DEBATE #1 12/1/16

QUESTION:

DO YOU THINK THAT DOGS ARE SUPERIOR TO CATS? WHY OR WHY NOT?

OPPOSING TEAM:
Marissa
Nate
Artemis
Lisa

SUPPORTING TEAM
Nicole
Brendan
Brendan
Bianca

*PLEASE REVIEW DEBATE RULES BEFORE POSTING

The End Is Near

I don't want to believe the semester is over, but it is. Over the past few weeks I've become a curator, a blogger, a community organizer, and a content creator. I may have done some of these things in the past, but not to the extent that I was able to try them in this learning environment. I know now what it's like to lurk quietly in the shadows vs. lead the discussion.  I see the benefits of both. I feel that a lot of the processes we've gone through such as setting up our own personal learning network, the Produsage assignment, and (for some of us) creating our first ever VoiceThreads has really taken my level of participation in the various networks I am a part of from passive participant to leading the way and helping to shape and foster those networks. I've put myself in places I was eager to evacuate. Some of these tools I may never try again. Most of them however, I found to be eye-opening, and useful. Many of these tools and the content I've created as a result of experimenting with them, will make their way into my lesson plans and group projects, and be featured on my e-Portfolio as I look to find jobs and internships in the field. 

Things I'll keep doing:

I am going to maintain my personal learning network, and my curated photography boards on Pinterest. I am absolutely going to create more stories using Storify. I would like to take the lead from a lot of instructors I follow and create a few of my own 'how-to videos' and step by step articles to showcase my abilities as an instructor. I would like to break out of my comfort zone. When it came to creating content, I had to go with what I knew, and suprisingly, this meant a lot of my content was related to Photographic and ceramic arts. In the future, I maybe I can expand my focus to include HTML 5, Mobile Learning, or Florida Building Codes instead. I'll keep updating my Symbaloo homepage. 

Things I'm done with:

Probably Periscope and Snapchat. Some of the tools did not seem like my cup of tea at first. In multiple cases, it turned out that I really just needed a good blog post from another classmate to showcase what we could accomplish with them. So with that in mind, I know I may end up relying on these tools in the future. 

Thanks for making this one of the best summer learning experiences I've had, and giving me the tools to succeed! Now Its time for a road trip to the Mountains! 

"Be Mindful of Your Brand"

This week I was able to read Boundaries, Privacy, and Social Media Use in Higher Education: What do Students Think, Want, and Do? by Dr. Vanessa P. Dennen and Dr. Kerry J. Burner of Florida State University. I am about to take y first  course with Dr. Burner this fall, so It was nice to read a collaborative paper with Dr. Burner and Dr. Dennen. 

In this article, researchers wondered about the types of communications technologies students use for school and personal purposes?, How savvy they are about maintaining their privacy online?, and about their beliefs about social media use, privacy, and boundaries in a higher ed context? 

A friend of mine is always saying "be mindful of your brand." She believes that you, the person you are, elements of your personality, your beliefs, values, career goals, and the information you share publicly all add to your personal brand, and you should take efforts to maintain that brand at all times. To me, this means having the luxury of picking and choosing what elements of your life you make available to the general public, and possibly adopting multiple personas depending on who your audience may be. Personally, I'm a bit more at ease when it comes to letting the walls between my personal and professional life collapse these days. A few years ago, I could not have imagined that I would add my professor on Snapchat. I've come a long way...

While I am aware that many of my professors interact on social media, I feel that Tallahassee is overrun with students, and prefer to give them space online, in favor of communicating with them via more formal channels such as email/ phone/ or in person. (At least while I'm in their class.) If my boss contacted me via Facebook Messenger to see when I was coming into work, I would feel they'd invaded my privacy. Why? Nothing is necessarily wrong with that action. I've used the privacy settings on Facebook to enable any of my friends to send me messages. I might like their photos, but I generally would not reach out to them for work related reasons, unless it were a last resort on social media. In my mind, I'm trying to keep Facebook purely social, and being social with my boss colleagues seems okay to me. For all I know they may hate their job, and look forward to the clock striking 5pm every day so they can evacuate. I don't want to be the one to knock down any barriers they may enjoy maintaining between their personal and professional life, and so, I leave my professors be as well.

The thing is, we learn so much from each other over social media! Exhibit A: This class! Yet students are not very forward in wanting to share academic materials online. 

I have been debating with myself about whether or not I would share my blog with those outside of this course. I have limited the audience to Classmates, TA's and Professors until now. I was thinking that once I had a substantial number of posts, I might share with a larger audience, such as Facebook friends, but have also been looking forward to removing much of my digital footprint. 

Have you shared your blogs with anyone outside of class? Do you feel the general public would be interested in reading our posts? I'm not sure where I stand yet. 

Where Do You Blog From?

It is currently a dreary, rainy day here. So much for natural lighting!

