I must say that I am actually sad to see this class end. ALthough it has been stressful keeping up with the breakneck speed of a 6 week class, it has been more enjoyable than most. I think that I would have preferred to take this class over the course of a full semester so that I could really delve more deeply into the concepts behind using Web 2.0 and social media for learning and had more time to play with and practice using the tools we have been exploring. I am glad that I created a Pinterest Board, Web Tools for Instructional Design, where I collected most of those tools so that I can continue to explore them and possible ways that I can use them in my own instructional design and in my personal connection and personal learning pursuits.
I was an early adopter of digital curation even though I didn’t realize at the time that’s what I was doing. I’ve always been kind of obsessed with digital organization. I sort of knew this about myself already, but was able to more fully grasp this as I reflected on some of these concepts and activities presented in the course, particularly curation and my past attempts at it. I was also very interested in creating engaging activities for students and indirectly teaching them digital skills so I spent a lot of time in my K-12 teaching career searching for and utilizing Web 2.0 tools to supplement activities with my students. I feel like this course helped me take this to the next level. Using these tools for my own assignments was a fun experience; so much better than simple paper writing. Thinking about using these tools in instruction for adults and adding the increasingly prevalent use of social media was a new adventure for me. I was even pushed outside of my comfort zone to use tools that I have had a negative view of in the past, such as Reddit (which I still don’t like but am now able to see in a different way). I found the blog requirement to be a great learning experience. I have always had a latent desire to start a blog so I found it fun. And what an excellent idea to allow us to develop these as an alternative to BlackBoard discussion posts. Taking a requirement and turning it into a learning opportunity like that was very helpful. I also love how varied the blog tools were and how my classmates were able to support each other as we built them. It was a great experience to follow them using an RSS reader which I hadn’t used before and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the varying perspectives of my classmates. I hope to continue to use my blog to share and collect/organize my thoughts on this instructional design journey. I look forward to determining how some of the Web 2.0 Tools we have explored can be further used to embed engagement, interactivity, and novelty into the courses I am tasked with developing for K12 teachers. The only thing I will continue to struggle with is how to utilize or implement the social media aspect or other user interactions into these courses. They are truly independent in that they can be taken at any time by anyone so the timeframe is open-ended. There is also not an opportunity for learners to discuss or collaborate or for an instructor (there isn't one) to provide feedback; the backend system is automated and the implementation of what is learned occurs after the course is complete and is actually overseen by a local supervisor. I will definitely take all I have learned into account as I keep working on ways to continuously improve these courses and as I participate in other courses in my quest for the Online Instructional Development Certificate. See some of you in those other courses! Farewell!!
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The past few weeks my center began exploring the possibility of implementing a social media presence. We are working on building a rationale and a proposal for doing so. The idea is to promote the work that we do here and showcase some of the courses, databases and websites that we have built. It will also be beneficial to raise the level of awareness of the products we create because they are available to the public and, for the most part, are truly helpful and supportive of those out there working on behalf of others.
Some of the issues we are exploring are how to communicate it to our partners and ensure that they have no issues with us using social media platforms to highlight and share the work we have done for them. After all, they fund these endeavors; we are just the behind the scenes architects of their vision. One thing I find interesting is when the team of leadership meets and discusses this endeavor. About half of this team has no real understanding of the scope and reach of social media because they don’t participate in it. They don’t quite see the importance in having a social media presence or how it might reflect negatively on a tech-based organization to not have an active one (a Facebook page at the very least.) I think they are great examples of the “principled non-users” who “are trying to avoid creating the digital footprint” that Vanessa Dennen describes in a book chapter she is working on related to ethics in using social media in education. Or it may simply be that they are so used to living lives without it that they feel no need to adopt new habits that keep them attached to a smart phone (maybe they have something there?) During these discussions I have been able to bring in some of the concepts, points and experiences that I have had in the EME6414 course. I have been discussing the scope and breadth of social media and how it is about raising “awareness”, not marketing. That the amount of users on social media who would begin to learn about us makes it important to create and maintain this presence. Indeed, the push for exploring a social media strategy is driven by comments from outside folks that they searched for information about us on Facebook. I found the timing of these discussions quite relevant to the course and the coursework as a great support for me in participating in developing our social media strategy. It is interesting to me to be having these conversations with folks who do not participate in social media as a stark contrast to the course I am taking that has such a strong focus on it. I have found that it is hard to see outside of the perspective of a seasoned social media user. Much as I'm sure they struggle to see the perspective of those fully entrenched (or I might say "indoctrinated", depending on the day!). I don't think that anyone would be surprised at the data-based revelation that everybody lies on social media. But the article, Everybody lies: how Google search reveals our darkest secrets got me thinking more about how the data that can be mined from social media can be used. I found the exploration of social media data in this article fascinating. Especially the fact that Google searches can instantly tell you how popular the search you are making is. If you are typing in your search and it comes up higher on the list, it’s more popular. Using this to compare the difference in questions from women and men on related subjects was a really great example of the power that this search data has. Another great example was they way they cross-referenced data sources to confirm that certain people either are, or feel more comfortable disclosing, personal information about themselves in states where policies are more tolerant towards certain types of people. Or even the question about correlation of racism to the way people vote or the generalization that parents have a bias against young girls.
So it got me thinking about whether social media can (or maybe one day will) be used to drive policy either for companies or for governments. Will companies craftily use the majority opinions of the masses evidenced in this data to develop new products and services or refine existing ones? Will savvy politicians consult state level Google searches to help craft the way they communicate their personal opinions or political stances? Can educators consider popular search data when developing activities and lessons? Last night I was reminded of this article when participating in an online community related to an app that allows you to post things for sale and wondered about one way that companies can do this There was a recent update with some significant changes that have seemed to stymie sales for many of the sellers. This topic has come up again and again in this group and there have been suggestions and frustrations shared. I wondered aloud on one of the posts why the app developer didn’t have someone lurking in the group and take note of the trends in discussion about features. Wouldn't this type of information be important to consider during planning meetings related to the next update of the application? THese are real people discussing every day use of the app; better than focus groups! In my opinion this kind of real User experience (UX) information would be invaluable for the refinement of the user interface (UI). Politicians have long put a lot of effort into all kinds of research to determine how their constituents feel about issues and how they should carefully craft responses based on that. Wouldn’t social media data be even better than a town hall meeting for gathering insight into the feelings of their constituents? It would provide a much larger sample to look at and it would be based on anonymous data therefore much more likely to be a true representation. As for educators, I haven’t really been able to determine how social media data mining can impact them. Other than how they might be able to use this information to develop lessons related to current events or set up engaging debates on specific subjects. Perhaps how to mine and analyze the data can be a lesson in and of itself. Do you have any ideas how this kind of information can be used by educators in instructional design? I’d love to hear them in the comments.
