My final proof of learning has is geared towards my research I did for my research project. This class has been quite interesting throughout the fast paced four weeks. With the class winding down this last week I was really able to focus on my research. I was glad that we were able to choose our topic. I felt this really gave me the opportunity to tie in what we were learning to a topic that I found interesting. I researched how twitter has effected the way we communicate about sports. I found that twitter has drastically changed how we communicate not only about sports but about pretty much everything. I was also a little weary about conducting observations as research. I wasn't really sure how it would go or how informative it would be. But looking back now I was able to observe exactly what it was I was researching. I got first hand experience on how people used twitter to communicate about sporting events and sports stories.
This last week also gave me the opportunity to look at what others were researching and help them out if I was able too. I found this very helpful when doing my own research. It gave me a chance to look at how others were going about this project. I admit for a while I was not sure how I was going to do this, because there were really no guidelines. I used this last week to observe and fine tune everything.
Overall I really did enjoy this course. I have taken several other online classes before, but this one was completely different. Most online classes are just all about taking quizzes and test, and not really about learning the material. The activities we completed in this course forced me to learn and relearn material so I would be able to discuss it on the discussion boards and in my POL's. The only fault I have with the class are the lab notes. Not because I do not think they are good for the learning experience, but because I had so many problems with the Sparlix website. I never could figure it out, and I spent hours upon hours trying to.
This course was both challenging and enjoyable. Because it was crammed into 4 weeks the work load was great. That along with having to move in the middle of the course, and start my job really put a strain on some of the class requirements. With all that though I still feel like I will take more away from this class than any other online class I have taken. I was able to look at technology and how it effects society in a number of ways. The content was interesting and will soon not be forgotten.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Proof of Learning Week 3
The third week of this course offered a different perspective. We got away from the readings a little bit as we began to focus more on our research topic. I believe that this allowed us, as students to open up the disscussion board a little bit more, and pose our own questions.
Travis posted a great link to the discusion board about a topic we were not specifically assigned in class, but I thought it was rather intriguing. The article posed the question does Facebook hurt relationships. I thought this was a great side note to what we had been talking about in class. My take on the course has been how we connected technology and society. Facebook is a vital part of most of our everyday lives and I have seen the toll it can take on relationships. Jennifer added her own experiences to the discussion by informing us that her and her boyfriend have had their fights involving facebook. She says; "You have to watch what is posted on Facebook or your significant other might get mad. I know when guys from my class or something try to add me, in the most innocent way possible, just so that we can talk about homework and such he will get a little upset and say "who is this guy trying to add you?" So I guess in a way Facebook could hurt relationships" I agree with this. Facebook can have a damning effect on many relationships if the people involved are not mature enough to handle it. I commented on Jennifer's observation by saying: "I feel like if your relationship is being hurt by Facebook, then your relationship is not doing good in the first place. If you have a strong relationship with trust and honesty facebook should never be an issue." I also went on to discuss how my ex and I had a significant breach of trust in our relationship and all of a sudden Facebook became an issue. The things that never really bothered me before, because I trusted her, became a problem. This is how I percieve Facebook as a problem in relationships. If there is no foundation of trust, Facebook can become a huge issue, even to the point of ending relationships. Atleast I have seen that happen before. Overall though I thought this article that Travis posted really pressed us as students to look at different aspects of technology, and allowed us to explore areas that we were not really "forced" to study.
After reading the article on asynchronous learning online, and reading what others had to say about it, I decided to pose my own question to the class. This class has provided us with a very active discussion board, which I think promotes self learning. In other online classes I have taken there have never really been this active of a discussion board. We really just had to make a post to get points, and I was never really concerned with commenting on others posts. I feel like this takes away from the learning experience. So I posed the question; " if anyone else has taken an online class that lacks required discussion participation? Was it voluntarily and if so, did you participate? How do those types of online classes differ from this one?" Sarah commented by saying; "I felt like because of this, the class really didn't go in to depth. Especially not like this class does. So I definitely believe to have good discussions there needs to be points involved." I agree with this. This class has provided a different type of learning experience. At times it has been tough to keep up with ALL of the post in this course, but going back and reviewing what people have said and interacting with those post has provided myself with a much better learning experience. I will definitely take more away from this class in just four short weeks than many of my other classes.
