Upon reflection of Richardson's first two chapters in our text, I'm very excited about both the potential and the risk of blogs...
...IN JOURNALISM: As he relates blogs to historical journalism, he's correct when he says we have millions of amateur editors (or reporters) out there...and that scares me. I wonder where the accountability lies for this new form of "reporting" that is blessed with speed and scale, but perhaps cursed with inaccuracies and partial truths. It seems though, that with examples from USA Today, the Washington Post, and the BBC that the collaborative process that supports weblogs actually serves as a control measure to smooth out the risks that scare me - kind of a check and balance system driven by the greater knowledge of the whole...interesting concept. Richardson's whole discussion on the print/online media of today/ tomorrow really inspired the question "What is journalism?" - to which I think the answer is changing rapidly.
...IN BUSINESS: Blogs can be prevalent on internal networks for larger companies, as Richardson points out with companies like IBM. I wonder how these organizations manage their liability for what's published by individuals on their payroll. I also wonder how the transparency of the content is managed - both for the good of the employees and the enterprise as well as for managing the sensitivity of proprietary or confidential company info. Lastly, with the rapid pace of change in some industries, how do you validate documented blog thinking as "current" or "stale"? A time stamp is not a good indicator here.
...IN EDUCATION: Wow, the "big picture" questions posed by Richardson on page 5 are spot on! Paraphrasing...
- What needs to change in our curriculum when our students can reach audiences well beyond the walls of our classrooms?
- What changes are needed as it gets easier to bring resources to the classroom (online)?
- How do we rethink "literacy" from just reading/ writing to include editors/collaborators/publishers?
- How can WE as learners understand and apply these tools for the pedagogies of using them in the classroom??
The umbrella that these critical questions fall under is really pointed out well on page 7 in that our traditional linear, sequential learning structure in our schools probably does not support this parallel cognitive structure offered by weblogs and wikis. So what do we do about it?
Well, we pick our spots smartly to take advantage of the opportunities blogs and wikis can afford us, and strive for the positive impacts to our students (articulated well in the Fernette & Brock Eide study cited on page 20) to:
- Promote thinking - critical, analytical, creative, associative, intuitive, and analogical
- Increase access and exposure to good information
- Combine the best of solitary reflection and social interaction
...A final note on CONTROLS: After reading just the first two chapters of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, it is abundantly apparent that a lot of attention to controls for the implementation and management of weblogs and wikis are critical. We must protect our students’ safety and their privacy with sound controls and vetting of all resources.
In summary, I'm excited about the opportunity to use blogs and/or wikis in a classroom for many applications, including:
- Course Management
- Online Filing -assignments
- Transparency -for students and parents, for students and students, and for students and teacher
- Portfolio - build over time
- Collaboration - see ref to Secret Life of Bees on pages 24-5, an excellent example of why this excites me!
I love everything you say here! There was so much to consider in these first to chapters and you really hit the proverbial nail on the head with your comments and observations!
ReplyDelete"[H]e's correct when he says we have millions of amateur editors (or reporters) out there...and that scares me. I wonder where the accountability lies for this new form of "reporting" that is blessed with speed and scale, but perhaps cursed with inaccuracies and partial truths."
AMEN TO THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As educators we have to be careful to teach our students about accountability, fact verification and representing authors' ideas and information in good faith.