As an educator, I am very familiar with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. I tired to employ UDL techniques during the 10 years I spent in classroom and am trying to implement them in the online courses for adults that I oversee the development of (and frankly struggling due to the nature of the asynchronous, independent and open-ended timeframe).
In our EME 6414 course, I feel like the activities and assignments are based on this kind of framework, whether intentional or not. The curriculum provides something (within the objectives) for every learner. That's because of the various methods that are provided for students to participate and discuss what we are learning and to the choices involved in the creation of assessment tasks. I was also happy to find that my classmates' Produsage projects (many of which are lessons) mostly contain elements of UDL. The 3 elements, or guidelines are, as outlined by CAST, the Center for Applied Special Technology:
Allowing students the amount of choice we have for completing assignments is a great example of the action and expression guideline. Although there are certain parameters for the assignments (there have to be) based on the goals and objectives, the way that students are able to achieve those goals by selecting their own topics and tools is very allows for a variety of ways for them to express what they have learned. As mentioned in the video above, "students need to gain knowledge, skills and enthusiasm for learning and a curriculum needs to help them do all 3." It goes on to ask how the curriculum can challenge and engage but still meet the need of the myriad of diverse learners. That's where UDL comes in. For a fabulous resource describing the UDL Guidelines in more depth and specific checkpoints in each one, please visit the National Center on Universal Design for Learning. You'll also find specific examples, evidence and related scholarly research. I just finished creating a lesson that involves using Web 2.0 and other social media tools to determine if the news and information being read and shared on social media is real or fake. I think that the ability to think critically about the information that we consume and that we share for others to consume is super important. As awesome as the internet is and as great as it is to be so connected to our family, friends and peers, it is also ripe for abuse related to confirmation bias especially as we all participate as prosumers.
Now obviously I am on one side or the other of the “right and left” as most of us are and this of course affects media that I consume and trust but I do from time to time seek out the other side to see what kinds of things are being reported and to try and get out of my own bubble. Granted, I do scoff and laugh and what I encounter, but at least I am trying. And I do understand that the things that I see that tickle my own confirmation bias in good ways are doing just that and I can separate myself from those and understand that intent. I am also aware enough to think critically about every resource I see and recognize the red flags that mean I need to dig deeper, research and understand if the truth is actually being reported. I don’t think anyone in America is unaware of the idea of “fake news” these days. But what can we do? We can become responsible consumers and prosumers of media. As more and more of our students learn about the world around them through news shared on social media, I don’t think we can underscore the need for them to have this same self-awareness of their own confirmation bias as I shared above about my own. And for them to also be able recognize red flags and investigate further before sharing and perpetuating something that is simply put out there to prey on confirmation bias for the purpose of clicks that line the pockets of the creators of nonsense. In my opinion, there has been a shift in the information age that may lead us all down a dark path towards an Orwellian future where people tell us what is real and what is fake and we are expected to believe that or else. Education, critical thinking and the support of those who are risking themselves to tell the truth are the keys to combat this. Educators must ensure that students have the metacognitive tools to know what is real and why. What’s even scarier is that even this very idea of education and critical thinking seems to be under attack. I have had an IFTTT account for a while but just haven't gotten around to utilizing it. I was happy that this tool became one of our tools to explore for this week. It gives me the perfect excuse to finally sit down and see how to use this tool to automate my life and better utlize some of the many Web 2.0 tools that I use and possibly connect some of them in an effort to hack my life. With so many options available to set up in IFTTT it was nice to see that the search page has things organized into categories. That made my search much easier. You can also search by some of the more common apps that many of us have on our smartphones for action that interact with them and make them interact together (for example, selecting Instagram gives you a lot of cards that will allow you to automatically post your images to other apps such as Pinterest or Facebook or automatically save them to other apps such as Google Drive or Dropbox.) I will say that it is a little nerve wracking to give so much access to one app, but it needs it to link them together and this is the world we live in now. I didn’t notice any advertising on the site so I do wonder how they monetize the service. Do the apps that are connected pay them? If anyone can make an applet, how does that work? I really like how the applets are set up in cards that give you a lot of information at a quick glance. They include the specific act that can be done, what app the action interacts with, and how many others are using the applet. Here are just a few of the options I set up:
So what do you think of IFTTT? Are you concerned at all about giving it complete access to all the social media tools that you use? Are there any applets that you use that you find to be invaluable to your own life hacking? If so, please comment about them! A story I read this morning reports that Twitter had zero users added last month. That's right, ZERO. Wow. That blew my mind a little bit because it seems impossible. Especially with the president blowing Twitter up multiple times a day (although you can view his Tweets without following him, as I do, or without even having a Twitter account). No new personal accounts? No new users there to follow their celebrity favorite? No new businesses signing on to yet another social media platform to promote its brand?
