As I stated in one of my
earliest blogs, last spring I deleted my Facebook account. What a relief it was to learn that I would not be required to open it again for this technology course. My primary reason for suspending the account was that I was not frequenting it that often, but when I did, I really got sucked in. Even though I joined a Facebook group long ago at CVCC, I cannot ever remember using it. In fact, I have been among those who felt that there should be a clear line between personal and professional, so I never even entertained the idea of using Facebook as a teaching tool. Having read the
Prof Hack Blog about using Facebook and Tumblr to engage students, I admit I am willing to consider the use of a facebook group in the future. As with any technology--really any aspect of a course--it is imperative to have a clear understanding of WHY a particular assignment or activity is used. The article explores the effective use of Facebook, noting specifically that almost everyone already has an account and knows how to use it. Other suggestions that really model best practices for any teaching are to start the project at the beginning of the class, rather than adding it in part way through, and provide clear and specific examples of what students are expected to post. Reading this article got me thinking about a few ways I could engage students. One would be to have them find examples in their online lives of written work that has errors. Grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors abound--especially with so many people composing using virtual keyboards on their smart phones.
This could be a way to get students looking for "careless" mistakes and
maybe even getting them to apply those proofreading skills to their own
work. The reverse exercise could also be beneficial; students could post well-written examples.
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Tumblr and Pinterest are two different methods of social bookmarking. I had not ever used tumblr before this course, and after spending a little time playing around with it, I probably will not use it in the future. While I felt that it had good content, I can see how easy it would be to spend many mindless hours following tumblr links. Like my comments above about the time suck factor of facebook, tumblr presents the same danger to me.
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As Dr. Tryon stated in his
podcast on Pinterest, there is no social website that has caught the attention of women more than Pinterest. It is this very lure that has kept me from it. My female friends and co-workers have talked so much about their enjoyment, use, and overuse of this social networking site. I have maintained a clear and conscious avoidance of it for that very reason. I admit that I have followed links on to other people's Pinterest accounts to look for any number of interesting things such as sewing and crochet patterns, recipes, teacher lesson plans, and advice on children's toys. I have resisted the urge to join so as to save myself (once again) the hours upon hours which I would surely spend on this site.
One of the aspects of all of these social networking/bookmarking sites that comes to mind for me is that they each cater to the varied personality types/styles of different users. I am inherently a disorganized mess as those who know me well can attest. I am also at high risk for succumbing to the addictive nature of these technologies. An example of this occurred earlier this week pre- and post- midterm elections when I spent dozens of hours reading about the why's and wherefore's of the outcome this year. I recognize that there is value in being an informed and concerned citizen, and I consider myself to be one; yet, my information-seeking behavior resulted in very little tangible outcome. I voted, to no avail. As I discovered in the first eight weeks of my DRE courses this fall, the benefits of technology are sometimes underwhelming compared to the host of negative consequences, namely addiction and isolation. Though it may seem as if I've gone off on a tangent, all of this is really to reiterate that I acknowledge the many benefits of sites like facebook, tumblr, and Pinterest, yet I steer mostly clear of them due to the equally negative aspects. As it is, I sometimes feel I've given over my life to my electronic devices. It's telling when your seven-year-old son says, "Mom, sometimes it seems like you love your phone more than us." Ouch.
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