...grow. Bloom where you are planted!

...grow. Bloom where you are planted!
Originally uploaded by vanhookc

Maybe your choice is not, where you are planted. Maybe location is non-negotiable. So look for inspiration to grow using the resources surrounding you, right at your fingertips. Take some time to seek new avenues of learning and to learn from others. Your pathway to reaching your greatest potential today may be right in your own community or it may be globally via Internet. Turn over a new leaf and cultivate your garden right away. Get ahead of next year's planting season, and prepare healthy goals today, for mind body and spirit. You will bloom where you are planted with a touch of "inspirational thinking" fertilizer!

Reflections on My CLMOOC experience

Being a part of the Connected Learning Massive Open Online Collaborative, CLMOOC, has been refreshing this hot, steamy summer. Most of the National Writing Collaborative has found me travelling into the Southern region of Ameica and in and out of family homes and summertime festivities.  Thus, my mooc writing and sharing time has been limited, but I have tried my best to connect and share! I am extremely grateful to the administrators of this project. You made my first mooc most enjoyable! Thanks for making every participant feel so welcome.

My learning curve went  way off the top in only my first two weeks of the project  as I explored and enjoyed vizify, vine, google maps, mapmyfitness, google plus, about.me, twitter, and began to learn what is a MOOC and how it works.

My CLMOOC pathway lead me to  mixing and remixing  fitness, literacy, and making connection with others voicing a similar interest. I learned from one of the Administrators of the project, Terry Elliot, about a good book, Spark, discussing the value of exercise on brain growth.  Reading the book has challenged  me to push harder in my own personal workouts.

Blogging about my #clfit goals of fitness allowed me to cross paths with a  fitness expert on my Tumblr microblog. What a delight as she keeps me inspired to keep working at getting fit.. 

As I move beyond the completion of this project,  my credo sums it up, I will continue to combine: learning, exercising , and sharing. (vizify) There is power in getting fit with the encouragement and help of others. Everyone benefits as we get fit together. 

Framed learning activities of making and remaking, inventing and building upon the work of others, and sharing equally in this process is a positive, forward approach to learning. These activities open wondeful opportunities for teaching organizational skills and sequencing.

What's your story? How can you tell your story? How can you connect with others and outreach? Share your adventures.  Brevity sells...6 word stories, 6 sequence pics, and 6 second videos. It is fun to share stories that leave people hanging and figuring the conclusions on their own.

 I will continue to pursue better approaches to fitness and learn to annotate better and faster  with google maps, my next step in learning -- perhaps another Mooc!

A Credo to Live By

 My Credo

Love to learn; learn to live; and live to love.

Questions:

How can we be lifelong learners?

How can we live healthier lives?

How can we care about others,

encourage other to be learners

and to live healthier?

Got my gear; gettin' ready; go!

Get proper equipment; get ready; go!
Originally uploaded by vanhookc

CLMOOC Week Cycle Three

Learning Principles 

Isn't that what any type of learning involves? Get the tools -- get prepared -- go learn! Today, we have the ability with the Internet to learn and do, share, connect and inspire others!

That's my hopes with this Creative Learning project. I have learned so much about biking! I have pushed my limits to build endurance and strength. I am finding others with a similar interest locally and I am having a great time sharing and connecting with others around the world about this project.

Along a bike path, running trail, walking area, just wonder what type of natural and historical landmarks, museums, ecosystems, educational opportunities, and points of interest exist? During this project, I hope to explore this question and keep doing so after the CLMOOC is completed. There are many ways to find answers and share with others. An answer to one question opens opportunities to further activity and learning! As I began mini-blogging my hopes for better fitness in Tumblr, a fitness expert favorited my blog. Now, I look forward to reading and learning daily from this resource, regarding diet, exercise, and life style. You see,  learning is always on a curve uphill!

For sure I will keep pushing the limits of fitness on the bike and hope to see some progress in strength and endurance. Maybe even, the pounds will drop. In my neighborhood and local area, as I bike, I look for aspects of the area to learn about. Talking with others, libraries, museums, etc. offer those opportunities to learn. Photography, blogging, marking Google Maps, and conversations with others allows the opportunity to connect and share fun learning. This is, likewise, a great thing to do on vacations!

This collaboration, Making Learning Connected (#clmooc),  is based on learning principles that believe learning activities should be interest-powered, peer-supported, and academically oriented. Join me in this fitness effort in your area or on your next vacation! Do you find getting fit interest-powered? I hope so! Seek encouragement from others! Getting outdoors for some refreshing exercise will open up a world of opportunity to learn even more. What's the history of this area?What can you learn about the ecosystems of this area? How can you share your learning with others? How might you be able to connect with others in your area or globally to improve community living. You will see learning is an uphill journey!

See you along the way!

A Welcome Sight

All Dogs Asleep
Originally uploaded by vanhookc

Greetings from the Welcome Center for Dogs. Notice the bike trail along the right hand side! What fun to have pooches greet me along the way with a few yelps as I bike beside the park! There are many beautiful four-legged friends that just love to come out with their proud owners to socialize. The residents of Altoona, Iowa, are fortunate to have this park. See the two sections; small dogs to the left and large dogs to the right. What joy for dog lovers to see their pets playing and having fun!

Play was, likewise, the focus of the Making Learning Connected - National Writing Project during this past week. For me, I enjoyed layering graphics on photos and creating a fractured nursery rhyme version of Hey Diddle Diddle to compliment the final picture. My goodness, how time flies when having fun. I was still working on my project until after midnight!  For others in this week's assignment, realtime and virtual toys were changed, contorted, animated, and repurposed. The goal for the week allowed  people across the globe to have too much fun and make connections with others doing likewise! Isn't that what learning is all about--being creative, producing, and sharing?

Additionally, during the week, I "played" at creating a map of a 13-mile bike run that I successfully biked --not once, but twice!!! This map was downloaded to my computer and then uploaded to Google Maps. What a surprisingly smooth transaction. I dropped a marker of the Altoona, Iowa, Enabling Gardens on this map. See if you can locate this on Google Maps. Likewise, I will want to include this Dog Park on the map!

During the week, I enjoyed increase use of my Tumblr and Blogger accounts. Creating Vizify cards was fun as well. So, you can see, as I lifelong learner, I am doing just that. I cannot wait to see what I learn this next week!