It does make me wonder if it has to do with the confusing interface there. I know that there there are a lot of people already who get it and use it voraciously, but for new users it can be a little daunting (as evidenced by some of the comments of my classmates). Especially those used to the simplicity of Instagram or the ease of following and responding in threaded posts on Facebook. To be honest, it does make me a little sad. Even though I don't really 'get' or use Twitter much I don't like to think about the Judgement Day or 1984 implications of a world where Facebook is the only option for connecting, messaging, sending funds, videos, online sales, and everything else they seem to be getting into. It's like Facebook is an online black hole. The usership is so huge that every new thing they roll out sucks everyone in whether you like it or not. Here's an example of how you get sucked in. I fought installing the Messenger app on my phone for at least a year. It kept prompting me and I kept refusing; never sending messages and only viewing those sent to me through the app. Then they cut that capability off with a simple update (which I also avoided for that very reason until the version I had stopped working and one day I got a message saying that it I didn't upgrade the app just would not work.) Then I started using my mobile browser when there was a message for me through Facebook. Finally I had to give in. There were conversations happening there that I needed easier access to. My dog rescue group, selling things online, etc. Too many people were now using Facebook to message me; these are people who have my phone number! They are now using Facebook Messenger instead of sending text messages. And now, with videos, they are making it harder and harder to share and view videos using Youtube (owned by Google one of their biggest competitors) because they want to corner the market on that, too. And the list goes on..... In our readings, Reyman (2013) pointed out that "Zuckerberg claims that he is merely responding to social norms in the development of new technologies and the policies that govern them" (p. 520). What do you think? It seems we don't need to worry about the overreach of Twitter but do you think that one day we will all have a Facebook chip implanted in our brains? And why doesn't the fact that I am connected through Google in so many ways via my Android phone and my use of all Google's products for work and home life (or my 4 Google profiles) bother me as much? Why do I see Facebook's reach as ominous and Google's integration of everything in my life as convenient? Update: In an even more scary report about Facebook (and its potential for becoming the real life version of Cyberdine Systems, Facebook AI Creates Its Own Language In Creepy Preview Of Our Potential Future. And this image, shared by a classmate on with the EME6414 Instagram tag is particularly fitting. In my mind I am calling it "Liked to Death" (if you know the source, please let me know in the comments so I can provide credit). I really love some of the projects that I have seen on Thinglink and although I signed up a few weeks ago, this week I spent quite some time going through it and trying to create my Produsage Project with it. Just like all the other online tools I use, I jumped right in and tried to create what I want and used that as a way to learn the tool. What I found was that I had a different idea of what it can do and it just didn’t suit my needs for this particular project/assignment. I did create a Thinklink related to the lesson I am working on and while it will not work for the entire lesson, I will use it in the lesson as an extension activity: What is fake news? How to spot it and stop it.
I also found it to be quite buggy; although that may have been a problem with the browser on my end; it’s hard to say (or maybe the free version?). I would be searching for example Thinglinks or images and have new tabs open and sometimes those tabs would have me logged in and sometimes they wouldn't. Also, I created as channel for the best Thinglinks I came across as I played around with the tool and they wouldn't all save. In the end, even though I didn’t end up using THinglink (except as an extension to my Produsage lesson) I can think of quite a few things that it is useful for. I can envision u sing it for timelines, virtual tours, curating a set of articles to focus research for students. To highlight some of the great ways that ThingLink can be used, here are a few of my favorites: Historia del Rock Virtual Field Trips, #Technology, #STEAM Basilica of Maxentius (aka Basilica Nova) Does anyone else worry about the danger of distractions when thinking about utilizing Web 2.0 and social media tools in instruction? Having taught students with learning disabilities for 10 years, many of them with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), I do wonder. Having some symptoms of this disorder myself I do find myself wandering. For example, using Pinterest has always been a personal thing for me. I save, curate and share things that I find relevant to various aspects of my life to come back to at a later time. But I also explore the feed that is in itself sort of curated specifically for me because it is made up of people and boards that I have made a conscious effort to follow. Therefore most of what comes up there (even the targeted advertising) is of interest to me. When using it for a course assignment, which is a different way of usage for me than just the free form "collect and curate personal stuff", I would find myself getting distracted by the feed and going "down the rabbit hole".
This makes me think of those students that I used to teach who already struggle with keeping focused and staying on task. Even though we are exploring the use of social media and Web 2.0 tools with the intent of providing a way to engage learners and provide lessons or activities in a medium that is collaborative, are we also making it harder for certain learners? If this is a problem for you, are there strategies that you use keep yourself focused? What is the netiquette for these? As social media tools have taken on more and more users, content creators have made it easier for people to share their content to these platforms in an effort to drive web traffic back to their own sites. They do this to spread their message, generate page views (which can lead to increased ad revenue) and try and engage users. I know that there is code that you can embed in your site to make it easier to share pages, images, text, etc. to certain specific social media platforms. We've all seen them, sitting there on webpages, usually news-related, imploring us to share the story or content. But who decides and controls them?
I remember before I got the Chrome plug in for Pinterest or started using the share tool built in easily into my mobile devices, that there used a be a Pinterest button alongside the typical ones that I used to use quite a bit. I didn't notice them going away because the plug in and mobile share buttons became my primary ways to pin. But in my recent research on Pinterst for my Knowledge Tracking Assignment, I noticed that the share button for Pinterest now seems to be missing from many places that I know it used to exist. I wonder why this is? Or is Pinterest losing users? Or is it because of the plug ins? It just got me wondering about these buttons in general. It seems like they must be based on which tools get the most use (Facebook and Twitter show up the most for example) but they aren't consistent. Do these social media sites pay for sites to have these buttons to encourage users to use them for sharing and therefore engaging other users? Is there a person behind the selection of the social media share buttons that will appear behind each and every site, meaning that a conscious decision is made over which ones will appear? Is there a way to embed these in your own activities or assignments? For example, would it be possible to embed these in your own blog posts or other tools to make it easier on students to share and collaborate? Have you used these social media sharing buttons before or you know how they work? If so, please share in the comments. I got inspired by Vanessa's recent blog post to take stock of the social media or Web 2.0 tools that I currently use or have used in the past since I started using these tools as a prosumer. I have wanted to make this list for awhile and I would like to keep it as a running list and update my use of these tools from time to time or as I add new tools to my repertoire. Perhaps this list will be helpful to me in the future in terms of saving myself time (not adding another tool when one I already use will suffice) or in trying to determine which tool I use can fit a certain need I may have in instructional design. Or maybe others will even find it helpful to see how someone else is using these tools.
Bold font = Use on a regular (close to daily) basis Regular font = Use (W=weekly; M=monthly; O=occasional use; D=Don't use anymore) Italic font = Have a login, may have played around with a little bit, for but don't really use (yet)
On my last blog post I mentioned that I curated a wiki using a fictitious name so that the resources I collected there did not seem to come from an official source due to my position at the time. This got me thinking a lot about an incident I had related to my online name. Some sites, such as Facebook, require you to use your real name. And they are pretty vigilant about it. I had my online avatar/persona as my middle name and was reported by an internet bully (a long story but this person targeted me during the 2016 presidential election) as having a fictitious name Facebook forced me to take a picture of two forms of identification by holding my profile and all the history it contains hostage until I complied. I pleaded my case but having a very real reason for the middle name I was using to be easily identifiable didn't matter to them.
