Comments for In Another Place

Comment on My March Resolution by debg

debg — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:09:33 +0000

I think it is a matter of making time, as you mentioned, to check into these sites. It has to become a habit that is a part of your daily or weekly schedule. I can’t imagine that I would be able to keep up daily with all of these different technologies. Of course, I’ve noticed that I get far behind if I let Twitter go for more than a day or two. I think that organizing the RSS feeds onto Net Vibes has been helpful. I can go to one site to check on Ning, Facebook, Twitter, class blogs,and Diigo. I like the idea of having morning coffee and checking my Net Vibes page. I may have to look into adding that to my morning routine.

Comment on My March Resolution by svcoxon

svcoxon — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:00:20 +0000

Don’t be so hard on yourself, Karen. Teaching the class is a new thing, no? Also, I think that it is not so important that students continue any particular Web tool. Some won’t be around in 5 years and those that are around will look pretty different. I think the main thing is that students get a broader idea of how technologies can benefit their practice of teaching and learning and to get a hand on the ladder, so to speak, of ever-improving and changing technologies.

I helped a classmate in another class get signed up for a Wetpaint site we’re using for a class project. It took about 10 e-mails back and forth. She is very, very far down the ladder, but hopefully, now that she has a hand on it, it won’t be as hard to get to the next step.

Of course, my ladder analogy is pretty linear for our webbed world. Maybe a spider web analogy would have been more apropos. You could more easily get stuck in Second Life that way…

Comment on My March Resolution by KarenR

KarenR — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:17:21 +0000

It’s funny that you mention the iPad…as part of my resolution, I spent some time this morning reading blog entries and Mark Hofer from WM had a great post about the iPad to which I added my two cents: http://mhofer.blogs.wm.edu/2010/02/18/considering-the-ipad-is-this-paperts-knowledge-machine/

In my case, I think the issue is more one of reserving the time than the tool, but you’re right that the iPad really does lend itself to the kind of reading I’d like to do but I’m not sure about the writing. There’s lots of voice built in I think but I’m terrible at virtual keyboards! I learn to type on a typewriter so that’s where my skill is.

Comment on My March Resolution by Tim

Tim — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:56:07 +0000

Your thoughts of reading the paper over breakfast reminds me of one reason I’m looking forward to getting my hands on an iPad. The demonstration at the roll out makes it appear to be a good format for those times when you want to do a quick read of material from a variety of sources (not just the stuff packaged and delivered to your door in the morning).

The iPhone and similar pocket devices are an ok tool for reading but they’re not especially good for the other end of the social networking piece, adding something to the stream. I’m hoping the iPad keyboard is adequate for Twitter, Facebook, and light blogging anywhere I find myself.

Ok, so Apple’s concept of a tablet communications device may not be attractive to everyone (back off, Mac haters . However, that kind of simple, light, always connected device that bridge the gap between laptops and phone-sized units will turn out to be very popular with those of us who spend a lot of time in those virtual communities.

Comment on 140? We Used to Do it in 8! by Sherry

Sherry — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:37:59 +0000

As we have been talking about why teachers do not utilize or accept new strategies, practices, technological devices, etc, I have found a small group of teachers that will still say that the new ideas/strats will be gone soon, just wait it out. Some of these particular veteran teachers will also say that if you wait long enough the old strategies/ideas will come back around. Is that what is happening here, just in a different format? or is it a good idea/strat being updated to meet the time period?

Comment on 140? We Used to Do it in 8! by saland

saland — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:59:19 +0000

I use to have my students create vanity license plates too as a get-to-know you beginning of the year activity. We hung them around the room.

Comment on Serendipity by scoxon

scoxon — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:28:57 +0000

I love the connection to Ben Franklin’s 18th century skills. What a networker! He would have been something else with Facebook. Imagine how much more productive he could have been with Skype and wikispaces to save months of travel time between France and the US!

Comment on RL? SL? Isn’t It All L? by slstone01

slstone01 — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:15:08 +0000

I don’t think many people realize how easily someone can shift between the physical and online worlds. Surely there is a bit of a learning curve involved as well? For someone who hasn’t done a lot of online activities, or hasn’t done many different types (for example, always visiting the same Facebook, YouTube, or gaming site), just finding and learning to navigate new sites probably takes considerable time and effort. But as the digital landscape becomes more familiar, as a person finds the sites he/she enjoys, visits to those sites can be short and efficient if necessary — or they can be as long and involved as time allows.

One thing you didn’t mention though: when do you sleep?

Comment on Teaching, teaching, teaching by slstone01

slstone01 — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:02:40 +0000

I can only laugh in commiseration with you when you talk about the technology you used years ago. I actually took Basic and Pascal in school and figured I just wasn’t the techie type. In my Basic class, the thrill of the semester was programming line segments to appear in succession across the screen. Wow. We also used real floppy disks — the 5 1/2 inch kind.

Another check I had was a few years ago when my daughter needed a 1950’s costume. She wanted a poodle skirt, but without the poodle. Instead, she wanted “CDs” on the skirt. I was puzzled until I realized she didn’t know the word for “record!” Yikes!

Well, happy teaching. I think the f2f grad class will be awesome!

Comment on Surfacing by Tim

Tim — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:34:50 +0000

Welcome back, Karen. Now that you’ve written something on topic, it’s time to create some off-the-wall tangent post. At least that seems to be my method.