Post #2- C&I 438
This week has been a test of patience with technology. As the course management system that I am using for the course I am taking online had troubles opening and lost much of our data/posts; flexibility in how a distance ed course is run became essential. Since our course had to move from the original course management system, I learned about other sites that could support course development and publishing. We moved our course to a wiki site, classmate’s blog sites, and a social networking site, ning. After reviewing other educational blogs on the internet, I was surprised to read Lee Kraus’s blog which discussed some of these same web tools. Kraus even suggested that social networks may emerge as a leading filter of learning content. He hypothesizes that an educator’s role will become more focused on assessment and evaluation and they will serve as the expert in within the social networks. I never thought about using a social network for a class, but now that I am registered with my class’s network, I am very excited and motivated actively participate in the course activities. It is a unique additional opportunity to engage on the internet.
Another thing I thought about as we students quickly switched to blogs, wikis, social networking sites, is the privacy issue that often concerns education and the read/write web. Fortunately, with adult students, there is not as much of a concern with this as there is with K-12 classes. Troy Hicks wrote about this issue on his blog. He also discussed the challenges some teachers face with not having access to some of these internet sites at their school, which I feel is unfortunate. I know in my work, I am unable to get some area dietitians to correspond with my students on our class blog, because the dietitian’s employers will not allow access to blog sites.
Troy also discussed how teachers’ online persona can be hard to develop and how administrators have expectations of teachers’ online persona. As I am even blogging about how my own class that I am teaching online is going, I have to think about who the audience is. I wouldn’t want to become political in any issues of the college I teach for or negatively write about too many things. I understand the concern that administrators have about the published work on the internet. I want to make these educational technologies a positive aspect of my work.
Hi Julie,
Congrats on overcoming your technical difficulties and continuing with your first online teaching experience!
I think that you make an important point when you suggest that “As I am even blogging about how my own class that I am teaching online is going, I have to think about who the audience is.” Of the many teachers with whom I have worked over the past five years, this continues to be a dominant theme in all online spaces such as digital portfolios, and especially now with blogging.
So, here is a question… what do you think of teachers blogging anonymously? If the point of the blog is to critically reflect on one’s practice and not just gripe — with only minimal expectation that there will be a response — then is it OK to remain in the shadows and air everything, so long as names and places are not identified so as to be slandered?
Or, should all teacher bloggers identify themselves, both to act as good blogger role models but also to be held accountable, to some extent, for their words and ideas? Should they make their students, colleagues, administrators and others aware of their RSS feed and ask for comments and feedback?
I would be curious to hear more about what you think about this issue of teacher identity online. Good luck with your courses this summer.
Thanks,
Posted 2 years, 7 months agoTroy
I have been on-line since 1993 and never thought about it before taking this class, but I have been using the Internet primarily for education in that time. This may not come as a surprise to those who only surf through educational sites, but much of my on-line experience has been on social sites, such as Prodigy Forums (back in the early 90s) and the Yahoo groups today. I’ve learned about raising farm animals, gardening, soapmaking, cheesemaking, and many other things from people who have been doing those things for varying amounts of time, and I met all of them and was able to pick their brains through the social sites.
Posted 2 years, 6 months agoDeborah Niemann-Boehle
This week HAS been a test of patience with technology. How interesting to wrestle with these problems as a cohort. This situation calls into question the use of open source and free technologies. You cannot simply call the “tech specialist” in the building, as we can with Blackboard or IVHS problems. There is more punting (Powderpuff style) in store with beta phase products. Were you using IVC for your course development?
Posted 2 years, 6 months agoThis whole public dimension of the course is fascinating. I see you got a Troy Hicks response to your post. Score! What do you think about the anonymous posting question?
As for the new tool scramble, I had just signed up for my first NING last week, and now we are using one in our class. (Love your NING photo, by the way. What exactly were you doing? It looks exhillarating and dangerous.)