“Stop asking how technology can help you teach and start asking how technology should change how you teach.” ~Mike Caulfield, shadow syllabus for T&L 521

“Renewable assignments also imply a shift in faculty thinking from “grading” to “editing.” For each individual assignment, each individual student is creating an artifact that provides a unique, student-centric view of a topic. This artifact will be learned from and then extended and improved upon by future students.” ~David Wiley, An Obstacle to the Ubiquitous Adoption of OER in US Higher Education

“If disasters such as these happen from time to time, has nobody thought of alternative modes to combustible engines for relief? Why have we not learned from past mistakes that disaster preparedness means considering other means of mobility?” ~From a class blog in 2013 from Portland State University 

photo credit: Me! Capturing the cargo bike of the Hartsoch family at a Cascade Cross race.

Yesterday I published a lofty extensive windbaggery introduction to what I thought I’d be working on for the next two days, but I’ve had some exciting things come up that I need to focus on.

In The Forest Still Burn, I set up what I had hoped to develop, and I will, just not today. Here’s the scene: My friend and I have been planning a backpacking trip since January, and we’re scrambling a bit to change our plans for the fifth time! There are forest fires to the north, to the south, and to the east, and this gigantic rain storm is coming from the west. There are either flashflood warnings (which are terrifying, I’ve been caught in one in Moab, Utah), thunder and lightening (don’t want to be in a tent or on a mountain top), and/or epic levels of rainfall on the way (good for the forest fires, but bad for my feet and my spirit). Check over your shoulders for a swarm of locusts! I’m sure they’re on their way. Sheesh!

For now, I’m going to leave behind the fire lookout research, and focus solely on what I created for Mike Caulfield’s course.

My three epigraphs above reflect some big ideas I’ve been considering since Mike’s blog post about his class.  I made a short video of what I created based on Mike’s syllabus and my scattered thoughts about the federated wiki. I got cut off right as I was about to thank you for listening, and I did not get a chance to say I’m not sure if my pages will be interesting to him, his students, or anyone else, but maybe somebody will find it interesting.

Any comments, thoughts, or ideas are welcomed. I have been called a “federated wiki cheerleader” and I suppose that’s true. It does, however, make me wonder if I was a man would I be called “an advocate” or “supporter” because, you know, “cheerleader” is awfully feminine. I’m going to shrink that thought and pink it with critique another day. Call me what you want as it relates to the federated wiki; I love supporting this project.

I leave for my trip on Saturday, and I’m not sure where we are going or what we are doing. I just know I won’t have my magic typewriter, fair readers. My magic typewriter will just have to wait until I return. What will you do with your magic typewriter?