The way I look at it is that the Web itself has always been able to do the functions of "Web 2.0." People have just started to produce programs, templates, and web sites that make it seem like a new version of the Web. I have never blogged or wikied before this class, just never had the interest in it. And after doing these things I still don't like it. I do think that it is a great way for people to communicate and discuss things that they have a common interest in. I have not had any classes online so when it comes to using Web 2.0 for learning I cant say that I like or dislike it, but next quarter I will find out. I have used sites that use Web 2.0 processes but I did not interact with the site itself, just gathered the information I needed and went on tho the next site.
So as for Web 2.0 helping me learn, no not yet but I am sure that will change next quarter.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
2.0h yeah!
All i can say is that I love Web 2.0.
I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of sites like youtube, I do use them every once in a while. i guess it's not that i am not a fan, i just don't hang out on the site for hours like others. In a weird way i kind of agree with that Andrew Keen guy when he talks about 2.0 under minding mainstream media but i don't think that it could get to the point where no media professionals, like mscians, will be wiped out. As for the rest of his argument, i think its crap. Maybe thats the real difference between an digital native and others, we are much more open minded about things. We tend to adapt and figure things out as we go, we have been doing it since the beginning and it has worked thus far. By nature, we are improvisors...
I am proud of the fact that i am taking part in the building one of the most important and influential things in history, the Web. That is one of the reasons why i chose the web design field. Maybe there needs to be better filtering and maybe there needs to be some kind of editing but the just the idea Web 2.0 gets me all worked up. To me it's like we are all cavemen (or cavewomen) making drawings on the wall of a cave. We get a chance to leave our stories around for anyone who wants to find and read them.
On a side note, i really thought that the woman who was spitting that crazy rhyme on the lecture video this week had a good point. Her message was good and the way she told it was awesome. Her method for getting her message across was really effective. I wanted her to keep going when she stopped. I do like Myspace but I don't check it every hour and i don't sit on it for long periods of time. It is just a means for me to shout at my friends that i don't get a chance to talk to very often I think that there is a point when we should draw the line and keep things to ourselves.
Final thought...this weeks lectures and videos had some good stuff in them to think about, I really liked them.
I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of sites like youtube, I do use them every once in a while. i guess it's not that i am not a fan, i just don't hang out on the site for hours like others. In a weird way i kind of agree with that Andrew Keen guy when he talks about 2.0 under minding mainstream media but i don't think that it could get to the point where no media professionals, like mscians, will be wiped out. As for the rest of his argument, i think its crap. Maybe thats the real difference between an digital native and others, we are much more open minded about things. We tend to adapt and figure things out as we go, we have been doing it since the beginning and it has worked thus far. By nature, we are improvisors...
I am proud of the fact that i am taking part in the building one of the most important and influential things in history, the Web. That is one of the reasons why i chose the web design field. Maybe there needs to be better filtering and maybe there needs to be some kind of editing but the just the idea Web 2.0 gets me all worked up. To me it's like we are all cavemen (or cavewomen) making drawings on the wall of a cave. We get a chance to leave our stories around for anyone who wants to find and read them.
On a side note, i really thought that the woman who was spitting that crazy rhyme on the lecture video this week had a good point. Her message was good and the way she told it was awesome. Her method for getting her message across was really effective. I wanted her to keep going when she stopped. I do like Myspace but I don't check it every hour and i don't sit on it for long periods of time. It is just a means for me to shout at my friends that i don't get a chance to talk to very often I think that there is a point when we should draw the line and keep things to ourselves.
Final thought...this weeks lectures and videos had some good stuff in them to think about, I really liked them.
Online Identity
When I first joined a social network, I was very interested in meeting people and communicating. The more I commented and offered my opinions, the more I began to realize that people are much less inhibited in an online environment. I was always taught to be respectful to others, and this of course carried over to my online activity. It seems that not everyone shares this sentiment. It's amazing what some people will say when they think no one is really listening; like there's no one on the other side of their comments and remarks, reading the nasty things they'll write. Luckily I have not been the butt of too many unnecessary attacks, but it is a very real occurrence.
More than the intentional attacks, it seems to me that I have had and continue to have a problem trying to convey myself in an accurate way when there is no face to face contact. I am a person that enjoys a little sarcasm and dry humor. I am a person that uses a little sarcasm and dry humor in my communication with others. Sarcasm and dry humor don't always translate well to the written word. I sometimes find myself having a very hard time conveying my true meaning without the person I'm addressing knowing my personality. I have offended more than one person this way.