The name, moniker, avatar, whatever you want to call it came from my seven years playing roller derby. In that community people only knew you by your roller derby name. Those names were very personal and in those days it was an understood part of the culture that no one share the same name. There was even an online database where one could search to see if the names were taken. My roller derby name, The Terminatrix, was very personal to me and had many connections to me as a person. I am very much into dystopian fiction and the end to the human race and struggle to survive, much like that portrayed in the Terminator series, has always been of interest to me. I am also very interested in technology which is another connection to the fact that the Terminator series is based on the idea that technology, which is supposed to make the lives of humans easier and better, becomes the end of life on Earth as we know it. That the robots we created take over and no longer have need of us. So, many people around the country simply knew me as The Terminatrix. By having that as a part of my name on Facebook it made it easy for those on my friends list to know exactly who I was by the name that they associated with me. It allowed me to conduct business on behalf of my roller derby league with members of other leagues, such as planning the season schedule, working for the national organization or sanctioning games. Facebook makes that harder to do by taking away your ability to identify yourself that way. Sure you can have a nickname on your personal page, but it no longer shows up in your posts and interactions in groups. I think that middle names should not be a part of the "prove who you are" requirements. That would allow for users such as myself who have a very real reason to have this additional identifier. I wouldn't necessarily call the use of the name on Facebook anonymous since so many knew me by that name (although since I have retired from roller derby I have kept that persona in most of the online communities of which I am a part). Especially since it was sandwiched by my very real first and last name. I can understand the reason behind this and the safety that it assumes to provide users, but after that happened to me I decided to start reporting names of the bullies and trolls that were terrorizing some groups that I was in and that were obviously fictitious. After knowing that I was forced to provide identification I thought that if some of these bullies were forced to use their real names then maybe they would think twice about some of the horrible and awful posts that they were making. However, I'm not sure what the double standard is because obviously they were not forced to do the same thing. The result of my reporting was that Facebook told me I could block the person if I didn't want to hear from them. That's it. They kept the names. I would love to post here what some of those names were and get opinions of whether or not those could even possibly be real names, provable via two forms of official ID, but they are not appropriate for a blog read by people and professors in a class that I am participating in. What are your thoughts on the pros and cons of anonymity in social networks?
This week in our EME 6414 class we have been reading about and discussing the concept of online curation or social bookmarking. Our instructor defines this as the "organized and purposeful collecting and sharing of annotated online content". It has got me reflecting on the many years that I have spent trying to organize all of the digital resources that I have come across in the various contexts that I use them. It started for me when I was a teacher. I taught elementary aged students with learning disabilities. The Internet was just starting to explode as I began my teaching career. I would constantly think, and say out loud, how lucky I was to be a teacher in the internet age. That in the past many teachers had to spend much more time coming up with unique and novel ideas for lesson plans, engaging students, organizing classrooms, etc. They had to spend time directly discussing these things with other more creative teachers, spend money on books of ideas and inspiration or time at the public library looking for this information. Now a simple Google search could bring up a plethora of resources, ideas, printables, graphics, worksheets, you name it. The ideas began to outpace and overwhelm those searching. Enter the idea of annotation which I took a lot of time to do. I now know this is/was just one part of the process of curation because I was finding, assessing, choosing, and explaining (annotating) online content and tailoring and sharing that collection via various tools. Too many resources were out there and I found myself trying to find a way to organize the best ones for ease of later access. So, my first attempt at basic digital curation was a site called IKeepBookmarks. I had a blast curating resources here. It allowed me to not only curate but to use my beginning html skills to add some visual elements. I was then able to share these with other educators. I then went on to create several websites that I could keep a more select and carefully chosen set of curated resources on. One for teachers only and one for my students so that they could easily link to the online tools I was using to engage them and extend their learning. For example, I actually had a page called Using Web 2.0 Tools in the Classroom in which I linked to and described (or annotated) some of the tools that I found especially helpful. Teachers don't really have the time for endless searching and my intent was to save those who might see my site some time. Imagine how I felt with the advent of Pinterest, which is a tool for exactly that. I swear was one of the first people on it. The Chrome extension and mobile add share function make it so easy to use and post to. Boards make it even easier to organize and I love that there are secret boards for the things that you want to save that you may not want to share. After I left teaching, I found myself in need of collecting the resources I needed to more effectively do my job at the Department of Education. I did this via my own wiki page with sections for certain areas. I curated/annotated the resources here with explanations. I also added PDF files that I knew I would need to access in the future. The difference with this that I didn't intend for this resource to be shared but I did want it to be public because they were very helpful resources. As a representative of the state department of education I could not have the resources seen as being official as many weren't vetted and were informational for me (so I used a fictitious name and added a disclaimer just in case and only shared anonymously). Of course now I have multiple tools for organizing online content and do it almost as second nature. It's interesting to look back at the ways that I have participated in digital curation without even realizing that's what I was doing. Can you look back at ways that you adopted methods or tools for your own social bookmarking attempts? Also, if you are curating tools for yourself with no intent to share (such as secret Pinterest Boards) would that be considered curation? Or just annotation? "Distance education has a unique opportunity to deliver on the promise of the universal right to education. " ~Caswell et. al, (P9) There has been a lot of talk lately in politics about free college for all. The article Open Educational Resources: Enabling universal education by Tom Caswell, Shelley Henson, Marion Jensen, and David Wiley from The Center for Open and Sustainable Learning at Utah State University discusses one way that distance education technologies are paving the way to universal education provided by institutions via Creative Commons license. Their paper explores the issue and a specific tool, OpenCourseWare, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Having long been a supporter of universal education, I found this article extremely interesting.
