Reflection





April 9, 2010 3:17 p.m.--Posted by Ruth I decided to post some thoughts here on this process by our group. I hope you will also draw a line (click the symbol beside the link) and add your thoughts. I would suggest including the date and time and your name. I am learning so much but haven't had time to put it down in words. So here goes.

I believe that what we are attempting to accomplish here, with both this Wiki and with our VoiceThread, is very important. We are trying to be the future right now. Our professor is giving us the freedom to create this project together. I am hoping that we can all move up from the content creation stage (through our Voice Thread recording and our wiki pages) to the interaction and synthesis stage. However, I am finding that the content creation aspect alone is causing me fits. These concepts from Henry Jenkins are very demanding. I think that is what makes them exciting but for sure, they aren't easy.

A quote by Cathy Nelson in our readings for this week's topic of technology integration resonated with me: " Authentic assignments and assessments take longer to teach, take longer for students to complete, and sometimes sacrifice content in pursuit of process or sacrifice process in pursuit of timely completion." (2009) I love this authentic assignment that we are pursuing together. However I am concerned that I, for one, will be sacrificing some content while trying to nail down the process of creating a VoiceThread in an interactive manner. On the other hand, in my pursuit of content, I may not accomplish the process in a very adept manner.

I believe that the sky is the limit for this project and its possibilities. However, I am simply trying to get out of my basement right now.

​April 9th, 2010 Posted by Dawn Ruth you have posted a wonderful sentiment. I was reflecting on an article by Dave Cormier. he said ," //a community can construct a model of education flexible enough for the way knowledge develops and changes today by producing a map of contextual knowledge. The living curriculum of an active community is a map that is always "detachable, connectible, reversible, modifiable, and has multiple entryways and exits":// I really thought he was talking about us. This knowledge we are constructing allows us to share and build but most importantly it is building a community. Community, to me, is safe.

April 10, 2010 3:29 p.m. -- Posted by Ruth I love what Dave Cormier shared. I also know what you mean about "safe". Earlier on our class discussion site, you posted a question to this class--part of your PLN (Personal Learning Network). You knew that it was safe to ask your question in that forum. I hope we can continue to be that "safe community" for each other even after this class is complete.

I was actually visiting this page to share this diagram. To me this sums up what we have been doing in this project. Collective Intelligence Process in a Diagram media type="custom" key="5834463" @http://www.flickr.com/photos/denispaulvanchestein/3816110378/ If you think about our process of working together on this project, begin on the left-hand side of the diagram. Read the nouns and verbs up and down until you get to the right-hand side of the diagram. I know that I have done many of these things during this process.

References: Nelson, Cathy. (2009, March 21). If an assignment can be plagiarized... Message posted to @http://blog.cathyjonelson.com/?p=713 Cormier, Dave (2008, June 3rd) Rhizomatic Education; Community as Curriculum

April 11, 2010 Posted by Natasha Wow Ruth! That diagram couldn't have been more appropriate for our group than if we had created it ourselves. Great find! To echo what Dawn wrote on 04/09/2010, one of the most important life lessons that I have learned from this class is the importance of creating a "safe" community for our students AND for our teachers. Without this safety, our attempts to integrate technology, to provide professional development, to narrow the digital divide, are futile.

April 14, 2010 7:27 p.m. Posted by Ruth I just recorded my reflections on this process on the VoiceThread. I am feeling sad right now because this has been an amazing experience and I don't want it to end. I want to say a few more words of thanks to our professor, Joanne. One of the concepts I presented on this wiki was Collective Intelligence. One of the issues of encouraging group processes to take place is that grades are generally given to individuals. Thanks Joanne for giving us the chance to take a giant leap forward in our understandings because of this group project. I know that I, for one, have worked harder and dug deeper in this project because of my group of classmates. (As Kevin Honeycutt said, "I am smart but with my Personal Learning Network, I am brilliant.") Thanks for taking a chance on us and believing in us.