My early impressions of using a blog and RSS were that they were something to fear. I was worried about putting too much personal information on them and was worried that mine would be simple and primitive in relation to everyone else’s. I am weak in the area of technology; which is why I took this course.
However, I have since gotten more comfortable with using a blog by simply playing around with it and changing things. I’ve learned that sometimes I make things harder than what they are. It is becoming easier for me to use and fun for me; especially to learn about my own person aesthetic style. I am still somewhat confused about the RSS and all that it offers. I hope to become as comfortable with it as I am getting with my blog.
Because of their nature, blogs and RSS’s are hard to categorize in regard’s to Dale’s Cone. Both are verbal symbols and like Dale says, in most things, there is more than one element. Blogs may contain still pictures and links to video presentations and RSS’s may have links to on-line demonstrations, recordings and a host of other things. Because of the amount of verbal symbols for these two, I guess if I had to choose I would say that they fit at the top of the cone in that area. But they themselves do not have the video presentations or on-line demonstrations; they contain the links. Therefore, is it fair to say that they include these things?
Whether or not, the blog and the RSS’s can be neatly categorized, they both can be used as educational tools in the classroom. For example, the RSS may be used to help the class keep up with specific things that they may be doing projects on. If the class wanted to track the weather trends in specific areas, they could subscribe to feeds that would give them that specific information and highlight anomalies by starring them. To my knowledge nothing else gives you the ability to do all of that from one sight.
Blogs on the other hand may be used to share comments about materials in almost a discussion fashion. Like having a round take without have one. Comments made can be seen by everyone else and responded to in addition to being able to store these for later review. They allow one to see when the latest information was posted and offer participants the ability to respond anytime and anyplace without having to say e-mail everyone individually.
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3 comments:
I was hesitant just like you when it came to the blog. I was worried I wouldn't have it set up correctly or not as nice as others but I got over that and I too feel more comfortable using it. It was hard to distinguish what parts of the cone went with the blog and RSS. Technology is an amazing thing and it seems like anything is possible.
I moved my comment here in case you wanted to delete the other post :)
I completely understand about being afraid of putting too much information on the web. I almost never put in my real info on the web so it was challenging for me to overcome that obstacle. Once you have had your credit card or account stolen you become extremely paranoid!
I am not big on using RSS myself. However, I know it can be a useful tool and that a lot of people use them. I think of them as getting all my news that I want, in one place.
Sheena,
I think that you are off to a good start with your blog, and as time goes on and you experiment with a couple of things, that should help with your learning.
I liked your point about how blogs and RSS readers can "neatly catagorized." One of my biggest weaknesses in teaching is keeping all of my papers organized...I feel like I start out the year really well, but by the time Spring Break rolls around, I have a couple of stacks. I wonder if placing more of the assignments and information through blogging would help the organization?
Best wishes in your technology learning!
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