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Prompted by comments and discussions with scottlo, our DS106 audio mentor, I’ve taken the time to reflect upon and record my thoughts and impressions with the University Mary Washington open online course in digital story telling.

I find that the open, collaborative, and sometimes chaotic nature of the course allows for a tremendous amount of creativity to be unleashed, and I feel inspired by the quality of work put out there by the entire ds106 community.

There is something different going on here. We are learning from and teaching each other: Teacher to student, student to teacher, mentor to teacher, teacher to mentor, mentor to student.   Bringing our “A” game, which inspires others to do the same.  It’s not just happening in closed classrooms, but globally, across generations, synchronously and asynchronously.

[DS106ers can submit their own self-reflection here.]

 This is what the future of education can be.

Note: The background music is a self-recorded version of “Can’t Find My Way Home”, written by Steve Winwood. (Often attributed to Eric Clapton.) I like the song, especially the way it sounds when I play it in on my 12-string guitar, but I don’t feel inspired by the original famous lines:

But I’m near the end and I just ain’t got the time
And I’m wasted and I can’t find my way home.

  My version, “Findin’ My Way Home”, changes the lyrics to something I can get behind and sing from my heart:

Near the end and I just ain’t got the time
To be wasted cause I’m findin’ my way home.