Learning and especially online and mobile learning was a passion of mine for years. Not only professionally, but also personally. I have spent many ours exploring, researching and disseminating best practices (as well as actions you better avoid 😀 ). This was an effortless and frequently non-paid activity. But now well into the Corona years, I can no longer enjoy looking at the current basic implementation of what was considered digital or online learning.
My interest was waning in the last few years anyhow, as I like new things and once it becomes overly structured, I just loose interest. I like to explore, test out, gather with people that are passionate about a subject in learning or self-realisation themselves and ... join forces while trying to find optimal solutions.
Given my personality, online learning is now overstructured, meaning it is now being built with a common denominator that is cost efficient, yet only reaches the basic implementation of what might work in what I would consider an ideal learning world. It is no longer the quest for Online Educational Resources, MOOCs, access for all, it is just another means of business.
So I decided to close this blogging chapter of my life after more than 1000 blogposts from 2007 onward. I now know for certain I will blog about it again... I won't as the passion has faded. Writing to me is reflection, exploration while sharing... so I will use that energy for a new horizon that has caught my attention: professionals who change their lives beyond the age of 50 (no age limit).
For those interested: I just started to build an awareness dissemination on the subject, feel free to follow my next chosen journey here: https://secretshakers.com/
I first want to say that I have been following you in these spaces for at least ten years probably longer. Your contributions have certainly enriched my work and I know that it has been an influence on the work of many others. Secondly, I have been saddened over the years at the (what seems inevitable) encroachment of private businesses into the OER space and the virtual take-over of eduction by businesses in the name of sustainability. It is as if universities and education professionals find the edtech sphere so fast moving and complex that they are willing to abdicate their responsibility to the students, faculty, and the integrity of education in the name of convenience and budget. Despite that, I continue in education because of people like you, Stephen Downes, Gardner Campbell, Dave Cormier, etc. People who are not afraid to tell it like it is but beyond that create work that is in direct response to the challenges. All of this is to say that I thank you for your work and look forward to your next brilliant iteration.
ReplyDeleteHi Inge, that's a pity!! But what you write makes a lot of sense- you are always into new things. I still find that in online learning - exploring metaverse apps, online escape rooms etc..
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