Rob, Jim & Leigh – glad you dug the Pink Floyd. The movie is worth a DVD rental, though that opening shot indicates a deliberately slow pace. I gotta check out Wavelength!

Jeffrey – I appreciate the comment.That Glass show sounds great – sometimes I envy you New Yorkers.

I saw Philip Glass’ opera Satyagraha this past Monday evening, and your presentation came to mind when I started to process that work. I was expecting an opera about the early life of Gandhi, yet with it sung in Sanskrit, intentionally without subtitles, the focus is forced to change. The hypnotic chorus, repetitive music, and postmodern set together made this a work that was not only unexpected, but boundary-pushing for the Metropolitan Opera (and me as well).

I see my role as an education professional to push my students to expand their boundaries (learning) while facilitating the process and maintaining some sense of safety for those who need to hold on while confronting the learning ahead of them. I felt that at the Met (the safety of being at the premier US opera stage with its desire to promote and expand culture in this art form), and have been considering why I have such a hunch there is some connection between it and your work during the Mashup.

I have heard you present and read your work for some time now, and that is the stable (safe) part of your presentation. I trust you not to take us someplace meaningless, and that is why I attended the entire session rather than leaving it mid-way when I was completely disoriented (to be honest, I don’t dance in the first world, either). Had it been somebody I did not know or was not known by those people I read, I would not have even bothered to comment at all, chalking it up to an unusual experience, period.

The fact you lose sleep over comments demonstrates (to me) that you take your work seriously and are in many ways helping to move education in an electronic age along. Pushing boudaries is never an easy business to be in, and having a hard skin seems to me to be a great asset when people are used to the status quo. So much for non-educators thinking education is a safe and easy profession to be in . . .

I am convinced that education challenges the status quo, and as educators sometimes we need to shake things up to help people see there are other ways to look at issues. Where else can growth come from?

With this said, I am really glad that this session has sparked discussion–the educator’s dream! Without it, we never know what we have done has worked if at all. As we often do not see the results of our work, these online discussions are testament that reflective practice and learning is happening. I am now beginning to wonder where it is going . . .

More than that, the setting at NMC and this video in Pompeii just further suggest the uncanny nature of your Second Life presentation and its place in rock and roll history. In fact, unheimlich might be a good description of your “talk” and may account for some of the reactions, which I think were more akin to an honest wrestling with a difficult conceptual move than any real attack to your work. But Pink Floyd, huh, now you got me thinking…

Posts like hers are the kind that keep *me* up at night too, for completely different reasons. Maybe I’ll find time to respond a bit there.

A few points:

1. I listened to your presentation (didn’t get a chance to see it live). I enjoyed it…though it was initially a bit disorienting and took some time for me to get what you were communicating. But as the pieces fit, I saw how thoughtful you had been in crafting the presentation. We have been so conditioned, when learning, to expect linear coherence. As with Gardner’s presentation at UBC, the use of alternative approaches to presenting ideas sometimes throws us off. Which is great. And I think we’ll see much more of this as we continue to fragment information and interaction. The maestro creates the mix that represents one view/perspective. If we can let go of our urge for coherence in structure, and instead tolerate coherence in concept, the work you did here will become much more common.

2. From my experience, not all criticism requires response. If you’re putting out ideas that challenge or disorient people, you will receive push back occasionally. That’s a good thing. Sometimes individuals will simply be reflecting on how they experienced what you’ve produced. Their criticism – especially as I read with the two examples you’ve cited – is not as much about your presentation as it is about how they personally view/perceive what you did (neither response seems malicious…just a statement of personal reaction). But, since you’ve spent hours (days?) putting your presentation together – and are taking public risks in communication – it can feel like the criticism is somewhat personal. As you’ve noted, criticism is preferred to apathy – especially when it comes from friends/colleagues

3. We need more people who are creative in exploring and expressing ideas through different media. Keep doing what you’re doing!