What did I learn this week?

This week's focus was on Facebook. We had a very lively discussion about Facebook privacy and ethics. I reviewed Schaffhauser's (2008) article.

The article by Schaffhauser (2008) may have stirred up a lot of controversy about privacy, but you have to ask yourself, “What on earth was she thinking?” Maybe I am a bit old fashioned, but my understanding of professional behavior does not include making crude statements about my students or the school where I work. Professionally and ethically she was in the wrong and she has made a very naïve mistake. I am sure the parents of her students are more than a little concerned about a teacher with this kind of attitude. The statement quoted in Schaffhauser’s (2008) article. “She probably thought what she was posting was private,” is irrelevant. (p. 1)

We also discussed Facebook applications. This was my big idea for the week:

• Finally, I did not notice a Learning Styles application on the above list. So, here is my big idea for the day, I think that Facebook would be a good way to poll students for a learning styles inventory. Just a thought.

I also learned from my fellow students about a number of other applications. These were Mary Jeff's contributions(p.1), I thought they were very well chosen.

1. Zoho Online Office – This application allows you to have all of your office documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online for free. Once this application is added to your profile, it can be used to create and edit documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. Then, you can share these documents with other Facebook users, which allows for a collaborative learning environment.
2. Ma.gnoolia – This application allows Facebook users to share links to websites on Facebook. This is great for collaborative research and sharing sources with others online. It is also helpful to share websites that offer more information about a topic being studied by other Facebook users.
3. JSTOR Search - JSTOR Search allows you to find full text research articles on Facebook. Facebook users can use this application for research or additional reading about a specific topic.
4. Study Groups - Study Groups makes collaborating on group projects easy. This application helps the development of a close-knit online community as well as encourages collaborative learning.

Finally, I learned how to set up a Ning account and subscribed to Classroom 2.0.

References

Jeff, Mary (2010), Facebook Applications, Retrieved, May, 2010. http://classroom.ecollege.com/re/DotNextLaunch.asp?courseid=4112491

Schaffhauser, D. (2008). Suspended Teacher in Facebook Incident Ignites Debate: Should Online Privacy for Educators Exist? The Journal. Retrieved May 2008. http://www.thejournal.com/articles/23611

Introductory video

Sorry about the spectacle glare.




The full version of this video is available on YouTube.

Ning Linked

Where is Noah's Ark anyway?


Short announcement: I have been working on linking Ning to this blog today. Navigation and set up are pretty simple to learn. This is another new technology for me so bear with my baby steps. The help center was very useful; it features the Ning Workshop referenced below.(p. 1) Just playing around with getting it all connected together. I also linked EDU-651 Rosellen's Place to my Twitter account today.

In addition to setting up my Ning profile and linking it all up there are some photos and a video that I uploaded to the site.


Reference

Ning Work Shop retrieved May, 2010 http://help.ning.com/cgi-bin/ning.cfg/php/enduser/workshop.php?p_sid=fCPCN8_j

No more free Ning.

No more free Ning. Steve Hargadon founder of Classroom 2.0 social network gives a great rundown on his blog about the changes that are happening with Ning. You can also see the article published at Tech Cat for more.

Twitter

Made my first tentative steps into the world of tweeting. I am still suffering from fear of failure in this area seeing as I hardly ever use my cell phone, but here we go. Additionally, I am experience difficulty with getting my profile set up due to Twitter having issues with over capacity. The good new is Twitter is linked to this blog.

Wikis

So, what did I learn this past week? The main focus this week has been wikis. Wikis can be a useful tool for online learners as long as the project is well designed and students are prepared to work in the digital commons. West & West(2009) covers setting up Wikis and project design. In addition, there are examples for projects in knowledge construction, critical thinking and contextual applications. I explored ways to avoid wiki pitfalls including unbalanced participation, a lack of progress and direction, mistrust, misunderstandings, and conflicts. There are a number of way to mitigate issues encountered by groups, most of which can be addressed through proper student preparation, good instructional design, well defined assessment measures and diligent monitoring. Student must be prepared to work and learn in the digital commons.

Reference
West J., & West M. (2009). Using Wikis for Online Collaboration. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.