Post #12 End of Class Reflection

Posted onApril 7, 2009 
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Despite the intensity of having class on three, full weekends, I have to say that I enjoyed the format; not necessarily short, but SWIFT and SWEET.   Living in Chicago far from River Forest and, primarily on public transportation, it was nice to avoid a long commute every week.  

I took my first intensive class when I started learning Spanish in college and took an eight week, 16 credit hour intensive beginning Spanish class…..I devoted that whole summer to that class, but I did learn Spanish well, thought the immersion method was good for learnign a language.  Now I think that immersion might be good for learning about technology too.

I felt that Libary 2.0 is particularly well-suited to such a format which enabled us to combine the tools  and content of the class together so that we used the tools we were learning about and discussing in order to further our learning and discussion.  For example, the topic of virtual communities or personal learning networks came alive for me because we used these tools to deal with the class content, and, thereby, learned, hands-on, intensively about the tools we were studying.   What a pleasure for a student to make those connections!!  What a dream for a teacher to experience that real learning, about real people, for real purposes……that is the type of learning we aim for in our education classes and that is the type of learning that we achieved in this class.  Thanks to Michael Stephens and all my classmates.  All the very best to you for your futures!!!!

Post #11 Group Project

Posted onMarch 29, 2009 
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                                                                                                                                            ning I thought working in a group project was exceedingly   appropriate to this class in order to take full, practical advantage of the Web 2.0 technologies that we were exploring and studying in class. Our “Ning” group project was, then, especially appropriate because we were able to learn about and explore this new form of “virtual community” as part and process of the project in fulfilling our class assignment.  Thanks to my group members who were helpful and patient in helping me maneauver during my first few technical misteps; they modeled how I might behave towards others in the future in the same situation.

As a digital immigrant, making a constant effor to “settle”, I was very suprised at how easy it was to work with the “Ning” and how our community of four new members quickly, excitingly and colorfully added to this format in order to make this virtual community. One needs to keep in mind that we did this as part of an experiment for a class assignment.  For example, on the day we started, we went from a few blank, white pages to (several days later) an intriguing array of photos, videos, blogs, forums and groups in a welcoming, multimedia platform that could not have been imagined a few years earlier.

I am awed to think what might happen in a real-life, potential “Ning” situation.  I can think of so many real-world applications in schools where this platform could be effective in an educational, community -building realm.  Given the right circumstances, I could imagine an explosion of student involvement and interaction in a “Ning” community; in a class setting, a school club setting, sports or hobbies.  Such a “Ning” virtual community might well give some of today’s Digital Natives a chance for real community and real involvement.

Post #10 Difinitive Paper Topic

Posted onMarch 26, 2009 
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www.dothaneagle.com

from www.dothaneagle.com

 

I would like to explore the issues surrounding technology in schools.  Specifically I wold like to delve into the topic of banning technologies in schools such as iPods and cell phones.  I find it an interesting and very current problem for schools because it is an issue that seems to have gotten ahead of us educators and has not yet been adequately addressed.  If anything, I think it is a delema because it is an example where social norms and expectations are unusually at odds with current laws and policies which shows the extent to which the problem has been avoided by most of the educational community.  For example, while the state law outright banning cell phones in schools has been rescinded,  almost all schools ban the use of phones during the school day.  Despite these bans, many school personelle would report that this law is commonly, flagrantly and increasingly broken by students in school; using their cell phones secretly to make calls and to send text messages.   Not only students, but many parents, feeling the need to stay in contact with their children stronger than state law or school policy, also regularly break these rules.

While some educators continue to feel that these technologies have no place in schools, others feel that these devices can have educational benefits that we should not fight and use to our advantage. Along with scholarly, school and technology related journals, I aim to use the book “Born Digital” by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser along with the book “Everything Bad is Good for You”  by Steven Johnson as background for the paper.  I would also like to use anecdotes and interviews from my own colleagues and students as examples of current thinking by adults and students involved in this issue in a large American high school.

Post #9 Brand Monitoring

Posted onMarch 17, 2009 
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marrs-header  I chose to monitor Marrs Magnet School in Omaha, Nebraska. I chose a school in Omaha since it is my hometown and, although I have not lived there for 25 years, I wanted to see what was going on there and what kind of online presence was taking place out on the prarie far from the coasts and the biggest cities.  Despite being away for so long, the bonds of childhood gave my brand monitoring a particular poignancy and interest for me. Growing up gay, feeling different and in a time before the Internet, I often felt isolated at my own school in Omaha.  This assignment has given me the opportunity to see how much has changed and how the Internet can work to end that isolation and make connections for students today. Witnessing, daily, from afar, what is happening at this small Omaha school, I can optimistically claim that current Marrs students no longer need to feel far from other places and unconnected.   On the contrary, the Marrs Middle School website, and Marrs Middle School Library site might likely help Marrs students feel connected through virtual communities around the school, in the town and throughout the wider world.