Sarah also brought up the idea of metacognition or the "thing about thinking" aspect that has been presented in this class. The lab notes we have taken give us a reference to go back and review when writing these proofs of learning. This has forced us to reevaluate the information we are taking in, which in my opinion, always for better retention of the information. Like I said before, I will take more away from this class because of these aspects than many of my other classes.
Travis posted a great link to the discusion board about a topic we were not specifically assigned in class, but I thought it was rather intriguing. The article posed the question does Facebook hurt relationships. I thought this was a great side note to what we had been talking about in class. My take on the course has been how we connected technology and society. Facebook is a vital part of most of our everyday lives and I have seen the toll it can take on relationships. Jennifer added her own experiences to the discussion by informing us that her and her boyfriend have had their fights involving facebook. She says; "You have to watch what is posted on Facebook or your significant other might get mad. I know when guys from my class or something try to add me, in the most innocent way possible, just so that we can talk about homework and such he will get a little upset and say "who is this guy trying to add you?" So I guess in a way Facebook could hurt relationships" I agree with this. Facebook can have a damning effect on many relationships if the people involved are not mature enough to handle it. I commented on Jennifer's observation by saying: "I feel like if your relationship is being hurt by Facebook, then your relationship is not doing good in the first place. If you have a strong relationship with trust and honesty facebook should never be an issue." I also went on to discuss how my ex and I had a significant breach of trust in our relationship and all of a sudden Facebook became an issue. The things that never really bothered me before, because I trusted her, became a problem. This is how I percieve Facebook as a problem in relationships. If there is no foundation of trust, Facebook can become a huge issue, even to the point of ending relationships. Atleast I have seen that happen before. Overall though I thought this article that Travis posted really pressed us as students to look at different aspects of technology, and allowed us to explore areas that we were not really "forced" to study.
After reading the article on asynchronous learning online, and reading what others had to say about it, I decided to pose my own question to the class. This class has provided us with a very active discussion board, which I think promotes self learning. In other online classes I have taken there have never really been this active of a discussion board. We really just had to make a post to get points, and I was never really concerned with commenting on others posts. I feel like this takes away from the learning experience. So I posed the question; " if anyone else has taken an online class that lacks required discussion participation? Was it voluntarily and if so, did you participate? How do those types of online classes differ from this one?" Sarah commented by saying; "I felt like because of this, the class really didn't go in to depth. Especially not like this class does. So I definitely believe to have good discussions there needs to be points involved." I agree with this. This class has provided a different type of learning experience. At times it has been tough to keep up with ALL of the post in this course, but going back and reviewing what people have said and interacting with those post has provided myself with a much better learning experience. I will definitely take more away from this class in just four short weeks than many of my other classes.
Sarah also brought up the idea of metacognition or the "thing about thinking" aspect that has been presented in this class. The lab notes we have taken give us a reference to go back and review when writing these proofs of learning. This has forced us to reevaluate the information we are taking in, which in my opinion, always for better retention of the information. Like I said before, I will take more away from this class because of these aspects than many of my other classes.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Proof of Learning 2
Sorry for the late post. I have been moving the past few days and have had very limited internet access. Here we go...
This past week, we spent a lot of time looking at online dating, and the positives and negatives that goes along with it. The articles provided a lot of insight into the topic of online dating, seeing as I am not very familiar with the subject in the first place. After reading the articles I had come to the conclusion that Online Dating provides a "quick and easy" way to meet people. You are able to scroll through a seemingly endless amount of people at whatever pace you choose. After posting this theory on the discussion board Jennifer Williams provided some insight that I did not think of. She said; "I don't think they are really meaningful relationships. Are relationships supposed to be easy? They take a lot of time and effort. I almost think that online dating is kind of a cop out." After reading this and thinking some more about it I agree. As humans we do have to put in time and effort into relationships. If they were not work, then the divorce rate would not be as high as it is. If you are just scrolling through endless people, how do you know if the person you meet is actually right for you. I know there are success stories with online dating, but I think those numbers are small, compared to the amount of people that use Online Dating. Travis also added to the discussion by saying; "I agree i feel it actually would take more time to get to know someone. There would be a lot more effort and time before they actually meet and for a bond and a relationship. I feel it will take longer to from a strong relationship." I agree with this as well. Going back to Jennifer, I do not necessarily think it is a "cop out". It is a different form of meeting people, that may work for some people.
