The Decision to Blog

 

I appreciated the suggestion to read the article on our list by Dr. Dennen, titled "Becoming a blogger: Trajectories, norms, and activities in a community of practice."  I selected this article because I have for many years, while in academia, considered creating a blog. 

I appreciated the stories contained in the article and I focused on why they started blogging. 

Case 1 - This individual couldn't remember why they started and didn't expect to actually gather an audience.

Case 2 - This individual lurked blogs for a long time and then decided it was time to contribute.

Case 3 - This individual was interested in a certain topic and started seeking help and information. Then she changed her focus later.

Case 4 - This individual felt it was a way of belonging and an opportunity for bravery.

Case 5 - This individual wanted to comment on a blog that didn't allow for comments. So she set up her own blog to respond.

Case 6 - This individual blogged to connect with friends.

In looking through this list, I tried to recall why I considered blogging in the past or decided not to.

A couple times I considered blogging sounds similar to some of these individuals - for a need to voice a concern, seek others who may have similar concerns, and try to support the next generation. One example was when I was first eligible to apply for full professor. I was discouraged from applying because of my role as a wife and mother. This was by a full professor who was also a wife and mom. I think she meant well but I was thinking - we really need to talk more about how to be supportive. I eventually wrote an editorial on maintaining a positive climate instead. 

However, more times it has been about finding a way to share information.  I don't know why I thought a blog would be better than a website, social media page, etc.  Perhaps because I am working on being concise and at the time didn't know how to design a website.  One relates to prescriptions drug benefits for Medicare an area I frequently discuss with community groups.  There are so many special situations and exceptions, it seemed a blog might be a good place. 

Another it was just a way to connect to other individuals and learn. For example, when my husband and I were acting in a sandwich situation between our parents and kids. I would drop my daughter off her developmental preschool therapy and run across the street to check to see my my father in law had his therapy yet. 

To start this course, I wanted to try blogging without too much purpose. I even wanted to blog without to much editing. Just be here. I appreciate seeing all the EME6414 blogs and different personalities and ideas.  

The article discusses in different ways a blogging community. The article ends with "the desire for community played a role in everyone's decision to blog to varying degrees."  (Dennen, 2014, Discussion and Conclusions section)

Next step for me - to find a blogging community. What are you thinking? What is next for you?

 Here is my thoughts on informal versus formal learning from this weeks reading. What do you think?

One network, how many communities?

I am thinking about networks and communities as it relates to the use of OPMs in higher ed. 

Background - The academic program at my employer is planning to hire an online program manager this summer to offer an online cohort to a current residential only program. (If you are new to OPMs this site offers a definition.) This outside company will recruit students, design online content, and provide basic student support to this online group of students receiving the same degree as the residential students. 

Will both groups be in the same network? I think yes since both groups of students will have the same faculty, same curriculum, and same degree it would make sense to me that they might connect in some way or be part of the same network. Perhaps for different activities, sharing of university or college news, or at least job placement. 

Will both groups be in a shared community? Should they be?  I am a bit of a let's all hold hands and get along person so my instinct is yes, the faculty and the administration should make an effort to build a combined community. But then I wondered, is that what the students will want? Would they prefer to focus on their cohort and the ups and downs of their version of the program? What would the faculty want? Would they worry that students would compare and contrast experience and question faculty decisions?

I recall when I started the ISTL program that there were a couple students in my class taking both live and online classes. I am not sure if that is still the case - a crossing of cohorts?

I was curious if anyone here has found themselves in this situation. What do you think? Should there be both one joined and two separate communities? 

Oversharing

While thinking about our class blog about twitter and shaming, I started thinking about my own reasons for the use, and lack of use, of social media. I looked up some articles for common reasons people may choose not to participate in social media.  This short article interested me because it mentions oversharing. 

Specifically the article states that oversharing is one of the primary reason people give for not using social media. The article suggests that the reason is that other people overshare.  I can see that, it can be a lot to wade through, especially if you aren't on a lot.  As the article suggests, this does seem to be a human behavior problem not a tool problem. 

Have you ever been in a live class where someone raised their hand all the time? I wonder if in a live environment this would count as oversharing.  To me this is actually one of the pluses of teaching online, I hear so many more voices, so much more balanced. So I am wondering it this is really the problem or if it who they are following. 

On the other side, I wonder if it is really a fear of oversharing yourself. I wonder if people feel they will be pushed to share something they don't want to. Or that they might regret something they shared later. For me, this was more my concern.  How vulnerable do I want to be? What is the chance I would publicly make a mistake?

What do you think? Is oversharing a problem? How so? 

My "digital native" are restless

With the topic this week focused on digital natives and produsage, I have to post about my kids, girls, aged 8 and 11. They both had a tablet around the ages of 5 and 7 for purposes of a long vacation drive. We are slower, than our friends, to provide technology but they have now had access to chromebooks and an iTouch for the older daughter this December. 

What has been interesting to me in my thoughts about a product mindset is that they seem to already have that.  They want to make a video demonstration of everything. (No social media or YouTube channel yet so just on the local tablet or computer.) They "make" a video every time they do something new. Get a new toy, go somewhere new, make cookies, etc.  

Perhaps they are already restless by just being a consumer. I mentioned in my weekend tweet that we were having a splatter paint party for my older daughter this weekend. My younger daughter told my husband he needed to buy her painting for a million dollars. Even made him write and IOU on a sticky note.  The one on the right. 

I appreciate the readings and discussion this week to allow me to connect the terminology. What this makes me wonder is it less about the presence of the technology and more about the mindset about its role.  A mindset where they have the choice -  to adopt or not - with less limitation.  