The Marrs library media specialist, Mr. Douglas Keel, has obviously embraced technology and makes quite a few connections with the outside world on the school’s library web page. Marrs students can get connected through numerous online databases or reach out to others through their own student (technology enhanced) work such as podcasts published on the library web page. They can also be involved in virtual communities through their library Twitter account.  The Mars Library Twitter account is a way for students to stay current with library events and, for them to feel linked-up with those outside the Marrs Magnet School walls.  Without any doubt, getting “re-connected” to my hometown through web 2.0 technology has increased my appreciation for Library 2.0 and the valuable links that the web can create.

Post #8 Nice Library Music Video

Posted onFebruary 22, 2009 
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Made by students at the Weigle Information Commons at the University of Pennsyvania.

Post #7, Trading Card Maker

Posted onFebruary 21, 2009 
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trading-card2

Here is a trading card I made that highlights lake Atitlan in central Guatemala.  It is the setting for a story that my Spanish 232 co-taught class is currently reading called, “Patricia va a California”.

Post #6 Book Review; “Everything Bad is Good for You”.

Posted onFebruary 20, 2009 
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bad2Johnson, Steven. Everything Bad Is Good For You. New York: Riverhead Books, 2005.

I chose to read the book “Everything Bad is Good For You” by Steve Johnson. I was glad to have the chance to read it because of this course since I had been intrigued by the title for some time.  Since it was written in 2005, I was afraid that it may be already a little dated, however, I was happily surprised to discover that it was not.  In fact, I thought the book is still very relevant and surprised can probably best describe how I reacted to the book. It was both better and worse than I expected and both the content and arguments were not at all what I thought they would be.

The book argues that much of today’s popular culture is not bad, but good and much better than we think. Rather than being the end of western civilization, as it is sometimes claimed  by conventional wisdom and so many cultural critics, Mr. Johnson claims that much of the mass media and mass entertainment is more complex and sophisticated than ever.  He even claims that it is more educational and vastly more mentally demanding than much of what we had in the past.  Johnson often talks about the “Sleeper effect” which is a reference to a Woody Allen movie in which sweets and junk food turn out to actually be very healthy.  He does turn much common wisdom on its head, for example, claiming that video games are probably more mentally challenging than reading and that television and movies have never been more sophisticated and well written as they are today.  For example, he explains how gaming is interactive, and focuses the mind by forcing the player to jump through increasingly complicated mental hoops in an inquisitive, mind-expanding search.  Just the same, he claims that today’s TV shows have “multi-threaded” story lines and complex emotional aspects that force the viewer to use every bit of their mental and interpersonal senses.

What I enjoyed most about the book is that it did make me think.  The author used simple, but persuasive arguments to make his points.  Being a sometimes curmudgeon and (admittadly ignorant) critic of some popular culture, I was very pleased to have some of my assumptions turned upside down.  I indeed found it pleasant and refreshing to entertain the hope that the whole modern world and the kids of today are not going down the drain, but may even be practicing much more of their brain cells with video games than I did as a youngster reading classic literature.  I especially liked his portrayal of an imaginary world where books came on the stage after video games and are considered a threat due to their “barren string of words on a page” that are, unlike interactive games, “tragically isolating” (pgs. 19 and 20). 

The only thing I did not like is that the title of the book lead me to believe that it was an exploration of broader popular culture; however, the book was focused almost exclusively on games, TV and film.  Not that those are not expansive subjects on their own, but that Johnson seems to repeat many of the same points over and over and limits himself to just certain shows, games and film to make his arguments.  Nevertheless, I will never again see gaming in the same way I did a few short days ago and I will also have a counter argument anytime anyone ever decries the “boob tube”.

Post #5 Paper Topic Exploration

Posted onFebruary 19, 2009 
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I read “Everything Bad is Good for You” by Steven Johnson for my book report and have started “Born Digital” by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser.  Both these books started me thinking how really different kids are today; at least in terms of their experiences and involvement with technology.  As a high school teacher, this also started me thinking of my paper topic and how the idea of young people, technology an today’s  schools all interact.  I am now thinking that I would like to read and research more about how schools are relating to today’s kids in terms of technology use and disuse. If schools are meeting kids’ needs? If schools are preparing our students for the demands of the future?  If teachers are prepared and equipped to meet these challenges?  Are we even capable of knowing what the future will bring and how can we prepare for this unknown?  

In terms of libraries and librarianship, I would like to do some research on modern school libraries and how they are meeting these challenges.  I would like to take a look at school libraries that seem to be doing well in this regard and at others that are not. I would also like to see how I might better prepare myself as a future school librarian in order to meet these challenges, to accept these challenges and to learn to see them as wonderful opportunities rather than as hurdles to overcome.  Finally, I would like to see how schools, or more specifically, individual librarians could better know how to become educational leaders in terms of Library 2.0 and educational technology; so that school librarians could reclaim their traditional mission of preserving, collecting, cataloging and providing access to information that, this time around, happens to be digital.

