I started my own blog in April (www.365pwords.wordpress.com) because I needed to discipline myself to daily writing practice. .

Because I didn’t want to just ramble on mindlessly I chose to focus each post on words that began with the letter P (long story there…)

It was working nicely until election season heated up and I found myself sucked into all Politics all Palin despite my revulsion for the latter. News moved fast and a lot of fast twtich response seemed necessary.

Now that we have a worthy President elect I can allow myself to slow down a bit. At this point my daily writing habit is fairly well established, but posting better stuff less often will be my next step.

In the meantime, it’s a great discipline.

Yes, I know of HASTAC and have thought of applying–once the nonprofit has wings. Thanks!

Harold, It’s great to have you here, and offering your advice! I will explore your commons and be in touch, I am sure, to learn from you. I am grateful for your offer!

~bg

I think that you have chosen the best time to launch this new venture because it is only when everything is falling apart that people are willing to try something new. I have also learned that there is a lot of support available from our fellow free-agents. Don’t be afraid to ask

I hear the same thing from community organizers around here. And I agree that until the full institution moves out into the community as part of what it does, it is difficult to make a big enough difference. One thing my daughter’s college does well is require community service related to a student’s course of study before the student can pass into the senior year. Of course, she also has to create her own course of study, put together an advising board, and argue in front of them for what she’s doing and why.

I hope you’ll blog about the discussions moving towards service learning at UIUC.

bg

I’ve been a big proponent of service learning done on campus. (A bunch of posts on the topic from a while back are here: http://lanny-on-learn-tech.blogspot.com/search/label/INSL. ) I don’t think the desired outcome can happen by individual instructors trying to implement something in their own classes. That’s too hit or miss. Of course, I’ve not gotten my campus to move to this vision yet. But at least we’re beginning to talk about it.

Lanny

Thanks for reading on even after I have left. I see my old students all the time but rarely my colleagues. It would be nice to shift that a bit!

Lanny,

I’m very interested in this statement: “…students who work well in a community setting are self-starters and don’t need to be told what to do. I’m not sure where that comes from but the students who have it almost certainly had it before they came to Campus.” I wonder what percentage of students we are talking about. Certainly family experience and personality probably have something to do with this perception. And what are we doing for/with those who do not “have it”? I saw the same thing at Middlebury, but refuse to accept that we cannot change, we cannot grow, learn and evolve. Look at me–Sure, I am awkward in some of my interactions out here, but I am learning quickly! If higher ed culture made community-based study and creative work a priority, a value, then, well, I think we’d see students shifting, too.

Shannon’s reply is case in point–Thanks, Shannon, for hopping on–you have long provided me with terrific feedback from your position as a college student! We give students no time at all for community-based learning, and when we do, it is on their time rather than as part of the mission of the education itself. Shannon, in saying, ” So often I feel my experiences in the classroom are just artificial means to produce artificial results that mean nothing,” you articulate what so many of my students have told me, and how I felt in many of my classes as a student. My own daughters repeat this refrain as well. To see my older daughter burst into blossom only when she graduated from college (one of the nation’s most revered institutions at that) and my younger daughter learn far far more from her travels and explorations in the world than in any class (or the sum of her classes) at her college support your contention. So so wasteful. (I second your rant!)

~bg