hit, that which I hinted at;
Therefore release me and depart on your way.
While Whitman was playing with the text as poet and book, along with levels of erotic love, it has me thinking that the various levels of meaning has further implications for how we learn and connect with one another.
One other thing many people do not know about me–I am a published poet. My poem Medication Literacy is even in a reviewed journal.
Perhaps it is time to explore making . . . poetry . . . over the next couple of weeks in CLMOOC? Why not? Even Whitman continued to write and revise his poetry until the very end!
@JeffreyKeefer @NomadWarMachine @Caecilius @OnlineCrsLady awesome! #clmooc keeps growing!
@JeffreyKeefer @grammasheri @NomadWarMachine @Caecilius @OnlineCrsLady Awesome! Joining in and connecting for fun and serious learning 🙂
@hj_dewaard @grammasheri @NomadWarMachine @Caecilius @OnlineCrsLady Agreed. Who knows where the #CLmooc learning and connectedness may lead!
@JeffreyKeefer @grammasheri @Caecilius @OnlineCrsLady yay, I commented #clmooc
@JeffreyKeefer @grammasheri @NomadWarMachine @Caecilius oooooh, fabulous! I got idea from @jgmac1106 to use Known, not usual blog this time!
@OnlineCrsLady @JeffreyKeefer @grammasheri @NomadWarMachine @jgmac1106 I’m usually an early adopter, but I gotta ask: What’s Known?
@Caecilius @OnlineCrsLady @JeffreyKeefer @NomadWarMachine @jgmac1106 Does she mean a regular blog, not a special one?
@Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @grammasheri @NomadWarMachine @jgmac1106 @withknown so cool it’s hard 2 describe! free withknown.com …
@Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @grammasheri @NomadWarMachine @jgmac1106 … and you can run hosted version of Known which is what I will try …
@Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @grammasheri @NomadWarMachine @jgmac1106 … since I want to set up big group Known to use with my classes! 🙂
@OnlineCrsLady @JeffreyKeefer @grammasheri @NomadWarMachine @jgmac1106 OK, will check it out.
@OnlineCrsLady @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @NomadWarMachine @jgmac1106 @withknown is it like bulb? bulbapp.com #clmooc
.@Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @grammasheri @NomadWarMachine @jgmac1106 some materials also here: connectedlearning.tools from our #DML2015 thing
@grammasheri @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @NomadWarMachine @jgmac1106 @withknown Known hooks into OTHER publishing platforms + being standalone
@grammasheri @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @NomadWarMachine @jgmac1106 @withknown big plus for me is RSS for a Known site AND tags… I need RSS
@OnlineCrsLady is this a “known” site?
@OnlineCrsLady @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @grammasheri @jgmac1106 but could I port my WP blog and followers over?
@grammasheri ha ha, all the word play is wonderful! here is @jgmac1106 ‘s Known for #rhizo15 rhizo15.jgregorymcverry.com
@NomadWarMachine @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @grammasheri @jgmac1106 you can import I think (stream.withknown.com/2015/in-other-…) but idea is syndicate out
@NomadWarMachine @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @grammasheri @jgmac1106 … but I have LOTS to learn… just starting! will document as I go! 🙂
@OnlineCrsLady @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @grammasheri @jgmac1106 yup. I am not moving from my self hosted WordPress yet!
@NomadWarMachine @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @grammasheri @jgmac1106 no reason to move; I’m looking 4 good BOOKMARKING tool to use w/ students
@OnlineCrsLady @NomadWarMachine @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @jgmac1106 I love diigo.com/index for bookmarking, annotation, notes.
@OnlineCrsLady @NomadWarMachine @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @jgmac1106 diigo.com/index teacher console as well
@grammasheri @NomadWarMachine @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @jgmac1106 I’ve had zero success doing Diigo w/ students, more luck w/ Pinterest
@grammasheri @OnlineCrsLady @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @jgmac1106 I like hypothes.is for annotation Never took to Diigo
@OnlineCrsLady @NomadWarMachine @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @jgmac1106 Oooh. My students liked Diigo.
@grammasheri @NomadWarMachine @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @jgmac1106 I tried w/ both Delicious (back in the day) & Diigo…not visual enough?
@OnlineCrsLady @NomadWarMachine @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @jgmac1106 that’s probably it. the visual. looking at hypothes.is right now
@grammasheri @OnlineCrsLady @Caecilius @JeffreyKeefer @jgmac1106 I like hypothes.is coz it’s tag based, rather than needing group membership
@OnlineCrsLady @grammasheri @jgmac1106 who gathered to learn in #rhizo15? I was just there to play.It was not a course
@NomadWarMachine @OnlineCrsLady @grammasheri @jgmac1106 Hey, I approached #rhizo15 as a learning experience!
Connected Learning as Poetry http://t.co/Ga0Zvi1RNx #CLmooc http://t.co/FOJL41uvhY http://t.co/ozPtdVKfas
@NomadWarMachine All posted! http://t.co/FOJL41uvhY #clmooc
@grammasheri @NomadWarMachine @Caecilius @OnlineCrsLady and I am starting #clmooc too! http://t.co/FOJL41uvhY
RT @JeffreyKeefer: @grammasheri @NomadWarMachine @Caecilius @OnlineCrsLady and I am starting #clmooc too! http://t.co/FOJL41uvhY
RT @JeffreyKeefer: @NomadWarMachine All posted! http://t.co/FOJL41uvhY #clmooc
Connected Learning as Poetry http://t.co/u0nvLwoUAt via @JeffreyKeefer #clmooc #clpoettag
Yes! #clmooc is making poetry. Last year we even had a hashtag #clpoettag to tag each other along with the #clmooc tag when we’ve written a poem to be remixed or collaborated on with others. I’m glad you reminded me of this!
Wow, Sheri, that sounds exciting. Do you know any links or examples for how they were used and shared?
So it turns out you are creative. I look forward to your poetry.
Also: attitude not aptitude gets me through 😉
Thanks. No idea where it will come from or what it will look like, but will try it!
I tried to share in my #clmooc posts how I am challenging my notion of creativity http://t.co/Cnjmg44aGI http://t.co/FOJL41uvhY