Sara's Web 2.0 Blog

Welcome to my journal for EME 6414!

[littlelaur]

Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (via e-pic)

[sarafriedman12]

Journal Entry 24

Well, this is my last post for the class. I can't believe how it has gone by - 6 weeks sounds like a lot, but in comparison to a fall or spring semester it's nothing.

I think I figured out what my problem is with online courses: I'm a creature of habit. For me, someone who has been in school for the vast majority of my life (every year for the past 15 years), online classes are out of my comfort zone. It's  ironic; I'm presumably one of the youngest students in this class, yet others much older than me seem to be more comfortable with learning online. I'm so used to being in a classroom, with a teacher and classmates present, at a scheduled time each week, with test to study for and guidelines to follow. It's kind of funny in a way, because this is so ingrained in me and the way that I learn. Yes, I grew up in the technology era and I'm a "millennial," but I still went through a formal education, not taking any online courses until my last 2 years of college. I value the classroom experience, and I don't think that there's anything wrong with that (besides, how else will people learn to socialize?). I'm not completely against online learning (I wouldn't be in this field if I was) and I've learned a lot about it from this class. I think that online "instruction," along with web 2.0 tools should be used in conjunction with "traditional" learning, to make it easier for the increasing number of students in schools, both seconday and post-secondary. I'm all for anything that's going to educate and help people to learn.

[sarafriedman12]

So for the Produsage 2 assignment, I made use of one of the suggested tools, Wallwisher. Wallwisher is really cool. It is a note-sharing tool in the vain of Evernote (which I also love), where users can post notes, videos, or anything and share them with others on a "wall." When you first get to the site, it draws you in because it is aesthetically pleasing. The homepage offers up a ton of ideas that the tool can be used for. I found it to be simple and fun. Definitely keeping it bookmarked!

[sarafriedman12]

Journal Entry 22

Reflect on what you have learned in the class and how you will use it professionally as both a lifelong learner and an instructional systems professional (or whatever field you’re in).

This class has introduced me to a whole world of Web 2.0 tools that I would never have known existed otherwise. I know that in the future I will try to incorporate the tools I've gathered and apply the knowledge I've gained about online learning to both academic and work-related endeavors. Actually, just taking an online class itself has benefited me greatly, as I had not previously taken one in this program. In the fall I will be a TA for an online class in the school of hospitality, and I now feel more comfortable (though it still doesn't come completely naturally to me) with the online class forum.

I'm glad that I took this course, because it has given me insight as to what the future of the instructional systems field will hold. And now that I've been exposed to that, I can use it to my advantage; to set myself apart from others who are perhaps not living in the Web 2.0 world just yet.  

[sarafriedman12]

Journal Entry 21

I thought that I would take time to post about a web 2.0 tool that I have found to be extremely useful during my time as a grad student: Dropbox. I was first introduced to Dropbox while working on a project in my Intro to Systematic Instructional Design course. We were working in groups, and one of my group-mates had previously used the tool. We used it to work together on our lesson assignment. I was hooked from then on. Dropbox is a great tool for working on group projects; sharing content and working on documents together is so easy. It really reduces the clutter and confusion of doing email threads with several people. 

And best of all its free! There's a paid version if you require more storage space, but I really don't. The other reason I like Dropbox is the fact that it is a "cloud" based service - not having to worry about losing something that I've put hard work into is very valuable to me.

Out of the whole plethora of web 2.0 tools out there, I think Dropbox is something that I will definitely continue to use for the rest of my schooling, and beyond.

[sarafriedman12]

Journal Entry 20

Tagging.

I definitely use tagging in my blogging. I've seen lots of rather creative tags throughout my browsing on tumblr. Some users tag things to make them easily retrievable or searchable. Others tag them for humorous purposes, that add on to the original post.

What tagging is really meant for, however, is to make it easier for users and produsers to share. Searching a certain tag on twitter, for example, can pull up hundreds or thousands of tweets on the same subject. On the other hand, searching a tag on a blog usually pulls up results that are not as vast, but perhaps more relevant. Either way, putting a tag on something online allows users to find what their looking for, and place that subject in group. It helps to create organization in an otherwise often unorganized online world. 

[sarafriedman12]

I have a Pinterest account, and it’s one of my 8 “most-visited” websites on my Google Chrome page. I go on Pinterest the most while I’m at work (I work in a phone section, so I’m on a computer all day while talking on the phone; it doesn’t distract from completing my work). Currently, I use it for personal interest purposes. I “pin” pictures of clothes, hairstyle tutorials, recipes, craft ideas, and just pictures of things that I enjoy looking at (in other words, things that would be on a real-life bulletin board in my room).

The more I use it, though, I can see how it could be used by learners or students to “pin” pieces of group project, or to create a “brainstorming board,” or something of the sort.

[sarafriedman12]

Journal Entry 18

How do you judge the value of expertise on the Web? Does it differ from your notion of expertise in face-to-face settings? Why or why not?

I view judging expertise from sources on the web as a subjective process. Location of where the expertise originates has a lot to do with whether or not I will value it. If I’m reading a scholarly journal article from an online database, I will (just by virtue of the source) take it at face value as information from an expert. As for non-journal article information, I look to (again) the source that I’m getting the info from (e.g., Huffington Post), any background given on the author or produser, and my previous knowledge of the subject. Also, since text is such a big part of information online, I look to the quality of any writing accompanying the information, as well as the overall quality of what has been prodused.

