This comment comes to you from the food court of the Fargo mall and is written as an opportunity to escape from boredom. I tell you this in keeping with the tradition of other bloggers who constantly inform readers of the exotic places they visit and the exciting things they do.
My institution requires that each year each faculty member submit multiple indicators of accomplishments in the areas of teaching, research, and service. That part I understand. However, somehow the mix of annual indicators now includes a personal reflective statement on these same areas of academic responsibility. I whole heartedly believe that faculty members should examine their beliefs and priorities. However, after nearly 30 years of being involved in my profession, I find it difficult a) to come up with something that sounds both profound and original each year and b) to ignore the reality that I am writing something for administrators to review while I am also supposedly identifying weaknesses I am trying to address.
Anyway, knowing myself (isn’t that the point of reflection), I realized that I needed to arrange circumstances so I might enjoy this task. Perhaps I should just think of the task as one giant blog entry. I considered this for a little while and then decided that with blog entries I operate under the illusion that someone reads what I write and I was not certain I could force myself into the same illusion regarding the personal statement. I finally hit on another possible source of motivation. I pride myself on having first or second-hand experience with the technologies I recommend. The rule is there must either be exposure to applications through teachers I or my wife knows or we must create for ourselves the opportunity to use a tool or technique for a reasonable amount of time.
So – we drove to Fargo. Cindy will look for quality goods at unsually low prices. Typically, I make this trip for the pleasure of spending time in Barnes and Noble drinking coffee, reading, and writing. However, I realized that the Fargo Barnes and Noble has no Internet access. I need Internet access for this project. The food court in the mall has Internet access. So here I am in the mall reflecting on my scholarship using Writely. Here I am both reflecting and exploring the features of Writely.
I see Writely has options for public documents and for blogging. Perhaps it is best in this case that I keep the product private.
