Week 2 Online Chat Thoughts/Comments

Week 2 (November 3) Recorded Chat Session
Thoughts and Comments

(1. Housekeeping)
James Beeghley: Ok, I updated the Assignments section of the course to match the course syllabus

My understanding of the assignments for each week is as follows:

Blogging Assignment – Read, watch, or listen to some form of article, podcast, online conference, or other blog then post an original reflection regarding that item on our own blog or post our reflection in the form of a meaningful comment on that actual item wherever it may be.

Then check out some of our classmates’ reflections and post comments or thoughts on what they said.

Finally post the Urls linking to all of these comments, which we have made, on the appropriate week on the Blackboard discussion board.

All of this work is to compensate for the hours required of the course that would otherwise be completed in a traditional class meeting or in an online chat for 4 hours.

Weekly Assignments - Reading – Read the required chapters in the text and be prepared to discuss the appropriate content during the online chat sessions on Monday night. Other – Complete any other assigned projects/assignments during the week before 5:00 on Monday night. For example: Using an RSS aggregator to track a variety of RSS feeds and writing a reflection about them on our blog as instructed. Area of possible confusion – You are always required to complete the regular blogging assignments, however there may be additional reflections being posted on your blog necessary to complete any additional weekly assignments.

(2. Blogs)
James Beeghley: "A blog, therefore, is and has always been more than the online equivalent of a personal journal. Though consisting of regular (and often dated) updates, the blog adds to the form of the diary by incorporating the best features of hypertext: the capacity to link to new and useful resources.

I agree with this statement regarding what a blog is. In the most simplistic version a blog could be an online personal journal. But using blogs in that sense is severely lacking the use of so many features that are not only convenient, helpful, and revealing, but also easy to master. It is really amazing how complex and professional a blog can appear. It seems like only yesterday that if you navigated to a page that had that kind of appearance, content, hyper-abilities, and collaboration, you would be on a professional or techno-elite page. The blogging services make it so simple and fast to create online spaces that can really be a personal reflection and can be as complex as you wish.

The reasons for the use of blogs in education are many. One of my favorites is the ability to instantly be published. Along with that is the ability to share or spread your thoughts and ideas freely, immediately, and in a format that can be accessed from almost anywhere. The ability to receive feedback on your work from any audience is also a valuable reason. Especially for student work, it can be a wake up call to students that anyone (peers in particular) could read their work, not just their teacher.

James Beeghley: Blogs offer students, faculty, staff, and others a high level of autonomy while creating a new opportunity for interaction with peers. Blogs provide a forum for discussion that goes beyond coursework to include culture, politics, and other areas of personal exploration. Students often learn as much from each other as from instructors or textbooks, and blogs offer another mechanism for peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and acquisition.

I strongly agree with the idea that students learn a large amount from each other. Through observation, discussion, and collaboration in the physical world students learn and pick up on so much from a very young age. I feel socializing and interaction is a great learning experience and lends the same kinds of benefits to the Web 2.0 format. However, I wish that students were able to develop and acquire word processing skills (or web type) consistently and along with their verbal and hand writing skills. This would facilitate greater use of the Web technologies in the classroom. I find my greatest hang-up with implementing blogs, wikis, and other like tools to be student speed of typing. Often times I think of opportunities where a blog would be an ideal format, but in reality the actual time needed for the physical process of contributing seems to negate the benefit of the activity.