Week 04 Update

Listen while you read: https://app.box.com/s/li7v2zsqa2c0a2dd06tgly47c9s9vivv

Continuity
Last week we examined the impact of the concept of “The Network” on teaching and learning. In
addition to the technical aspects of networking, we zoomed in on Wendy Drexler’s vision of the
Networked Student (and, by extension, the Networked Teacher). You might have noticed that
there is some alignment in philosophy between Drexler’s view and the way that I’ve structured
this course. Yes, Wendy and I have some similarities in our teaching philosophies, and I have
designed this course for you to be quite active in connecting to resources and constructing your
knowledge. (That is why, while I’ve designed carefully for you the learning experiences of this
course and I’m always here to help you if you need it, I’m going to frequently ask you to use the
starting point resources I’ve provided in order to step out of your comfort zones and try to
figure some things out for yourselves.) That being said, while I know from skimming your
blog postings that some of you may have been inspired by Drexler's vision (awesome!),
inevitably many of us are challenged by this less teacher-centric approach to helping students
learn. Perhaps this is where you are. Let me assure you from experience that the teacher of the
“networked student” is required to be just as skilled and work just as hard (if not more so!) in
this model than in a more traditional role. Of course, as with all visions, Drexler’s is
aspirational. That is, we reach toward the goal she sets, but as we do so our implementations will
vary along a continuum with some of us looking more like her ideal than others. In my opinion,
the important thing always is that we are taking small steps toward our vision of effective
teaching.

In summary: Focus on what you can do, and do it; without being distracted by criticisms (no
matter how valid). This is one of the great themes of this course, actually: Considering how
each one of us, individually, might best integrate technology into the curriculum to benefit
one's students and then taking small action steps to do so.

A few quick shoutouts here for some particularly engaging Learning Journal entries on their
blogs: Mary M. took us through an outstanding thought experiment in which she applied
Drexler’s connectivist ideas to her elementary classroom context. Cory, Colleen, and
Christiana, each in their own unique way, wrote about the power of the personal learning
network (PLN) for the professional development of educators. Emma gave us a substantive
consideration of the place of blogging in the teaching/learning process. Lauren provided a
holistic reflection on the dependence on internet connectivity for daily teaching in the classroom.
Fred “went big” (conceptually speaking) and challenged us to consider the costs and benefits of
a “new internet” technologically.
If I didn’t single you out, please do not be offended. These are just a few that stood out to me
personally as particularly engaging. I would encourage you to read these postings if you haven’t
already.

From my sneak peeks at all of this week’s blog postings, I’ll say that I’m, overall, very excited to
see the depth of insight and enthusiasm which you’re bringing to the topics of this course.
Several of you wrote really substantive pieces! (One or two of you, though, could stand to flesh
out your entries more fully. You might take a look at the postings of others for comparison. If
you *missed* this week’s posting, here’s a reminder: Do *not* depend upon the LMS to-do list,
please refer to our course Schedule and/or mark your personal calendar.)

I was also delighted to see that a number of you took the plunge, in response to my extra credit
challenge from last week, and attempted to appropriately integrate Creative Commons-licensed
images in your blog posting. (Unfortunately, some of your integrations were incomplete, lacking
some required component.) I was also pleased several of you tried out one of the mind mapping
or concept mapping programs to articulate your learning visually (i.e., the connections between
the concepts we’re studying). Awesome! I’ve personally found those kinds of maps helpful in
clarifying my own understandings and in communicating with others. Feel free to use images
and mind maps in your Learning Journal entries in the future if you like. If you have questions
or concerns about doing so, please let me know.

Before turning to next week, I’d like to note that I have provided some general feedback on your
Writing About Research #1 submissions and some detailed writing-workshop-style (or “studio
style”) feedback on one classmate’s writing. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to review both
the general feedback and the marked up/annotated writing sample to prepare for future WAR
assignments. (You’ll recall that you need to submit three of the four WAR assignments, and I will
select and score one of your submissions toward the end of the term.)

