Too many new ideas IS Confusing! Use that TENSION to your benefit

Hi everyone,

This week I was emailed by one of my doctoral students about her confused wanderings around methodology. The class she was taking required a project and the methods she was sorting out for that were confusing her as she worked on her ideas for her dissertation. What she was hoping (I think) was that the university would sort this out and stop putting conflicting demands on students.

But life isn't like that - for which we should be glad!

Right now I am on a very large uphill learning curve as I work to increase my digital footprint and explode my consulting business. In the last two weeks alone I have explored: RSS feeds, Twitter, LinkedIn social networks in general, many blogs, open source elearning tools and networks, Del icio us, SlideShare, etc. I have started new profiles, I have tried to expand my links, all of which result in a much longer "to do" list each day.

But when I look selectively at the inverse of my tension I see that each day I have come to understand a little more. One week later I can keep more straight in my head when I think about these concepts. More importantly, this week I am asking different questions.

Next week I will upload a link to my slide banks - but as I work on my talk for Colorado Technical University in April in Colorado Springs, Colorado I realize that I completely believe that we MUST HAVE THIS TENSION. As I study transformational education practices, what they have in common is not downplaying tension, but helping people ride it, climb with it, and let their spirits soar because of it.

This is probably why I love working with doctoral students so much - tension is your middle name!

I write this hoping that it brings a grin to your face and that you all have a great day - tackling your tensions!

All the best,
Alana