Hello Cohort Partners, The start of my study leave as well as the start of my project paper have proven to be a interesting time for me. I visited with Sue Damme about the anxiety I have experienced. It was nice to learn that the anxiety is normal. Sue told me that on campus there are support groups for people that are in the process we are entering. My purpose in this note is not to get everyone thinking that you will experience what I have , but rather to say, if you do, it is normal, and you can work through it. I have done what Betsy suggested and gotten all my piles organized. In talking to Sue we visited about the proposal paper. The paper on "Assembling Your Masters Thesis" that Mary Jean sent us is a great place to start. Sue has been a GREAT help to talk with and help make sense and give direction. Since Susan Jarosak's paper and mine have similarities, Susan has shared reference material, and we have visited, it has been a help to visit. Will and I have visited and again it helps to talk with others. I feel the power of the Cohort is we can all be there for each other. I will be more than happy to be a sounding board if I can help, my home phone is 218-847-9429. A quote I found in the magazine "Guidepost " February 2000, page 47, is as follows"fear just means you're entering new territory, different territory. You should worry when you're not afraid, because that means you're not growing. Life is about growth." Vince Vince Crary University of Minnesota Extension P.O. 69 McIntosh Minnesota 56556 Phone 218-563-2465 Email crary002@umn.edu

-- Anonymous, January 27, 2000

Answers

Vince, It was good to read your comments. This is the second week of my study leave, too; and although it's great to have the time to work on this program, sometimes it sure does look overwhelming!! I'm a Guideposts reader, too; and liked the quote you found. I'll keep your home phone number handy and call if I need to talk. I'll give you mine, too; 507-825-2631. If it's busy, I'm on the Internet!! Best of Luck and stay in touch! Kari

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2000

Hi Vince, and others,

Thanks for your words of encouragement. I also have been experiencing the anxiety you referred to - it was especially high for me about a month ago - nothing was coming together.

Well, at Sue's encouragement, I spent some time following up on some articles in the basement of the Wilson library on the Mpls campus. After finding articles directly related to where I was going, things finally started gelling. It was great! I then sent LOTS of e-mails and letters, followed lots of leads, etc. - Once I finally knew what I was looking for.

In response to all requests, I have had about a 10% response rate. Some have been great encouragement, saying "I can't help you, but the work your doing is very needed - good luck - let me know what you find, etc.". I also have made a few new contacts that have been excellent - I even e-mailed a couple professors in Germany.

So, here I am, getting all charged up, and then run I start running into incredible frustration. In looking for a research site, I started talking with some people who are actually teaching computer classes. Here I am, all pumped up about these really cool ideas and I run smack-dab into "teachers/trainers" who don't even want to THINK about a better way to teach.

They don't want to hear about it. They have their content all lined up and packaged nicely, ready for "delivery". They know, for a fact, that they have figured out the best way to teach, and that is that.

I realize that they have tons more experience than I do, and I really do respect that. They are even probably quite effective. BUT, I would think that they would at least be a little interested in alternative ways to consider teaching and learning.

As an example (and please keep this among us), I am working with a handful of other Extension staff on an upcoming learning opportunity. The others are busy "lining up" their content, positioning themselves as "experts". But when I talk about any kind of learning process other than lecture (and maybe Powerpoint type stuff), their eyes glaze over with a look of uninterested tolerance.

I would think that as Educators, they would be interested in the educational PROCESS, in addition to the educational content.

The more immediate problem, and cause for an impending sense of doom is that I have been unable to find a site that is interested in cooperating with me in the research part of the project. Some of their concerns are valid, but in most cases, I think they simply put little value in research, because they already "know" the best way. Maybe they do, but wouldn't you think they would want to find out?

Anyway, enough of that, I'm not sure what the point of this response is, except to say that I am appreciating, more and more, the educational "climate" of this cohort. And, as I mentioned, I have been in contact with a few others who value learning and thinking "outside of the box". But it is not nearly as common out there in the real world as I would expect or hope.

Maybe I am just becoming an idealistic "grad student", rarin' to set the world on fire. But the truth is that I am excited about what we are learning and I do think it does have value in the real world.

Well, I guess that's it for today - thanks Vince for opening up this opportunity - even if this isn't quite what you may have intended.

See you all later! Keep up the faith!

Todd

-- Anonymous, February 02, 2000