Post #4 Virtual Communities

Posted onFebruary 18, 2009 
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My first experience with a virtual community could probably be considered my first dealings with email in the mid-1990’s.  I was a leader of a local chapter of a national teachers’ group that did much of its business online, back then, via email.   We did meet face-to-face, but much of our communication took place via email and some of those participants rarely, if ever, came to physical meetings; therefore, this would have to be considered an early virtual community.   During this time I learned one of my first electronic lessons after I accidentally sent an email that was meant for one person to the whole list.  Ironically, the message was meant to stroke the ego of that one person who was feeling mistreated and singled out by the group….after my mistake the whole group knew how that one person was feeling and I felt terrible for having further embarrassed that person in this virtual group. Thereafter, I have always been very careful about sending messages out, thinking twice and checking who I was replying to.   Nevertheless, despite that one electronic mishap, that first virtual community with which I was involved was very successful on many levels; it permitted many far-flung, committed teachers to meet, dialogue, collaborate and plan.   We even had a lesbian separatist in the group that, by her own admission, rarely and reluctantly met in person with men, however, she agreed to meet virtually and was a committed and regular member of this virtual group.

More recent experiences with virtual communities have been my very recent Twittering that I started as part of my Library 2.0 course, this current blog and Facebook which is a community that I joined this past year.  Not being a digital native by any means, I have been a sometimes hesitant, but nevertheless excited digital immigrant and settler.  Some form of fear or anxiety always keeps me a tad reluctant, yet common sense, a quest for new learning and some form of electronic wanderlust has me interested in delving in and settling more and more.

As Rheingold discusses in chapter three of his book, “The Virtual Community”, the changes and growth of computer/virtual technology was beyond (almost) everyone’s dreams just a few decades ago.  It is hard to believe that the White House just started using email in 1993 and that as Howard states, it took whole refrigerated warehouses to hold one of the first computers. Presumably, this change and growth will continue at its present pace so it is anybody’s guess what virtual communities will mean in the near future.

Post #3 Solitude and Web 2.0

Posted onFebruary 8, 2009 
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Solitude and Web 2.0

I’d like to write about an article on the new connectedness brought about by Web 2.0 and the lost idea of solitude written in “The Chronicle of Higher Education” by William Deresiewicz. The article is titled “The End of Solitude“. Ironically and coincidentally, the article was electronically forwarded to me from one of my brothers and received during our last LIS #768 lecture on Sunday morning.  Just as our professor was sharing his experience with connectedness through Twitter, my brother in San Francisco was connecting with me through email on the very same topic as the class.  Brother Marty did not know we were discussing that topic, nor did he even know I was enrolled in that class, but he must have known, just like we all do now, that Web 2.0 and connectedness seems to be the topic of the day!  Just before writing this, I also read in the New York Times how Wi-Fi onboard airlines, previously one of the last places to disconnect from the online, digital world, is becoming more common and also causing some tensions.

In the article on solitude, Mr. Deresiewicz does not necessarily completely bemoan the new connectedness we have gained through Web 2.0 (e.g. he mentions how an isolated gay teen can now connect with others and not feel like a freak), but rather the article’s author attempts to explain why this technology came about and how its success may have caused more of what it was meant to avoid…..loneliness and boredom.  The article also claims that being constantly in contact (even with strangers) has made it difficult for us to enjoy real intimacy that can only be gained through close, personal and thoughtful contact with others.  The greatest loss to our humanity, according to the author, however, is the loss of our ability to appreciate and attain solitude which is, according to Mr. Deresiewicz, the only way one can only find the self.  He talks about how urban sprawl, the growth of the suburbs and subsequent lack of human contact brought about the need for this technology to connect with other humans.   He explains that first the telephone, then television, then computers and the connectedness of Web 2.0 helped us escape loneliness and boredom, but because of that, we never learn how to cope and properly deal with those two human conditions…..maybe more serious is that we then never learn how to accept or even to seek solitude which he claims has been important to the very greatest of thinkers from antiquity through the enlightenment and the romantic period and may even be more important now.

While understanding more of its seductive and less positive aspects, I still love the connectedness that Web 2.0 offers.  I also think it offers much to librarianship and can be an amazing bulwark to one of the library’s most important missions….to connect people with information.  At the same time, I understand and agree with the author’s call for an appreciation of solitude and his regret that we are losing an ability and appreciation for that which, just like a need for human connectedness, could also be an important and vital human need; that for self-fulfillment and self-awareness gained by going into the self through solitude.  I wonder, can we have both?  Isn’t the ideal to have both?  Personally, I would like to have both since I enjoy and see the benefits in Web 2.0, but just the same, I feel the need for solitude and regret that in the world of Web 2.0, solitude might be seen as some as a negative state, rather than an essential ingredient in what I would call, “the connectedness with the self”.

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