We then got into the difference between Dating Communities and Online Communities. I had never really considered the difference between the two before reading "Down the Rabbit Hole". Mary brought up a very interesting point when she said; "On the other hand it is still easy to create a different identity or alter yourself online. The first paragraph discusses Alice and how she altered herself to fit into the environment she "fell" into. Much like fitting into the online world and making yourself stick out." This made me think, you are able to change who are you online. I responded by saying; "I agree with your connection between withholding information on a dating site such as a person does not expose themselves fully in initial face to face encounter. What I find to be harmful with dating sites is people can withhold information or apply "cover up" to aspects of their lives that may turn a person off immediately." I find this very true. La Tocha Todd agreed with me by adding; "I think people can become a whole different identity online just to
win someone over. There are no boundaries online as opposed to the real world." I thought this was a great discussion that got started. It raised some questions that were not discussed directly in the article.
This past week, we spent a lot of time looking at online dating, and the positives and negatives that goes along with it. The articles provided a lot of insight into the topic of online dating, seeing as I am not very familiar with the subject in the first place. After reading the articles I had come to the conclusion that Online Dating provides a "quick and easy" way to meet people. You are able to scroll through a seemingly endless amount of people at whatever pace you choose. After posting this theory on the discussion board Jennifer Williams provided some insight that I did not think of. She said; "I don't think they are really meaningful relationships. Are relationships supposed to be easy? They take a lot of time and effort. I almost think that online dating is kind of a cop out." After reading this and thinking some more about it I agree. As humans we do have to put in time and effort into relationships. If they were not work, then the divorce rate would not be as high as it is. If you are just scrolling through endless people, how do you know if the person you meet is actually right for you. I know there are success stories with online dating, but I think those numbers are small, compared to the amount of people that use Online Dating. Travis also added to the discussion by saying; "I agree i feel it actually would take more time to get to know someone. There would be a lot more effort and time before they actually meet and for a bond and a relationship. I feel it will take longer to from a strong relationship." I agree with this as well. Going back to Jennifer, I do not necessarily think it is a "cop out". It is a different form of meeting people, that may work for some people.
We then got into the difference between Dating Communities and Online Communities. I had never really considered the difference between the two before reading "Down the Rabbit Hole". Mary brought up a very interesting point when she said; "On the other hand it is still easy to create a different identity or alter yourself online. The first paragraph discusses Alice and how she altered herself to fit into the environment she "fell" into. Much like fitting into the online world and making yourself stick out." This made me think, you are able to change who are you online. I responded by saying; "I agree with your connection between withholding information on a dating site such as a person does not expose themselves fully in initial face to face encounter. What I find to be harmful with dating sites is people can withhold information or apply "cover up" to aspects of their lives that may turn a person off immediately." I find this very true. La Tocha Todd agreed with me by adding; "I think people can become a whole different identity online just to
win someone over. There are no boundaries online as opposed to the real world." I thought this was a great discussion that got started. It raised some questions that were not discussed directly in the article.
My learning this past week has evolved from the first week. It is important to get into these discussions and ask questions. This is the first online class where I have really gotten involved in discussions and asked others in the course about their opinions. This provides a unique learning experience. Everyone does not necessarily agree, but that is a good thing. It is important to look at both sides of an argument to understand the entire argument and form an unbiased opinion. I look forward to beginning my research on my project. I am excited to dive into technologies effect on sports media. How have we gone from reading sports pages to getting twitter updates on a specific game. I believe this will be a great topic to learn about how technology has effected us in our everyday lives regarding sports.
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