Week 155 – March 5, 2023 – Change is a good thing

Huh. I never thought I would be here blogging on my sample portfolio site that I use with my undergraduate and graduate students. I currently teach a couple of courses at the university that uses portfolio as an integral part of the course: EDUC 405 and EDUC 796. I feel so grateful to be teaching these courses as well as the others that led up to these courses: EDUC 431, EDUC 490, and EDUC 491. I am hoping to complete this portfolio this year (or term). I started this portfolio a few years ago during EDUC 431 with intentions of completing, but here I am.

First, I would like to note, it is Week 155 of the COVID-19 pandemic, hence the sub-title. Second, let me introduce this blog post and “Transitioning from A to B.” I was first introduced to WordPress 10-years ago when I opened a website for my independent consulting business. I left teaching in K-12 and I was working on my dissertation. At first, I thought it would take a year to complete my dissertation, but it took me a lot longer. I became a school trustee and started a consulting business. I tutored math and hired to do workshops and curriculum writing.

A long story made short, I met an entrepreneur at a gathering with other women and hired her to make my website: https://christineyounghusband.com/ The website was much nicer which it was first designed. I’ve added to the WordPress and made some edits as my career changed over time. I served two terms as a school trustee, defended my dissertation, and became an Assistant Professor at the university. Life had shifted again many ways. I moved and I must have threw away the two-authentication codes and bought a new phone with the app.

In end end, I lost access to my WordPress site via my laptop. I locked myself out of my own website because I was spooked by getting cyber attacked. I got lots of email notifications of people or bots wanting to hack my account. I thought that the two step authentication was a good idea, but much like Skype, it’s too secure for me to navigate. I had no idea what I was doing. Still don’t. I guess this is the beauty of learning. I managed to blog since because I had access to a WordPress app. With updates and change in apps, I started to lose good access to my site.

Error 429, long delays to save or update, and the inability to upload photos were only a few symptoms (or reasons) why to change to a new platform. Letting go is so difficult. In some ways, I didn’t want things to change even though I was adapting many time to get to My Last Post. No picture, no editing, and no sense of hope. When do you say goodbye? Last night, I just had to. I could not continue doing what I was doing. As a friend said to me during my dissertation, “to what end?” A strange metaphor, my blog disfunction, but it resonates with me in many ways.

So here I am, continuing my blog post writing on this WordPress platform with Week 155 of my pandemic reflections, thoughts on EDUC 633 Self inquiry and Human Development, and artefacts or memories from teaching and learning. Something to consider is to change the format of my blog. When I started writing it was a means for me to practice writing and reflecting. I appreciated the high stakes nature of blogging and my writing skills have developed over time.

Who knows what’s next. What I am learning is, no one really knows. I am now deciding whether or not to continue paying for my URL for my work blog. If I let that go then I lose all access to my website. Am I willing to have my former work website to be digital debris. Would anyone be able to find it when it doesn’t have it’s URL? Where does all of that data go? And, who really cares? I guess it’s me right now. Another lesson is, it’s one step at a time. All will unravel as it should.