Reboot

“Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” 
― Carl Bard

I began my online learning journey in January with the best of intentions.  I would study every day and keep up with all of my classes.  My mind would swirl with new ideas and I'd smile with the satisfaction that comes from investing in myself.  I made some great progress by finishing three classes at Cornell, two at UCLA, and the first few weeks of classes at Harvard and the University of Massachusetts.  And then reality interfered...  

Expedition to Alaska

It started in February with an offer to teach a workshop at a conference in Alaska.  I jumped on the opportunity!  I developed an all day workshop for a group of ~ 20 geospatial professionals about how to communicate technical information effectively.  We played Taboo: geo-style, worked in teams, and challenged ourselves to be great.  The audience loved it...many commented that they had never laughed so much at a workshop.    Who said learning had to be boring???

And then there was the offer to do a mini-trip up to the Arctic Circle afterwards...My adventurous inner explorer couldn't resist.  Flying in a six person cloud hopper to visit the remote village of Beaver was definitely worth the lost class time!  

The village chief invited us into his house and served us caribou meat and wild salmon.  The highlight was holding the pelts of grizzly bear, mink, wolf, and arctic fox he captured.

I'm the one with the giant grey parka on the right. It took almost an hour to put on the layers and layers of clothes required to fend off the -30 degree F chill factor.

Dream Job Interview

When I returned home, I couldn't wait to catch up in all of my classes...until I saw an email from Coursera that I was selected for an interview for a Course Operations Specialist position!  I was giddy with excitement!  Class would have to wait.  

I needed to prepare for the meeting that could lead to my dream job - contributing to educational resources that could benefit countess students.  I soared past the first interview - a rigorous, a one-hour timed task in which I had to critique a sample course proposal for a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) from a "real" professor and write a best practices guide for translating traditional courses into MOOCs.  

I earned a second interview with a video I created showing how to transform a boring graph into an interactive map using ArcGIS Online.  In the next meeting, I spoke with one of their team members via Skype.  She told me more about the position and I gave her a tour of my online portfolio.  

Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the next round.  I'm proud that I made it that far though.  Who knows how many hundreds or thousands of people applied?

Geo Job Search

Rachel, you really need to catch on your classes!  

However, I couldn't skimp on my geo-job search.  I jumped on the networking opportunities provided by attending the L.A. GeoSpatial Summit and presenting at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting and the CalGIS Conference.  April 16th was particularly interesting as I was invited to speak in two cities on the same day.  Miraculously, I was able to present at two events at CalGIS in Long Beach in the morning and then scurry down to San Diego in time to speak at the World Resources SIM Center that night.

Oh yeah...and there was the design and launch of my new magazine - GeoPivot, creating an interactive map of my speaking engagements (see below), and creating a flippable GIS Portfolio to highlight my skills.

Time Travel

Fast forward to today, where I FINALLY have some free time to dive back into my blog.  Stay tuned for more details as I pick up where I left off on my online learning journey.