Skip to main content

If I knew then... pt. 2

Again, I find myself in a place where I wish that I had known what I learned about this week when I was still in the classroom. As a High School ELA teacher, even in a title one school here in Florida, we had a computer cart in the classroom with enough computers for each student. While many social media sites were blocked (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc.) Many of these other online tools would not have been. I wish I could have tried a more networked learning community style.

I think the use of a class bog, collection and curation tools, the online badges, and the primary resource sites form the creative commons unit come to mind. So, to answer the question, I think in some cases the tools help foster ideas, though I would argue that once you know of the tools then you would probably get ideas of how to use them when you come across a subject. I think I could have fostered more motivation from my students, possibly given them the additional time and space for them to work at their own pace, and hopefully taught them more.

Every now and then I miss being in the classroom, particularly when I find things that could’ve helped make the experience better!


Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 25, 2020 at 11:13 AM

    I have a good friend who after teaching about ten years became a principal for about ten years and is now in the district office. We have had many conversations that ended with, "I think I want to go back to the classroom one day before I retire so that I can use all I've learned." Of course, he's still applying things he learned, just in a different way. Maybe you will too. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stephen BunnJune 28, 2020 at 7:09 AM

      Thanks Lori!

      I'm not sure I will go back, but I have some friends who only want to teach, so they will definitely benefit from my studies!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Culture of Connectivity - Jose Van Dijck - Chapter 6

In this chapter, Van Dijck focuses on YouTube. YouTube started with the intentions of being an alternative to broadcast television. Like Flickr, its origins and its present state do not function the same. Where it used to focus on user generated content, the user is considered more of a consumer now with the intention of watching rather than posting. However, YouTube introduced some new abilities that have had a lasting impact. YouTube introduced the idea of streamed content, the ability to upload video, and combined these with aspects of social networking! YouTube videos are rarely downloaded, viewers do not own the content, but they have access to view the material. Where YouTube differs from Flickr is that in its adaptions of the purpose and focus, Some of the original users of the platform were disgruntled by the changes, but the majority of users supported the change and embraced it as a part of their everyday lives, particularly with their capabilities of meshing almost seamlessl
Post a Comment
Read more

The Culture of Connectivity - Jose Van Dijck - Chapter 7

This chapter focuses on Wikipedia. Wikipedia is much different from the other sites discussed in the book so far, however its inclusion in the top influential actors in the digital landscape is undeniable.  Wikipedia is a "professionally run, volunteer based, nonprofit organization whose goal is the online production of an encyclopedia" (p. 132). It's nonprofit status came about due to the creation and maintenance of the Wikimedia Foundation. The sites is founded on five basic principles, but she never actually lists those 5 principles, but says that neutrality is the most important of them and while the elements that measure the success of the encyclopedia also cause "disenchantment" for those who feel that the focus on neutrality and the bureaucratic structure limits the site. Van Dijck discuses the users of the site and states that crowd management is one of the sites biggest strengths. She points out that it is neither the specialists or the generalists that
Post a Comment
Read more

The Culture of Connectivity - Jose Van Dijck - Chapter 4

Chapter 5 focuses on Twitter. Originally the creators of Twitter were striving to create a utility. A piece of information infrastructure that was an everyday and unnoticeable part of our lives, like electricity or phones. Van Dijck says that this created a paradox in that is "presumes Twitter to be a neutral platform upon which users freely interact, much like the Web itself...indifferent to the contents they exchange" but that "the streams of data are engineered to promote certain uses and users over time" (p.69). Van Dijck says this paradox of "enabling connectedness while engineering connectivity" and "propagating neutrality while securing profitability" show up in every aspect of the platform. This is kind of a trend in all social media platforms as the start out about the user, but need to pay the bills... The Twitter platform has has some pivotal contributions to the culture of connectivity (culture influence tech while tech influences cul
2 comments
Read more