While Writing a Rough Draft Version #1...

This journey of learning has been so deeply fulfilling and exciting. At the same time it has also been full of overwhelmly new information and incredibly challenging. However, would it be learning if there wasn't some puzzle or challenge to work through? That is the whole basis for my innovation plan-that our brain loves a good puzzle to work through. That the puzzling is the act of play that creates space and place for learning to be constructed in a way that is deeply fulfilling. So while the work is challenging and new, you are inspired that you are using the tools acquired along the journey to reassemble into a new way to overcome the challenge and arrive at the desired outcome.

That is what this class has been like-a fast paced journey full of peaks and valleys. This course titled "Resources Digital Environments" is not really what I expected it to be. It's less exploring resources and more of a communication class, teaching participants how to communicate ideas effectively in a digital environment using academic language.

After the first class, I wrote a post called "Brain Exercise Regimen" comparing this class to the most intense brain workout, and I still stand by that. Writing for academia comes with a lot of restrictions. For example, a "rough draft" is really a term that needs to be defined. In my mind, it's the first cohesive thoughts put down on paper, that you finesse, grow, and change into something more. In academia a rough draft includes the finesse, the citations, references, figures, data, examples, etc. that you just refine and pair down.

Thanks to my expanding network of colleagues who give the most encouraging and excellent feedback, I quickly learned that my definition of "rough draft" was not the same. I quickly adjusted and am looking forward to adjusting more. Our group created a rubric, and based on that rubric my first rough draft earned an average of 48/50. Most of deductions were from needing to add more specific examples and citations-more finesse.

I'm considering submitting my work for publication to a variety of places. Some places are lengthy word counts and require a more formal, academic tone where others are around 500 words and more casual, friendly. So, my initial writing is aimed toward the long, more formal end to meet that criteria because that type of writing does not come as natural to me.

Even though this class is stretching me, I always leave class feeling inspired and capable of the initial attempt. I know thanks to the incredible people surrounding me throughout this journey and in this collaborative learning environment we have constructed together, I can only grow through this process, enjoying playing through the menagerie of ideas along the way!

“The best way out is always through.”

~Robert Frost~