Photo by Coley Christine on Unsplash

“Be careful what you wish for,” is a saying many people are familiar with. The irony of this saying is not lost on me when I reflect that, for a long time now, I have been wanting to hone my technological skills as they relate to teaching, including wanting to learn more about and actively engage in online teaching.

Well, you’ve guessed it: wish granted; the ‘mother-load’ version. In a week I have gone from knowing nothing about BlueJeans (aren’t they something most of us wear?) to being able to walk colleagues through all the major functions of the App, and using it myself for scheduling meetings and synchronous online teaching.

Those funky handouts with screenshots? I’m now creating them. They might not be ‘designer’ and I know I’ve much more to learn, but I’m getting there; the learning curve of the last week has been steep. And I’ve enjoyed it. All the tear your hair out, throw the laptop out of the window, “who decided it was logical to put that function under that tab??” messiness of learning new Apps, programs, whatever, is all totally worth it. It must all those hills I’m used to running up – odd fact that there always seem to be more uphills than down when you’re running. And I’m beginning to think that’s a metaphor for life.

Just as I recently upgraded from a 22-year old Subaru (called Edgar, may he rest in ‘piece’ – literally), to a brand new Toyota plug-in Hybrid (I still don’t know what all the buttons are for), in the past week I’ve been thrust into the virtual world of teaching. While the current reasons for this are not fabulous, I’m optimistic that from the perspective of education, there are many potential positive outcomes, if we so choose – and not only because I get to spend more time with my dog.

And I choose.