First a word to my students: do as I say and not as I do. I know that this semester, I’ve really asked you to stretch yourselves in terms of using technology. You’re blogging and twittering and participating in a Ning. Tonight, we’ll be exploring Second Life as well. And you’re doing a good job. I appreciate your thoughtful blog entries, your forum posts and your willingness to even give twitter a try. Mostly, I’m writing to apologize that I haven’t been keeping up. I’ve been resting on my laurels as it were…after all, I have blogged and twittered and ninged before. But that’s just not fair: I need to be doing all that with you this semester. I’m asking you to make time; I must do the same.
And, there’s really the rub: virtual communities have two qualities that make them require special attention: they are virtual and they are usually voluntary. Turn off Tweetdeck and Twitter essentially goes away. Forget to visit iGoogle and the blogging world is somewhat distant. They aren’t calling on the phone or bouncing in my launcher bar.
So, for me, the issue is one of just making time and the commitment to being more active in all these communities. Finding something to write about, posting articles of interest to Twitter, and reading and commenting on the Ning. Maybe over that first cup of coffee in the morning…harken back to reading the paper with breakfast?
And then I wonder, if I struggle to keep up my connections with the virtual world, what’s going to happen to may students when they leave the course? Will they have found enough in this virtual world to continue their work: how many of them will blog? or tweet? or be part of the Ning? What do they need to experience in the next two months that will convince at least some of them to continue to use these tools to teach and learn?
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.
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.
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…
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.