Who a person truly is can be a hard thing to know. Even with people we live next to, work with, attend church or school with, it's difficult to tell if we actually know them. So how do we know people we never actually see or have physical contact with? Does the fact that you know that I am 30 years old, my sign is Cancer, my favorite bands are Tool and Pearl Jam, and my favorite movie is Almost Famous, mean that you know me? Probably not. You could probably find half a million other people's profiles that offer very similar information. Does the fact that I have shared some personal stories here on this blog mean you know me?
All these things help a person who hasn't met me form an opinion of me, but how accurate is that opinion? It's hard to say. I'd like to believe that I've made some real friends online with people that I share common interests with; but what if they're serial killers, posting and commenting on photography online to pass the time between kills? My point is that this "society" that has been created through the World Wide Web and Web 2.0 may all just be a house of cards. Or maybe I'm just paranoid and cynical.
I don't mean to present myself as a critic of the online world. It's actually the contrary, I'm a big fan of it. I just worry that somehow we are losing who we really are and the value of human contact. I email my family and friends that live out of state fairly often, but it's a poor substitute for actually being able to see them and laugh with them.
I have noticed over the past few years that the more time I spend online, communicating and sharing, the more comfortable I become. Is this a reflection of personal growth or just a familiarity with the media? A little of both maybe.
More than the intentional attacks, it seems to me that I have had and continue to have a problem trying to convey myself in an accurate way when there is no face to face contact. I am a person that enjoys a little sarcasm and dry humor. I am a person that uses a little sarcasm and dry humor in my communication with others. Sarcasm and dry humor don't always translate well to the written word. I sometimes find myself having a very hard time conveying my true meaning without the person I'm addressing knowing my personality. I have offended more than one person this way.
Who a person truly is can be a hard thing to know. Even with people we live next to, work with, attend church or school with, it's difficult to tell if we actually know them. So how do we know people we never actually see or have physical contact with? Does the fact that you know that I am 30 years old, my sign is Cancer, my favorite bands are Tool and Pearl Jam, and my favorite movie is Almost Famous, mean that you know me? Probably not. You could probably find half a million other people's profiles that offer very similar information. Does the fact that I have shared some personal stories here on this blog mean you know me?
All these things help a person who hasn't met me form an opinion of me, but how accurate is that opinion? It's hard to say. I'd like to believe that I've made some real friends online with people that I share common interests with; but what if they're serial killers, posting and commenting on photography online to pass the time between kills? My point is that this "society" that has been created through the World Wide Web and Web 2.0 may all just be a house of cards. Or maybe I'm just paranoid and cynical.
I don't mean to present myself as a critic of the online world. It's actually the contrary, I'm a big fan of it. I just worry that somehow we are losing who we really are and the value of human contact. I email my family and friends that live out of state fairly often, but it's a poor substitute for actually being able to see them and laugh with them.
I have noticed over the past few years that the more time I spend online, communicating and sharing, the more comfortable I become. Is this a reflection of personal growth or just a familiarity with the media? A little of both maybe.
Down to the wire...
So in this entry, I'm getting it just in time.
Focusing on the prompt from the lecture, Web 2.0 hasn't affected my learning much at all, not in the traditional, institutionalized way - public eduction. Of course this class is different. It's affecting me quite a bit. And as for being a self-learner, Web 2.0 has definitely educated me - from understanding educational theory all the way to learning how to fold a shirt in one sweeping motion.
But Web 2.0 has directly affected the way I taught when I was a high school teacher. Although I didn't know it at the time, I was using Web 2.0 as a tool to educate or to reinforce characterization, theme, dialogue, and setting in books that were read for the classroom, most noticeably Catcher in the Rye. Being a firm believer of tailoring teaching so that content is applicable to students' lives, I strove to bring texts down a notch, within the realm of the student. Once on their level, I helped push their thinking. MySpace, I'm sure, loved me. Groups had to create a shared mySpace account for one of the character from the book. They were to create a mini-network and justification for the network. Holden wouldn't necessarily befriend Maurice, the pimp in charge of the prostitute with whom Holden just couldn't "get in the mood." However, if they chose "to be" Maurice, an agreeable match-up had to be created. Profile pictures were to be added (school appropriate of course), comments were to be made, and customization had to be selected. Students loved this assignment. They dove deeply into the inner-workings of characters, which provided great content for class. It was encouraging to see non-students wanting to get in on the discussion for those that were familiar with the book. They became part of the exchange after becoming friends with Holden, Stradlater, or his sister, Phoebe. People began teaching people. These accounts have since been deleted, but I know that the students will remember this assignment.
the internet...the life line?