The article was written in 2008 and so much has happened in this area in the almost 10 years since. There are multiple free and open-source educational organizations available online now and not just through higher education institutions. The few that come quickly to mind are Khan Academy, Open Education Resources Commons, edX, Moodle.net, etc. There are many more (and countless more options behind paywalls). There are also many out there that are subject specific like Free Code Camp where you can learn and practice coding basics in a community based environment. There are even public school versions of online education now where students in kindergarten through twelfth grades can complete the requirements toward graduating with a high school diploma completely online. Florida was one of the first states to offer this through the Florida Virtual School. In my opinion this is the future. Knowledge cannot be contained anymore and is being disseminated by prosumers and is freely available to those who seek it (WikiPedia is the perfect example of this). All it takes a is an organization such as the ones mentioned above, or a community of willing individuals, to create, organize and disseminate it. How long before job creators and searchers begin looking at specific skill sets rather than at education credentials such as college degrees? Technology and coding is a great example of this. If an applicant can prove through a portfolio of work, previous work experience or a structured interview activity that they are well suited to meet the needs of the position, does the degree matter as much? The open source education movement is certainly supported by the ease with which people can access the information via mobile computing technologies that tap into the power and reach of the internet (desk top computers, lap tops, smartphones, tablets, etc.). In this world of freely available knowledge and information it becomes even more important for users to be able to evaluate the source of the materials that they engage in. Where do you see the future of education going? Do you believe that free education for all is possible? Or do the recent battles over the future of net neutrality bode ominously for this? I thought I might actually have a very old diigo account. I don't remember it very much at all so I wasn't even sure which email I may have used to sign up for it. Luckily when trying to sign in it notifies you that "the email doesn't exist" (I find it so annoying when sites don't do that. What a great feature for those of us having multiple email addresses used for various things). That way I was able to use the "forgot password" feature and get back into this long dormant account. I have no real idea of when I signed up for this account. Sometimes I have an idea of when I started using or used a certain tool by which email address I use but in this case I used my FSU address and since I have had this email for many years as first an FSU college student and then as an employee of the university it could have been anytime in the last 10 years. So I found it an interesting exercise to go in and see what I had saved in diigo to determine if I was able to see when I must have used it. But I was disappointed because all I ended up seeing was a PacMan ghost; apparently I didn't get much into using it when I did sign up. One of the things that makes me happy and more likely to use it this time around it that it has a Chrome extension, yay! This will make it much easier to use for me since I pretty much use Chrome exclusively and love how extensions seamlessly interface with my browser. I also see that it allows users to annotate PDF files that they bookmark, which is a great feature (although somewhat limited in the free version). I also appreciate that there is a "Read Later" feature. I used to use a tool called Pocket which allowed you to save articles and websites for later viewing and it makes perfect sense to have such a feature embedded in a bookmark saver/curator. I also like that you can annotate specific pages that you bookmark so you have an area that you can collect notes related to that specific page. The sticky note feature is very handy, too. It allows you to make a note directly over a certain section of the page and when you revisit the page, it's in the same spot. Both annotations and notes appear on your main diigo page, which is also a great way to see all of them organized onto one page. I still don't get it.
I mean I like to see some posts every now and then; it is fun to check in and scroll mindlessly through looking at random stuff but single posts are about all I get out of it. I find it very confusing to follow any kind of logical progression of responses or reTweets. I keep trying to determine which came first, which comes next, who made the original Tweet, who responded or just reTweeted. It's a mess; like an org chart gone crazy. I'm sure that if I made a bigger effort and spent more time Tweeting I would likely figure it out eventually (like most social media platforms that I have learned by doing), but I have too many other platforms that I am trying to keep up with to even really try. And I don't care that much, to be honest. There's only so much time and Twitter is one tool too many for me and my needs right now. or In my last course, I deeply explored the use of VoiceThread. I thought I would post that exploration here in the hope that it may be interesting to my classmates or even helpful to those new to VoiceThread who might be using it for the first time for the Knowledge/Tracking assignment or who might want to utilize the tool in their own online instructional projects. This post will discuss the major features of Voice Thread and my opinion on the advantages and disadvantages of the tool. For that paper we also had to highlight one possible use of our selected tool for an assignment that we completed in that course and provide a similar models with feature comparisons, but I left those components out because I don't feel they are applicable here or would be of much help to my classmates (the intent of this post).
Introduction to VoiceThread in Distance Education The purpose of this assignment is to explore and learn about a distance technology application that I find interesting and of possible use to a specific activity in our Introduction to Distance Education Course. The application that I chose is one that I had briefly considered using when I was an elementary special education teacher, VoiceThread. I remember thinking that use of this tool might be a way to engage my students beyond just the paper/pencil interventions and activities that we were doing. Ultimately I went with a different technology and was not able to put too much time or effort into exploring VoiceThread so I welcome the opportunity to do so now, for this final project. In my paper I will include a comprehensive review of VoiceThread and its features and capabilities including the advantages and disadvantages of using the application in a distance learning environment. I will also explore the application of VoiceThread to online learning activities and why I believe it to be advantageous to learning and a step up from simple threaded, text- based tools. My research began (like most these days, I’m sure) with a search utilizing Google’s search engine to find the VoiceThread website where I explored the features, tools and possible integration into Course Management Systems. Then I dived a little deeper into some of the organizations using VoiceThread and the ways in which it has been, or is being, implemented. First, I visited the VoiceThread Digital Library which contains a collection of articles and existing VoiceThreads written and developed by other educators. Then I did more searching and was able to find a small graduate research project by Yu-Hui Ching and Yu-Chang Hsu on the use of VoiceThread for a collaborative project in an online graduate course, as well as a very relevant and insightful article by Andrew Koricich and several other studies outlining the use or prevalence of VoiceThread in higher educational settings. I also consulted several wikispaces dedicated to the use of VoiceThread in education and the VoiceThreads blog. Using all of these resources, I was able to thoroughly understand the use of VoiceThread and its many features and possibilities for use in online education. Based on this understanding, I selected one activity from the Introduction to Distance Learning course to redesign using the VoiceThread tool. Finally, although there aren’t many tools out there like it, I was able to research two other tools, TeacherTube and Animoto which come close, in order to make comparisons between the features, uses and costs of VoiceThread and these other tools, which is included in table format. Major Features of VoiceThread VoiceThread is an online tool that allows users to collaborate in asynchronous activities. These activities can be designed and set up by an online instructor to take advantage of the collaborative, personal and universal nature of VoiceThread as it is designed to be interactive. Participants can use and add various types of media to enrich activities and discussions and can participate and engage with others via various commenting methods, such as voice, text or audio. Since VoiceThread is a web-based tool, there is no software for users to download and they can access the tool anywhere they have an Internet connection. Some of the main features of VoiceThread include: Interactive Products: VoiceThread allows users to collaborate on products that are truly multimedia in nature. The product is compatible with over 50 different types of media from video, audio, various document types, etc. Users can upload whichever product suits their needs and create their own narrative and doodling that interacts with the content and allow collaborators and commenters to do the same. Options for Commenting: Multiple options for commenting include text based comments, audio comments video comments (which include audio), or users can upload comments or even have the system call on the telephone to record the audio comment. When creating a VoiceThread, instructors can toggle each of these modalities on or off depending on the project or preference. Comment Moderation: The creator of