This type of evaluation of expertise actually doesn’t differ much from how I go about doing this in face-to-face settings. It’s most often subjective

[sarafriedman12]

Journal Entry 17

Ok so I've been wanting to post about something in the Web 2.0 world that I often come in contact with during my time on the internet: customer reviews. Whenever I'm thinking about purchasing a product (online or in-store) I often check the product's customer reviews on the store's website. Usually, if a product has mostly bad reviews I choose not to buy it (unless its something that I really want or there are extenuating circumstances).

Customer reviews are useful web 2.0 tools in that they allow the user to read about (or see, if the reviewers post photos) the experiences other users have had with the product in question. Often, reviewers must sign-up with the site and create a username, so that they can be identified when they write reviews. One of the most helpful things about customer reviews is that most sites usually design the review section like a comments section, so that reviewers can ask each other questions and get more specific. 

Additionally, many sites have the option to rate the usefulness of reviews, and often the most or least useful are displayed a the top. The communication that occurs with total strangers about the quality of a product online is something that has become commonplace in our web 2.0 world, and I can say for myself, it has helped me to become a more savvy shopper.

Always check the reviews!

[sarafriedman12]

Journal Entry 16

Whoops, looks like I forgot to do my 4th entry last week. Well, I'll make it about this article I found last week:

http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/07/27/how-much-change-2020

How much will higher education have changed by 2020? The article feature a survey given out to "academics, entrepreneurs, I.T. workers and various other "experts and stakeholders" to get opinions about what the sate of higher ed will be in 8 years. 

I'm not sure what it will be like, but I know that technology will continue to be an integral part of it. Hopefully it won't completely eliminate face-to-face classes. It wouldn't really be college otherwise...

[sarafriedman12]

Journal Entry 15

The Web 2.0 Olympics.

The 2012 London Olympic games may have just started on Friday, but the waves of pictures, videos, and posts about the games and their opening ceremony have been overwhelming. With its connection to NBC, the official broadcaster of the Olympics, msn.com has constant updates about the events, and users can comment on the reports.

As for opening ceremony, it was live-blogged from practically the first minutes to the last. Tumblr users produced .gifs and memes of portions of the ceremony as soon as they had ended. 

This seems like the most connected Olympics yet, with pretty much every moment of the games made accessible. While this accessibility is a great opportunity for fans to be able to watch their favorite events taking the time differences around the world into account, the web does present some problems to those wanting to see the events played out instead of just learning the scores/outcomes. Yesterday while I was on Facebook, I found out the outcome to a big swimming race through a friend's post about it before it aired on tv.

[sarafriedman12]

Journal Entry 14

How do issues such as authorship, copyright and open access impact your desire, ability and willingness to engage in produsage, both personally and professionally? I encounter issues of authorship and copyright fairly often during my travels around the Internet. Bloggers, commenters, and all other types of produsers are subject to these issues. These issues can be difficult to navigate, and thus turn some off to produsing content online. I think that I probably fall into this category; as someone who is already not very tech savvy, I wouldn't know where to begin when it comes to complying with copyright laws, and therefore I wouldn't want to take the risk of breaking them. As for authorship, I certainly give credit where it's due. Here on tumblr, for example, whenever I reblog a post I check to make sure there is a source.

[sarafriedman12]

Journal Entry 13

Linkedin.

So I've had a Linkedin account for a few months now. I made it after attending a career fair that was put on by my major, and apparently every person there had one, so I figured that Linkedin was a vital part of being a Professional Adult. Needless to say, I haven't reached that echelon yet, so I rarely use it. I'm sure it will become more useful to me when I start looking for a real job. I'll be eager to see if employers actually use Linkedin to search for potential employees, or if it's just a gathering place for unemployed people... (just kidding).

It's interesting how practically everything has gone "social media," even job seeking. Everyone must have a profile now, a virtual business card.

[sarafriedman12]

Journal Entry 12

Unfortunately, I think that I would have to say that I'm still feeling overwhelmed =\

Online learning is not something that comes naturally to me...

[sarafriedman12]

I thought that this video was really interesting. It's crazy how the racial and social divides that are present in regular life can be carried over into online life. People tend to group to those similar to themselves. 

[sarafriedman12]

Tried out Voki today... it was kind of weird!

I can see how it can be used for International student instruction, though.

This is what I made: http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=6414521&height=267&width=200

[sarafriedman12]

Journal Entry 9

What uses might a collaborative wiki or blog have in your chosen (current or desired) work environment? How would they support learning and/or performance? What would be the design and implementation challenges if management tried to do this? What would be the design and implementation challenges of a user-initiated effort?

I'll talk about my current work environment. Currently, I work in the phone section for the office of admissions and records here at FSU. As phone operators for both admissions and the registrar, my coworkers and I have to have a working knowledge of A LOT of information. Because keeping all of this information stored in our heads, (along with our studies) is asking a bit much from us, our office makes use of a wiki tool we know as Sharepoint. The admissions and records Sharepoint is a compilation of information from both offices organized under topics (i.e., transfer admissions, registration, transcripts). Sharepoint is helpful tool, if you know how to use it and where to look in it. Answers to certain questions might be tucked away under particular subject headings that one wouldn't think to look under, so the frst few times that one uses it, it will be tricky. Additionally, only authorized users (supervisors) can update Sharepoint. In the case of our office, this isn't such a bad thing, as the student workers don't have access to the same information as supervisors, and therefore would have nothing to update Sharepoint with.

All in all, I am glad that Sharepoint exists at my job, I just wish that it had a a better search function.