Starting Out on CCK11

The decision has been made to commit myself to completing CCK2011, from January 11th. I look at the commitment I have made to my own self-directed learning, which has not progressed as speedily as I would have hoped, but that's okay.

So now I am committing to CCK11 and returning to work in a few weeks. Am I setting myself up for failure...I don't believe so, simply because any amount of 'effort/output' that I put into CCK11 will measure how much I get out of it. The pressure is off, unlike a standard course where I have to get this or that done and submit bits and pieces, with a MOOC I can go with the flow, as long as I put my thinking out there.
Weekly Elluminate meetings - Wednesdays at 4am guest speakers, Friday at 4am faciliators discussion.
I am not soure exactly how many sessions I will be able to participate in (4 am wake ups are not healthy for me) but I will certainly listen to the recordings.

I have done a bit of prep by listening to Dave Cormier's What is .., Knowledge in... and Success in... a MOOC, while I was in You Tube I also checked out George's presentation for TEDxNYED from June 2010.

I commenced the readings for Week 1, about 'Connectivism ?' (the question mark is very appropriate). I thought I had an understanding of connectivism, I read George Siemens' "Connectivism; a learning theory for the Digital Age" and I started to align my experience with connectivist learning/thinking ie. I am considering that the way I learned to be a parent was achieved by connectivism, I am still thinking more about that.
I read Stephen Downe's 'Half an hour' blog which explains his perspective on "What connectivism is" and now I am not so sure I get connectivism. Let me say I really enjoy Stephen's writing because he writes the way he talks and I can hear him saying the words as I read it. Maybe by the time I do some more reading and participate in/listen to the elluminate sessions I'll 'get it' again or maybe not, let's get started, I'm keen.
NB: This blog will not continue to highlight my confusion throughout the course, I just wanted to get it out in the open to start.