Death X Ambition
If you’re going to travel fast, go alone.
If you’re going to travel far, also go alone.
If you’re ambitious and don’t have time for less-ambitious people,
you’re going to have to spend a lot of time alone.
Category: Uncategorized
What does it mean to be an Expert in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?
Expertise, that is superlative levels of skill in a particular area, has been studied since the late 1800s and in more recent years has become of much greater interest. As a graduate student and now as a researcher and full time faculty member, I have spent my time looking at various areas where Expertise plays a significant role in the advancement of a particular domain. My first exploration into Expertise dealt with Expert teachers: how they were perceived, what Expertise looked like in practice, and how Expertise influenced the classroom where they taught.
My latest project is looking at Expertise in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. There are currently no established definitions of Expertise in Jiu Jitsu. That is where you come in.
I want to hear from you and I want to hear about you. Tell me about your Jiu Jitsu habits and interests. And then I want you to tell me who the Experts are and what they do.
This is the first step in mapping the Road to Expertise and I am grateful to have so many voices who can contribute to this process.
Please go to this link: Expertise in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and tell me your story and give me your input on this topic. It will take less than ten minutes and will help to define my work.
Please share this post and the survey link.
Thank you!
David
I’m Dr. SPOCC I’m here to rock, y’all
This is by no means a rant or a war. I have no interest in arguing count pointercount. That being said, many of us are able to come to some manner of agreement about the sorts of education and educational contexts that are best for students. There is give and take.
If we were to prioritize our decision making for courses, where would we place our priorities? Given my druthers I prefer to be in the room with my students. Class size–particularly at the university level–has a tiered influence. Assuming the best about facilities, each professor has a critical mass that influences their teaching. What are yours? Consider how you would teach a class of five students, 15 students, 35 students, and then…what is your magic number?
Students may choose to make certain sacrifices in order to accomplish necessary goals–have we all skipped a night or two of sleep in order to experience something wonderful or to finish a project for work, school, or play? We have attended conference call meetings instead of meeting in person so we could get important information from a meeting or in order to “attend” while staying home with a sick spouse or child. Understanding that every utterance on that call would require a process of interrupting, waiting until you had the floor, exerting patience with interruptions that made your comments emanating from the speaker on the table unintelligible…such is life.
For some time, I have been populating (slowly) my Moodle site with course ideas and gradually adding content. Why, you ask? I thought that I may take a shake at this whole MOOC thing. Take a few weeks and get my feet wet facilitating a MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSE. I am willing to give it a shot and have been just a bit too busy to finish even a short course. Aside from the time issue, I am motivated to keep the quality at a reasonably high level. Such is life.
I have decided to abandon the idea of developing anything MASSIVE. It is not the type of course I would enjoy taking and it is not the kind of interaction with students that I would enjoy having. I am interested in developing the
SMALL
PERSONALIZED
ONLINE
COLLABORATIVE
COURSE
I’m Dr. SPOCC, I’m here to rock, ya’ll. More to follow.
Tied up, Dried up, Dead to the World
For some, elusive or impossible. Others–like me–a permanent state. I admit it. For all I may attempt to create as the tough front and the rough exterior, I am probably the happiest person you (do not) know. There is not much that bothers me. I have a good feel for what can be changed and what cannot; I do not dwell on happenings after the fact–what could be gained by that? Beyond any challenges, I live a charmed life anyway–what is there to bother me when I have a beautiful family?
The past few days have been confusing to me, though. I have not seemed myself. My mental discussion with Kira Campo via emailed questions provided a pause for the cause as I reviewed my process–something I rarely do, quite honestly. The new year began and I kicked around a few things that I wanted to do and learn.
Something is not quite there. I think. My Catholic upbringing (for lack of better blame) instinctively wants to put on a jarred face and muddle through until the gears engage again as they have done. Being me is what I do best and surely nobody would notice and we can carry on.
I am reminded by my enemy mind that, as an educator, I live my life in public. Telling the future educators in my classes, This is what teaching looks like. Make me dance.” is one of my hallmarks phrases. It is my duty to be myself as a teacher and to allow them to see it all because they, too, will be in that situation some day. They will prepare the wrong information, forget their materials, forget the content, or even be a rockstar for a day. And life will go on.
So here I am. Unmotivated. Extremely busy. A bit distant. Resistant to doing or interacting more than necessary. Restless. Lacking sleep but refusing to abandon those things keeping me awake. Wanting to improve but indifferent about changing. Not looking for sympathy or empathy. Just a quick post about living life honestly. I am more sure that I will simply snap out of it one day rather than cause some revolution of mind. Any day now, probably.