I have hit the proverbial wall today. It’s day four of our Media Meets Religion class and I believe my brain has taken in all the social media information it can handle for the week. This phenomenon is what I like to call “The J-Term Push”. I know when I take a three credit course in a week during J-Term that it will be a grind come Thursday but the benefits far outnumber the fatigue that usually sets in by this time. Knowing that this happens to me by day four I keep pressing on and in the end I am tired but happy at the result.
One of the benefits for me in taking a J-Term class is that I get to meet students from the Washington Consortium that I don’t get to meet during the regular Spring and Fall semesters here at Gettysburg Seminary. In addition, I get to meet, or see again, various alumni that come back for continuing education classes. This class has in it not only LTSG students and alums but students from Wesley Theological Seminary and Catholic University. The amount of information that is being shared is so vast right now I don’t know if I can retain it all but I do realize that I know much more today than I did on Monday as far as social media is concerned.
The major learning that happened for me today is realizing that I don’t need to use every bit of social media out there but to pick an amount of what is available that will suit the needs of the church where I will be called. It is far better to use some media well then to use all of it poorly.
As I anticipate tomorrow’s ending of our class being together for nine hours daily this past week I will feel two things. I will feel a sense of accomplishment in that the goals I set for myself this week will be accomplished. I will also have the realization that I have enlarged my network of tech savvy colleagues that I can turn to in the future when I need help.
That is what I call a successful, tiring, productive week.
David's Den 