At the end of the National Mall in Washington D.C., just to the left of the Lincoln Memorial is the Memorial to the Korean Conflict. The theme of the memorial is “Freedom is not free.” Here, one finds the expression of American gratitude to those who restored freedom to South Korea. In addition to nineteen stainless steel sculptures that stand silently is a granite wall where a sea of faces have been etched—reminders of the human cost of defending freedom. These elements all bear witness to the patriotism, devotion to duty, and courage of Korean War veterans. They also remind me of the vast number of people that have contributed to the community that I now enjoy. Unnamed and unseen people that nevertheless have had an impact on all of us.
Across the Potomac River is the National Cemetery. Among the many memorials there, my favorite is the memorial to the Marines that depicts the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima. I love this sculpture because it represents the ability of a group of people to work towards and accomplish a goal. Raising the stars and stripes was not the goal, but it symbolizes all of the hard work, sacrifice and unity that went into accomplishing the goal.
There is great joy in accomplishing individual goals. Running a marathon, writing a book, completing a degree, and so on. These are all worthwhile and should be recognized. But I am very impressed when a group of people come together to accomplish something great, something that no single person could have accomplished on his or her own. I think that is why we celebrate team championships more than we do individual championships. Many great athletes involved in team sports could not individually bring home a championship.
The LearningZen community is starting to come together. It is still in its infancy, but it is moving forward. Internally, we have a wonderful team. Just take a look at Tanya's Guest Blog below to get a feel for what are internal team is accomplishing. But I am referring more to the community that exists throughout the world wide web. We are starting to see people add courses that are representative of many different communities. Just recently, LearningZen has seen the addition of the following courses:
- Takeoffs, Landings, and Aircraft Control: Which can be taken for FAA WINGS credit. This community of aviation professionals is poised to really start using the utility of LearningZen.
- Creating Mathematical Drawings in Microsoft Office: This course will help algebra and geometry students utilize a very common tool, Microsoft Word, to draw geometric shapes.
- USS Indianapolis - The Worst Naval Disaster in US History: This course is an amazing look at an historical event from WWII. Somebody should make a movie of this story!
- The Source of Ethics: This course will challenge your thinking on why we do what we do.
- Modesty: A great course that challenges the notion that what we read in the media is important particularly with regard to what we wear and how we look.
- Event-Driven Programming: Introduction, Tutorial, History: A tutorial for those writing computer programs for the web.
- Certified Man Hugger: And a humorous look at how men handle showing emotion and friendship.
All of these courses and more can be found in this new community. Even though the number of courses within LearningZen now stands at only 63, it is easy to see that no one person could have created all of these courses. It is an example of a community starting to come together, it is a community of people interested in sharing learning and education. Maybe we too can impact the larger community by sharing what we know and learning from each other.
Dennis Phillips, Ph.D.
0 comments:
Post a Comment