Saturday 29 December 2012

Attitudes to On Line Social Media

I visited my sister today and we discussed the use of on line social media and in particular Facebook and Twitter.
My sister and her husband are early 60s, I am late 50s ( ooh that hurts) my niece and partner mid 30s and nephew 30.

It was interesting to hear my brother in law sounding quite surprised when I said I used Facebook, I explained why and he sort of understood that it may serve a purpose but my sister seemed to consider any social media as the spawn of Satan.

The younger people present said they used it but it was interesting that my niece felt she had to justify it by saying it was to connect to school mums, her partner was ambivalent to it although he had an account and the 30 yr old said he should use it more to keep in touch.

However it was my own reaction to admitting that I used Twitter was the most strange. I felt quite embarrassed. After making this declaration I felt it necessary to justify my position saying that until enrolling on the Elearning and Digital Cultures MOOC I thought Twitter to be a waste of time but I now found it very useful and that as a result of tweeting I was now accessing more information from a far wider knowledge base than I was previously. It has helped to persuade some opinions in a small way and be persuaded in turn. I did have to admit to myself that I do still feel slightly embarrassed ( I do not embarrass easily) by saying that I read a tweet and even more so if I say I tweeted. Why this should be I have yet to fathom out, perhaps I will have an answer by the end of the MOOC.

So the discussion whilst not in depth, for the sake of family peace, was interesting as it demonstrated not only different opinions of on line social media but the different uses it is put to and how people respond when questioned as to whether or not they use them.
Right enough on this post I am now off to Twitterland so that I can set myself to get embarrassed, a sort of aversion therapy I suppose.

Could this be us MOOCers soon?
http://lockerz.com/u/20873360/decalz/9225852/a_twitter_cartoon_to_mock_your_existence




Monday 17 December 2012

Quad Blogg

Here are the deatils of the four members of #EDCMOOC quad 2.
QUAD 2
1. Kelcy Allwein http://kelcym.wordpress.com - moderately experienced - blog more on internal office network (since 2005) than on the internet
2. Willa Ryerson http://wryerson.wordpress.com - new blogger
3. Nigel Thomas http://nigelsmooc.blogspot.co.uk/ been blogging for 2 yrs
4. Angela Towwndrow http://angelatowndrow.blogspot.com.au/

Share It

Just added 'Share It' gadget to my blog. It allows viewers to share my blog via Twitter and Facebook. It is found under add gadget > more gadgets on the Blogger layout page.
 

Saturday 15 December 2012

QuadBlogging

I have just added my name to the QuadBlogging group two of the #edcmooc group. I am not sure what I will get from this but it seems worthwhile to give it a go.
There are so many suggestions coming from the people enrolled on the Elearning and Digital Cultures MOOC that, as I posted in FaceBook in the #edcmooc group, it can become overwhelming.
I am flipping between Facebook personal and group lists, Twitter, work and home e-mail, writing two blogs, this one and http://learningteachingspaces.blogspot.co.uk/.  Then there are SMS messages, Linkedin, http://wallwisher.com/wall/edcmooc (thanks to Steve Stander for this), my cloud storage, Picassa for pictures, Spotify for music etc etc.

The purposes I use digital  connectivity for are:
work
education
shopping
finance
entertainment
campaigning
research
keeping up to date with current affairs

My whole life is probably out there in a combination of 1s and 0s which is quite a sobering thought.

The amazing thing is that I think that this is probably a short list compared to what most adolescents use.
Anyway enough for now

Thursday 13 December 2012

Interactive Technology and International Students

I had an interesting conversation with a lecturer and some students today in a teaching space I had designed.
They all liked the layout which is 4 plectrum tables that seat 6 and divide and fold for greater reconfiguration.
One question that I found interesting was from a student who asked why there was no interactive technology installed.
This was a bit disappointing on one level as the room has a Smart Podium installed but the lecturer was not aware of it, a job for our e-learning team to get to grips with.

On another level I enquired of the student where she came from, it was Hong Kong, and she told me that interactive technology is everywhere.

It then occurred to me that my university, as are many others,are trying to increase recruitment of international students. If we are to do this we need to provide the types of environments and technology they have come to expect. Of course this is not true for all international students but the trend is growing especially for students from the far east.

Monday 10 December 2012

Triberr test

Just testing Triberr. Thanks to Eric Clark for making me aware on #EDCMOOC
I am amazed that how much activity is going on at #EDCMOOC prior to the course starting.
One thing I was sort of aware of but have had confirmed via #EDCMOOC is the bewildering array of e-learning application available.
I am interested in how Triberr works and what it offers me.

Monday 3 December 2012

Twitter and me

Up until the announcement by the admin of the E-Learning and Digital Cultures MOOC I had not used Twitter much, in fact I could not see the point as most tweets I had seen were things like ' I am at Aunt Flo's and just had a cup of tea' with a reply of 'enjoy' to be fair this was in the early days.

Since making an effort to investigate Twitter further I can see it's attraction.
I have accessed so many publications, sites and comments on a wide variety of subjects during this investigative phase for the EDC course I no longer have any reservations about Twitter if used intelligently.
In amongst those I follow there was even a tweet form Julia Gillard the Australian premier
https://twitter.com/JuliaGillard/status/275450773058486273
By the way I can't see Cameron tweeting Gove and saying 'mate, can you please answer'