This week for me, for whatever reasons, has felt a little all over the place. I think it is because we are now really starting to get into the day to day practice of our lab and research plan. We have the eCollege classroom which is really a lab space but of course still feels like a classroom but with different parameters and expectations than we typically have in our eCollege classrooms; we have this blog space; we have our contact with students both in the class and via Skype/calls and then there is the research study/design itself, around which these other entities revolve.
It is almost like I am trying to get comfortable with juggling these different and parallel cyber spaces which are related through their common goal - this research study but yet this blog does not directly correspond to the lab space.
I like the fact that our 'classroom' = lab is new to Walden and that we can use that eCollege space as we need it for our lab purposes (versus how a tradition course might be run) yet at the same time, all of these differences add up! My role in the lab is different from my role in classrooms. First, I have the pleasure of working with two esteemed colleagues in the lab. This is different; we don't get to co-teach in our regular instruction (but that is a neat idea, as I think about it!).
Second, while the lab is definitely and predominantly educational - it is not the same in content/demand as a 3 credit Walden course, by comparison. I review but don't always grade; I comment on some student work/participation but not always on everyone's discussion, for example. Imagine how overwhelming it might be to get discussion replies from three faculty each week!
As for this blog - I cannot say that I am comfortable yet, with using it but at the same time see its value in helping tease out current issues pertaining to the lab and research work.
As an adequately type-A individual, I like my routines and typically revel in them. The joy of my first cup of coffee at my desk each morning is surely one of life's finer things. I like my work space to be fairly orderly and I like to know due dates as to what is expected of me. I think my feelings of being 'all over the place' are related to these things; I am right now, outside of the box - outside of my usual comfort zone and it is taking a moment to find a new, if you will, comfort zone in this work. This is not a bad thing, mind you - I am just feeling particularly aware of it.
AES
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