Oh my, that is funny...I was just saying the other day that I have yet to see the short-term (aka "semester-long") course usefulness for blogs. I LOVE my iphone, but for depth of learning? Not so sure. My nagging question with the ipad -- does the lack of a separate keyboard keep its long term value for teaching and learning at bay? Isn't the direction of the Mac Air -- with even less weight and at the same time more indestructible -- the most productive arena for learning and teaching?
(Hi Nick and everyone, too many newly invented tasks to keep up with, but I'm appreciating the dialogue as always!!)
Sarah
Sarah Haavind
Posts made by Sarah Haavind
Christie asks, How many of you would want to see your college class assignments Googled today? I have to say that this question really stops me. Because I sure would not want that...and it brings me to a sort of ethical question about setting our students up for future embarrassment of a kind I wouldn't want brought upon me.
So while on the one hand I see the "break down the school walls" advantage of real blogging, I am also not convinced using tools within the walled garden is the wrong way to go...still pondering.
Sarah
So while on the one hand I see the "break down the school walls" advantage of real blogging, I am also not convinced using tools within the walled garden is the wrong way to go...still pondering.
Sarah
Christie's observation that, students may forget that they're not just creating a paper for a class assignment ... Those thoughts will be available to the whole world for the rest of their life, and perhaps even beyond echoes my concern raised earlier about blogging within education.
I hear both Heather and Terry, when they remind us that this is the facebook generation. On that score, I feel we have yet to see the potential for damage in the future when prospective employers, for example, use google to pre-assess future employees (don't we already do this today?). While on the one hand, it may not matter that much for entry-level positions, what about 20 years down the road?
However, what concerns me more, that Christie alludes to here, is that in an educational context, one's perspective is in flux, as are one's skills. The genre of blogging in a serious context, or recording emerging thinking with text, so to speak, could easily be interpreted to represent you at any time in the future, whenever it is viewed. I know this is also true when one authors an article or book, but that is a more formal process with its own set of built-in checks and balances.
Specifically, in my work in online professional development for k-12 teachers, adding a class blog still feels problematic because it seems unrealistic (even irresponsible) of me to expect my students to willingly explore mathematics and science concepts deeply (exposing to their potentially curious curriculum directors/administrators who may be peeking in exactly how knowledgeable they are (not) about the content). If the class blog were also behind the ELGG walled garden as Terry so compellingly calls it, that helps. But then, if that's the way we go (walled garden blogs), what's the essential difference between a threaded discussion and a class blog, really?
Why go to the trouble of adding the extra real estate beyond the WebCT or Blackboard wall? I'm still struggling with whether our latest hammer is the best tool for every task -- specifically for adult learning tasks/activities, and even when considering ways of informalizing (enriching, authenticating) learning. When it comes to education, we're still accountable. Learning in private and learning in public, as adults, are two different worlds.
It was helpful to look at some of the elementary classroom blogs shared here. That feels different, rich in learning opportunities and just plain wonderful! In the world of higher education and online professional development for teachers, I'm still unsure about the usefulness (even potential damage) of blogging as an educational activity.
Sarah
I hear both Heather and Terry, when they remind us that this is the facebook generation. On that score, I feel we have yet to see the potential for damage in the future when prospective employers, for example, use google to pre-assess future employees (don't we already do this today?). While on the one hand, it may not matter that much for entry-level positions, what about 20 years down the road?
However, what concerns me more, that Christie alludes to here, is that in an educational context, one's perspective is in flux, as are one's skills. The genre of blogging in a serious context, or recording emerging thinking with text, so to speak, could easily be interpreted to represent you at any time in the future, whenever it is viewed. I know this is also true when one authors an article or book, but that is a more formal process with its own set of built-in checks and balances.
Specifically, in my work in online professional development for k-12 teachers, adding a class blog still feels problematic because it seems unrealistic (even irresponsible) of me to expect my students to willingly explore mathematics and science concepts deeply (exposing to their potentially curious curriculum directors/administrators who may be peeking in exactly how knowledgeable they are (not) about the content). If the class blog were also behind the ELGG walled garden as Terry so compellingly calls it, that helps. But then, if that's the way we go (walled garden blogs), what's the essential difference between a threaded discussion and a class blog, really?