each VoiceThread can preview and approve all new comments before others can see them. This can also be turned off so that comments can post directly without the creator having to approve each one. This is useful when instructors feel the need to see the comments before they are posted if, for example, they are using VoiceThread as a type of assessment and do not want to give away the answers or concepts ahead of time. They can then score each answer as they work through allowing them and then all users can have access to the comments. Direct replies: Users can reply to other users directly using the “reply to” call to action button. This allows them to include responses out of sequence in direct confirmation or debate to classmates. Threaded Comments: Similar to direct replies, participants can also add threaded comments to comments in VoiceThread. This is a great feature that makes debate much easier in VoiceThread. It organizes comments into responses based on specific feedback to a main comment and can be especially useful for collaborative and/or debate style activities. Analytics: VoiceThread gives instructors the ability to collect information, at any time, about each VoiceThread created. It provides information such as total minutes the VoiceThreads are utilized and the number of comments made on each one. It will generate these reports in easy to read and interpret graphs and charts. Doodling Tool: The Doodle tool allows users to write directly on top of video or other media in the VoiceThread. It captures what one draws, exactly how as it is drawn. Can make them fade away after a few seconds or can toggle them to stay on and accrue. There are many uses for this tool, such as making connections, taking notes or calling attention to specific features. Exporting: Allows users to download or export the original media used to design the VoiceThread, if specified by the instructor. Instructors and users can download and save for offline viewing. This can be useful for users who may want to use the VoiceThread as a study tool or for those who will need to view it when not connected to the Internet. Functions Customizable by Instructors: When creating a new VoiceThread, instructors can choose certain customizations, such as the ability to allow the VoiceThread to play upon opening; enable comment moderation; allow commenters to add slides: whether to and the length of time to advance to new slides; whether or not to allow commenters to delete comments once posted; and whether to allow other users to make a copy, export or download the original media. Multiple Identities: Allows users to toggle between identities even on the same VoiceThread. Helpful for making anonymous comments (but can be misused by people to bully or harass). Notifications: Notifications allow creators of the VoiceThread, instructors in this context, to receive email summaries of all comments made on all VoiceThreads owned. Shared Editing: Useful for co-teaching for for courses where a graduate student may be working with a professor. Digital Library: VoiceThread includes a digital library that allows users to explore a database of articles written about VoiceThread projects. The collection is organized by topic and is intended to provide inspiration to users who may want to develop new projects. Custom Tools: Instructors or institutions can design their own homepage and use their own colors, text, images and logos or branding. This page can also have featured VoiceThreads or the most current projects on the page and users and students can comment directly from that page. Accessibility: VoiceThread includes tools that allow encourage and allow for participation from all types of users, including those with disabilities. Paid accounts have the ability to include closed captioning of audio and video files. They also have a tool called VoiceThread Universal for screen readers and refreshable braille. The rest of their tools are designed around universal access, which is one of the reasons they include the ability to comment in multiple formats. Training: VoiceThread includes free online workshops (using VoiceThreads as the instructional delivery model) outlining the basics of using the tool and by categories showing its use relative to specific areas. These workshops are also archived for permanent access. Once can also earn a VoiceThread certification by completing a course that takes 2 weeks and includes a capstone project as well as exhibiting masterful control of VoiceThread features and appropriate lesson design fundamentals. Advantages of VoiceThread Allows for Personalized Connection: Panettieri noted that “frequently, online classes inadvertently dehumanize the learning process because they lack the personal interactions of a classroom” (P. 643). VoiceThread can mitigate this problem, even during an asynchronous activity, because it allows students to connect with one another in a much more personal way via hearing each others’ voices. For the activity described, VoiceThread can help bridge the gap between a face to face setting where students can converse with each other in real time, and the asynchronous way that this assignment is conducted and how most collaboration occurs in online courses. It accomplishes this by using student voices, not just impersonal written text as is used in the Blackboard Discussion Thread. Sharing Tools: When sharing VoiceThread instructors have the ability to choose various groups or contacts or specific contacts within groups. The links can be set to allow users to view the content only or to comment on the content. This allows for instructors to create lecture style VoiceThreads where the content cannot be commented on by others or, as in the case of the activity outlined previously, allow students to comment and collaborate in a shared and engaging activity. Direct links can also be created that instructors can be insert into emails, blogs, learning management systems like Blackboard or share on social media sites, depending on the course communication system. The activity outlined in this paper can be embedded utilizing the possible integration into the Blackboard system which would also provide grading integration. If the tool were not licensed and embedded, the link can be embedded into the assignments section of the Google document for ease of student access. Multiple Options for Commenting: The various options included for collaborative participation in a VoiceThread activity allows for users to customize their respones. Instructors can choose to allow students to participate in various ways therefore meeting the needs of all types of learners during collaborative activities. Although this is an advantage to VoiceThread as a whole and allows for all types of flexibility in terms of designing various activities, it isn’t an advantage to the activity example described because this activity requires the use of the audio comment tool only. However, the threaded commenting option is especially useful to this activity because it allows students to view varying perspectives and add their own thoughts in response. It provides an enhanced and engaging alternative to the threaded comments required in the current activity on the Blackboard discussion thread. Options and Choice Built In: The ability to include all types of media, video clips, audio, photographs, graphics, text, voice commentary, etc. allows users choice in how to create VoiceThreads for specific course projects, depending on how the instructor sets up the activity. This can increase learner engagement and can allow for varied products at the culmination of the activity. This is also a great way to allow for students with disabilities to show mastery of objectives in a way that best suits them. In the contest of the proposed activity, students are asked to include any images, quotes, links or documents that support their proposal as additional slides. They can certainly do this in the current structure of the activity, by adding attachments to their posts, but doing so in VoiceThread provides a more fluid way of experiencing the content as users move through each slide sequentially and are presented with the evidence media, rather than having to take the extra step to view an attachment. Useful for All Subject Areas: VoiceThread is a versatile product that can be used in all subject areas. There are no limits to the ways that instructors can utilize this tool to assign projects for individual students or as group or collaborative projects. The activity outlined in this paper is perfect subject matter for the use of VoiceThread; since students may be assigned VoiceThread for other activities in which they can include various forms of media, learning about which media they can publically share via this specific activity is particularly meaningful. Shared Responsibility: Instructors can assign other editors to assist with the creation of the VoiceThread which is especially helpful for courses with graduate assistants or those being co-taught. Of course, this is specific to the instructional responsibility set up for each course, so may not be relevant to the specific activity found in this paper. Flexibility: Students can complete activities either on a computer or on a tablet or smartphone through the VoiceThread mobile app. In the case of the Decision Flowchart activity, the users can use the Doodle tool with their finger to discuss the paths and connections they make between nodes. This activity specifically allows for students to either work on a computer or on a tablet or mobile device via the app. This does provide another option that the current Blackboard system does not considering that the Blackboard Mobile Learn™ app does not work very well and therefore is not used very often. Cost: VoiceThread is relatively affordable given the cost of $99 per year for up to fifty students. There is also an institution license, but these prices are negotiated based on the institution’s enrollment and needs, so I am unable to provide a quote. I do think that VoiceThread’s compatibility with Blackboard might strengthen the case for a departmental or institutional license. Having this engaging tool integrated into Blackboard will give instructors and students more options for designing engaging activities, assignments and projects. Disadvantages