About Me

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I'm a part-time teacher-librarian and mother of two wonderful children. My Libra tendencies compel me to constantly seek balance in my life. This isn't always easy but it's fun to try! For my mind, I have a challenging occupation, which demands a lot but is stimulating and always allows me to grow and learn. For my body, I love to skate-ski and I'm an avid "spinner". I jog and do other fitness activities because I have to. For my spirit, I enjoy reading great books, and sharing time with a beautiful, inspiring group of women. My greatest joy comes from time spent with my amazing husband and family.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Week 7-Response to readings: The many things I didn't know about Facebook

Today, thanks to Joanne and Trailfire, I have been delving more into articles and commentaries on Facebook. After reading an Educause Learning Initiative article (May 2007), "7 things you should know about Facebook II", I thought the topic worthy of a revisit.

One of my concerns about Facebook is the whole issue of privacy. This is a concern to me, not so much in my own context, but when I consider the time that my teenagers spend in this social networking realm. It appears that Facebook provides many options for users to control who accesses their page and what they see. I knew there were some safeguards, of course, but I did not appreciate how specific these could be. According to Educause, " Beginning with the profile page, users can decide which of the elements are displayed and to whom...Another setting lets users specify who is allowed to see their profile in search results-profiles can be open to anyone, to users in some or all of the user networks, or only to friends. " But, let us not get too comfortable. As the Educause article states, "being able to control access to personal information does not necessarily imply an understanding about the ways-both good and bad-that the information might be used". In other words, just because my children have the option to choose wisely when it comes to personal privacy, this doesn't mean they have the maturity or judgment to do so. I have nightmares of my daughter going to her first job interview and discovering that her prospective employer has had access to a Grade 8 pajama party video. This is, of course, where a parent must be vigilant and knowledgeable about the tool, but are we vigilant and knowledgeable enough?

Another aspect of Facebook that I had not considered was the specificity with which networks can be created. I suppose this is because, for me, Facebook has been about "friends". I have never experienced Facebook being used by colleges or universities to facilitate the building of community among its learners. As the Educause article states, " the application is still fundamentally about relationships and the always-changing networks among individuals, but these relationships are increasingly based on professional interest, political activities and other connections that are not strictly social."

I'm still not sure that, as an educator, I would use Facebook as my social networking application of choice. It was interesting to read Don Johnson's perspective on Facebook in his Blue Skunk Blog. He expresses some doubts about the educational value of Facebook and asserts that other Web 2.0 tools might fit the educational bill in a more appropriate way. He was particularly forceful in this warnings about students and teachers "friending" on Facebook, stating that it, "violated the teacher/student relationship and could lead to actual or perceived inappropriate interactions" I think that, to some degree, this would depend on the context. If a specific network was set up and the student/teacher interaction occurred within a defined educational arena, it don't think alarm bells would be sounded. This said, it seems other social networking tools might be more suited to an educational environment. A Ning, for example, might to be more conducive to creating opportunities for networking and the building of community, while providing a bit more structure and control. The NCTE article, "Social Networking: The Ning's the Thing", provided some great examples of using a Ning in teaching.

As stated in Educause, "Facebook has become a model for how communities-of learners, of workers, of any group with a common interest- can come together, define standards for interaction, and collaboratively create an environment that suits the needs of the members." Whether educators choose to use Facebook, Ning or another social networking application, it seems most critical to acknowledge the underlying need of our students to interact in this fashion and to determine how we might best harness the social networking reality to facilitate the achievement of our educational goals.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Week 7-Demonstation of new knowledge: A quick word about Facebook and Twitter

Just a quick word on my use of Facebook and Twitter.

I had a Facebook account before beginning this course and I used it very sporadically, mostly to connect with those in my circle of acquaintances that live in other parts of the world. I must admit that I continue to use it very intermittently. Although I can fully appreciate why it is hugely appealing to my teenage daughter, it does not seem to be the way I most enjoy staying connected. I find so many aspects of the layout distracting and, although I enjoy seeing pictures that others send, I find it strange to see them with people I do not know and I wonder how these "friends of friends" would feel about me seeing them during their last trip to Vegas or on the beach in Maui. It is not that they are doing anything particularly compromising, it just seems somehow too intimate considering I do not know them at all. I will continue to explore this particular social networking tool and perhaps my sensibilities will change with experience and time.

While I have had difficulties warming to the use of Facebook, I find Twitter has some interesting advantages. Some of the tweets by the various professionals I am following have lead to fabulous discoveries and excellent resources. I cannot imagine anyone finding the time to read every message but taking a few moments to skim can provide a source of many thought provoking ideas. I particularly enjoyed how easily I could post my own Slideshare on Twitter and have it instantly available to others. I continue to find it distracting to see such messages as "I am drinking a Latte at Starbucks". The trick with Twitter, I believe, is to ensure that you only follow those you would find inspiring in the real world, those with whom you share common interests and agendas. By making serious, thoughtful choices about those you follow, Twitter can provide a wonderful opportunity for professional enrichment and growth.

Week 7- A reflection: Junk mail on a blog...how irritating!


Like many techno-newbies, I wrestle somewhat with concerns about privacy and with my own comfort level "putting myself out there" in the digital world. For this reason, I was quite disconcerted when I found "junk mail" on my blog. It had not occurred to me that someone might choose to use this forum as a foot in the door to deliver his or her personal agenda. Does this kind of thing happen all the time? Is this just an occupational hazard when creating such a public document as a blog? I couldn't help but feel it was an invasion of my personal space but then I guess a blog isn't my personal space anymore is it? I guess I will have to reevaluate my sensibilities if I want to become a true blogger. In the meantime, off to the junk pile it goes!

