Proof of Learning

What have I learned so far? 
What a loaded question! :-P I feel like I've learned a lot so far, about both myself and technology. Through this class and in cultivating my PLN I've learned that:

• I like routine and expectations, but if I push myself I can overcome that and be more of a learner than a student.
  
• I don't always need to rely on someone to show me how to do something online/"techie"--When in doubt, Google it! :) I'm more confident in my computer problem solving skills that ever before yet know that there's soooo much still to learn in many different areas.
  
• Twitter is not the "useless social networking tool to tell people what you're eating that day" that I thought it was. I've found some really great resources and inspiration there, and can't wait to get back in the classroom to try them out!
  
• it's important to not get overwhelmed with the massive amounts of information and 'time suck' out there. If I only have a short period of time that day, then I use it and leave it at that. Sometimes that means starting blog posts one day and finishing them the next, or not going through a whole column feed and maybe missing something really cool--but that's ok! I can't use it all but I can find some use for some.
  
• documenting learning experiences and cultivating materials are essential for using this information in the future. As I find great ideas or analyze how I want to change my teaching, I want to be able to look back and remember what these inspirations were. Blogging, Tweeting, and Diigo seem like great venues for this that I would have not considered before.
  
• what I create doesn't have to be perfect--I just need to put it out there and see what happens. Sometimes a tons of people will read it or comment on it, and other times it just sits there...and that's ok. (Though I'm not gonna lie, I love getting comments and retweets :) ) 

There are a lot more specifics (like how to subtitle a video or what cool things you can do with Google Apps) as well as ideas/concepts that have been analyzed (filters, passion, communities of practices) but I feel like the overarching 'learning' can't always be written down as neatly labeled pieces--it's hopefully much broader and deeper than that.

What my learning tends to look like

My Learning Process:
I wouldn't consider this a list that "all students" should follow for this class per se--but rather my weekly personal steps for fostering technology learning this semester. So far my usual week looks like this:

• Take at least 5 minutes in the morning and/or before I go to bed to check Twitter and retweet anything that catches my eye (though lately it has been a lot more than 5 minutes).
  
• Look at my Zite 'magaizine' on my ipad once a day or every couple of days to look for articles of interest to me (Education, Running, Cooking, Languages, etc) and tweet them out when helpful.
  
• Use info from my other classes/peers' posts/Twitter finds to spur on at least one original, unprompted blog post a week.
  
• Try to dedicate 1 hour a week or so to my Twenty-percent project and its write-up (though that may not happen this week due to my video editing explorations).
  
• Work on whatever class reading/assignment we were encouraged to do that week.
  
• Comment on others' posts when I can. 

If I had to put a 'time frame' around the outside classwork I have done it's been around the 3-4 hours a week range minimum, though I often get distracted on Twitter or Facebook or get really into working on something and it ends up being a lot more--I honestly have a hard time putting an estimate on it because I do quite a lot on my phone and computer, combining it with other classwork and just plain screwing around, so my usage time frames are a bit more random. 

I also realize that I am a full-time student this semester, without kids or a part-time job besides studying and normal housework things--so even though I find ways to keep myself quite busy (my class load is a bit intense at times) I know that may have more time than most to invest in some of these venues.

This is a just a half-way-ish reflection of learning up until this point--I hope there are many more things I can add to these lists before the semester is over.