Friday, November 29, 2013

ASSIGNED READING - BLOG POST #3:

BLOG POST #3 – Week 6

Reaction to Chapters 6: “The Social Web: Learning Together” (Twitter and Social Bookmarking).

It is pretty amazing when you think about how much the world has changed in just a few short years.  People are able to converse, communicate, and collaborate in ways that were unimaginable 20 years ago.

Todays students can use “The Social Web” to collaborate using tools like Twitter with computers and handheld devices as well.  It is pretty crazy when you think about how fast this communication takes place.  Whether it is for personal or professional use, no one can argue that it can be a very valuable tool.

Unfortunately, there are always going to be some negative aspects with emerging technology.  I have been witness to many students who have chosen to use many of these social medial tools to demean and demoralize others, for whatever reason.  The unfortunate thing is that many high school aged students don’t understand that once something has been posted, there is no taking it back.  There are too many ways to save that information.  As a result, cyber-bullying is becoming more and more of a problem in the school setting.  If I were to pinpoint one possible issue that I have with using twitter in school, this would be it.  Regrettable, there is little we can do about the things students post outside of school, but I do think that we need to tread lightly with this technology until we can find a way to figure this issue out. 

Nonetheless, I think Richardson said it best in his closing for this chapter when he stated, “…Regardless of how you do it, the idea that we can now use social networks to tap into the work of others to support our own learning is an important concept to understand.  It’s another example of how the collective contributions created by the Read/Write Web are changing the way we work and learn” (2010).

Reference: 

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.


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