Web Quest: Asynchronous and Synchronous Communication Tools

Reflection on Two blogs I’m interested in:

Two blogs that I would like to regularly read are:
http://jrlive.blogspot.com/
http://freetech4teachers.blogspot.com/

I chose http://jrlive.blogspot.com/ because I have a personal connection with the blogger and many mutual friends. Jonathon Reuel is an inspirational visual artist and musician friend of mine who challenges me to sincerely follow Jesus in a rapidly changing post-modern world. I’m an avid listener and collector of many of the CD’s and watercolor prints he’s produced in the last ten years. His blogs in combination with music and art often leave me wanting to see and hear more, as if his message offers me a prophetic insight and greater connectedness to being a Jesus follower. As with all great art, music, and writing I become aware of different aspects each time I return to his work. I can’t wait to set up an aggregator that will catch new blog entries for me.

I chose http://freetech4teachers.blogspot.com/ because I am personally interested in integrating technology and education. This site seems particularly interesting and practical because all of the resources shared are supposedly free to use/access. With the advent of many free Web 2.0 applications/resources it can be difficult to stay informed on new programs that may be beneficial in the classroom. This blog should aid me in finding useable and free resources from which I can recommend to my colleagues in future teaching positions. The free aspect is often a key aspect in helping educators surmount the numerous obstacles to integrating technology into their classroom. This along with other blog and internet resources will help me stay abreast of helpful resources from which to increase technology integration in my own teaching practice and that of my colleagues. I can’t wait to set up an aggregator that will catch new blog entries for me.


Reflection on Two Social Networking sites I’ve explored:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php (search for Jason Potsander and add as friend)
http://www.classroom20.com/profile/JasonPotsander

Thought it was interesting that when I joined www.ning.com it somehow found the same profile picture I used for Classroom 2.0.

This past week I dove into the world of Internet social networking sites. I joined Facebook and Classroom 2.0.

Facebook interested me because I had heard so much about it from various friends and news media stories. My closest experience using it came from periodically observing my 20-year-old brother access the site and show me various things on his Facebook page. I remained intrigued, but not quite ecstatic or motivated to try it independently. In my mind it remained a fad phenomena in which I could not really see the need for expending the energy to create and maintain a page. After becoming a member in the last week I must say my perspective has changed. In less than a week I have accepted 41 “friends” from all over the country and world that I have shared bits and pieces of my life with. It is interesting and fun to learn what many of my past friends are up too, without really expending that much energy aside from the initial time it took to create my profile. I was amazed at how efficiently Facebook automatically found and suggested potential people I may know. For many of these friends I would not necessarily take the time to write them an email nor would I have anything particularly important to say, but with face book I can easily post something on their wall and maintain a contact and connection without expending much effort since the Facebook page seems to do all the “work” of amassing updates of all kinds from my friends list. I particularly like the way Facebook lists networks that I can identify to join such my past High School and College. I also liked how Facebook collects all the photos my friends have uploaded so that I can view them and catch glimpses into their lives. Checking my friends “status” is also revealing into their lives as some friends update them daily based on what is happening to them or how they are feeling.

I also found Classroom 2.0 to be interesting. Within Classroom 2.0 I joined several subgroups such as “Connecting Content and Technology,” “Elementary School 2.0,” and “Mac Classroom 2.0.” I joined these groups because of personal and professional interests that I have and am tempted to join many of the other groups I saw listed. I am still learning how to interact within these groups and glean and contribute information. Overall I like the usability and page layout of Classroom 2.0 better than www.ning.com. I found www.ning.com to be a bit clumsy to navigate around and while it had many sub-groups from which I could join, it was hard for me to tell how active some of the groups were and how helpful they might be for me. I find it interesting that apparently Classroom 2.0 was created by using Ning. I found some the my subgroups such as “Mac Classroom 2.0” interesting. For example I learned that Apple will soon be releasing “Snow Leopard 10.6.”

Reflections on my Wikipedia Experience

Reflection on my Wiki contribution to the following article: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stay-at-home_dad#References).

Since my primary “occupation” this past year was being a stay-at-home dad I decided to look up what information Wikipedia had on the subject and if I might add any edification. To my surprise I found that Wikipedia did have a page devoted to “Stay-at-home dads” with some basic information regarding the historical and social background behind this family arrangement along with external links related to the topic. I deem the information presented in Wikipedia under this topic to be generally creditable and accurate despite its lack of depth into the topic. I feel in this instance, as in most, Wikipedia provides a convenient way to get a very cursory or initial explanation on a wide variety of topics. I would solely rely on Wikipedia as a primary resource no sooner than I would solely rely on print encyclopedia of old.
I registered an account with Wikipedia so I could be a contributor if I wished. Under the above Wikipedia article on “Stay-at-home dads” I contributed the following statistics that I gleaned from the U.S. Census Bureau: 64.3 million – number of U.S. fathers, 159,000 – number of stay-at-home dads in 2006, 2.9 million – number of preschoolers cared for by their dads while mom is at work. Within 24 hours of my additional posting to this article I found that my addition had been deleted. Unsure as to why my addition was deleted I took care to create the subtitle “Statistics” in which I placed my information under. Perhaps this subtitle will help it fit within the flow of the article in an acceptable manner. I can only assume that someone edited my information out the first time because I unknowingly placed the information under “References” which is not an accurate placement.
I have used Wikipedia in the past and will continue to in the future to gain a cursory idea of many topics that I would like basic information on. I feel that Wikipedia can generally be trusted to be as accurate or helpful as any print encyclopedia set. The common fault sited with wiki’s is their open nature which allows any common person to post information that may be baised, outdated, or incorrect. However, this open nature also allows people monitor the recent changes to Wikipedia to watch for postings that need further editing. The popularity of Wikipedia ensures that most submissions will be “reviewed” by enough people to help the postings aspire to a minimum quality level. The Wikipedia overview page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Overview_FAQ) claims that “the overall accuracy of the encyclopedia is improving all the time as it attracts more and more contributors.”

Reflections on Elluminate

The ED693 class meeting on 6/5/08 was my first experience using Elluminate and I must say it was a very positive experience. Having taken many distance education courses whose primary interaction came through weekly an online and in depth discussion boards, I can say I already feel more connected to my classmates, professor, and course objectives than I ever have through using discussion boards alone. The combination of shared audio and graphics really helped me to understand the various ways I would be interacting/navigating with this class and fulfilling its requirements via the UAS class home page, Moodle, blogs, and etc... Had it not been for the initial Elluminate class session I’m sure I’d be a bit lost and overwhelmed in trying to put the many components of this class together on my own in isolation. While the synchronous nature of Elluminate does create some added challenges in bringing distance education students together simultaneously, I believe the challenge is well worth the benefits.

I could see using Elluminate in many applications that go beyond the classroom. Such a tool could be used in supporting colleagues throughout your district or network by more conveniently sharing resources and ideas. I could also envision using Elluminate when joining or creating a professional interest group devoted to specific topics that pertain to my field. I believe a tool such as Elluminate would be particularly helpful when members of a group may never have the opportunity to meet each other in person. The combination of shared audio and graphics creates a shared experience that connects a group more than audio or graphics can alone.