Really good points Janet - I find that as I spend more and more of my time online interacting with people (well I think they are people :-)) online I am focussing more on what they say than what they have to say than what or eho they are - it's like a lot of the "social static" is gone and their transmission is clearer.
This I think has implications or me as an educator as I move away from my traditional classroom roles to more of a blended and online universe - I will have learners who could potentially do most or all of a diploma programme (I'm an academic chair at Nova Scotia Community College in Halifax) online and all I will "know" about them is what they will write. Thing is in my mind at least, based on all of the time I spend online in places like SCoPE, Second Life, and other forums and lists is that is OK for me - as I said - in many ways find it easier to communicate online than face to face. Thing is I have to get faculty to that point - why I think this seminar is so important and timely as we move into a new paradigm of delivery - the future of education for me is blended and online - an environment that is collaborative, engaging, mobile, and open and meets learners literally where they are...
Ian MacLeod
Posts made by Ian MacLeod
I too consider myself an introvert and I've found that in environments like Second Life it is actually easier for me to engage in conversation with total strangers, but like in "First Life", I tend to meet people with common interests - in my case as an educator that is through the SLED mailing list and in world sessions like NMC's Teachers Buzz. I agree that the common purpose makes it much easier to meet and get to know people.
I have always found it interesting the number of introverts who gravitate to teaching and are extremely outgoing and engaging in their learning environments (myself included).
As for social networking I'm not sure if it is the level of anonymity that allows me to get over that initial discomfort of meeting new people, but once I do get to know people through social networking, they very quickly become just as real and personal as if I knew them in real life. I have never face to face with any of my fellow facilitators in this seminar yet we work together well. I think this is a phenomenon that will become more prevalent as our learning, teaching, and work patterns change and we all become more engaged in virtual and online learning environments...
I have always found it interesting the number of introverts who gravitate to teaching and are extremely outgoing and engaging in their learning environments (myself included).
As for social networking I'm not sure if it is the level of anonymity that allows me to get over that initial discomfort of meeting new people, but once I do get to know people through social networking, they very quickly become just as real and personal as if I knew them in real life. I have never face to face with any of my fellow facilitators in this seminar yet we work together well. I think this is a phenomenon that will become more prevalent as our learning, teaching, and work patterns change and we all become more engaged in virtual and online learning environments...
If any of you are interested in collaborating on a book chapter on social media in education, please check out thewiki at http://socialmediachapter.wikispaces.com/
Here is a brief introduction from the wiki:
"The book is a collaborative effort with nearly 100 contributors from predominantly post secondary locations all over the world. To date the book has 30 chapters and is still growing. It is being published by the Commonwealth of Learning. Publication date is set for July 13th to coincide with the Fifth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning.
The book is a resource that offers practical, contemporary guidance to support e-Learning decision making, instructional choices, program and course planning and development. The working title is "Empowering Education for a Digital World: Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice From Around the Globe"."
Here is a brief introduction from the wiki:
"The book is a collaborative effort with nearly 100 contributors from predominantly post secondary locations all over the world. To date the book has 30 chapters and is still growing. It is being published by the Commonwealth of Learning. Publication date is set for July 13th to coincide with the Fifth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning.
The book is a resource that offers practical, contemporary guidance to support e-Learning decision making, instructional choices, program and course planning and development. The working title is "Empowering Education for a Digital World: Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice From Around the Globe"."
Come on out and contribute - a lot of what we are discussing in this seminar will make great material for the chapter (or chapters). Come on out and contribute!!
Thanks again to Jason for an amazing session today and to Paul and Sandy for moderating - sorry for leaving early, duty called - I can't wait to see how it all turned out :-). For those of you who couldn't make the presentation, it is recorded and there will be a link on the SCoPE site.
This question may have gotten answered today, but if you have any thoughts on it, I would love to see them:
As educators - what do you see as the biggest advantage of tagging, the biggest disadvantage, and are there any issues with tagging that we need to think about?
This question may have gotten answered today, but if you have any thoughts on it, I would love to see them:
As educators - what do you see as the biggest advantage of tagging, the biggest disadvantage, and are there any issues with tagging that we need to think about?
Great resources Tia. there is something for everyone there. When I was at CIT 2007 last week there were three things that kept coming up - engagement, collaboration, and mobility.
A lot of what was discussed and presented at the conference centred around how to engage learners - much was made of Google Apps and other social tools for engaging learners and almost without exception it was collaboratively and in a mobile space - online, blended or a variation of the two.
I know that in my own practice that I have evolved to a place where almost all of the learning that happens, happens collaboratively - as team members in a project, as classmates contributing to a wiki, ad so on.
There is so much information out there today that the only way it can be successfully gathered, interpreted, and managed is collaboratively - learning has become a team sport - while the individual learner must still take on board skills and knowledge, they are doing it collaboratively with each other with us as the educators along for the ride.
So here is another paradigm shift to consider - has learning and how we learn changed from an individual venture to a collaborative one where to be a successful learners you must have social skills, and be able to use social tools to collaborate? Have we reached a point where social media tools have become the blackboards, chalk, and scribblers of yesterday? Hmmm...
A lot of what was discussed and presented at the conference centred around how to engage learners - much was made of Google Apps and other social tools for engaging learners and almost without exception it was collaboratively and in a mobile space - online, blended or a variation of the two.
I know that in my own practice that I have evolved to a place where almost all of the learning that happens, happens collaboratively - as team members in a project, as classmates contributing to a wiki, ad so on.
There is so much information out there today that the only way it can be successfully gathered, interpreted, and managed is collaboratively - learning has become a team sport - while the individual learner must still take on board skills and knowledge, they are doing it collaboratively with each other with us as the educators along for the ride.
So here is another paradigm shift to consider - has learning and how we learn changed from an individual venture to a collaborative one where to be a successful learners you must have social skills, and be able to use social tools to collaborate? Have we reached a point where social media tools have become the blackboards, chalk, and scribblers of yesterday? Hmmm...