EME6414 Web Log

I found this article on microblogging and its benefits in higher education. The researchers defined a microblog as a way of communicating online in 140 characters or less. Caught me off guard because this is exactly what we are doing with Twitter. The authors state that, “being limited to 140 characters requires competency and the ability to focus and express oneself clearly and concisely.” The researchers tout this a great way to interact and support informal learning processes. Microblogs help support process-oriented learning via a constant flow of information between students and the teacher. One interesting finding is that the students participating in this study increased their number of posts over time without any direction from the instructor or any benefit to their grade. This research suggests that microblogging can be an excellent tool for increasing engagement and motivation through collaboration. Some other interesting findings include: •     ...

Brian Solis designed this visual map of the current social media landscape and I personally thought that it was pretty amazing. I honestly had no idea that there were this many social media sites dedicated to anything and everything under the sun. I thought I would share this for those of you that are still deliberating on which online communities to join for the observation paper. I think that Mr. Solis did an outstanding job categorizing all of these social media sites. A peculiar thought to me is that this entire chart will be irrelevant in five years

I was stumbling around on the interwebs trying to figure out why so many people use Twitter, and I came across this article written by Beth Kenkel about scientists on Twitter. Qing Ke, Yong-Yeol Ahn, and Cassidy Sugimoto conducted a thorough analysis of scientists on Twitter and discovered some interesting findings in their article titled, ‘ A Systematic Identification and Analysis of Scientistson Twitter ’. Some of their findings were: 1.         Historians and Psychologists have the most Twitter users. 2.         Physical scientists are underrepresented on Twitter. Social and Computer Scientists are overrepresented. 3.         60% of scientists on Twitter are male. 4.         Scientists retweet Instagram more than any other social media domain. 5.         Scientists tweet UR...

I came across this New York Times opinion piece on digital dualism by Sherry Turkle. In her opinion, there are some negative potentialities that come with the heavy growth of social media. She expressed that technologies can sometimes enable anti-social behavior. She believes that these technologies may be replacing real conversations with “shallower, dumbed-down connections that give us a false sense of security”. Her idea is that people present themselves in a certain manner online that is not authentic – she thinks that most people create online identities that often exaggerate their better qualities and cover up their faults. We are using this technology to control the type of conversations we are having with a self-selected audience, and we are dedicating a lot of our attention to this rather than the real world around us. She claims that this is creating a false consciousness that will inevitably create ‘sociotechnical dopes’. She states that “we used to think, ‘I have a feeling...

Greetings EME6414 Classmates! Looking forward to an enthralling six weeks of learning with all of you! To me, the coolest thing about Web 2.0 technologies is that it enables us to fulfill our specific and unique needs with ease. I can share information with all of you, and you all can quickly assess it, filter it, add anecdotes, and offer feedback or alternative perspectives. This is the power of learning via technology! Please know that I welcome any and all feedback and I would appreciate it if you challenge my current ways of thinking - to me, this is how we can really boost learning to an entirely new level. Now, let me get to work composing my first blog post related to the course materials. Onward and upward!