I too am taking 2 online classes this quarter, Human Anatomy and Physiology and of course this one. I have taken previous online courses prior to this quarter, but by far I have to say that this one has brought so much more to the table for me than any of the others.
I use the web everyday, several times a day. Not just for school, but for everything! If I need to find as address or a phone number to a local business I log online, or if I want to surf the web, its a daily part of my life. My husband jokes and says that its like a life line to me and that I would totally be lost without it, and sometimes I agree sadly but it is what it is right?! I know that I am not the only person that uses the web at least once a day be it for a school assignment or strictly out of fun, but its sort of an addiction. I want to see what's new out there, read things recently posted to our blog and to others as well. Has the Internet became a life line to me and to thousands of others out there? I don't know but I sure do enjoy having all of the amazing and wonderful technology that is offered from it :o)
I use the web everyday, several times a day. Not just for school, but for everything! If I need to find as address or a phone number to a local business I log online, or if I want to surf the web, its a daily part of my life. My husband jokes and says that its like a life line to me and that I would totally be lost without it, and sometimes I agree sadly but it is what it is right?! I know that I am not the only person that uses the web at least once a day be it for a school assignment or strictly out of fun, but its sort of an addiction. I want to see what's new out there, read things recently posted to our blog and to others as well. Has the Internet became a life line to me and to thousands of others out there? I don't know but I sure do enjoy having all of the amazing and wonderful technology that is offered from it :o)
Everything Web 2.0
I mean everything I learn today is from the Web and when my daughters have a question, guess what, yep the Web. Just last night both my daughters we're asking me what the seven wonders of the world are. Well of course I start rattling off "The ancient wonders of the world" get stuck on about 4 and realize we need to be on the Web looking this stuff up, by the way the there are modern wonders I learned about too. So we are going through this stuff and learning together, and of course there's words that can't be pronounced. So naturally we navigate to dictionary.com and look up the words and have them pronounced for us using wav files.
The web has also given me the opprotunity to cross-reference anything anybody says anytime. I love this new ability because it thwarts the spread of misinformation. Just the other day somebody was talking about Jesse Owens and about the 1936 Olympics, they was totally screwing up the facts so I immediately started looking this stuff up and showing them the facts, and together we learn about stuff way before our time, watched a video of it on YouTube and came away enlighten on the whole subject.
The web has also given me the opprotunity to cross-reference anything anybody says anytime. I love this new ability because it thwarts the spread of misinformation. Just the other day somebody was talking about Jesse Owens and about the 1936 Olympics, they was totally screwing up the facts so I immediately started looking this stuff up and showing them the facts, and together we learn about stuff way before our time, watched a video of it on YouTube and came away enlighten on the whole subject.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Oh, Technology.
Spam filters are the devil.
That said, it's been a pleasure to take an online course that I actually felt a part of. I'm actually a part of two different online courses here at COTC. The first is the typical Black Board course that is all about writing papers and emailing them in while you discuss a topic on the boards. Fun fun. The other being this one. In my college experiences, I've never taken a course quite like this one. I had fun being a part of it. That's a novel idea. I've always found myself doing better when I was having fun, be it at work or otherwise. I love technology and actually being able to use it in all of it's different shapes and sizes proved the importance of the message this course put out there. I personally believe that there need to be more courses like this one and more teachers like the one we have.
That said, it's been a pleasure to take an online course that I actually felt a part of. I'm actually a part of two different online courses here at COTC. The first is the typical Black Board course that is all about writing papers and emailing them in while you discuss a topic on the boards. Fun fun. The other being this one. In my college experiences, I've never taken a course quite like this one. I had fun being a part of it. That's a novel idea. I've always found myself doing better when I was having fun, be it at work or otherwise. I love technology and actually being able to use it in all of it's different shapes and sizes proved the importance of the message this course put out there. I personally believe that there need to be more courses like this one and more teachers like the one we have.
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