This concept maps provides a review of the article "The Role of Social Media in Informal and Formal Learning".
EDUC5405 - What was the most poignant part of the paper for you and why? If you have a quote or an example, please post it as a comment to this blog post. Thanks!
EDUC5405 - What was the most poignant part of the paper for you and why? If you have a quote or an example, please post it as a comment to this blog post. Thanks!
What I think surprised me most when I started to consider the formal vs. informal role of social media as an aspect of learning was the vastness. There are so many applications that I had not considered prior and as a result so many ways we can constructively use these sites to reach our learners.
ReplyDeleteI do feel that however as a teacher there is a lot of distractions that come about as well, this means that our students can be overwhelmed and unfocused in their learning goals. So one thing to consider is how do we take the good with the negative and reconcile the two for the most productive learning experience.
One thought I had was that critical mass is needed in order for a community of practice to be accepted as part of the landscape of education. I don't think most institutions are there yet.
ReplyDeleteThis whole concept of a CoP also goes against the grain of acquisition of scientific knowledge, where data tends to be hidden away from the light of day, in order to have an edge when applying for the every shrinking funding that's available.
First, I learned a new term - produsage although I can't say that I'll be using it in my training plans any time soon. :)
ReplyDeleteI like how the article really highlighted the differences currently existing between the formal and informal learning communities and then proposed a model. The model proposed goes much further than just formal vs informal and brings in communities of practice, the idea of Outsiders.
I really liked the model inclusion of outsiders and this is the first time I've seen the role that they play taken seriously and with regarded with some importance. Generally, outsiders are considered lurkers, but here the value they bring, even if it's for a short period of time is emphasized.
I think that part of the power of Web 2.0 is found in the fact that we are all "producers" of knowledge, but I think the next step is to explore the ways in which we might productively "aggregate, sort, and filter" knowledge so that we know what to attend to and what to safely skip over. I also agree with Clay Shirkey's idea that social media has profoundly lowered the "cost of experimentation', so that people are more free to experiment with content creation for very little expense.
ReplyDeleteI think these are great tools in terms of knowledge sharing and sometimes I get sidetracked by clicking on a link before completing the article I am reading. While a little distracting, it often leads me to some amazing sites that I might otherwise not have found.
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