A2.4 Week 2 Reflection

Linsey Cushing
August 30, 2007

Week 2 Reflection

Aims and Objectives:
This week, I had several personal goals with regard to CD 315. Now that I understood the basics of blogging, I wanted to develop my blogspace so that it would be more organized by applying my blogs to categories according to weeks. I set a goal to spread out the assignments so that they were done before Saturday. I planned to do the reader response logs within the first two days because they required the most writing, the reflections over the following two days, and the participation memo on Thursday or Friday. This way, I could spread out the work so it was not too overwhelming and still enjoy my weekend. I also set myself a goal to read the information and write the responses within the same day because last week, I had trouble remembering information overnight.

Declarative Knowledge:
I learned a great deal of information this week about basics in the digital world including blogs, the Web, email, and discussion groups. I will begin with blogs. Although only one reading was focused on blogging, this particular article gave me the information that I needed to understand blogging basics. Blogs, short for weblogs, are spaces for personal creation where the blogger can write whatever he or she wishes and, once it is published, it will be shared with millions on the Internet. Blogs are used both recreationally and, in our case, educationally. Blogs bring about a sense of community to their users, allow people to express their opinions, and encourage the community to respond to other people’s opinions.

Next, I read about the Read/Write Web and the benefits that will arise if teachers and school systems will incorporate the Read/Write Web into their curriculum. Basically, the Read/Write Web describes the World Wide Web’s ability to allow both reading and responding to information. I learned that students can benefit greatly by using blogs, wikis, and RSS (rich site summary) to communicate not only with classmates but educators and students around the world. With the Read/Write Web, classrooms would become global and the classroom environment would change dramatically by changing the schooling time and transforming the role of the teacher from a lecturer with passive onlookers to a guide alongside her students.

I also learned quite a bit from the email readings. For example, whenever you quote from an email, which is suggested with any response, use a greater than sign > just as you would quotation marks. Also, avoid using pronouns in the first 3 lines of an email to avoid ambiguity. Another interesting fact I learned regarding emails is that spammers can be sued for $500 per copy of spam mail. The most interesting thing I learned this week was about all the hoaxes on the Internet. Many forwards that I’ve read and taken as the truth are, in fact, hoaxes. I now know not to trust most of what I receive on the Internet.

The information about discussion groups taught me that newsgroups and forums are areas open for public discussion while mailing lists are lists you can subscribe to and receive emails from people interested in the same topic as you are. Finally, I relearned the basics of the World Wide Web, discovered that the Go tab at the top of the screen gives you a list of recently visited sites so you don’t have to use the Back button, and learned the meanings of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), and URL (Uniform Resource Locator).

Procedural Knowledge:
This week, a specific procedure I learned was how to manage my blogs by creating categories to put each post in. Instead of having all my blogs uncategorized , as they were last week, I created three categories: Week 1, Week 2, and Memos. To do this, I went to my dashboard, went into the “manage” area, and clicked on “categories.” Next, I selected “add new” and wrote the title of my category (for example, Week 1). After this, I wrote a description of this category. Once the title and description were complete, I selected the “add category” button and my category was complete. I repeated these steps to create categories titled Week 2 and Memos. The job was incomplete, however. I still had to apply my old posts to the Week 1 category. To do this, I went to my dashboard, went into the “manage” area, and clicked on “posts.” I then selected the “edit” link by each post that I wanted in my Week 1 category. I continued doing this for each post until they were all under Week 1. For each new post that I wrote after this, I selected the Week 2 option on the right of the screen as I wrote my new posts.

Other general things I learned include how to write a proper email or discussion post by using correct etiquette. I also learned how a teacher interested in incorporating the Read/Write Web should prepare his or her students for safe browsing and what the student should do if he or she runs across something that is forbidden. Another thing I learned was how to search for discussion groups that interest me. Finally, I learned how the World Wide Web works: the information goes from a user (me) to the web client (whatever I’m using, which happens to be Mozilla Firefox) to the web server (the head honcho), back to the web client and finally back to me.

