Expectations

Somehow while reading the 5 things Ken Royal wants to learn to do this year in his blog post "Tech Willing To Do List" I began thinking about expectations…..

What expectations do we hold for ourselves or for our students, are they aligned?
We have a strong desire for motivated students and high achievers, who are always eager to learn, but are we high achievers and eager to learn new things as their teacher?
What new things have you learned or done this past summer?
What have you done for your own professional development? What new things do you plan to learn this year?
What expectations do you hold for yourself this school year? If we expect our students to be anxious learners shouldn't we expect the same of ourselves as their teachers?

One thing I have learned about learning and technology since I began my Ed Tech journey over the last 7 years is that the more I learn, the more I learn there is so much more to learn….

Social learning and informal learning is the best way to learn, when you want to learn. Learning isn't just for the classroom anymore.

Building a personal learning network on Twitter and Facebook can also help you learn, as well as using a site like MIT OpenCourseware to learn anything from Designing Mobile Technology for the Next Billion Users to Chinese.

Guided by the high expectations I hold for myself here's my list of things I want to learn this year:
1) More about Second Life and build my own professional learning community in Second Life
2) Learn to use Mahara (Moodle's new little sister) a new )opensource software to use for my own professional e-portfolio
3) Continue to learn more about developing my own personal 'brand'
4) Take an ESL course and get certified to teach English as a Second (or Foreign Language)
5) Find a new blogging platform that I like, and use it
6) Start developing "TECi" my new Ed Tech Consultancy business …..

What's on your list? I would like to hear. I'll keep you updated on all my social learning experiences this year.