Friday, February 26, 2010

Week 7- Demonstration of new knowledge: Delicious revisited and more


Back in Week 2, I set up a Delicious social bookmarking account. I was inspired to do so by one of that lesson's articles entitled "Weaving Web 2.0 into classroom practice". For the last five weeks or so, I have been using Delicious to bookmark the many articles, websites, videos and other bits and pieces of information that have been building from a variety of sources. Initially, I could see the value of having an immediate, easy way to bookmark something of interest. I also appreciated that you could add additional bibliographical information. What I didn't fully understand at that point, was the notion of tagging. In Week 2, I only had a few documents bookmarked. I now have 65 bookmarks. As my list gets longer, my appreciation grows for the value of the tag. Tagging, used effectively, is an excellent organizational tool. The longer my list of resources gets, the more detailed I find my tags need to be. Initially, I was using such general terms as "Web 2.0" and "technology". Although these tags are appropriate, I discovered that I needed to be more specific if I wanted to have quick access to topic-specific information. If, for example, I didn't remember the name of a particular article, I only had to know that it was on the topic of wikis in order to retrieve it, assuming I imputed "wiki" as a specific tag. Of all the new technologies investigated so far in this course, I have found social bookmarking to be one of the most helpful in the process of "making sense" of and organizing information. At this point, I am using tagging more as an internal organizational structure and have not delved into the social aspect yet. Where I have been investigating this realm a little more has been with my forays into LibraryThing. Here is a place I could see myself spending some time! I have been in a book club for years and love to talk about books! I'll talk to complete strangers about their suggested reads, whether I'm in a book store, a library, on the beach or in a cafeteria line-up! For this reason, LibraryThing makes me feel like a "kid in a candy store"...so many like-minded people all wanting to discuss books! I have particularly enjoyed finding those who have my favourite reads on their book lists and finding out what other titles and authors they enjoy. I've also joined a few discussion groups and would love to spend some time "hanging out" there at some point. Here, once again, I come to the crux of an issue that is of constant wonderment to me. Where do people find the time? It amazes me how many hours people must invest documenting and discussing. Maybe one day I'll have the leisure time to do the same. In the meantime, I'll just enjoy being an occasional tourist in this wonderful world of books!

If you'd like to see how my Delicious list is expanding, feel free to access it through this blog. Above is a print screen of my LibraryThing page.



Saturday, February 6, 2010

Week 6- Response to readings: Why wiki...and for what?



Here is my presentation on wikis that I uploaded into Slideshare. I used PowerPoint, as this is a presentation software that I have a bit of experience with. It was interesting to become familiar with Slideshare, both from the point of view of its benefits and its limitations. I uploaded one my son's presentations to see what it would look like in Slideshare first. I'm very glad I did this because it helped me strategize a little bit before I started my own presentation. I'm pretty happy with the result and feel I learned so much! Due to my limited experience with PowerPoint I had a lot of mastering to do. For example, it took me a long time to figure out how to import pictures efficiently and how to maneuver my way through the program.

I hope you find my presentation informative and maybe a little fun to watch too!

For those of you participating with me in this week's discussion, questions are now posted on the discussion page under week 6.

Patrice

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Week 5-Response to readings: More thoughts on Web 2.0 The Sleep of Reason Part I

This comment was one I made to a course-mate after reading Web 2.0 The Sleep of Reason Part I (Michael Gorman) and Will Richardson's chapter on Weblogs, Pedagogy and Practice from his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. I thought it was worth noting here if for no other reason than to chart the evolution of my thoughts throughout this course:

As you point out Aaron, it is now so quick and easy to publish and/or access information online, while checking, authenticating, and legitimizing this information is much more time consuming. Will Richardson addresses this in this book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. On page 37, he writes: ..getting a handle on the reliability of Web content in general and blog content specifically takes time, much more than you or your students are used to. He goes on to describe specific steps in the assessment process. This definitely underscores the importance of the teacher/TL as "guide". What I wonder is how many users, so used to "quick fix" access to information, would be prepared to undertake the arduous task of verifying its reliability. I think Gorman makes some excellent points.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Week 5-Demonstration of new knowledge: I'm a Wikipedia editor!

Today was a day of Wikipedia immersion! I read countless articles on Wikipedia, reflected upon my own preconceptions and upon how these have changed in the course of my reading. I have formulated my own position and initiated discussion with my peers. Finally it was time for the fun stuff...editing a Wikipedia entry! Below is a print screen of my entry before edit, while the above image reflects the additional information I included. I chose Mount Washington, British Columbia because it's a place I'm quite familiar with, having spent time there hiking in summer and skiing in winter. I also know that it is very implicated in the plight of the endangered Vancouver Island marmot and I wanted to ensure that this reality was reflected in the entry.



I found working with Wikipedia much less "user friendly" than many other applications I've experimented with in this course. It was very helpful to have the Wikipedia-supplied "Cheatsheet" though. I found my speed and comfort level were already increasing by the end of the entry. It was particularly satisfying to learn how to create both Internal and External links and to see them in action. My next challenge on Wikipedia will be to learn how to include an image. I would have loved to import a picture or two from my personal library. That will have to be for another day though because I'm exhausted! If you would like to see my revised Wikipedia entry in all its glory, go to Wikipedia and search Mount Washington, British Columbia.