A2.2: 7 Things You Should Know About Blogs

Traci Girondo

September 1, 2007

7 things you should know about blogs. (2005). Educause Learning Initiative. Retrieved September 1, 2007, from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7006.pdf

TAP: The topic of this article was things you should know about blogs. It included a discussion on what a weblog is, what kind of weblogs their are, how does a weblog work, the significance of weblogs, downfalls of weblogs, the future for weblogs, and weblogs use in teaching and learning. This article focused its content towards an audience that is interested in learning about weblogs. The purpose of this article was to inform the reader of weblogs and their use as a technological tool.

Claim: This article claims that weblogs are a technological tool that allow people to connect and share information. Weblogs are an easy way to publish information on an array of topics which makes them increasingly popular for personal use and educational use.

Evidence: Weblogs have become a popular technological tool because of their simplicity. Anyone can publish a blog by simply typing the information they wish to publish and publishing it to the internet. Sometimes certain blog sites may require some formatting, but not all of them. A person does not have to have any knowledge of the HTML code to publish information on a blog. There is an increasing number of types of blogs that are being created. Some of these include, community blogs, family blogs, group blogs, warblogs, and Edublogs. Edublogs, are a type of blog that are becoming increasing popular. Many teachers now have blogs that they use to discuss information with their classes. They have thier students create blogs also so that they all can interact . Blogs allow students to publish their own work, but to also look at other students work and comment on it. This allows for a collaborative effort within the classroom. The use of blogs whether it be personal or educational allows a collaborative atmosphere for people to share ideas and interact. Blogs will continue to grow because of thier easiness and thier use in the education community. This article goes on to state that “blogs provide a forum for discussion that goes beyond coursework.”

Connections: Before reading this article I did not know much about blogs. The first time I had ever been exposed to a blog was when I had my first CD 315 class and Mrs. McComas told me that we would be creating a weblog. I was nervous about this because I had no clue what a blog was or what I should expect. I did not realize how easy it was to create a blog and publish information to the web. I think it would have been beneficial to have read this article before creating my own blog because then I would have had background knowledge on what a blog is, its significance, and its use in the classroom. Now that I know about blogs I think they are a very easy way for a person to express their ideas and recieve feedback about them. I like how they develop a community of people who share the same interests.

This article discussed some downfalls of blogging which included the fact that anyone can publish information on a blog. That means that not all information on blogs will be factual. This was similar to Chapter 9 in a book called Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for classrooms. This chapter desribed how it is important for students to be able to discern factual information from false information. Not all information that is published on the internet is factual and although this article did not discuss how to know the difference between factual and false information it did make a point to let the readers know that false information is being published.

This article can be connected to my field of study in that as a SLP I can use blogs to connect me with a broad community of people. I can create posts and recieve feedback from other individuals about various research and topics. Having a blog also allows me to search other peoples blogs and gain knowledge from the information they have posted. Blogs are becoming an increasingly popular way to publish information. It is also becoming a new resource and informational tool that can be used when seeking knowledge on any topic whether it be related to my field of study or another topic.

A2.2: Chapter 1- Richardson

Traci Girondo

August 30, 2007

Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

TAP: The topic of this chapter was how the Read/Write web has evolved and the transformations that are taking place right now and will take place in the future because of it.  This chapter focused its content towards anyone who is interested on how the Read/Write Web is evolving and transforming our world. The purpose of this article was to inform people of how the Read/Write Web is transforming many aspects of business, government, education, and society.

Claim: The central claim made in this chapter is that the Read/Write Web has moved from a system where you simply could read and research information to a place where you can publish and edit information along with read and research. This movement is causing transformations in all areas of our sociey including business, government, and education. The benefits that will arise from this transformations are going to completely alter the future of our world.

