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.
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