Lorraine’s Blog

As the semester comes to a close I look back on this journey and think about all that I have experienced and learnt… so what are these:

New environments of the Ning, Edublogs, and Delicious.  I’ve found out about a place where you can live a “2nd life” and communicating with a thing called ‘Skype’ just to name a few.

I’ve experienced group work which brought together a group of people from various backgrounds, with all our own views and ideas, to work together to develop a Wiki - quite successfully so it turns out.

I’ve read lots on the different theories about how people learn and considered how this could relate to an e-learning environment.

I’ve pondered the role of these networks and tools for the future and how things will change.  I’ve had many discussions with colleagues and friends on this issue.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the adoption of these tools by people comes down to their personalities, lifestyles and beliefs.  Some people enjoy spending time in the online environment and exploring the wide world from their computers and others, like myself, use it as tool to gain what we want to learn but not necessarily emersing ourselves in it.  It has been a struggle to fit in the time to post my thinking and take of the readings.  This is not to say that they haven’t been done and that I haven’t learnt a great deal from them.  Putting down thoughts in a public way is quite daunting…

I have enjoyed my semester and have gained much insight from it.  I know that it will provide me with a great basis from which to continue the journey to the completion of this qualification.

2008

Emerging technologies identified in this report that I am familiar with were the grassroots video, data mashups and social operating systems.

Significant trends identified are the growing use of Web 2.0 and Social Networking - I have just started learning and experiencing these new technologies.  The fluid boundaries, from my learning perspective, are still an emerging influence.  The use of portable devices still seem to be cost prohibitive for widespread access and implementation despite that there is more of these on the market.

2007

Working in the higher education sector means I can relate significantly to the key trends identified in the report particularly the rapidly changing environment in which we see ourselves in.

With the implementation and growth in the use of modern technologies the ‘old school’ of spelling and grammar are increasingly being lost and appears not to be a focus any more.

Both articles highlight that the uptake of these new technologies has not been as significant as first proposed for a number of reasons, in particular costs and infrastructure issues.

These were interesting readings and relevant.  The main changes I noted over the 10 years was that the web has been rapdily evolving over this timeframe and is now more participatory than in the past.  There is a great deal of information and users are able to write their own thoughts and ideas.

Those using social networks should focus more on issues and topics to make them appropriate for a learning environment.  They, to be effective, should be embedded more into the learning context and environment.  Learners today will need to develop greater problem solving skills to enable them to sift through the information and determine what is correct and what isn’t.

This is one of the major challenges, ie sorting fact from fiction.  Another challenge facing the implementation of this technology is providing enough funding and adequate infrastructure.  The challenge of embedding technology appropriately and in the right context will also need to be addressed.

In terms of technology and my workplace, this is just emerging as an avenue for students to learn.  It needs to be explored further and we face the challenge of embedding it appropriately.  A cultural change needs to occur with the educators for this to be implemented effectively.

I have done a lot of thinking about the myriad of available networks and information available on the Internet and, while exciting and challenging, it causes me as a parent some questions.

Will our future children be able to communicate effectively with others if they are encouraged more and more to use the ’social networks’ available to them?  There will be a whole raft of skills that cannot be learnt effectively via a computer such as reading body language, tone of speaking and the like.

There is also a lot of information on the web, some of which the accuracy could be questionable.  This will be another skill set required, being able to determine fact from fiction.  Will our future educators be able to provide the students with these skills when they are still learning them at the same time.

Well I have managed to get this done and in on time, I guess that’s a start…  It can be found at http://lorrainer.edublogs.org/assignment-1-part-1/