On the other hand, there are some negatives about the cyber world. Blogging online or communicating indirectly can be impersonal. Also phrasing or wording could be taken in different context than what was intended. Also technology is not always reliable. Once I woke up and went to an eight am class and arrived only to realize it had been canceled through email while the school server was down. Although out of classroom communication is difficult to get used to, luckily we do have these social tools at our disposal to help create an extended learning environment.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Social Media Tools
Social websites such as facebook, myspace, and twitter create an easy environment for friends, family, coworkers, and now even students and teachers to interact. I never thought that my teachers would be asking me to start an online blog to communicate after years of in class discussions. There are definitely upsides to having internet connections between classmates. With class time being only about an hour every meeting, having an outside source of communication is useful. Twenty-four seven access is obviously beneficial. Also questions can be easily answered without having to wait until the next class period.
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I am not taking your class, but have attended a university that gave (well, loaned) laptops to every student. Professors were/are required to include an on-line component in every class. This requirement highlighted some interesting differences. Some just asked the students to look at an on-line article and called it good while others set up forums for discussion, similar to this one.
ReplyDeleteThe advantage, as you pointed out, is that everyone can participate in discussions that often get cut short by classtime or someone who is obnoxious monopolizing classtime with their voice (other than the teacher of course!).
Disadvantages? Remembering to post :). The greatest disadvantage for me was how I felt about having my words written down for the world to see and possibly misinterpret due to the lack of dimensionality in writing.
Enjoy the class!
I could ask you to turn papers in the old-fashioned way, but why? How much time would it save?
ReplyDeleteI guess I just enjoy havig the hard copy of an assignment in my hands... technology often fails me... or I seem to repel it! Internet is a time saver... like this blog for example, it's working wonderfully!! I simply get very irritated or frustrated with the computer at times... but once I figure out a site or problem then I enjoy social networking through the net!
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