Conditional Knowledge:
The knowledge I obtained this week can be applied to many aspects of my life because of the wide range of activities I can use the Internet for. As a student, I will use this information in a variety of ways. The most obvious one is using this information for this class to become better acquainted with blogging and the Internet so that I can be a more digitally literate person. When doing research for various classes, I now know how to join mailing lists or forums so that I can receive information about my topic from other educated individuals. When emailing professors or professionals, I will remind myself of proper netiquette rules. As a pre -professional, I will learn about the Read/Write Web because most likely, my future clients will take part in a classroom environment involving this. I can also join discussion groups involving other aspiring speech-language pathologists to broaden my community of future professionals. As a citizen, I will spread the word about hoaxes and chain letters on the Internet so that hopefully, less of these jokes will be forwarded to mass amounts of people and the Internet junk mail traffic will lessen. I can utilize email netiquette as a citizen because I may need to write someone in the government regarding a legislative action that I am for or against. I can also educate other friends and family members about basic Web information and introduce them to blogging to give the blogging community even more members.

A2.3: WWW Reflection

Linsey Cushing
August 30, 2007

WWW Reflection

     This set of readings included information on the World Wide Web that I am relatively familiar with, so it was easy to follow and understand. Even the information I did not know was relatable to my everyday experiences on the web. As always, there were things that I learned from these articles. For example, I’ve seen the acronyms HTML, HTTP, and URL hundreds of times, but I never knew their actual meanings. HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language, and it is basically the computer’s language used to complete the functions you ask it to do. HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, and this allows the computer to listen and respond to requests for files. This is the reason that most web pages start out with http:// . URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, and this is simply the Internet address. These three acronyms help to make up the World Wide Web’s system, which involves information going from the user (me) to the web client (whatever I’m using, which happens to be Mozilla Firefox) to the web server (the head honcho), back to the web client and finally back to me. No wonder it takes so long for pages to load sometimes! And speaking of response time, these articles say that the amount of time it takes for pages to load depends on how busy it is, how busy the network is, and how much bandwidth is available. This would explain why it takes so long for MILO to load (if it loads at all!) during those lovely scheduling-at-midnight days we experience once a semester!

     Something that I did not know existed and now I plan on using is the Go menu. This menu, located at the toolbar on the top of the page, lists all of the sites you’ve visited since opening the browser. Instead of pushing the back button over and over until you find the site you’re looking for, all you have to do is go to Go and find the site in the list! Something that I find surprising is the time the author of the site lists as prime time for searching the web without a lot of traffic. The author says that any time after 4 p.m. Pacific time on weekdays is great for surfing. This would be the equivalent of 7 p.m. my (Eastern) time. However, I find that between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., the Internet tends to run very slow around here. This could have something to do with being a college town and most students are doing homework (or Facebook) around this time…I’m not sure. Although most of this information was a review for me because I frequent the Internet on a daily basis, it will still impact my work because I now am refreshed on the tools available to me, how to use them, and when to search the Internet. I also now know that if a site doesn’t work on the first try, try it again in a few minutes and it might work. This type of information will be helpful when I am doing research in the future, either as a student or when I’m a speech-language pathologist. Because the Internet is so much a part of our everyday lives, I will continue to use this information throughout my career.

A2.3 Discussion Groups Reflection

Linsey Cushing
August 29, 2007

Discussion Groups Reflection

Before reading these articles, I honestly did not know much about discussion groups at all. Now that I’ve searched through the lists a little, I think I am going to start subscribing to several of them and see how I like it. My only experience with mailing lists is from previous classes within the Communication Disorders department where the teacher submits us all to the list so that we can see other students’ questions to the professor and her answers to those questions. I’ve found this type of mailing list to be very helpful because I often am wondering the same question.  Besides this little bit of past experience, I did not know much.  Here are some of the things I learned: Newsgroups and forums are areas open to the public for discussion. Mailing lists, on the other hand, are email address lists of people who are interested in a specific topic, such as dancing or a music group. Mailing lists can be announcement lists, which send emails to the subscribers but do not involve responding. They can also be discussion lists where all members participate by reading emails, responding, or creating their own emails. I was really surprised that so many different discussion group topics existed and the amount of people who subscribed to these lists. I thought that the netiquette for discussion groups was very helpful and included things I know I would sometimes forget, such as not including posts about something that is specific to our culture or region because the members may be global. I also enjoyed looking at the acronyms list because I had never seen many of these expressions.

Now that I have some basic knowledge about discussion groups, I feel more comfortable to join them, both for recreational and educational purposes. This will impact my work because the next time I have to do research, I can find forums and mailing lists involving my topic and see what others have to say about the topic. The great thing about discussion groups is that they are interactive so if someone says something I don’t understand or discusses something I would like more information about, I have the ability to email that person, request what I need, and receive a response almost immediately. Discussion groups and mailing lists are two ways that I, as a web user, can become more of the “community” that the original creators envisioned for the future.

