Monday, December 31, 2012

Resolutions for the New Year

I have been thinking about some resolutions for the new year related to learning, technology, instructional design, and support of Lutheran education. I decided to make a public post of these resolutions so that you, as readers, might help hold me accountable.

I realize that most resolutions fall by the wayside very quickly. The risk for me is that I am publishing these ideas, but they may get set aside just as easily. Yet I feel they are important for my own professional growth as well as for the Lutheran education community to not just try to keep up in this ever-changing world, but that we all might be able to work together to be truly innovative for the sake of the children and families we serve.

To that end, here are 2013 resolutions of mind:

  • To blog regularly, at least once a week. Some of my colleagues say that blogging is no longer relevant. For me, blogging serves two purposes. First, a regular blogging routine forces me to share those things which I have found that may have value to others. Second, blogging helps raise important issues that can only be solved through ongoing conversations, engaging others in the difficult, exciting, and challenging tasks of navigating digital age learning opportunities and supporting Lutheran schools.
  • To that end, I also resolve to more regularly add value to the conversations started by others on their blogs or social networks. There are so many challenging issues being discussed, and I am of the mind that the only way any of us have a hope of starting to wrap our heads around the changes we all are experiencing is by consistently being engaged in conversations about these issues. I need each of you and your ideas, but I also need the conversations you start for my own growth. If you have a blog or thread on any site which you would like me to follow, please contact me.
  • I resolve to raise some more difficult issues during the coming year -- to challenge conventional wisdom and encourage all of us to be far more innovative. As I see the struggles of Lutheran education in the past decade, it increasingly seems to me that our approach should be more radical and less incremental. We miss so many opportunities for sharing the love of Jesus through education when we fail to actively seize these opening. My writing will be a little more provocative than it has been in the past.
Will you help hold me accountable? More importantly, will you actively participate in the persistent conversations necessary for us to together forge a renewed path for Lutheran education in this digital age? I need you! We need each other! Join me in this journey during 2013.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2 comments:

  1. These sound like great goals! I'm ready to join the conversation.

    ReplyDelete