Week 9: We Did It! :-) and :-(

So, the Project Report is done. The feeling of achievement is present, which means that the job was done well. Today two more students have joined my Reflective Learning Project, and two students, who have not reported progress yet said that they are doing the exercises recommended, which means that the Project was not only for the Report - it is working and it is needed.

However, the submission of the report was accompanied with a feeling of frustration. "0 Days Left" on our wiki was causing embarrassment and the feeling that something was going wrong. I am happy that today it's again a number with quantity, and it will keep growing to infinity, as, I hope our friendship.

This week was marked with Report Writing. Having written what I believed was a fairly good draft, I though I would be able to complete and submit it on March 8. However,  the process of polishing took three times more time than I planned... 

 I hate perfectionism. It kills time, it leaves you with the feeling of dissatisfaction. Still, I couldn't stop. I was reading and editing, reading and editing, reading and editing until the last hour before the deadline. And only when there was no time left, the pieces of the jig-saw puzzle fit and the picture became visible (I hope).

The background thought in the process of editing was, "Why, why, why it is impossible to say what you want to say? How, how, how do others manage to paint a picture with a few strokes of words?" It's a sickening feeling, you know, it won't let you live in peace.

However, the torture of writing ended, the report went online, and now there is EMPTINESS. Yes, I know that the course has not finished yet, that there is one week ahead, and a WebQuest I planned to compose, and the discussion on Nicenet is going on. But...

It's very sad.  I know that I will be missing my tutors Jodi and Sherie, my friends, my daily tasks, my daily surprised and Wow!s at discovering new tools and resources. I am really grateful to my reading partners Hassan and Kouassi for their valuable comments on my first draft and to Hassan for his support in the process of editing the Final Report. His expanded comments and crucial questions allowed me to see the gaps and to better understand the structure of both the Project and the Report.

A log of unfulfilled other tasks is waiting for me, which means that my life won't be as in the process of doing this course. Life goes on and we can't get stuck. The challenge now will be to apply everything we've learned to improve our teaching, decrease our workload, make our students happier and better prepared to live in the information society. I will keep this blog and will inform all my friend of what is being done, and I will keep reading my friends' blogs too.