(Note: this is a cross-post from my other blog, "Mr. Buck's Room".)
Over the past couple of weeks I've been motivated by my master's program to develop a "personal learning network". What was once just "messing around on the internet" now has a real name and a real purpose...sometimes. My personal learning network has, to date, consisted of two things: blogging, and then there's everything else.
I've blogged for a while, intermittently, about whatever struck my fancy. I've blogged about my life, things I like, things I don't like, things of beauty, things of ugliness. If you care to check in, here's the link to "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You" (rarely scientific in nature, so it's not very relevant but this is the internet, and it is all about personal choices). I've learned by periodically writing in that blog, but it's been a sporadic pursuit. Fits and starts, but it's been around for a couple of years, so it's kind of a habit.
Then there's "everything else". I've tried numerous tools that have seemed promising, but for whatever reason, I've quickly abandoned. I have numerous podcast subscriptions clogging my iTunes, but I rarely listen to them. I've participated on a couple of Ning networks, a few wikis, I'm a member of a couple of message boards, and I've recently begun an Edmodo account and a Twitter account. So far the Edmodo account seems promising as a way to disseminate and share information and thoughts between students, teachers and classes. I invited some of my colleagues to check in on the Edmodo site, and I'm grateful to those who did: as a result I've been able to better understand how the tool might be utilized in my class, and how I might administer it among the students in my school.
But Ning is a pay site now, and I am not willing to pay. And Wikis seem unwieldy and difficult to keep up with--I may mess around with PBWorks a little to find out for myself, but I don't really foresee them meshing with my world view.
Meanwhile, I am a member of a group called "Sons of Sam Horn", a Red Sox fans online community. Most of the time, the analysis and discussion surrounding the topics is far better thought-out and presented than that on official sites or through traditional news sources. This has, in an indirect way, suggested to me the power of Web2.0 and a group of people who share a passion.
Finally, I'll comment on Twitter, but I'll limit it to 140 characters or fewer: It's good for getting news, but I don't see myself contributing much.
1 comment:
There is talk of a new system that will allow for more control "in-house" of better webpages, blogs, and wikis. It is coming this summer with training at "Tech Camp". I have this big plan of using wiki's as a note taking/vocabulary tool.
I have also been expanding on my PLN with more RSS feed blogs, and trying to get out there more on twiter. The challenge with twitter is that I feel like no one is reading my tweets. There are tons of people tweeting, but who really wants to read them all? Or has the time?
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