During Week 4, it may seem at first that we’re abandoning practicality and getting more
theoretical as we consider the ethics associated with emerging technologies. However, this topic
flows directly from each of the preceding weeks’ themes. That is, if we are to prepare students
for a future that doesn’t yet exist, and if we are to infuse our curricula with technologies
that challenge our assumptions about teaching and learning by empowering students, then
we must wrestle with a wide range of practical decisions involving access to these
technologies. For instance, should cell phones be allowed in schools? Should all web sites with
potentially offensive content be blocked from access by teachers and students? What obligations
does a teacher have to cross the Digital Divide and provide information access at school to
students who won’t have any other opportunities to become skilled at accessing such resources?
There are no easy answers to these kinds of issues. But I trust that it will be a stimulating week
nevertheless! :-)

Logistics
In Week 4 we continue the same routine as last week with one addition. That is, we will have
your module reading, Search-&-Read activity, and your Learning Journal blog posting. By this
week’s due date, you’ll also be commenting on the blog postings of your classmates. If at all
possible, try to enter ratings on the comments received to your blog by this week’s due date as
well, but you always have one week after the due date to complete this peer rating. For those
engaged in doing so, you’ll also continue on with your information stream contributions each
week. (I might forget to mention the info stream every week, but do remember that for the end-
of-term extra credit, you should shoot for some such posting (beyond your self-promotion of
your Learning Journal entries) via Twitter (using the #eme5050 hashtag) or to the EME5050
Diigo group each week.)

In addition, this week you will also be submitting your second Writing About Research piece
(WAR#2) within the “Discussions” area of Webcourses@UCF. The process will be much the
same as the WAR#1 in that I’ve provided access to an article from a research journal and a three-
part prompt to guide your writing about this article. Along with the instructions I’ve provided in
this week’s module, you might find it helpful to revisit my comments about the WAR
assignments within the Week Two Update (in the “Weekly Updates”).

General
By the way, many of you have worked this out, but here’s a Twitter tip: Some of you are using
the full url of a resource when posting to Twitter, so you have very little room left to title or
comment or annotate the resource. (Remember, you want to help us see why this resource is so
great so that we’ll click the link.) As you’ve seen, if you use a URL shortener, you’ll have more
room for your text. Such shorteners include http://bit.ly or http://tinyurl.com or even Google has
one at http://goo.gl. Challenge yourself to fit as much relevant info as possible in one
microposting. (Also, most of these shortening services will track how many clicks your
shortened url has received. This is kind of a virtual version of knowing whether anyone is
listening.)

Also, everyone who submitted complete work last week has now received feedback on their first
Activity Reflection. The first submission of an assignment is always a bit of a calibration
opportunity as students find out how well their expectations matched the instructor’s. With that
in mind, I took the time with this first submission to point out in my written feedback ways in
which you could reach the highest levels of performance delineated in the scoring rubrics. From
this point forward, though, I’m going to try to let the scored (and highlighted) rubric speak for
itself on Activity Reflection technicalities.

On this point, as you begin to receive scores/feedback on your Learning Journal entries, you will
note that the same principles will hold for the first scoring period of these journal entries: More
written feedback on how to do better in the first rubric, less of that in later rubric. FYI. (You’ll
recall that I will randomly score your blogs twice this term.)

Following up from the poll in last week’s (Week 02) feedback form, the great majority of those
who responded said that they were indeed interested in meeting online in real time to discuss
edtech trends. I then sent out an Announcement via Webcourses@UCF a poll with some possible
dates and times to which you can reply with your availability. Based on this poll, I will look for
time slots where the highest number of interested classmates can get together in real time, but the
session will be recorded for those who cannot make it at the selected time.

Feedback Form
As you know, I’ll post a link to an anonymous feedback form each week in the
“Announcements” area of Webcourses@UCF (and via Twitter if I remember) that you can use to
provide general feedback on your experiences during the preceding week and to ask any
questions that you don’t feel comfortable asking directly. I’ll summarize and respond to this
feedback in each week’s update.

1. Sadly, I heard from very few of you via the feedback form this week! :-(
Those of you that I’ve heard from found all the instructions very clear, and on average the
course work activities took right at 6.5 hours to complete. (Please be careful not to rush or
shortcut through activities. Allow yourself time to explore, think, reflect, and apply in order
to get the most practical benefit from the activities I’ve designed for you.)
2. A couple of you commented positively about your personal engagement with blogging this
week with one person noting that the most positive thing this week was: “Letting us pick the
topic of our blog, as it loosely relates to the weekly topic.” [I’m glad this is “clicking” for you!] :-)
3. I thought I might note that over many semesters of feedback forms, I can tell you that there is
a pattern that has emerged: Students do tend to feel more connected when they are actively
engaging with our information stream; reading, posting, and replying. Just a word to the
wise.

If you haven't yet filled out the Week 3 Feedback Form, feel free to add your comments. I'll read
them, but obviously I can't respond to them in my weekly update recording as I did to those I just
mentioned. (However, if one or more people raise an issue that needs action, the whole class will
hear from me.)

Can I Hear You Now…?

As always, if I can be of any help to you this week then please email me or IM me or Skype me
or tweet me or call me. All my contact information is at the top of the “Overview” page in your
Syllabus. I’m here to help you. Let me. :-)