More Weekend Coffee
This week I found this link to the elearn space blog. The Scottish Learning Festival link includes podcasts of some of the presentations.
The article “Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism” reminded me of the discussion in Collins blog about social interaction. The section discussing how the changes in what people expect of new technology is interesting. “The initial rush of “wow, I can post my comments on the web to the world” has given way to “wow, I don’t feel like it”. It appears that people are getting more selfish (not in a bad way) in their use of technology. A tool has to go beyond “hey, cool” and contribute something useful. Collecting hundreds of friends in facebook gives way to creating a small network of people you actually want to talk to. After the novelty wears off, the real work of making the tool useful starts.”
on October 2, 2007 on 2:15 am
Interesting! My girlfriends and I were just having this discussion about MySpace, how the “newness” has worn off and now it seems kind of a burden. Are these “tools” really that helpful or should we just join clubs and all go to happy hour more often?
on October 2, 2007 on 4:19 pm
I so love this philosophy! Spewing whatever, whenver in a blog and pretending that people were interested was one of my main reasons for avoiding blogs. I love that you brought this to your post!
Lynne
on October 3, 2007 on 2:59 am
Debra:
Thanks for sharing this post. It brings up a question that my colleagues in higher education recruitment and I have been discussing over the past few months: “When do you jump on the the technology bandwagon and why?” Perhaps another relevant question is “How long do you stay on one bandwagon before jumping on to the next?
This post brings up the role of functionality and how it can be a deciding factor in the sustainability of new technologies. As both students and practitioners of instructional design, I think our decisions about techology need to come from an analysis of our learners and our learning outcomes.
This is by no means a novel or new thought, but one that I need to have repeated over and over. Sometimes I get dazzled by the technology options. Instead, I need to stay focused on my learners and what we are working to accomplish.
Betsy
on October 3, 2007 on 3:06 am
I think we all need to be reminded how important the learners and outcomes are. It’s easy to get sucked into the newness of technology. I love the wow factor of technology, and sometimes have to refocus on the idea that technology helps accomplish the goal of providing effective instruction.
on October 3, 2007 on 3:08 am
We need to consider the difference between the social networks and the tools. Throwing out these networking tools and expecting them to self organize into wonderful useful communities is unrealistic. I believe that it is up to us to use these tools to design powerful learning communities. Remember when the web page first became popular? Everyone created a homepage with loud background colors and whirling gifs. The use of web pages evolved and people learned how to use web pages effectively. Is it unreasonable to think that these social tools will not evolve in a the same way?
on October 3, 2007 on 3:30 am
Good point, Collin! In the post “Scaling the Social Web” on elearnspace.org on Oct. 1, George Siemens make a valid point. “…Social networking sites require a high level of commitment. It’s like taking care of a pet or a garden. If you want to keep it in good health, it requires time, effort, and work.”
I’m learning that the networking tools take some time and work to use them. I’m also looking forward to the evolution of these tools.
on October 6, 2007 on 10:39 pm
I have yet to be sucked into the social networking phenomenon mostly because I already know I’ll get tired of the “extra work” and time it will consume before I even finish setting up the darn thing.
However, now that my distant move is eminent I am considering setting up a space for my friends and family to stay in touch. I’m thinking it’s going to be difficult to get it going, especially because, I’m the only one moving away, but it can’t hurt to try.
Another silly reason for not getting on the MySpace wagon (as Betsy referred to it) is I have in the past viewed it as something for my younger brother’s generation. I know he has stuff out there in HISSPACE that he doesn’t want me to see
Now Face Book – that could be big SISTERSPACE 