Lately, my mind has been spinning with ideas, concepts, learning architecture, & building for & towards the future. What’s funny is that all of my closest colleagues at WGU & I are in sync, building off of each other’s ideas & agreeing on elements of the curriculum proof-of-concept in uncanny ways. Things that could morph into political battles, & often do at other institutions, between different departments or stakeholders instead fall into place, as if we were all seeing the same vision.
It’s a truly unique experience. Incredible, even. Miraculous.
We share online documents, editing in real time, commenting & engaging in a flurry of thought activity. It’s a vibrant tight environment of sharing & riffing, listening & compassionate challenging. There’s discovery & excitement in thinking through truly engaging learning approaches & formats that bring the JOY back into learning. Even if it’s not always perfect in design, there’s a stream of an electric current flowing through our collective minds. Sometimes, I wish my mind wasn’t so demanding, forever spiraling around new connections, new realizations. Always pushing for more, something new.
Perhaps that’s why I’m fascinated by neuroscience, identity, & comprehension of complex things?
One of my biggest disappointments of such an ephemeral stay on the mortal coil is that I’ll never be able to learn enough in one lifetime. Its not possible. I think about how much I don’t know & it’s simply staggering to me. I don’t want immortality, so it’s not about anything like that. It’s just my own profound awareness that I’ve only scratched the surface of what there is to know, & so it’s sad to think I’ll only attain a very paltry, insignificant, tiniest particle of the knowledge that exists in the world, or even greater the universe.
That thought can be overwhelming.
And that leaves me ruminating on purpose, on what the point of all that flurry of mental activity means.
Yet, until I do know, I’ll keep pushing myself to dig deeper, plumb the depths of the ocean of knowledge left to explore. I guess I’m channeling Adrienne Rich, here, “Diving into the Wreck,” especially as a woman academic in higher ed thought leadership. It should be noted that our think-tank is comprised of all women. Women who have faced barriers in education & advancement. Women with minds that hum with creativity, brilliance.
It’s exciting. We will change higher ed. It’s coming.
