I’m more of an observant because I have very limited time. I’ve decided from the start to focus on the design and management of the course (basically, what George Siemens and Stephen Downes do and how they do it to support the learning experience) and to follow a small number of people – those I feel are more valuable for me plus some of the posts of the “highlighted resources” in The Daily. I also skim the Moodle forums every other day or so to check on some of the threads (as a lurker). I guess that if I were as involved in the course as you have been I’d have to spend 20+ hours a week to feel comfortable. I think that the problem you are bringing forward has mainly to do with the huge number of people involved. It is impossible to connect to and follow all interesting participants and the various ways in which they are organizing their leaning – too many places to go, too many resources to use, too much to read and process and articulate. This will not be the case with a regular course of 20 or 30 students. Here we have to make choices, in the line of what Stephen Downes has suggested a couple of times – concentrate on what interests, works and makes sense for us, and accept that we can not grasp beyond a small part of the huge flow of information. Having said that, I struggle with the same discomfort of feeling I’m missing very important things all the time .
For what is worth, I appreciate the valuable contributions you have been making to the course.