Strange question? Well, perhaps at first glance, but when you think about it, technology can easily become a part of so many aspects of our lives. Whether you have committed to studying online on a full-time basis, or you’re wondering if maybe a part-time option is more manageable for you, there are many many options from which to choose!
Something that I noticed after I got comfortable in my ‘online learning hat’ was that the ‘online’ or ‘e’-learning or ‘technical’ part of my learning experience very quickly melted into the other parts of the process. Soon, I began to see it as my customized, border-less and self-empowering learning experience minus the ‘e’. As time went on, it became less important to isolate the ‘online’ part because the technology became one of the many important aspects of my learning experience.
So that brings me back to the holidays! I know that not everyone celebrates at the same time, and not all of us share the same traditions, and there’s certainly quite a lot of travel that takes place during this time of the year, so I think it’s safe to say that not all of us celebrate in the same place either! But, what I’m really interested in talking about here with you, is how (or even whether) you’ve incorporated technology into your holiday traditions. To start us off, I’ll share a story…
I was hiking in Big Basin Redwoods State Park yesterday with a couple of friends. One of them asked me if I had any ideas about organizing a dinner or some sort of party for our social group. I started thinking about it, slept on it over night, and then inspiration hit once the alarm went off this morning! With coffee in hand, I began sifting through all my cookbooks, and put together a menu for a potluck dinner. Then, I started thinking about how to give people access to the menu and the recipes and, a little while later, I came up with an e-vite as well as a dinner menu plus all the recipes! How? Technology! Yes!
Now, I know that a paper and pencil would have worked too, or even making photocopies and mailing them out would have gotten the message across. But I think that technology represents the option to do things differently. I’ll even go a step further and say that one of the most important things that technology allows us to do is to communicate differently. That’s what online learning represents to me – a different way for teachers to get their messages across to students, and an alternative way for students to receive those ideas and form educated opinions about them for themselves. And if you consider how unique and multifaceted each of our perspectives are as we look around in this world and try to make sense of it, we can use all the alternatives we can get!
For some of you, it might still be too early to talk about the holidays, while for others, you’re already planning guest lists and wrapping gifts. I’d like to share my little dinner invite with you, as well as the menu items and recipes. If you’re inspired, you’re more than welcome to use them to create your own events. Or maybe…they’ll inspire you to think about others way that you can use technology to make your holiday season more festive and enjoyable!
A couple of months ago, we were encouraged to start using 
