Ski Mountaineering as a personal metaphor for teaching online
By Justin Mark
The concept and visual theme I have chosen for the analogy of my teaching style and philosophy is ski mountaineering. The images I used on my OLTD website are some of my favorites and represent successful and unsuccessful ski mountaineering trips. Many of these pictures were captured on remote peaks here on Vancouver Island.
Originally I intended to use the images of plants and forests as my metaphor, however after a gentle nudge by my instructor (Thanks Mary), I turned to something more personal, switching generic photos for images shot by myself and my mountaineering partners (I am fortunate to ski with some very talented photographers.) After a little reflection I was able to draw several comparisons between ski mountaineering and teaching online. I am quite happy with the overall result.
Ski mountaineering is not a competitive sport, however it is a very goal driven pursuit, with the payoff being, attaining the summit of a mountain via a chosen route and the glorious untracked turns that follow. I have related to the idea of reaching the top of a mountain as a comparison for education. In both education and mountaineering we set goals, sometimes unachievable. We make our preparations then set off on our adventures. Sometimes we encounter very few obstacles and the trip to the summit/objective is smooth a relatively easy journey. Other times we encounter unexpected problems outside the realm of our control and we’re forced to abandon our trip, retreat and head home. Regardless, our passion and commitment never wavers. In both cases, we simply set new goals and prepare for the next adventure.
Like in education, without proper planning, equipment, teamwork and poor decision-making, ski mountaineering trips can result in tragedy. Extreme weather conditions, avalanches and falls are all ever-present realities in the mountains. In online education, teachers constantly struggle with equipment, overcoming cost restraints and navigating challenging political terrain. These obstacles while inherently different are not unlike the challenges presented in ski mountaineering. In addition, collaboration and teamwork, while not essentially necessary, lends to a more favorable result. In online learning, like in mountaineering, lack of planning and poor decision-making may result in serious consequences for the learners and the learning environment in general.
Like ski mountaineering online learning often finds itself exploring new routes and unchartered territory. Where these paths will lead is sometimes unknown, but with this uncertainty also comes excitement and hope. For those of us that persevere, the failures and the trips that end prematurely are muted by the triumphs. Often the uphill battle seems like it will never end, but when we stop to look around and realize how fortunate we are to be travelling in such a dynamic environment we realize that journey itself is the goal and the payoff is so much more than just the view from the top.
Originally I intended to use the images of plants and forests as my metaphor, however after a gentle nudge by my instructor (Thanks Mary), I turned to something more personal, switching generic photos for images shot by myself and my mountaineering partners (I am fortunate to ski with some very talented photographers.) After a little reflection I was able to draw several comparisons between ski mountaineering and teaching online. I am quite happy with the overall result.
Ski mountaineering is not a competitive sport, however it is a very goal driven pursuit, with the payoff being, attaining the summit of a mountain via a chosen route and the glorious untracked turns that follow. I have related to the idea of reaching the top of a mountain as a comparison for education. In both education and mountaineering we set goals, sometimes unachievable. We make our preparations then set off on our adventures. Sometimes we encounter very few obstacles and the trip to the summit/objective is smooth a relatively easy journey. Other times we encounter unexpected problems outside the realm of our control and we’re forced to abandon our trip, retreat and head home. Regardless, our passion and commitment never wavers. In both cases, we simply set new goals and prepare for the next adventure.
Like in education, without proper planning, equipment, teamwork and poor decision-making, ski mountaineering trips can result in tragedy. Extreme weather conditions, avalanches and falls are all ever-present realities in the mountains. In online education, teachers constantly struggle with equipment, overcoming cost restraints and navigating challenging political terrain. These obstacles while inherently different are not unlike the challenges presented in ski mountaineering. In addition, collaboration and teamwork, while not essentially necessary, lends to a more favorable result. In online learning, like in mountaineering, lack of planning and poor decision-making may result in serious consequences for the learners and the learning environment in general.
Like ski mountaineering online learning often finds itself exploring new routes and unchartered territory. Where these paths will lead is sometimes unknown, but with this uncertainty also comes excitement and hope. For those of us that persevere, the failures and the trips that end prematurely are muted by the triumphs. Often the uphill battle seems like it will never end, but when we stop to look around and realize how fortunate we are to be travelling in such a dynamic environment we realize that journey itself is the goal and the payoff is so much more than just the view from the top.