of VoiceThread Students May Not Like the Format: Although there are several options for commenting and participation in a VoiceThread, the major premise the “voice” of users. Students who are hard of hearing would not be able to access these auditory components of VoiceThread. Likewise, students who do not learn well auditory may find the format more challenging. Shy students may not be as happy to participate this way, particularly those with speech impediments. In the case of the Introduction to Distance Learning course, there would be various activities throughout the semester designed to meet various student preferences, so if they don’t like this one, there may be another. Hardware/Internet Limitations: You must have a microphone to record your voice when using VoiceThread. If users don’t have a laptop with a built in mic or a periphery video camera with a microphone then one would need to be purchased. There are options for text based commenting and for having the system call you on the telephone to record your comment, which would require one to own or have access to a telephone. In addition, VoiceThreads are recorded and interacted with via the web. Therefore one would need to be connected to the Internet when completing assignments or collaborating, especially for the activity described which requires voice participation. The solution to this would be for students without the right set up to visit computer labs at their University or, if they are in another city, at their local library, workplace or at a friend’s house. Or, if none of these options worked for them, they could work with the instructor to get permission to use one of the alternate comment methods. Inconsistent Comments: Some of the comments can get lost in the customized responses because they aren’t not consistent. This disadvantage does not apply to the example activity because of the requirement to use the audio commenting tool (except for special permissions as outlined in the section above) and the fact that this activity is based on using the paid version of VoiceThread in which threaded comments are available. Multiple Identities: Allowing users to have multiple identities might give some users anonymity leading to the ability to misuse the tool to bully or harass others. This can be a disadvantage to the VoiceThread community as a whole, but is not relevant to the activity described in this paper. Limited Simultaneous Use: Multiple users cannot be logged into the same account from separate areas and make comments at the same time. This is solved by requiring students to create a free account with which to participate in the activity. For the Decision-Making Flowchart activity this is necessary anyway; it is the best way for the other students to read, listen and participate in the activity in a collaborative nature and for the instructor to know which students have participated and what relate each students’ contribution. More Time-consuming: Audio and video content may take longer for students to interact with than text. Text is often easier or quicker to scan for information. Also, it may take more time for instructors to grade given that VoiceThread does not have the same ability to log student participation or responses like most learning management systems. However, as noted by Koricich (2013) “the benefits to students, in the form of learning enhancement and community building, seem to be worth the extra effort” (p. 76). I think that in the case of the activity presented, it shouldn’t take more than an hour or two longer to review student responses using VoiceThread than it would to review them via the threaded discussions in the Blackboard Discussions section. In addition, if VoiceThread is adopted by an institution it can be integrated into the gradebook of the current learning management system (LMS), making the grading even less problematic. Learning Curve: It may take some time for users that have not used VoiceThread before to get the hang of using it. Although Ching and Hsu (2013) found that “VoiceThread is easy to learn and to use. The data revealed that, on average, students spent one hour to learn VoiceThread” (304). To mitigate the learning curve effect, instructors can provide students with a guide that can help alleviate the time needed to learn use of the tool. There are also tutorials provided by VoiceThread on the basic features that students will use that instructors can point them toward. Inability to Delete Comments: If the instructor has not enabled the feature that allows users to delete their comments, then these comments would be there in perpetuity and this might be problematic for those making mistakes. The easiest way to avoid this for the included activity, or any activity, is for the instructor to allow students the ability to delete comments by enabling this feature. Cost: VoiceThread is an additional cost for instructors and this cost may or may not be covered by the related education institution. There are also limitations to the time that a user can spend using the phone-in record option without incurring an additional cost. Although the limit appears to be 3 minutes, which is a pretty good amount of time and it is doubtful that many users will choose this option or need more than 3 minutes for their comments in collaborative projects. There really isn’t a way around this disadvantage; instructors will need the full version to take advantage of the unique features of VoiceThread; it was very challenging for me to design the included example without full access and the activity could not be completed without it. There may be unique ways that instructors can pursue the funding for the individual license but it might also behoove them to join forces with other instructors and advocate for a site license with their department or institution. Increasing Student Learning With VoiceThread I believe that using VoiceThread for a learning activity is a great way to allow students to explain their thinking behind the requirements of an assignment. Allowing them to provide these explanations via audio gives them another modality of expression and increases the variety of activities they will participate in during an online course. I think that the addition of this audio requirement will enhance student learning because of the time it will take the students to engage critical thinking skills as they must plan out and record their audio message (possibly more than once depending on how they feel about the recording), not simply type it once. I also think that by describing a component of an assignment verbally and at the same time creating a more tactile representation on the screen with their mouse or finger using the other VoceThread tools, students will have a better chance at retaining the concepts since they are utilizing different senses at the same time. This also allows students to describe any connections while at the same time illustrating the connections rather than simply working in a static word processing file to make the proposed connections and then using a separate tool, such as the Blackboard discussion board, to describe them. In addition, I believe that using VoiceThread for learning activities will increase learning for students as they will need to be actively engaged in listening to each post or comment before responding to others’ comments. They won’t be able to simply scan through quickly without deep thought, as can sometimes be done in a text-based discussion board such as Blackboard. Conclusion Using an application like VoiceThread can bring variety and engagement to online and distance education courses. The tool’s ability to integrate so many types of media make it useful to almost any type of individual assignment that instructors and instructional designers can devise. The ability for users to comment on projects in multiple formats and in single or threaded formats lends itself nicely to asynchronous collaborative projects, such as the example outlined in this paper. Ultimately, according to Koricich (2013), “students have the opportunity to engage in substantive interactions with faculty and their peers that are more authentic than can be found in text-based discussion boards or written communications alone” (p. 76), There are a few disadvantages to VoiceThread, particularly in time spent navigating through projects or in grading them, but these are eclipsed by the engagement these projects can encourage in students thought the use of multimedia and choice of participation methods. The cost is minimal in comparison to other comparable tools; although comparable tools are not as robust and flexible as VoiceThread. It is also a great choice for institutions already using a learning management system (LMS) because VoiceThread uses the standard IMS Global Learning Consortium called Learning Tools Interoperability which makes for ease of integration into many LMSs, including Blackboard, therefore making VoiceThread a great candidate for use by instructors of online courses. I viewed the video that Taehyeong posted from South Korea. Seeing this video reminds me of the power of the web in terms of connecting people for many reasons, be they social or educational. His example of a social network map was interesting. Social network analysis isn't an entirely new concept to me, but seeing it mapped the way he did got me thinking. It blows my mind to think about this type of map being applied to the users in a very large network with millions upon millions of interactions, such as Facebook. It got me thinking a lot so I did a little research and found a blog post with a good example of a personal map and that led me to a tutorial that outlined how I could get my own personal map using Gephi (basic visualization software). In order to use it it you have to first access the data file from Facebook. Even though the steps were pretty complicated, I decided to try my hand at it (I’m really good at following directions and using forums and other info outlines to solve digital problems) but unfortunately could not get past the first step which was to use the Netvizz v1.44 Facebook app to download the data file that I would need to complete the other steps because every time I tried to install and deploy the app I keep getting the same error message over and over.
