I will begin this section with my favorite quotes from a book that made a difference in my life. The book is On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis (1989).

"To an extent, leadership is like beauty: it's hard to define, but you know it when you see it."

"Leaders have no interest in proving themselves, but an abiding interest in expressing themselves"

"Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself"

Often in life, it has been my destiny to lead. Some might say, this is because I like to be in control. I prefer to believe that I have always had a strong sense of how I wanted to live my life. Carpe diem was more than just an expression I heard in a Robin William's movie. It describes what has been my motto for most of my adult life: seize the day. I have been blessed in life to realize early that I didn't want to waste one minute of it. Having said that, I will proceed to indicate that I do have one regret.

If I could start all over again, I would be a filmmaker. Nothing satisfies me more than capturing images digitally and creating meaning that can be shared by others, intellectually and spiritually. There is something so satisfying about communicating with images and sound. It is pure creation for me; I totally lose track of time in the exhilaration of the moment. Movie making is a genuinely self-actualizing experience for me.

In that starting over again is not an option, I will hope that my future work utilizes this penchant for filming and editing video. One of my goals is to create educational video clips that can be viewed online by students and teachers. The Technology Artifacts section of my portfolio contains links to the 4 movies I created related to iMET as well as a links to short clips of a few other movies. The video tutorials were incredibly time consuming to complete. My future endeavors will focus on shorter projects - vignettes or clips that illustrate subject matter in a shorter format. The acquisition of a professional caliber video camera, sound equipment and the proper studio environment will hopefully enhance my efforts in this arena.

My other future professional goal is to continue to develop online courses. Having experienced online education as a course facilitator for distance learning classes through SDSU and as a student in the iMET master's program, I have seen what constitutes effective digital education. I have been lucky to experience good models and to learn first hand what works and doesn't work in a given situation. The future is exciting to contemplate as a result of these perceptions and the technology I now understand how to utilize.

Although, I am not certain where the future will find me vocationally, I know it will involve education and technology - my 2 favorite subjects. I will pursue vocational options that allow me to utilize my skills as an educator, consultant, filmmaker, writer, web site creator, and effective organizer of data, people and things. Is that too much to ask for in a job?! I am excited about the future because I love my work. Participating in iMET has increased my enjoyment of my work as it has added skills as well as a deep appreciation of what it means to be a learner. It has given me many more colors to add to my palette.