Weekly Report & Reflection blog post # 6

In this week’s session, we explored Evernote.  I have been a strong advocate for using this tool, as you are able to type notes, store documents, record audio, and capture images from multiple devices.  Speaking of devices, I have the Evernote app on my mobile device, a windows desktop version, and I am able to easily access my digital “filing cabinet” from anywhere using a browser.  I believe this is the strength of using Evernote; I am able to use any of my devices to capture my thoughts, add resources I have come across from Twitter, Pinterest, Feedly, or simply browsing on the Internet.  The best part of it all is that no matter what device I use, Evernote has the ability to synchronize my activity. 

There is a wealth of information online and it requires us to filter through it all.  Online bookmarking tools provide us with ways to organize, search, and synthesize the topics of interests to us.  Using online bookmarking allows me to stay on top of my professional field and the information I gather can be easily shared amongst my team.  Learning for me is a social activity; being able to collaborate with my colleagues digitally brings a lot of great discussion into our team meetings.

Social media provides us with a platform to create PLE’s where we are able to get inspired, share knowledge, engage in critical reflection, and curate content that allows us to develop personally and professionally.  The development of digital literacy allows us to work towards becoming good citizens in a digital realm.  Advancements in technology are making its way into the workplace.  As educators, we should be incorporating these technologies into teaching and learning to prepare our learners to use these technologies appropriately; in meaningful and respectful ways. 

So the question remains, how do we teach our leaners about digital citizenship where ethical use manifests itself when engaging in digital activities?  My recommendation to all educators would be to integrate technology into their practice and model netiquette rather than being submissive to digital exclusion.  The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework is a helpful guide that addresses the effective integration of technology into teaching and learning and resonated with me from my Feedly Reader.  Below is a little snippet about the framework:

We have to keep in mind that it is not about the technology we use; it is how we use technology efficiently and appropriately to create effective PLE’s.  To promote digital rights and responsibility, as educators we need to become more digital literate.  The more we learn about the advancements in technology and the more we use it, can help us understand and shed some light on the potential for teaching and learning as well as personal and professional development; then only can we steer our learners in becoming digital citizens. 

Weekly Report & Reflection blog post #5

 

Week 5 has been a lot of fun especially because I was able to use tools within my PLE to engage in my learning for this course.  I have been using Twitter for a short while now and I also have the mobile app, which is a great way of staying connected.   People use it for various purposes, but it appears to have many benefits for education.  50 Plus Tips on How To Use Twitter in Your, a blog post I came across in my Feedly reader, shares several ways in which Twitter can be used in the classroom.  

http://siliconangle.com/files/2012/03/Using-Twitter-for-business-282x300.jpgn

It was great that our Professor created a hashtag for us to tweet ideas, insights, links and basically anything we have learned and experienced in this course to share with our peers. The important thing to note when using Twitter or any other social media tool for that matter, is that we are all digital citizens; we need to respect others' time and share something that's going to be value to them.    

I am a strong believer in collaborative and social learning; knowledge grows when it is shared with others.  It does not stop to amaze me how much information is on the web, and the rate at which information is being generated.  There is so much to filter from when having to do my own research.  The value I have found by using Twitter is that I have learned a great deal from the people I follow as they have shared some valuable resources that have influenced my work.

Twitter has come to play a unique role in my PLE/PLN as it has become a platform for my professional development.  I have access to the collective knowledge of my PLN.  Additionally, due to the fact that Twitter is an open and public space, it creates opportunities for others outside of my PLN to actively make insightful contributions.

Tool integration, what a great concept! I have just learned that we can “save our favorite” tweets to Diigo, a social bookmarking tool we learned about last week where we can highlight and annotate digital resources.  In the educational context, this can be very beneficial for both students and educators when engaging in research.  In addition to individually researching scholarly articles, we could be “tweeted” valuable information that could influence the purpose of our research.   These resources, if saved as a favorite on Twitter, can then be automatically bookmarked to our Diigo accounts.

I am looking forward to exploring more tools in the weeks to follow.  My initial concern about using various social media tools was “how do I manage it all”?  Thanks to Hootsuite, I will have a dashboard to manage my social media networks!

 

Weekly Report & Reflection blog post #4

This week we have been exploring social bookmarking and content curation tools, which I believe, are great tools that allow us to sift through and reflect on topics that are of interest to us personally and professionally.   

As educators, we have always been curators of content.  We have read books, publications, and news on current events to collect information and organize it so that we can present it to our students in meaningful ways.  Content curation is a great “method to help you stay informed about your field and be more effective at your job” (Kantor, 2011).  

I had heard about Diigo, but had never used it.  I can definitely see some benefits for teaching and learning.  Not only is the tool great for gathering information about a specific topic, but you can annotate and add sticky notes, which can then be shared for group work purposes, in classrooms, and/or amongst your social communities.  Now that I have found value in using Diigo, I can add it to my personal learning environment: 

I was introduced to Scoop.it about 6 months ago and it is a great content curation tool and I can also access it via my mobile app.  What’s valuable about Scoop.it is that it provides you with a list of relevant information about a specific topic of interest.  It is up to “me”, to sift through the resources and “scoop” or identify valuable information.  When using curation tools, it is important to not only find quality in the information we find, but to make constructive contributions and add value that can be shared with others.  “Aha”, this constitutes being a valuable digital citizen.  “Content curation and content creation aren't competitive… Curate or create content, but get correlated to the topical content of your industry and meet the quality standards to become fit enough to survive the evolving World Wide Web” (Ahuja, 2012).

There are many tools that can be explored to help us find relevant information on our topics of interest.  I came across the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2013 in my Feedly news reader, which I would like to share.  I believe when exploring social bookmarking and curation tools, it enables us to enrich our use of technology, as well as our critical thinking and reflective practice skills to allow us to transform personally and professionally.  

As digital citizens, it is important for us to contribute valuable information to the “World Wide Web” and use technology effectively and appropriately that will allow us to live in a digital society that promotes learning, social interaction, laughter (entertainment), and innovation.  

Ahuja, B. (2012, October). If you can't be a creator, then be a curator. Retrieved fromhttp://searchenginewatch.com/article/2221068/If-You-Cant-Be-a-Creator-Then-Be-a-Curator

Kantor, B. (2011, October). Content Curation Primer. Retrieved fromhttp://www.bethkanter.org/content-curation-101/