A2.3 Email Reflection

Linsey Cushing
August 29, 2007

Email Reflection

I found this group of articles on email etiquette and hoaxes to be very interesting. Most of the email etiquette and advice was information that I already knew. However, I did find several facts concerning emailing that I did not know. The greater than sign > is used as the default for quoting emails just as quotation marks are used elsewhere. I always wondered why forwards had so many greater than signs! Another piece of advice I found to be noteworthy was to avoid using pronouns in the first 3 lines of an email to avoid confusion by the recipient. Other technical advice included putting a space in between the URL and period when sending a URL to someone or to surround the URL with a < and > to keep it together. Instead of italicizing book titles, one of the articles recommends using an underscore before and after the title. I found it very interesting that you can sue a spammer for $500 per copy. I wonder how many people have actually been caught and sued for this amount of money per email? Something I had never really thought about but that is true is the more formal you write an email, the less people will respond to it. Besides this type of technical stuff, I was very fascinated by all of the hoaxes. After looking through some of the lists, I realize that I have fallen victim to many of these scams. Some of the more obvious ones, such as the free giveaways, never tricked me. However, I know I’ve forwarded emails about women’s safety and dying children to other people. It shouldn’t surprise me that people would take something this serious and turn it into a joke, but I can be naive sometimes and give people the benefit of the doubt, especially when it appears to benefit others to read it.

This information definitely made me think more about the emails that I am sending on an everyday basis. I need to be more aware of the technical aspects, such as adding a signature to my emails. I also need to remember that my emails are not as private as I think so I shouldn’t send something “I wouldn’t mind seeing on the evening news.” I plan to use some of the grammatical suggestions in future emails to make myself more clear to the recipient. I also plan on analyzing forwards and chain letters and not automatically assuming they are truthful anymore. This set of readings helped to make me more aware of the dangers of the Internet and the limitations I need to set when writing emails. However, I will still send emails on a daily basis and forward ones that seem legitimate or interesting to my family and friends.

A2.2: Chapter 1 – Richardson

Linsey Cushing
August 28, 2007

Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools               for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. 

TAP:
    This chapter discusses the Internet as a Read/Write Web.  It includes basic features of the Read/Write Web and methods for keeping students safe when using Read/Write Web for classroom purposes.  The chapter is geared toward an audience in the educational field, especially teachers who are interested in converting their classrooms to blogging classrooms.  The purpose is to inform the reader about the Read/Write Web while persuading the reader of the gains that the Read/Write Web can provide to a classroom. 

Claim:
    The Read/Write Web is the essential tool for the future of our schools and youth.  It provides an outlet for students to express themselves while learning at the same time.  The Read/Write Web has many features that are beneficial to both students and teachers alike. Although online safety is a hazard, there are ways to instruct students so that they avoid dangerous encounters while blogging or browsing the Internet. 

Evidence:
    The Read/Write Web describes precisely what the Internet is currently used for: reading others’ works and writing, either in response to those works or relaying your own ideas.  Although the Internet began as a read-only web, it has now developed into its own world in which people are able to communicate with one another by the click of a mouse.  Some of the components of the Read/Write Web are: blogs, wikis (an area where anyone can post and edit ideas), rich site summary or RSS (topics you are interested can be sent to you when posted instead of you searching for them), and social bookmarking (a way to save web pages that you are interested in).The main form by which people now communicate on the Read/Write Web is blogging.  In fact, blogging has become so popular that in 2004, Merriam-Webster dictionary named “weblog” the “Word of the Year” (Richardson, 2006).  Schools are now incorporating blogging into their curriculum as a means for students to communicate with one another while creating their own unique work that can be viewed by millions who search the Internet.  Today’s students are what the book refers to as “Digital Natives;” they are knowledgeable about modern technologies including the Internet, blogging, cell phones, digital camera, and iPods.  Blogging is the perfect way to tie student’s interests in technology to the curriculum.  However, before teachers can bring Read/Write Web into the classroom, they must educate students about Internet safety.  Students should never release their names, addresses, or other private information.  Also, if students accidentally come across an inappropriate web site, they should tell the teacher and immediately exit the site.  Teachers must also send out a parent/student permission form to educate parents about blogs and Internet safety. 

