Seth’s World View

It’s been almost 5 months since we started this excursion to Southeast Asia. I can’t believe it’s been that long. My visa is in the process of being renewed for 6 months, and will be multi-entry. We just moved into an apartment for 3 months, which I’ll tell you about more later. It’s incredibly nice to be settled into a place I can call home and to have my own bedroom again. Living other places has been good to, and sharing rooms has also been good. Even taking cold showers has been okay, though a hot shower is now pure bliss. I’m currently at my new ‘happy place’ known as Boston Book Company. It’s like Anthology bookstore in Loveland with nicer seating and a fountain.

I miss my former homes in a way that I can’t describe. I’m not homesick. It’s just I can’t replicate years of relationships overseas. Not the same. I’ve lived the tension for awhile of liking newness and rootedness. I like moving in a direction and I like knowing I’m making a difference. I like the journey, but there’s only so much preparation I can do before wanting to arrive at a destination before I am once again rooted. I could easily teach English in multiple countries. I could enjoy that providing I actually believed in the way I was educating. That is not always guaranteed. I may yet teach here. We shall see.

Be well, all of you.

I’ve met people in Cambodia. I seem to be particularly good at running into people I’ve met at Brown’s Coffee. Make that 3 people, including my CELTA trainer from Cambodia, who I didn’t even know had moved to Phnom Penh, but there he was.

Got invited to a pizza dinner one Friday night from someone who saw my name and profile on the Internations website. More people were met that night. Have gone running with the Hash House Harriers, who like to run in mud and drink beer. Met people there. Today, I had a great chat with a coffee roaster.

It’s surreal really. I’m making connections. Sometimes they just appear. There are some possibilities are the horizon I know about, and one’s I don’t. As I know, I’ll write more.

I just signed up for an online Article Writing course through Gotham Writers’ Workshop (headquartered in NYC, not Gotham)> This particular courese is in association with the New York Times, and includes a Q&A session that last week with a current New York Times staff writer. This is just way cool. After reading If You Want to Write last year, it inspired me to want to take a good writing course to expand my writing ability and way of thinking. I’ll likely take an essay writing course after this one.

I posted this on Facebook today, “So, looking at taking some online courses for credit. They generally require one book. That book is rarely available in digital format. If you’re going to offer an online course, might you, well, license the book content and adapt it into your course delivery? Or would you rather limit your audience because of the difficulty of finding a hardcopy of the required course materials? Maybe I should start doing consulting for universities who offer courses online…”

Last week, I posted “I have a Kindle. Yet a lot of books I want to acquire are not available digitally in any format. Nor are they easily available in SE Asia. I’m willing to pay. Publishing industry, take note.”

That also was in reference to not being able to acquire a book required for an online course, unless I have it sent overseas at a high price, which will not only take time, but might never arrive. As I think about it, the idea that a university offers an online course that REQUIRES a hard copy of a book is rather counter productive. Granted, there’s some merit to having a book, but online delivery of a course that requires a book that is hard to get outside the USA not only limits its potential audience, but shows a lack of foresight in developing truly online instructional delivery system. Of course, many people know that online learning may leave something to be desired, as it’s not always thought through. Even now, online courses are delivered in a variety of means. There may have been a time when WebCT was state of the art, but when I used it last year, I thought it sucked. Nevertheless, the course content and people I interacted with transcended WebCT.

The licensing models for books, both in terms of digital Kindle book and for courses to integrate licensed content, is still in its infancy, and I can see some potential challenges with integrating licensed book content into courses. But it’s odd that the weak link in an online course purchase is a paper book. Why can’t all online course materials be available online? It’s as if the educational industry still is in the past, as regards online delivery.

I think there will always be room for local classrooms, despite the hype otherwise. The current university model isn’t without it’s problems, such as exhorbitant cost, but not all classes work as well online, and not all students work as well online either. I can’t imagine any online course being as good at the CELTA course I just took, in terms of actually preparing me to teach. Online TESOL courses have a potential use, especially for motivated teachers who will teach while taking the course.