A Producer Mindset

 Information junkie

I searched this term today after reading some of the class blogs. I love gathering new information.  Not because I want to be more successful at playing trivial pursuit (does anyone play that anymore) or because I plan to use the information. I just like the process and the "ah-ha" feeling.  

This came up when I searched - Don't Become an Information Junkie. WHAT! I new that finding new information wasted time - a big problem for me.  I also knew that it could cause over analysis - less of a problem for me. I like to know a little about a lot of things rather than anything in depth.

The main point of the article seems to me to make sure you don't forget to take action.  Ok. Yes. True. 

But what really caught me was the idea of taking action by switching from becoming a consumer to a producer.  The idea of a produce mindset resonated with me and connected me to this weeks reading on produsage. 

I appreciate that the ISTL program allows for us to produce so many projects. And now with this course thinking more broadly about a producer mindset outside of class and into the Web 2.0 environment.  

I searched twitter for a producer mindset and found a lot of different types of information. More there.  What do you think, does having a producer mindset help in the environment we are exploring?

RSS Feeds - Putting a sprayer on the firehydrant

 I appreciate the analogy in the introduction this week about a fire hydrant feel.  

But my chin is up and I am moving forward.  I re-watched the information provided on RSS feeds and that feels a priority to for me. I read some reviews of different RSS reader apps.  Here is a top 10 list.  I appreciated the extra information we already received on two in the top 3. 

I selected Feedly to start setting up RSS feeds.  But I discovered that in order to have the twitter feeds added I needed to sign up for a paid account.  So I searched for RSS feeds and twitter.  I found this article by Feeder recommending their product that includes twitter feeds. 

I set up a free Feeder account. And yay! I have the Twitter feed for class added. I also added the extension to Chrome so I can just click on that and get a list of tweets in a column. I also like that when I added the twitter feed I was able to select a folder or create a new folder.

I am now adding in all our class blogs.  I notice it gives me the option to follow the blog and the comments separately. Here is a bit more on Feeder. 

I look forward to trying this out over the next few weeks and maybe switching to a paid subscription later if I want more features.   Drying off and getting ready for next week. Have a great week!

Flashback on Technology

Flashback - almost exactly 18 years ago I started as a full time faculty member. I came to academia from a corporate environment after my parents both worked in corporate and health fields.  I wasn't raised to be an academic and did not come from a normal path through a PhD. I have a professional doctorate and was working in the pharmaceutical industry.

I am still not sure how this jump occurred. I don't think I was their first pick.  I was however ready for something new and blissfully blind enough to make the leap and figure it out from there.  I was hired to redesign and revamp the continuing education program.  I taught because I was told - everyone teaches.  I wasn't tenure track right away.  But life kept happening around me. More on that later.

The trigger that causes this reflection is setting up this blog.  The summer I started in academia, 2003, a workshop was offered for faculty in website design.  I took the course.  I was excited to do something creative, use a technology, and just learn.  This is how I felt this week creating this blog. While I chickened out from starting too boldly. That same feeling came back. It has been in a way coming back since I started this program but the technology brought me back to the previous transition.

I didn't actually follow through with using the design workshop I did that summer, we actually were limited on being too creative with the university website. But it lit a positive approach to technology that I hope I never loose. 

Over the years, when different workshops were offered to faculty I always participated. I would try them out but rarely keep them going.  I dug out an old twitter account, but opted for a new one for class. I believe I set up other technology through different workshops.  

I appreciate thinking about how building a network and community with a purpose will help keep me stay engaged and connected.  Specifically, I think a lot about a community of practice. I look forward to our community of practice this semester. 

Does math require individual learning?

Someone told me today that they believed learning math was an individual activity. That connectives, networks, social learning theory, learner to learner interaction, don't have a role in learning math.  

This made me think, does networking really only apply to certain subjects?  

One suggestion I made, what first came to mind, was to have students create problems for other students to solve. That suggestion was shot down. Her response was "I tried it - didn't work, better students didn't like having to help out other students." 

So night I am taking time to think and regroup. What do you think? 

I have seen math learning online for young children, ABC Mouse commercials comes to mind.  But this is still a learner to content activity.  The course is an advanced computational calculations course, challenging but not to the level of advance calculus or detailed statistics. 

What about posting incorrect problems? Could students look at the problem and try to identify the error? Maybe they could show how to fix it? But I wonder, once someone seems to have the answer, would everyone else just stop. 

This makes me think about the math challenges I have seen on Facebook.

I find it interesting how many people will post what they believe the answer is, even after many others have already posted and you can see their answers in the comments.  But people still post. 

Does this suggest two components to learning math with a network?  

1) Does the lack of a proposed solution, encourage other participate?  Perhaps for a class you might share the answer after everyone participates.  Then anyone who got it wrong has to show the proper way to solve the problem.  A kinda of bonus for putting the time in up front? 

2) Does the problem have to be challenging to the point that the problem causes enough doubt around the correct answer to causes learners to participate? But easy enough to encourage people to try, no one might try it in the first place?

I turned to the reading in the Networked book, part 1.  I appreciated their presentation of the term networked individualism.  I wondered if this concept might work for math? Rainie and Wellman discuss a definition. The term personal is used as the individual at the "autonomous center".  

What if the math problem was designed and distributed such that different individuals in the network had different parts of the problem or solution.  Then they would work together to complete the steps or components of the solution.  Does this reinforce the reasoning and skills needed to calculate mathematical solutions?

What do you think? Thanks!