Evidence: The Read/Write web is making extrodinary changes in many aspects of our society. This chapter examined these changes by first looking at how the Read/Write web has expanded over the past few years. What one started out as a way to link people through information has now ballooned into a database that is altering the way our world looks at information. Transitions are being made right now in many areas of society. Specifically, there is a change being made in our education system. The education system has been slow to accept the Read/Write web as an essential tool in the education curriculum, but there is movement to integrate it along with the already established curriculum. This chapter discussed the benefits of using the Read/Write web in the classroom and even stated that the implementation of this into schools “will better prepare students for a slew of new literacies and competencies in their post-education lives.” The chapter explains that this can be done through the use of weblogs, wikis, or audio/videocasting. It is understandable that teachers may be worried about the safety of their students on the Read/Write web, but it is important that students are educated about the dangers involved with accessing the web. The web is a very valuable resource that allows students to be interconnected with many different types of people and share their work with not only their teacher. This allows for a new interaction and view on school work. Even though the integration of the Read/Write web may be scary for some people, it is impossible to ignore the benefits it has on society.

Connections: As a student I have seen how the Read/Write web is slowly being integrated in to the classroom. From high school to college there as been an incredible increase on how much the Read/Write web is being used in the classroom. In most of my classes in high school we used the web for what its first purpose was, simply to read information. Now that I am in college I have used the internet to read and publish information. For example, the blog I am creating for this class. I knew before reading this article that there are some dangers with publishing information on the internet, but I feel that I have been well educated on the precautions to take when doing so. I feel that in the future we are going to see the Read/Write web being integrated into the classroom much earlier. I think that eventually there will no longer be a gap between teachers and students caused by their level of competency with the Read/Write web. I think future teachers will have an education that is focused around the Read/Write web. This chapter is connected to another chapter in the Richardson book in that they both discuss the evolution of the Read/Write web. The Read/Write web is continually evolving and in doing so it is causing many transformations to our society. These chapters show how important it is for society to embrace these changes and accept them as a new way of life.

This text connected with the  broader world of clinical practice in that I will be working with a future generation of people who have been educated through the use of the Read/Write web. These students education will be different than the education I have recieved so, it will be important for me to understand the Read/Write web so that I am able to relate to my clients. I see the education system becoming more interactive in the future which in turn may cause our way of conducting therapy to change and become more interactive. I see a more technological aspect of therapy being developed and integrated in to our field of study. These changes are exciting as we see our field continue to grow and evolve with the rest of the world.

A2.3: WWW Reflection

The World Wide Web has become a crucial element to my everyday life. It is very unlikely that I go throughout a day without using this system. I feel as though I become more skilled with navigating my way around the web the more I use it, but there are still many things that I do not understand. Before reading this article, I did not know what http, html, or url stood for or their importance in navigating through the WWW. One reading explained that http or hypertext transfer protocol was the users way to retrieve documents from servers. I guess this is why most URL’s begin with his acronym. I learned that html or hypertext markup language is what allows websites to have color, animation, and have a link through the use of tags. A URL or uniform resource locator was something that I did understand. It is the actual internet address for a web document. These Acronyms are the most crucial elements of the WWW. They are what allow documents to be published and viewed on the internet, but it is the one thing about the internet that I had no clue about. Now that I have an understanding of how web pages are displayed and information is made available to me it makes more sense how I am able to locate these various webpages and documents.

One particular part of the reading that surprised me was when I was reading about basic browser functions. The reading began by listing off the buttons that allow you to navigate through the web. I started reading these and I was able to say that I had used and understood all of these buttons except for one. I have never used or heard of The Go menu. The Go menu would actually be very benificial to use because it pulls up a list of all your previous viewed websites and then you just have to click on the one that you want to go back to. This saves you from clicking the back button numerous times which is what I find myself doing a lot.

What I have learned from these readings will impact my work now and in the future in that I am now more knowledgeable of how the World Wide Web is structured. I now know what times are best to search the internet and why certain web pages are unavailable at times. Having knowledge of these issues saves me from getting frustrated when the computer is running slow or I can’t display a webpage I want. These readings helped me to understand that you must be persistent when trying to obtain information from the web. Instead of giving up on the first try I need to be persistent or try to obtain the information another time. Now that I have more knowledge of the web I will be more confident when using it to complete work or use it for fun.