Why go to the trouble of adding the extra real estate beyond the WebCT or Blackboard wall? I'm still struggling with whether our latest hammer is the best tool for every task -- specifically for adult learning tasks/activities, and even when considering ways of informalizing (enriching, authenticating) learning. When it comes to education, we're still accountable. Learning in private and learning in public, as adults, are two different worlds.
It was helpful to look at some of the elementary classroom blogs shared here. That feels different, rich in learning opportunities and just plain wonderful! In the world of higher education and online professional development for teachers, I'm still unsure about the usefulness (even potential damage) of blogging as an educational activity.
Sarah
Once again a comment of Heather's is my entry-point. Heather raises her frustration that she has students who will go through an entire program as a cohort and will take all of their courses together, yet they have a new discussion board for each course.
Wow -- I'm having a "shift" experience reading/walking the "new to blogging" pathway here -- a shift from familiar conversations where I recommend that online course instructors keep discussions manageable by dividing learners into groups of 7 or 8, rather than running whole group dialogues all the time...
to hearing many here talking about the limits of keeping course blogs within Bb or WebCT because of limited audience/collaborative opportunity (to the point of claims that those aren't even actual blogs anymore).
Heather's point is a bridge, in a sense, when she points out how individual discussion areas for separate courses are an inherent interruption in the community cohesiveness of a cohort moving through a program.
The box is opening...the egg is cracking...and a route into a more formal/informal model of learning is unfolding here...thanks everyone...
Sarah
Wow -- I'm having a "shift" experience reading/walking the "new to blogging" pathway here -- a shift from familiar conversations where I recommend that online course instructors keep discussions manageable by dividing learners into groups of 7 or 8, rather than running whole group dialogues all the time...
to hearing many here talking about the limits of keeping course blogs within Bb or WebCT because of limited audience/collaborative opportunity (to the point of claims that those aren't even actual blogs anymore).
Heather's point is a bridge, in a sense, when she points out how individual discussion areas for separate courses are an inherent interruption in the community cohesiveness of a cohort moving through a program.
The box is opening...the egg is cracking...and a route into a more formal/informal model of learning is unfolding here...thanks everyone...
Sarah
Hi everyone,
It's nice to encounter familiar voices (hi Nancy!) and meet some new ones. I've hailed from Concord Consortium for many years, but have recently moved to Lesley University, where I am teaching online in a program that has been close to my heart since its inception, the Science in Education TERC/Lesley partnership master's program.
Ricky Carter is a colleague of mine now at Lesley, and I'm glad to see he's jumped in here. We were also colleagues a decade ago at BBN, in the early days of the Internet. Thank you for making Ricky and others who may drop in from Lesley feel welcome. We have a core group working on enhancing our educational offerings with online opportunities and I have been talking up Scope as a place to meet others who are also engaged in thinking about how to orchestrate quality learning experiences online.
I've been following a number of the links people have shared already today and the windows into ways that blogs are being creatively used in k-12 is eye-opening and very exciting! How does it feel to be a first grader from Saskatchewan, Canada who can see that people from around the globe have visited his or her class blog??!! My kids got right in there to help build their wiki of 1,000 visitors. (thanks, Heather!) So much fun.
Sarah
It's nice to encounter familiar voices (hi Nancy!) and meet some new ones. I've hailed from Concord Consortium for many years, but have recently moved to Lesley University, where I am teaching online in a program that has been close to my heart since its inception, the Science in Education TERC/Lesley partnership master's program.
Ricky Carter is a colleague of mine now at Lesley, and I'm glad to see he's jumped in here. We were also colleagues a decade ago at BBN, in the early days of the Internet. Thank you for making Ricky and others who may drop in from Lesley feel welcome. We have a core group working on enhancing our educational offerings with online opportunities and I have been talking up Scope as a place to meet others who are also engaged in thinking about how to orchestrate quality learning experiences online.
I've been following a number of the links people have shared already today and the windows into ways that blogs are being creatively used in k-12 is eye-opening and very exciting! How does it feel to be a first grader from Saskatchewan, Canada who can see that people from around the globe have visited his or her class blog??!! My kids got right in there to help build their wiki of 1,000 visitors. (thanks, Heather!) So much fun.
Sarah