Beth Cougler Blom

I think this is a great question Gina, but the answer isn't so easy! Or maybe it is. I want to say something like, "we will all know on an individual level if we feel like we are part of a course community". And boy, that sounds pretty tough then to help create for others as a course facilitator/instructor, doesn't it? With all these varied humans (as Colleen would say) taking part in our courses who are each unique individuals!

Like so much else in this work, I will keep on the journey of trying and learning and trying some more... :-)

Beth

Leonne I love that you are experimenting with this questionnaire. You could also do this with an LMS tool or Google Form to go digital. In Moodle the feedback activity would work, and would help you aggregate responses too. I think you're on Canvas or something else though, so not sure what's in yours. Thanks for posting about this, I love that you continue to be so brave in online sharing and the building of community yourself.

I really like this informal 'lost soul's' policy...and the name. I have called it 'going dark' and absolutely believe what you do, that reaching out is a caring thing to do. Often it reveals that someone is experiencing a tough time right then - and they usually really appreciate the reach-out.

Are we all in this photo Sylvia? In my mind we are all just out of sight, taking our clothes off in the forest, about to run at you (standing all serene there) yelling "aiiieeeee!!!!!" with joy, jumping into that cool, fresh, water. We might splash you a bit and then pull you in...

Ok, now I'm an oversharer! Ha ha.
Beth

Hi Gina,

I didn't love the tag cloud at first. I thought it did make the home page a bit cluttery-looking. But it wasn't a big deal. For most of the week I forgot about it, to be honest. It was fun to look back yesterday though at it. It was interesting when you recapped - I think on Wednesday - what some of the biggest tags were. So your drawing my attention to it helped, as I was breezing past it. I vote for keeping it!

Again, truthfully, I never noticed the Situating Ourselves block on the right hand side of the home page.

I realize, as I am describing all this, that because I'm subscribed to all the forums, I've been mostly clicking on the 'see this post in context' links in the forum post emails, and then going right to that post or forum to read...and missing the home page altogether. So an interesting question arises from this...how do students access the course and what will they miss if they usually don't even see the home page?

Beth