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As this run of DS106 comes to an end, I am starting to reflect on what the experience has meant to me. I set out on this journey to forget about the fact that I am an educator and immerse myself in the DS106 experience. I wanted to learn digital storytelling and I was taking a course not teaching it, I kept telling myself throughout.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the things that keeps coming up for me as I reflect on my learning is what might have been. I tried to write this post from a theoretical perspective, deconstructing participation, looking at different types of learners online and what is the difference that makes the difference. I could have done that, I may still do that. There are others doing that who know much more about this done I do. I decided instead to write a post about the people I missed during the experience. I missed them, because I would have wanted to learn more with them and from them.<\/p>\n
Circumstances were such that I did not get to know them very well and I am sorry about that. Some are active on Twitter and I have light connections with them, some are not and I have none. Here, I wanted to say thank you to them all, for what I have actually learnt from whatever their level of participation. I am sorry that I did not manage to work out a way to connect with you all more. Here are some of the pots of gold I got from you all before you left.<\/p>\n
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I have a lovely flickr slideshow<\/a> thanks to Martin Lugton<\/a> and I was looking forward to doing DS106 Headless 13 with him. This is his DS106 blog<\/a>. It ends with 3 posts and the intention to take the course.<\/p>\n I met Brian Bennet here<\/a> and he gave me a preview of a boring video whilst learning time lapse apps. Not watching paint dry, just painting. I put his blog on my Netvibes dashboard of fellow participants and looked forward to learning with him as he stated his intention to do the course with us. 3 posts into Headless \u00a0he wrote ‘life (literally) has come into my life, and I haven\u2019t been able to carry the momentum.’ After a lovely shark<\/a> moment in post number 4, no more DS106 tagged posts in his blog. He is an old hand in DS106 and has done the summer version of the course before. I have enjoyed his tweets and some Daily Create moments.<\/p>\n Then I met Ord’s Board with this<\/a> post. I realised she had been trying to do DS106 and looked through her blog. I found her firs<\/a>t post with great enthusiasm for the course. I found this in her second post:<\/p>\n So much to ask of someone to complete before midnight\u2014someone who has spent the previous 48 hours sifting through 100\u2032s of webpages on University of Mary Washington\u2019s\u00a0 ds106 website.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n She was about to complete her first Daily Create after spending a long time finding out what to do to get going with DS106. She did it.<\/span><\/p>\n I knew she was a she\u00a0because she posted a lovely sketch<\/a> ‘for her friends in DS106’. I posted a few tweets saying go give her some comment love, she is new. Today I checked her Twitter feed:<\/p>\n Trying to get my Twitter feed to display on my WordPress site. Lots of in the trenches learning going on here … #ds106<\/a><\/p>\n Her only Tweet. Christina responded and offered help. There were no more tweets from Ord’s Board. Her last<\/a> post dated November 17, 2013. She has been following the daily creates, has not managed to get Twitter to work, I have not seen her on Google Plus.<\/p>\n Then there was Beijing Dog. Philip I found out on Twitter. I discovered his blog with\u00a0this<\/a>\u00a0post. Blog set up for Headless, he gave me a highlight of the whole course: A cat with an identity crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n He says on week 2 that he is not quite managed to get into Twitter,<\/p>\n The twitter connection is not working yet. Got to tweak with it a bit more, or ask for help on twitter. So far I am satisfied with the feel of the blog. Now I will have to keep on tweaking.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n He has 68 tweets. Last one on DS106 61 days ago. He expressed intention to be involved in the Radio Shows but it was not to be. His last Ds106 post on October 6th. He was working along the weekly assignments ‘with me’ I was\u00a0enjoying his photos, his humour, his reflections. I missed him when his path took him\u00a0elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n Then there were 2 people I knew from H817 and who started with me. Gitte Bailey Hass interacted with us mainly on Google Plus. I did a search in the community for ‘Gitte, here are your best bits!’ and this<\/a> was the result.<\/p>\n Her Headless animated Gif<\/a>, I loved for its clean lines and simplicity. Her technical skill would have been welcomed during the hard months trying to get stuff to move and fade in different editors for no reason at all except the\u00a0joie of art, Bub! In\u00a0her last post dated September 27th<\/a>\u00a0she defines herself as a lurker:<\/p>\n The offline life keeps me more busy than expected, so I have to face, that I\u00b4m not participating here in the level, that I want to do. But I do lurk on you guys and I\u00b4m impressed of your work.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n She helped us in any way she could on Google plus, I wonder how much more I would have got from the course had she been able to participate more.<\/p>\n Then there was @littlemissmooc I was excited that she has chosen to join us for the Headless journey. She was new to Twitter but she decided to try,<\/p>\n @mdvfunes<\/a> Have been following #DS106<\/a> and am inspired by everyones’ creativeness. Time to join in I think!<\/p>\n Her offline life took her elsewhere, 15 tweets later she left. An empty Tumblr Blog, a Daily Create on Soundcloud she was really excited to have completed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then there was @shannotate I loved her Digital Storytelling rant<\/a>, and really looked forward to engaging with her critical reflective mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n She said that ‘with the\u00a0<\/span>start of the headless\u00a0<\/a>approaching, I\u2019m gearing up to get involved as much as I can while working full time.’ She asked a question that has resonated for me for months in that same post: ’how much of that art is really ours?’ She is active on Twitter but not on the DS106 stream at the moment. Looking at her blog, it seems she has been around it for more than 2 years. She is just new to me, not to DS106. I loved her tutorials and have them stored in Pocket to do once DS106 Headless ends on Friday. I would have loved for us to be full time on Headless together. I must quote her advice to future students:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n To any prospective students of the course possibly reading this post, this is not a class that is easily taken and then forgotten. \u00a0ds106 sticks with you for many reasons, and teaches you a lot. \u00a0It taught me to make art, damnitt.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n She made a big impact on me at the start of this journey.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I recently found Sally Wilson’s blog. She has done the lot! Yet we have not connected. I loved seeing her blog and finding somebody else who was a ‘proper’ ( in my eyes only \ud83d\ude42 participant. She even did the Chaplin Clip narration<\/a>, nobody else did it in this Headless as far as I know. It is meticulous work, I enjoyed it a great deal and I am submitting it as a best of Headless. \u00a0Yet, I feel I\u00a0missed Sally along the way. She says ’follow my infrequent posts’ on\u00a0Twitter. I follow her and they are infrequent. Her last activity was on the radio shows and she chose a different radio team.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n
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\u2014 ord (@ordsboard)<\/div>\nOctober 27, 2013<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n![\"image\"](\"http:\/\/68.media.tumblr.com\/55c7bec2780d1c166b9b446704264c84\/tumblr_inline_mxlzanQCTg1s4px79.jpg\")
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\u2014 Catherine Dartnall (@LittleMissMooc)<\/div>\nSeptember 13, 2013<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
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