“App not yet installed. Install the app.” The post was written in 2010 so I ~suspect~ that Netvizz may have changed since then. Not to be deterred I tried another route that started with the MyFnetwork Facebook app. Well, upon further investigation that app stopped allowing users to download their data files in 2012. Disappointing because I was unable to locate another source to get this data file. Turns out you used to also be able to create a similar map with LinkedIn if you had more than 50 connections and profile that is at least 75% complete. But that post was written in 2011 and it no longer allows you to pull that data, either. While I was unsuccessful in creating a map with one of these tools, I think I will keep looking and see if it’s possible with other platforms because it is a fascinating subject. You would think that these types of tools would evolve and become better, not go under with no alternatives. Shouldn’t more people be wanting to mine their social network data, not less? As the use of social media grows and users become more technologically proficient, it would seem that the demand for such a tool would increase. The uses for such a way to visualize your social media interactions are limitless. I could see this being a highly engaging way to teach students the basics of manipulating complex data sets. Can you think of any other ways that this might be useful in education? Select 'Read More' below to see a few examples of the kinds of maps I was trying to recreate using my own data. They are really pretty and proved to only be a tease that sent me down a rabbit hole. Do you have any tools you can suggest that can lead to these types of data visualizations? After spending all of last week at an important conference in Chicago and most of the weekend exploring that beautiful city for the first time, and trying to keep up with the first week assignments the whole time, I am excited to be back to my "real life" and to get caught up on work and on this course in a more relaxed manner (well, as relaxed as a 6 week summer course can be!).
I tried and tried to find a good RSS reader that worked as a Chrome extension, but based on the reviews most of the free versions, they weren't really worth it so I decided to go with the free version of feedly.com. Getting everyone's URLs loaded up took some time but I am thankful for the time the reader will save me in the long run in terms of keeping up with my classmates' blog posts. It will be my first time using an RSS feed reader so I'm exited to add a new skill to my Web 2.0 repertoire. I also added a Pinterest board to collect all of the resources that we explore or that classmates mention. I am an early adopter of Pinterst and avid user (with around 19,000 pins so far!) So I feel that this would be great way to keep a dedicated list with links that I can consult and also share with others. This blog will be a good way to keep up with resources as I discuss and explore them, but it won't be as succinct and concise a list as my Pinterest board will be. Plus I would like to collect all resources there, not just those I choose to explore and discuss here. That way I can still revisit the list once the class is over and continue to investigate other resources. Vanessa mentioned that the topics are open-ended and can be related to interests, so I thought I would go in a different, personal direction for the selection of the communities I will observe for the community assignment.
My husband and I are trying to build a real estate investing (REI) business on the side; we have one Rental property and would like to get a few more. I have found the community Bigger Pockets which has tools and information in blog posts and ebooks and a very active forum with community members. Since this is an area of interest for us, I will participate in this community for this course assignment but also for our own knowledge because it may help us with our future plans. I also found a reddit community for real estate investing. I decided to follow that one as well. As much time as I spend interacting with others on the web I haven’t participated in Reddit communities although I have heard much about them (most of it negative and hate-based during the last presidential community along with a similar and seemingly darker community, 4chan, so I haven’t had the desire to go there.) I would like to see what they are all about and possibly turn the negative way I see that entire community by viewing something useful there. Having previously been the victim of online bullying in a Facebook group and being involved in the hostile take over and getting back of that group, I have no desire to put myself back in a situation of being targeted by trolls and cyberbullies so this will be the community that I will lurk in. It should be interesting to see the difference between the way these two communities function, the kind of information that is shared, the strengths and weaknesses of these for promoting learning and performance and the necessary factors for creating and sustaining these online communities. I have been aware of RSS feed readers for many years but they just never seemed really relevant to me so I never got into using them. I felt like I know where to get my news and information and didn't need it aggregated for me. After reading my instructor's post about how much of a pain it is to use the classroom environment to read and keep up with my classmate's blog posts, I decided that it was finally time to start utilizing one. I am all about efficiency. I read several posts from classmates related to specific tools such as Dig, Feedly, etc. and did some research on a few others. Ultimately, I would like to go with a Chrome extension, because I use a lot of Chrome extensions. It would sit in the top right corner of my browser window and make it easy to see the feed of posts that I want to keep up with. I'll update this post once I've made my selection. If you are aware of a good Chrome extension RSS feed reader, please leave it in the comments! This week I am starting a course on Web 2.0 technologies and their application to online instruction. It is a fast-paced, 6 week course but having just read the syllabus and oriented myself to the upcoming work and assignments, I am pretty excited about the focus of the class. I have thought of myself as a pretty savvy social media user in a personal context and use many online and app based tools for all aspects of my life. When I was a classroom teacher I went out of my way to incorporate technology and tech tools into my lessons for my students. I knew that this would increase engagement for them while familiarizing them with tools and skills that they would carry on into the digital world growing all around them. I feel like things have come full circle because the way this course is designed, I think that it will be more engaging for me and also give me some new skills that I will carry on into the evolving digital world in which we all now live. |
About this blogA simple exploration of Web 2.0 and social media and their applications to education; an attempt to learn how prosumers are shaping the internet and how educators can capitalize on it. ArchivesAbout MeNature grrl; loves dogs, books, traveling, clouds, technology, thrifting, break beats and good beer. |