Bragging Rights

Today I had the opportunity to brag on the students in my Globaloria classroom.  I always love a chance to show off what we are doing and talk about it to someone outside of Globaloria!  The truth is, this is an exciting class and an exciting chance for all of us (students and teachers alike).

As students, you are used to having a teacher that knows all of the answers to your questions.  In this class, when students have a question, I have to ask you if you have read the assignments on the classroom wiki, and if you have googled for tutorials where you can find the answer.  There are so many resources out there available for your use in answering Flash questions.  I know this process is frustrating for you!  I have heard your comments about my not teaching and about my not knowing Flash.  You should understand that as a teacher, this is frustrating and scary for me, too!  I wish I had all of the answers, but that would change this whole class.

Remember during the first week of class when we watched the Did You Know Video about how much technology is changing, and we decided in class that day that we would have to change the way that we learn and work in order to keep pace with the rest of the world?  This class is teaching you to change the way you learn and work!  As the teacher, I am your guide, but I do not have an endless supply of knowledge about Flash or about online tools that I can dump from my mind into yours.  The ONLY way for you to learn how to use this software is for you to problem solve and work through the games you are developing.  (And YES, you do have to read the wiki lessons!!)  The wiki is there to guide you, I am here to guide you, you have endless resources on the classroom wiki, the knowledge area wiki, online at Adobe TV or other web 2.0 resources, with your classmates, and at the Globaloria Help Desk.

I hope that when you leave this class, the one thing you have learned is that you don't need a TEACHER to teach you, you can teach yourself to do anything, if you have the right tools!  That will give you and I both bragging rights... I can tell everyone to pay attention to my great students at RTC, and you can say, "Hey, look what I've learned, and I learned it on my own!"