IT 648 Blogfolio

For my IT 648 — Telecommunications in Education — class this summer, we are creating a blogfolio to document learning and provide reflection. We will reflect on each of our varied assignments: Web Searching, Creating our own Blog, Creating a Web Site About Ourselves, Creating Our Stories with an Interactive Timeline on circaVie, Creating a WebQuest, Creating a Video Message with Eyejot, and Creating an Online Presentation using SlideShare.

I have never taken an online class before, but after a little more than a week, I find that I like it, although it does take a little getting used to. Already, though, my mind is racing with new ideas about using these new technological tools (for me) in my classes.

The Web Searching exercise was a good introduction and way to get into the routine of summer school. I was familiar with most of the concepts, but I learned some new search tools from Dr. Yuen's Ultimate Search Page and a lot about new software downloads from Apple.

The Blog assignment has been fascinating — I've been a reader of blogs but never really had any desire to do one myself. I am amazed at how simple it is to create and maintain one. I'm excited to think about how I can use this tool in my classes. I am a little leery, though, of the whole idea of putting one's personal thoughts — really a journal — online for the world to see. I had an experience with this a few years ago in which one of my students blasted a ton of people — including me — on his blog. Of course, it came out to common knowledge around UCA, and that young man had a lot of apologizing to do. He never dreamed those words would come back to haunt him. It would have been far better for him to have unloaded his frustrations in a hard-copy journal. Something about the ability to put private thoughts for all the world to see — coupled with his amazing irresponsibility — makes me uneasy with the whole Blog phenomenon. Perhaps it's just a lesson for people to take responsibility for their online actions.