I have come to realization that I am not much of a blogger. I enjoy using blogs to gather information when necessary, but I am not much for the continual posting process. I did, however, enjoy the process of learning about blogs and how to determine the probability the site employs valid sources to make its arguments. I reviewed Factcheck.org a site I relied on all throughout the recent presidential election to verify the veracity of statements made by the candidates, so getting to review it using the Web 2.0 tools was helpful.
The ability to review others blogs was also helpful it gave me ideas about design and layout which ultimately helped in the design of our final project. We designed a course on blogging built into a blog with video and image instruction. I am very happy with how the design turned out it also helped me learn a lot about blogging and the many add-ons that can be used to make the design more appealing and fun.
The one real potential I see with blogs is the ability to have conversations that we tend to avoid in face-to-face interaction. For example, I think blogs provide a safe environment to discuss race relations where people can vent their frustrations in a safe non-violent environment. I think the only way this country will overcome the issue of race is through open, honest and thought provoking speech that inspires interaction. Blogs can provide an environment of this kind and foster that interaction.
I may continue to blog as a way to keep friends and family up-to-date with my life. All of my family resides outside of New York State and this seems to be a more efficient way to provide them with general information about us without sending specific or bulk emails. I would have never thought of this medium, prior to this course, as a viable alternative to the annual letter we now send. Overall I would say I had a good experience learning about blogs and their many uses and can apply the technology to instructional design, which I am sure was part of the intended learning outcome.
Reflections on Blogging
Web conferencing continued
Web conferencing may have uses in the educational world, but with the state of the current technology I just do not see it happening. Although, I have only attended a few education seminars/discussions the level of conversation, question and answer and participation is much higher than in a business setting. Most of the business conferences I attended were more of a dissemination of information rather than a question and answer. I am not sure the technology is strong enough to support a conversational type environment. It is probably part of the reason you have seen Podcast become so big you can review the content at your leisure and respond via any number of electronic ways. In fact the last quarterly meeting of my former employer was done via podcast and employees were given an generic email to send questions to with assurances of a response within 72 hours. Someone is going to have revisualize the technology and make it more effective before it can become an essential educational tool.
Seguir leyendo...Web Conferencing
In reviewing this topic this week I have come across a host of services that provide web conferencing all of them report being easy to use. However few actually discuss the queslity of the product for the viewing audience:
www.gotomeeting.com
www.megameeting.com
www.web-conferencing-central.com
Although we are working on a group project we have not used this environment to communicate I do wonder about the stability of the platform and it's ability to perform across multiple operating systems. I think I will propose to my group they we engage in one of these free trials and see if the software is as easy to use as they suggest and if it helps.
Web Conferencing
Apparently I did not get the exact meaning of the assignment from the beginning so now I switch topics to the one that was assigned to me. Wikipedia describes web conferencing in the following way.
Web conferencing is used to conduct live meetings or presentations over the Internet. In a web conference, each participant sits at his or her own computer and is connected to other participants via the internet. This can be either a downloaded application on each of the attendees computers or a web-based application where the attendees will simply enter a URL (website address) to enter the conference.
A webinar is a neologism to describe a specific type of web conference. It is typically one-way [1], from the speaker to the audience with limited audience interaction, such as in a webcast. A webinar can be collaborative [1] and include polling and question & answer sessions to allow full participation between the audience and the presenter. In some cases, the presenter may speak over a standard telephone line, pointing out information being presented on screen and the audience can respond over their own telephones, preferably a speaker phone. There are web conferencing technologies on the market that have incorporated the use of VoIP audio technology, to allow for a truly web-based communication. Webinars may (depending upon the provider) provide hidden or anonymous participant functionality, enabling participants to be unaware of other participants in the same meeting.
What I can tell you from my personal experience is that everyone I have been to was bad. Either the video was poor, inconsistent and choppy or the audio was intermittent or altogether lacking. I am not a fan of the technology as a whole but in clearly does have advantages it bring groups together over large distances. The most sucessful webcast I have been involved in incoporated web technology in conjunction with teleconferencing equipment to create an effective working cynergy.
In terms of application to this course I am not sure it has a practical application I think there are other technologies that are of better use and are more efficient such as podcasting. However, I do believe like all technology as time goes on it uses will expand and for that to happen the technology will have to advance beyond what I have viewed.
Seguir leyendo...Voting
I really would like some response to this post. I am very concerned at a pattern I see starting to emerge in America. There was a time in this country when we attempted to legislate who could or could not vote. That approach seems to have changed, increasingly there seems to be attempts to discount the votes of certains groups, in particular minority groups. H.A.V.A, Help America Vote Act has created a very tenuous and unfair system. Secretary's of States, elected party officials are now in charge of the voting systems in their states. I think we all remember the Florida fiasco of 2004, in which G.W. Bush won by 526 votes but more than 500,000 ballots were discounted/disenfranchised in the State of Florida. Now we have reached election time and again the issue of votes counting has arisen yet again long lines, inept/antiquated machines, states mandating state identification requirements. Peaceful and fair transition of power is supposed to be a pre-requisite in a democratic society I am afraid that another outcome similar to 2004 might spark anarchy and anarchy never favors people of color. What do you think?
Seguir leyendo...It has been a while since my last post. I have been struggling a bit with time management. Technology is also an issue I find I am spending a great deal of time reviewing new technologies which I was unaware of previously and have had to familiarize myself with for academic peurposes. I have also found that I do not particulary care for on-line courses, I prefer the interaction of a traditional classroom setting especially when working in groups. There is a real process in selecting working partners that is inhibited by the on-line atmosphere.
On a lighter note my work out has suffered severely since starting school. Got to find a way to get back in the gym.
Seguir leyendo...Scarily inept.
This is my second week of grad school and I realize that despite a great deal of computer savviness in the use of corporate computer technology, I am a bit educational technology illiterate. Wikis and blackboards are all new things to me and I have to admit right now I am a bit uncomfortable using them. Hopefully, as classes go one I will become more accustomed to the tools. Right now, I feel a bit out of my element with the technology we are using. Does anyone know of any websites that offers some insight ino the use of these tools? I would appreciate the assistance, thank you.
Seguir leyendo...Grad School
I have just completed my first week of graduate school and I have to say it went better than expected. I was surprised at how fast some things returned although others still escape me. The course work is interesting, I find it requires a lot more thought than the corporate world. I have heard that saying "we want independent thinkers people who can think outside the box" not really though, the establishment loves conformity. I do have one question and if any of you can help me out I would appreciate it. Graduate school is expensive anyone have any ideas on other sources of funding?
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