I have decided to take the summer off from the pursuit of my Master in Educational Technology.  It is only a brief hiatus, in order to pursue some personal learning projects. The formal learning year and work does not leave much time for personal pursuits and I need balance.  Balance for me, seemingly, only happens in large chucks of time: I do nothing for myself when work proposals and budgets call or when HE assignments are due.  This summer, I am blocking out time for learning and reflection that I have pushed to the side for too long.

I am looking forward to the next 11 – 13 weeks of my self-directed learning. However, to be honest, it is also with some trepidation that I make my plans public.  What if I don’t accomplish the goals I set for myself?  Informal self-directed learning means I am accountable to myself, however a public declaration does put some pressure on fulling the stated goals (for the handful of readers that come across this blog).

Here is my current TO DO list for the summer:

• Devise an organization system/Investigate tools to organize my formal learning and research.  My research, links and writing are spread across so many devices and applications that I am forgetting where my assets are (let alone the IDs and passwords across platforms). I need a process that will work to keep me efficient and effective.
• Write a book review.  This year I have appreciated the well written book review.  Reviewers helpfully point me to details I might find interesting and yet provide a broad enough overview to alert me to the books’ relevance.  I would like go through the deep thinking process of how I might capture the essence of a book that might be helpful for potential readers.
• Filter/sort/interpret the survey data that was collected as part of our #oldsmoop writing process. The collaborative writing process with the #oldsmoop team was a highlight in my learning life.  I would like to follow up this process and further my own learning in research methods with an analysis of the survey data.
• Develop a proposal for my child’s school for a ‘tech’ club.  I would love to volunteer at my child’s school and since my interests are already in the edtech area, I feel that this volunteering opportunity might be mutually beneficial.
• Complete a presentation for the Adult Learning Day, a pre-learning event for the TESOL Conference in March 2015.  I am flattered to have been asked to submit a session on alternative professional development.
• Conduct a literature review on an area of interest to me and my colleagues at work.  I will work on this collaboratively with a colleague to inform our practice.
• Update my blog.  I feel this will ‘keep me honest’ and at least pull me back to focus on my goals and reflect on my practice.
• Bend/stretch/flex my body.  I have been hunched over the computer until wee hours of the morning, intensely, for the past year.  I need to move and give myself a break.

Oh, just writing out this list is invigorating.  Looking forward to the next few weeks!