I was reading Stephanie's Blog earlier this week. She did not want to miss out on the true blogger experience, and shared her experience at All Saints with us (Thanks Stephanie!) Dr. Dennen mentioned it might be fun to share where we blog from. I was not able to attend the Starbucks meet up so I thought I would share a bit about my blogging atmosphere with you here! 

For the most part, I've split my blogging between two locations this semester. 

This is my home work station, featuring lots of paper all over the place, and candle. Dig the ambiance. 

They have a lot of books!

And this is...the only picture I have from my significant other's family library/ office work station at Pensacola beach. I've been doing a lot of driving between Pensacola and Tallahassee this summer. I will say that traveling and blogging is stressful, but a quiet, well-lit space with large windows and great views does help tremendously!
I've been trying to improve my blog's formula this week, and have been paying attention to things like the appearance to mobile readers. This is what my blog looks like to those on mobile devices. I know a lot of us are traveling this semester, and I hope to make the mobile experience as user-friendly as possible. 

Dr. Dennen pointed out that a lot of great blogs have a solid formula, and I haven't quiet found mine yet. So I'm still doing a bit of experimenting. This week, I visited 
http://www.wolframalpha.com/widgets/gallery/ 
in search of widgets that would be fun for readers. I settled on a new Pokedex widget (timely?) and added a wikipedia search bar  widget too. 

What interactive elements have worked for you over the course of the semester? How have you focused on the user experience? Are widgets something you incorporate to expand the educational aspect of your blog, or just something you use to keep it light and fun?

I THINK I NEED A TOOLBOX

After spending the last few weeks creating log-ins and sampling the various tools Dr. Dennen has shown us, I'm bookmarking left and right. There is a lot of good stuff in there, but as she mentioned at the beginning of the course, a lot of it will continue to become more useful to us as time goes on. Aside from very organized bookmarking, and the class Wiki, Do any of the tools stand out to you as a great TOOLBOX? If so, please let me know in the comments. It may have been one I missed! If not, how are you going about saving the various tools from this semester?

When we first checked out Symbaloo in week 4, It wasn't my favorite, but now that I'm looking for a way to access all of these tools in a flash, having them categorized to my liking, and saved right on my home screen seems really appealing!

It's so beautiful! (and more importantly, helpful!)

Would you like to try MERLOT?

MERLOT is a multimedia educational resource and for learning and online teaching. 

As you can see from the screenshot above, MERLOT has a lot to offer. It got its start at the California State University Distributed Learning Center in the 90's. It enables educators to find content that has been reviewed by peers who are experts in their knowledge area. It offers a free web page development tool with the MERLOT Content Builder, as a FREE trusted online resource, it saves time for educators and learners alike.

It is a curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by an international education community.

Why don't you find what you're looking for on Google? Well, you could. I know I do. However, I'm a busy person, and MERLOT makes it one step easier by saving me time, and ensuring the quality of the free resources available on MERLOT are up to industry standards. It is open source. Other educators have created materials previously, and they are willing to share them with you. This encourages collaboration, and improves the quality of the lessons our students are presented with. I can't believe I have not heard of this tool until this week!

This is just one of the many resources, on one of the many formats, available on MERLOT.

Lecturers’ Behaviors And Beliefs About The Use Of Social Media In Higher Education: A Study At Mahasarakham University In Thailand

This week I read Lecturers’ Behaviors And Beliefs About The Use Of Social Media In Higher Education: A Study At Mahasarakham University In Thailand by Thapanee Seechaliao. 

To set the scene, the Thai Government had recently adopted the One Tablet per Child project, recognizing that gaps in income enable some students to have more opportunities to learn about technology than others. Mahasarakham University had just adopted the Microsoft Surface for Lecturers, and Education Faculty developed a strategic plan to develop an e-Learning system. Because of that, Lecturers needed to design their courses in a way that they could begin to integrate technology more often. While Social Media is widely used, and most lecturers believed it to be at least moderately effective as a learning tool, many of them may not be familiar with these tools, or may not know how to use them correctly, or effectively. 

Facebook, for example is currently the most popular platform among Thai students for online social networking. A lecturer may not know that It would be a better idea to create a group where all materials related to their class could be published, or that they could use hashtags, instead of posting statuses that everyone can contribute to. 

This article reminds me of situations I may find myself in whether I am in Higher Ed, or in a corporate setting. If a company is redesigning their training program from the ground up to incorporate more technology, those who are used to doing things without technology might find themselves slowed down by the sudden use of it, or may become frustrated and decide not to use it. Others still determined, may not be aware of how to use it to their advantage, or how to really get the most out of it. This article made me think of these situations, and how I might try to ease the transition for lecturers, or colleagues as an Instructional Designer. It also made me think of how I could, and should use such frustrations to create a dialogue and offer more support during these transitional periods... and also how social media is the perfect place to do just that, so that if other people have the same questions, we can make sure that they receive the help they need.