Yesterday one of the hundreds of tweets I read showed me that a new generation of interactive exercise widgets has arrived (Create quizzes at ProProfs.com). Anyone can use them and embed them in their blog or wiki to start producing sophisticated webpages for learners for free. I knew it was coming, but I just didn’t expect it quite so soon.
It’s great! But what does it mean for me professionally? I’ve enjoyed writing exercises as a part of my portfolio (latest one here). But as more and more sophisticated exercises become available for free, I might be out of a job. Content is important, I suppose, but why should my content be more relevant to a learner than anyone else’s? I’m not very good at online marketing, which I haven’t had to be, as I have been able to rely on friends and long-term business partners so far. What makes me a little sad is that I haven’t been able to involve my students in the productive side of using Web 2.0 technologies. My clients just haven’t been interested. I’m in a comfortable niche with them, but I’m always thinking about the future, and so getting students to create content is still the way I want to go! So I get the feeling that my interactive exercise phase has crested. Quiet, please, Twitter. I need to think. Going to take time off to find my mojo.
