This is my first foray into blog-land, and I must admit to feeling more than a bit self-conscious. I am not new to distance learning, this being my eighth LIS graduate course online. The distance learning experience has been much more intense than I imagined it would be. I've been amazed at the depth into which we can delve into topics, the emotions that can surface as people passionately debate, and the level of sharing that can occur - sometimes moreso than in a face-to-face class.
I am, however, a muller and a polisher, which perhaps lends itself more to message threads, where one can - and I do - revise endlessly before "publishing". My sense is that blogging is more off-the-cuff, perhaps more like a casual discussion than a carefully worded comment. I'm just not used to the idea of my conversations appear online, for anyone else to read! Perhaps I will become more comfortable with the concept as the weeks go by.
It's not that I'm not a reflective practitioner, as they say. Perhaps I reflect too much! Regardless, I wonder why anyone would want to read my ramblings, or would have the time to do so. I guess I fall into the category of those who would prefer to ignore blogs, as Will Richardson says, in our textbook, because of the difficulty in assessing the reliability of the information therein (even at the risk of missing some important ideas).
However, information literacy education is near and dear to my heart, one of the primary reasons I want to work in a school library. It has become abundantly clear to me in reading Richardson that the world our students do - and will - live in is markedly different from the one I grew up in, which means they will need to become expert at dealing with Too Much Information. So I can't really keep my head in the sand about blogs any longer. As Richardson says, "there is no better way to understand the impact of the Read/Write Web than by becoming a part of it." (p. 40)
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2 comments:
I love the quote that you end the blog with. It's absolutely true. I am always amazed at librarians - and others - that judge things without having experienced them for themselves. For example, I have teachers tell me they would never use chat in the classroom. When I ask if they've tried it themselves they say no. How can the teachers make judgment about the technology without using the technology.
When I think of this in terms of traditional library services, I think of someone coming up to a librarian and saying that a book should be taken off the shelf. The librarian usually asks if the person has read the book. If the answer is no the librarian usually says the complainant has to read the book before a complaint can be filed.
We need to know how things work, what's inside them, in order to make valuable decisions about technology, books, and so on. Glad to help you along that route with blogging. ;)
In terms of being a blogger or not. It's an interesting point. As I mentioned in the Skype call last night, I added blogging to this course because some students told me they wanted a place to reflect that was not discussive - a la the discussion board. They wanted to write in a way that was just for them.
The question in the library context becomes what can a blog do for a school library (or classroom) that perhaps a discussion board can not? Hmmmm, something to ponder. No?
Interesting that blogging in this course is a result of students directly requesting it! I wonder if that will begin to happen more and more.
Yes, I am very excited about the possibility of blogs in classrooms, and Richardson has no shortage of excellent suggestions. I would think the interest factor would be high for students, but the issue of access is a real concern. In both of the places I work, many students do not have access to technology at home. In order for teachers to build a project or lessons around technology, there must be ample technology available at school, and time built into the day to use it.
On another note, I can't help remembering a 'virtual' Girl Scout meeting with my middle-school-aged troop in a private chat room, prompted by a major snowstorm. It was a lot of fun, but it took about 3 times as long to accomplish what we needed to get done that evening! Reeling them back in when they were off on a tanget was much harder to do online than it would have been f2f. This underscores the need for teacher education and experience with new technology.
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