CBS 10 Evening News on Podcasting at Penn State University.
http://podcasts.psu.edu

In Turkle's chapter, it is suggested that we are entering a culture of simulation. It is possible that we prefer to enter these simulation worlds because they enhance our realities. One quote in the text that really struck me was a boy who commented on his world in MUD by saying, "This is more real than my real life (p.10)." How can that be? Thoughts?Later on in the text, the author mentions a teenager whose mother goes on a drug. The question revolves around whether we are controlling our emotions or whether our emotions are controlling us? When one is on a drug, to whom is one listening?

I pondered this for a while.  Initially I thought that it was being alarmist-- that traditional methods of learning were obsolete and we should simply all just collaborate to learn instead, and how disruptive that could potentially be to current instructional methods.  Telling a 2nd grade teacher that learning is a "fundamentally social phenomenon" would like cause him or her to start sweating, as he or she considers 20 seven-year-olds loudly "collaborating" instead of sitting quietly doing "seat work".  However, as time goes on, and technology becomes more and more a part of th

For those of you that don't know, Cole was recently in San Antonio, TX for the Educause Learning Initiative (ELI 2008).  Sounds like an amazing conference, maybe I will be able to go someday.  Anyway, one of the speakers was Michael Wesch, the creator of the Web 2.0 video you watched the first week.  I thought you might be interested in seeing him talk about his ideas and what he sees as the implications of a Web 2.0 world for his teaching.  Here is the link.  There are other good talks for you to take a peek at, in particular, Henry Jenkins is a well known media schol

There are two readings for next week.  Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice : learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, U.K. ; New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.andTurkle, S. (1995).  Life on the screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet.  New York, NY.  Touchstone.These are the introductions to these two books, so not too heavy weight.  Please remember that responses are due by 5 pm on Monday 02.04.08 and you need to read and vote by Tuesday 02.05.08 at 5 pm.

Howard Feingold's article was like looking through old issues of a magazine.  He was certainly way ahead of the curve in terms of his use (addiction to?) online communities.  Some of his remarks (about plugging a phone line into a computer) made me smile.  Remember those days?  Interesting how at the time of the article there was little to no commercialization online going on at all, and he wonders about when and/or if that will happen.  He also hints at the phenomenon of multi-tasking that is seen so often now:  Teens with a laptop in front of them, 19 IM window

Today's newspapers line tomorrow's wastebaskets. This statement implies a concept that Roy Pea describes in his article "Distributed Intelligences and Designs for Education." In the early stages of the article, he discusses accessibility and the "mythic"-ness of objects. Here is implying that objects that the current generation sees as innovative will eventually become so ingrained in society that they will eventually go unnoticed, almost like a new penny losing its shine.

    Disruptive technology... distributed intelligence...

I do not believe the implications of distributed intelligence with Web 2.0 are greatly different than with other technologies that have facilitated the exchange of information. I am thinking of technologies such as writing, printing, telephone, radio, television, Web 1.0 and the like. Most of these technologies increased the speed at which information could be created and distributed and the volume of people the information could reach.

I am a seeker by nature, a teacher/researcher by profession, a writer by passion and a Mom by the grace of the Universe.  These all collided in September of ’06 when I became a member of my first virtual community.  At first I was intimidated by the convivial conversations between ‘missniss’ ‘southrndlite’ ‘blu_daisie’ ‘whitcombls’ and ‘KirstenG’.  Who was I?  I felt like the new girl who didn’t have anyone to sit with in the cafeteria.  I had never been a member of a virtual community and didn’t yet understand the cultural norms of such a gro