Reflection - eLearning for Educators

​"Embrace the frustration. It is evidence of learning."

- Paul Mugan, course intern, E4E

So completely excited about taking this course and this certification! I’m so looking forward to learning about a field that requires my entire skill set. Also, getting into the eLearning and On-line Certification is itself a miracle. I worked so hard for this and am entirely glad to begin.

Ah, but now as I begin “real” life intrudes and I feel frustrated. I find myself unable to understand how to get into the discussion posts, having never participated in them before. I’ve played all the videos and they don’t tell me the one little detail I need. I write for help. I gnash my proverbial teeth. I pray. Paul Mugan, our course intern, writes back, “Embrace the frustration. It is evidence of learning.” (Mugan, 2015) Ha! I feel so heartened with this human contact of support. Then I start playing around and see that when I click on the title, it brings me to the discussion. Such a small but entirely important detail! I hung in there and figured it out. Yay!

I have had so much experience with constantly blasting through the roof of systems I am immersed in. It’s been very lonely, and yet I have learned bucketloads. And with this certification I am finding the value of blasting through and having to make my own way: I have become a creator! In many ways, computers are a great place for me now because I’m so good at finding the details that don’t work – really, I’ve been so good at butting my head against them! But the more I grow, the more I realize that I’m just having a gift. My gift is to see the gaps, because then I can fill them. I am learning this about myself in this course as I flatten out the experiences of frustration. I am learning to do what the kids do: play around with the menus, see what happens, and trust that I will figure it out!