I can say with confidence this independent study didn't end where I thought it would. My journey was full of detours, unexpected side paths, and a troll or two. I thought I'd spend a lot of my time building stuff in Canvas. I thought I'd work with people on the grab bags they chose. And, for a couple of months, I actually thought I might fully develop one of my grab bag ideas. Instead, I tinkered with the grab bags, but never actually finished one. I conducted a needs analysis for a a course that made me crave simplicity for the students, and I worked on a proposal that was accepted. I spend a lot of the semester in a state of flux, of working hard to be comfortable with being uncomfortable - something I ask my students to do, and now I have a greater empathy for the challenge that is in practice. I like knowing things are completed, that I can check them off my "to do" list. Still, my learning in this course was staggering. I know the unplanned lessons I gleaned from working on the needs analysis for a course so foreign to me, so unlike anything I've ever experienced as a student, or designed as an instructor will stay with me. I saw firsthand the importance of how students perceive the content of a course. From things as seemingly benign as the number of course objectives to the way in which assignment details are listed, explained and expectations for completion understood.
At the time, I didn't understand some of Roz's ideas, methods, and lessons. Now I see some of the reasons for her madness. I didn't understand why she pushed so hard for the conference proposal. Not that I'm against conferences, but it isn't my focus area, and I wasn't sure that my proposal, that talking about the Chaos Dump I'd implemented in 259 would be of interest to anyone. Still, I submitted, and it was accepted. I went to Orlando. The conference was different than most I'd been to before because there were fewer academics and more business minded people, more professionals versus professors. I know from past experiences that networking is a key to attending conferences, and for me feeling as though I've accomplished something by going. Roz created opportunities for networking at this conference with a different demographic than I've been exposed to before. This was the strength of the conference for me. I gained new skills, learned new ways of networking, learned how to move in different circles within the larger academic world. Most surprisingly, one of the gentlemen who came to my poster session invited me to come to a conference he is a part of. I'm grateful for the opportunities that came as a result of this conference, I'm thankful Roz pushed me to do something that at the time I didn't think would really matter in the long run.
Mostly I learned:
