I'm starting to get overwhelmed with the jumping between all the different modes of communication we're using! This is a huge change from WebCT (which is a great thing), but I feel like I need some time to wrap my head around it all. I feel strangely disconnected from everyone and am starting to freak out about having only four weeks left in this class. If anything this class is teaching me is that my mind is clearly NOT naturally wired for this online social networking stuff! But that's not to say that I'm not open to learning about it and trying to adopt it. I feel like I'm finally understanding the context of young people's lives! It's a real treat to get a glimpse of their world, and hopefully this will be the beginning of trying to keep on top of it and in turn trying to mould some meaningful educational experiences for them.
I've been enjoying reading everyone's blogs for this class and I'm happy to see that many people share similar fears, hopes, and questions. I wish I could respond to everybody's posts. I like how everything is easily streamed from RSS to Google Reader, but feel a little overloaded at all the links to explore. I just wish I had more time, darn it!
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What would make you feel more connected during this class? Is there something you would see that would help tie all of the pieces together? I'm asking this seriously as a way to think about this class but also as a way to think about how library teachers can help students who are pulling all of these pieces together. Thoughts?
The efforts to tie everything together are already in place (through the RSS feeds, e-mail reminders from you, Skype conversations, discussion opportunities on the wiki...). I think it's super natural for the students today to hop from one place to the next in their communication, and I'm pleased to have the opportunity to experience this "immersion." It's just that it's foreign to me and I feel so fragmented! Whenever I come online for the course, I almost feel ADHD in that I'll attempt one thing and a minute later I'll be distracted by another thing. It's an adjustment for me... I only wish this course was a regular semester length so I could have time to absorb it a bit better. But what this course is doing is giving me the tools that I will continue to explore after we're done... I don't expect to be an expert after six weeks!! And perhaps that's the answer for the students, too... maybe introduce things one at a time and continue to explore them throughout the school year. Give them time to become comfortable with each new thing and build new knowledge from there (Vgotsky calls this "scaffolding").
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