As we make the transition from definition to scope, these last few days of relative silence on my part proves that teachable moments can occur online. In spite of my bold claims to the contrary, a server problem took me away for the last 48 hrs or so. I’ve been here online, and checking into your blogs periodically — even IMing with some of you — but my attention has been elsewhere.

When we go with “Everywhere, All The Time” as a mantra for distance education, then we also have to allow for those very real “service interruptions” that strike us all — students and teachers alike. For a student to go MIA for a day or so is expected. We’ve set up your individual environments so that content flows are captured for your return to allow for those eventualities. In the chat people asked about being away for the weekend or having houseguests and what does that do to … But what does it mean if I drop off the net for a day or so?

Well, in my “absence” you read your ‘gators, you posted, you responded to each other. You worked together to help come to grips with the very knotty problem of defining distance ed. Did you even miss me?

Now, what would have happened had I missed a classroom session? Would you have continued learning? Would you have talked to each other about the material? Or about the weather?

This entry was posted on Monday, September 4th, 2006 at 5:17 PM and is filed under Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.