The ups and downs of e-learning/teaching

I agree with Lud ("New Insights for Me") that we are in the business of teaching/learning and that the students are/should be the focus.
We have grown-up in systems where those recognised as having experience/?knowledge were also recognised as those responsible for passing-on that experience to the strata (educational/economic/managerial, etc) "below".

Now we're all learning together because we're breaking new ground. Mentors are still thin on the ground, and the field is so vast that we have a sense of rushing here and there without "settling" to look at one area/tool/practice, in any detail. Wherever we turn we are confronted by "new" ideas, methodology, tools, etc.

I believe that we are getting better at frequent shorter bursts of wearing different "hats" (teacher, researcher, learner, experimenter, inventor, peer-mentor, etc) rather than focussing and committing to, say, a time of study, then a time of work, then a time of recreation (holidays) etc. How often have you recently heard comments that the boundaries between work and personal life are becoming blurred?

This may be why we are hearing more calls for "personal reflection", and maybe also one of the reasons some people are finding blogs so useful. After the discussion on portfolios and PLE's yesterday, I believe that portfolios as we now envisage them will morph into a number of different purpose-specific "thingos" (yet to be named). I will stick to a PLE for now.

We evaluate what can be useful in our own teaching/learning life - use/apply the tool which works for us - and in doing so, we develop and refine new uses/applications which we can then demonstrate to/share with other practitioners.

It is this ferment** that creates those moments of self-doubt; excitement; fascination; despair; personal committment; stress; and ultimately, satisfaction, when we have to drag our students away from their "work" to take lunch breaks!

** a. A state of agitation or of turbulent change or development.
b. An agent that precipitates or is capable of precipitating such a state; a catalyst.