Connection

The assignment was actually to direct the blog toward Unit 7 and to consider the connect related material. Here I thought I could ramble on about this and that, share my deepest feelings and thoughts and basic insecurities, etc., when actually I was supposed to do something a bit more focused. Pretty tricky! Okay. I see where this is going. Lure them in with a simple creative writing exercise then slowly bring the focus back toward the lesson. Probably a good idea, I'll admit!

I’ve have been thinking a lot about connection and its obvious importance in learning and in life. The older I get, the more I look for ways to connect. I learn better when I can connect a new activity to something I already know. I communicate better with people when I seek to connect with them through shared interests, experiences, or whatever else we might have in common. Once you establish a connection, nothing else really matters. Difference in terms of skin color, ethnicity, level of education, age, and social status dissipate very quickly. Even if you only maintain that connection temporarily, you’re better off than if it had never happened.

Connection in terms of learning is equally important. This particulary applies to learning technologies like Moodle and Connect. As I stated earlier, I learn better when I can connect new learning to old. There’s a natural facility which is a real confidence builder. It emboldens me to play around and explore a little. When I feel totally disconnected, a kind of mental barrier appears and all I can think of is, “oh no, oh no, oh no.” Like a mantra. And it’s self fulfilling. You believe “oh no” and it becomes “I can’t.” I firmly believe that designers of the various technologies associated with teaching, learning, and networking (for lack of a better word - like our Connect program, for example) should always be thinking “connection, connection, connection.” Instead, it often feels like the user bears the onus of figuring out a program that goes out of its way to be difficult (Connect actually isn’t that bad). I mean, the program was designed to be used, but it’s the user who feels penalized because they can’t figure out how to use it. It doesn’t need to be that hard…

If programs were designed to mesh with how people think and the natural connections that people make (and there are natural connections, I know it), people of all ability levels could run with software. Instead, it’s as though the designer creates backwards. “You can do this, if you can figure out how to do this, this, and that.” It’s as though they’re designing a mind challenge with the intention of eliminating the unworthy. In my opinion, save the fancy stuff for people who have nothing better to do than tinker. Design a “vehicle” with everything where it logically should be so that any “driver” can turn the key and get to their destination – quickly, efficiently, and with minimal stress. The key here is “connection.” It works in life and in learning!