Connections:
    This chapter was easy to relate to because the Internet is as much a part of my life as school is.  I am growing up in the generation that was first introduced to technologies such as computers, the Internet, blogging, cell phones, and digital cameras, during our youth.  I agree with Richardson that advocates within the educational setting should push schools to incorporate blogging and other Read/Write Web aspects into the classroom at a young age.  The Internet is now as much of a part of students’ lives as going to school; why should schools not incorporate this into the eight hours children spend in school so that they can do something they already know and enjoy?  Because of the inverted knowledge gap between teachers and students, the students could even instruct the teachers instead of the usual teacher-student instruction.  This would create an even better learning environment because true understanding is displayed through instruction.  Once the classroom utilizes blogs, the learning will continue to expand as students communicate with students worldwide on educational topics.  Another way this topic relates to me is that I am an avid Facebook participant.  As this chapter defines it, Facebook is in fact a type of blogging.  I have actually been blogging without knowing it for quite some time! This chapter relates a lot to Chapter 9 of the same book because it provides me with an explanation of Read/Write Web.  It also relates to many of the articles I have read concerning the need for technology in the classrooms and the benefits this will provide.  This information will benefit me as a future speech-language pathologist because it gives me a peek into the future of what type of school environment my clients will be placed in.  I must be an active learner of this information not only because technology is a dynamic field but also because my clients will probably need help learning how to communicate in this way.  On the other hand, this type of communication could help my clients because it is not done verbally, so clients with voice or articulation problems could still communicate effectively with others and not be labeled as “different.”     

A2.2 7 Things You Should Know About Blogs

Linsey Cushing
August 28, 2007

7 things you should know about blogs (2005, August). Retrieved August 27, 2007, from
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7006.pdf

TAP:
The article discusses basic information about blogs for those who are unfamiliar with blogs, especially those in the educational world. The purpose of the article is to inform the reader about basic blog facts.

Claim:
Blogs are rising in popularity because they provide a method for communication and a sense of community. Blogs are easy to use and therefore popular among many groups of people, including learning communities.

Evidence:
Web logs, better known simply as blogs, are online areas where people can express themselves without any editing or censorship from others. Although blogs are often used recreationally , the upcoming trend is using blogs as educational tools. In order to create a blog, a person simply has to enter a post onto a blogging site, add formatting if needed, and save and publish the blog. With the simple click of a mouse, your thoughts are published for the entire Internet community to see. Popular types of blogs include group blogs, family blogs, community blogs, corporate blogs,WarBlogs, Liblogs, and EduBlogs. These blogging communities are created so that people with a common interest can share their views and knowledge on that particular subject, such as the Iraq war in WarBlogs . Bloggers have the ability to write their own blogs and also to provide feedback to others’ posts. As the article states, blogs provide people with “an avenue for unedited expression, reaction, and connection, without the censorship of mediated chat rooms or formal media outlets” (2005). Blogs are rising in popularity with the educational world because of their easy access, simplicity, and sense of community. Students are currently utilizing blogs to discuss content from classes or to reflect on classes or careers. Another educational option is requiring students to create blogs and making this the method of communication between teacher and student. Whether blogs are used for educational or recreational purposes, they create a strong sense of community while spreading knowledge among the users.

Connections:
Before last week, I neither blogged nor did I have any idea what a blog was. However, because of this class, I am now learning the ways of a blogger and attempting to become a successful, knowledgeable blogger myself. This article related to me because these seven questions are very similar to what went through my head a week ago. The article helped to answer the things I have not discovered yet and confirm ideas that I have. I agree that blogging helps to create a community between bloggers; I can identify with the other students in my class when they have a blogging problem and I can also see how my ideas compare to theirs. This class is helping me to become more connected to the digital world while also maintaining my text literacy skills by requiring me to write blogs. This article connects to the information I read last week because it takes a very specific aspect of digital literacy and explains it in language that is easy to understand. Blogs are becoming a large part of the information literate world due to their ability to create a community between users. This article also impacts my future as a speech-language pathologist because I am sure that I will have to incorporate blogging into my continuing education programs in the future. I need to be able to communicate via blogs so that I can keep up others in my field. I also will be able to share any problems with diagnosis or treatment of a patient with other speech-language pathologists or related professions on a blog and ask for feedback on how to treat that patient as long as I keep the client’s confidentiality in mind. As blogs increasingly become a part of the regular world, they will integrate into the therapeutic and diagnostic world as well.