A2.3: Email Reflection

After reading this information on email I have come to the realization that I am far less savvy with conversing through email than I thought I was. I learned a lot frome these readings that will help me to become a better writer of email since it is something that I use everyday to help me communicate with my professors, friends, and family. One particular reading gave a lot of insight on how to make your writing more clear. They suggested that in the subject line you state exactly what your email is pertaining to. It doesn’t have to be long, but make sure it states what you email is pertaining to. For example, many times I will use the subject line “question” when e-mailing a professor. It would be a lot better for me to go on and tell the recipient of this email what I have a question about. They also suggest using astericks, and capital letters on words that you want to emphasize. This gives the reader insight on the intonation you were wanting to use in that sentence. I have had personal experience with people misinterpreting something I was saying over email because they did not understand the intonation of what I was saying so, adding this type of emphasis to my emails could be very useful. One reading that really surprised me was the fact that email is such a insecure link. I always viewed email as a secure way to communicate with other people. I never suspected that people were able to intercept email you were sending and read the content of it. I guess that was a naive viewpoint on my part. I can say though that I am not naive when it comes to hoaxes on the internet. I never open e-mail from people I don’t know or forward “hoaxes” or chain letters to my friends. I guess I have always been so concerned about transferring a virus to my computer or the people I’m emailing that I am really cautious about the email that I do open.

As far as applying this information to my work I have learned many new ways to become a better communicator through email. I know that I will constantly use email to communicate with colleagues and maybe even clients. If this is going to be the way I converse with them then I need to make sure that I know how to write clearly and consisely so that there is no room for misinterpretations of what I am saying.

A2.3: Discussion Groups Reflection

I must be honest and say that before completing this reading assignment I did not know much about discussion groups. The only experience I have had with them is using them for the purpose of this class. Therefore, I learned a lot from reading these articles. One interesting piece of information I learned was the difference between a mailing list and newsgroups. A mailing list is a list of specific e-mail addresses of people who share a common interest on a specific topic. People who are in these types of groups typically recieve e-mail announcements about certain information in which they are unable to reply back or they recieve discussion e-mails where they are able to send e-mails back about that certain topic. This type of group differs from a newsgroup in that anyone can join and discuss topics in a news group. People can post and read comments that other people are dicussing. I have found through my limited use with mailing lists that they are very helpful. Mailing lists allow you to pose questions and discuss information with numerous people at one time. If a person wishes to reply back then they can, but they are not required to. This really helps in sending information to a mass number of people. I also learned how dicussion groups can be beneficial to. Discussion groups allow you to connect with a vast number of people all over the world. They connect people and allow them to communicate about a topic they are all interested in. I learned from my reading that is a crucial that you use proper “netiquette” in these groups. When discussing a certain location or place I learned that it is important to be sure to explain yourself or use a reference. Since there are people from other countries in these discussion groups they may not undertand what you are talking about if you’re dicussing a certain location within the US. 

There were two specific readings that surprised me. The website where you could search for various dicussion groups completely surprised me. There are discussion groups on almost anything. I found this to be very interesting because there were discussion groups on things that I was interested in. I had never before considered joinging a discussion group, but it may be something that I find enjoyable now. I also found the article on all the acronyms to be interesting. I know some of the common acronyms such as, lol and btw, but there were many acronyms that I would have never known if I had not seen that list.

The information I learned from these readings will impact my work in that I now know of a new way to discuss information. If I am having difficulty with my school work or clinical work I can use dicussion groups to talk with other individuals who may have more knowledge than me on that particular topic. By developing mailing lists I would be able to stay connected with groups of people that I may be working on a committee with or doing group work with. These articles really opened my eyes to a new area of the web that I have never explored before. I am excited to explore and learn more about discussion groups and maybe even join one.