At one time, I thought instructional technology would be an interesting degree to pursue. It apparently still is a good field to pursue. It takes time to do online courses in ways that are effective for learners. The technology is only a part of it though, and I’d say the minor part. One still needs to do the basics well. However, the technology can make it easier to create noise. Case in point: PowerPoint makes it easier to do bad presentations. Sigh.

I did find two ebook rental services:

http://www.coursesmart.com/elementary-statistics-a-step-by-step-approach/bluman-allan/dp/0077289307

http://www.cengage.com/search/productOverview.do?N=+11&Ntk=P_Isbn13&Ntt=9780324783513 – Won’t sell ebooks online to Asia!

There’s plenty of reasons why Education and Publishing are still adapting to modern delivery technologies. Schools and businesses have internal politics, for one. It may also be that they jumped on a bandwagon in the early days of the web and got burned. However, when countries are in recession and we hear about the need for education…when the publishing industry is having to restructure and when people are looking for additional sources of revenue, I just ponder how I would really like to give them money for content. Well, at least some get it. I’m thankful for ereaders and what we already have. But academia really needs to catch up.

I’ve gone to a few social events that past few days. One was a human rights shindig. Another was a concert here with the power out (hey, it’s Cambodia). While I said ‘hi’ to a few, I really didn’t. I’ve worked with people alright. Studied with people and socialized. But mingling? I can do it, sometimes really enjoy it. But I’m still on a wave where I wonder what I have to say and why I have to say it.

As I was leaving last time, I said to Chris, “I would have talked longer if I had a story to tell.” He disagreed, and said he thinks I have a story to tell. He if, of course, right. When I started the CELTA course last month, my confidence really wasn’t there. Started off worse than I thought I should. Finished closer to where I thought I could, but still short of perfection. I didn’t leave in a confident state of mind. I pushed through a lot to finish the CELTA, and feel good about that. And time in Cambodia has been refreshing.

At the moment though, I just don’t feel up to much. Maybe I don’t need to. I could meet more people, and have met some very cool people that I’ve had good words exchanged with. But there are a lot of people. Some I may not see tomorrow. But what gets me is the lack of confidence I currently have in starting conversations with strangers. And then there are girls, and that just brings up a feeling of disappointment and why bother. Sigh.

I’m thankful for here, and have had lots of good moments. Some moments I’m not particularly brave though. I need to remember what I’m actually pulling off here, and feel good about it, but you know, I don’t know how to translate that into a story right now. It’s just the journey. And I feel far away from any particular goal, and unsure when any long term goal will be achieved. Maybe I’d rather just stay here. I’m working part-time and volunteering a lot in a developing country. I like it here. Sigh.

It’s amazing to me that we can converse across a sea. Wires of metal and glass transmit voices of data to be interpreted on the other side. It was crazy enough to talk for 5 cents a minute when it was over a landline. Now, it’s pure data over wires that carry 1s and 0s that equal voices. Amazing.

Talked with two friends today via VOIP. That was good. Then my window closed, unless I called a night owl. If there were less voices to touch, I dare say this would be harder. It’s less hard knowing you’re there. I’m having a good time here. Not homesick. Mike asked me today if I miss anything. I thought about it, and what I miss are certain people I think of at a given moment. Like when David said he thought about seeing a movie and wished he could call to invite me. Then I realize that I would like to join him for a movie, and then I have a moment of sadness.

I also have moments, like today, when I would like to share an experience with a given person who I know would appreciate it. I had coffee made with a siphon pot today. I can think of a few people who would be keen on that. I could take some video and post on Facebook and get comments. That also is quite amazing. But it isn’t the same.

Anyway, Chris and I have had some cool experiences over here. It’s nice to not do everything alone. I’m happy that I can hear voices. But as much as I like it here, I do wish at times that you were here too. Until then…