Readiness Research 07/22/2009

• College Summit

  Tags: readiness, college, career, programs

  • Program that helps students prepare for college through partnerships - By Kevin Forgard

Posted from Diigo. The rest of PA_CollegeReadiness group favorite links are here.

Readiness Research 07/16/2009

• Alliance for Excellent Education

  Tags: readiness, research

• About CCTI

  Tags: ccti, readiness, Tech prep, pathways

  • CCTI has published documentation related to Career Pathways model - By Kevin Forgard

• Workforce Strategy Center

  Tags: career pathways, pathways, readiness

  • Website about career pathways initiative and model - By Kevin Forgard

• CORD Home Page - Center for Occupational Research and Development

  Tags: cord, research, reports, readiness, pathways

  • Career pathways information - By Kevin Forgard

Posted from Diigo. The rest of PA_CollegeReadiness group favorite links are here.

The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube Culture and the Politics of Authenticity

A slideshow worth watching because it summarizes the change taking place within our relation to media.
Questions to consider are:
1. How has traditional one-way media shaped ourselves personally?
2. How is this shaping or branding now affecting us when we use social networking technology?
3. How well do formal and informal learning endeavors assist us in making this change?

The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube Culture and the Politics of Authenticity

View more documents from mwesch.

What's your level of engagement in online communications

A recent blog posting here http://lateralaction.com/articles/engagement-conversations/
has struck a chord with me.



Yesterday I was having a conversation with a colleague about using Twitter. We both agreed that Twitter was kind of useless within our experiences. However, we cannot ignore all the accolades this social networking tool has received.

Then this morning I found the Lateral Action blog posting categorizing the levels of online engagement. The writer makes a good point, which intrigues me.

A couple questions come to mind then
- What is my level of online engagement?
- How does my level of online engagement interrelate with my career and personal life?
- Are people expected to maintain a certain level of engagement?
- Do particular social circles force a person to maintain a particular level of engagement?
- What if someone does not want to be any level of engagement? Does this mean they miss opportunities?

My big issue with social networking has stemmed from the fact that I feel that most online engagement tends to be "mindless chatter" and "inconsequential topics". However, when I feel that I am engaging at a higher level, most of the time it is ignored. This may stem from the fact that my social network primarily engages online communicates as a source of entertainment, and not serious discussion.

Communication is an art that balances between the serious and 'mindless chatter' ultimately making a connection with another person. Therefore, both sides of this spectrum have the potential to meet somewhere in the middle.

Also, when does saying what you are doing, and just doing it become one of the same. This means if I say I am going to do all these wonderful things and Tweet them constantly, when am I actually doing those things? Its sort of a zen parable, if I think about what I am doing as opposed to doing it, am I really doing something?

I want my level of engagement to be two sided, but I don't want to lose the silly spontaneity either. As online communicates tools become more prolific, we all need to prepare ourselves for this balance.

Readiness Research 06/25/2009

• The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion from High School Through College

  Tags: readiness, Adelman

  • Link to report on HS to college longitudinal study - By Kevin Forgard

• The Sallie Mae Fund and Kids2College

  Tags: K-8, readiness

  • Kids2College program designed for middle school college prep - By Kevin Forgard

Posted from Diigo. The rest of PA_CollegeReadiness group favorite links are here.

Tony Bates take on Web 2.0 in Higher Ed

Tony Bates is an instructional designer from Canada who has conducted research on e-learning within the higher education context. This presentation from his blog discusses the benefits and issues of Web 2.0 applications within higher ed. learning by comparing objectivist and constructivist learning theory on various Web 2.0 tools.

http://tonybates.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/leicester.pdf

Final reflection

Reflection on what creating and maintaining an education weblog

This has been my first experience with maintaining a blog as part of a class assignment, which I consider as my first education blog. Within my blog, I was able to explore aspects of virtual learning, and later, how the digital native distinction fits into information literacy standards. Through researching each topic, my blog led to developing first hand experience in web 2.0 communication skills. Overall, I feel the exercise is pertinent to my web 2.0 communication skills with my career as an instructional designer.

However, as deeper analysis reveals, blogging involves more than improving communication skills – the process is about creating personal connections with materials within“knowledge flow” maintenance of interconnected networks (Hulburt, 2008, p. 2). As I wrote my blog, I kept up to date on current information from other blogs, which was filtered through my developing framework on the topics and classmate comments. This information negotiation involved personal interpretation and presentation of the topic where I acted as a conduit for information I found on other blogs in my information network. This interaction interests me because it makes knowledge more of a negotiated and dynamic product, which I have found best explained through the learning theory of connectivism best espoused in an article by Siemens (2004).

An example of how connectivism relates to creating and maintaining a blog develops from the fact that blog subscriptions are just as important as blogging itself. Blogging involves a process of linking a connection between interrelated interpretations of a concept or issue through personal interpretations and negotiated meaning that contribute to the creation of knowledge. An education blog should then teach learners how to best represent their perspective on knowledge. Through this practice, knowledge creation makes traditional one-way written communication obsolete. Of course there are experts, but it is up to the community to negotiate information meaning.

Educational blogging raises some issues such as avoiding the “complicated way to submit an essay” trap, which demand specific, and yet, open instructions (Hulburt, 2008). Furthermore, blogging should be interactive. However, as in my case, it has been a challenge to understand that as much effort I put into my blog, very few people are actually reading and benefiting from it, making my contribution a small bud within the blogosphere network.

References

Hurlburt, S. (2008). Defining tools for a new learning space: Writing and reading class

blogs. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 4(2). Retrieved September 29, 2008 from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol4no2/hurlburt0608.htm

Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved

December 1, 2008 from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm