Week 2 Reflections

Reflections:
Falling Asleep at your Keyboard: The Case for Computer Imagination
The Cone of Experience

I have to admit that I was a bit nervous when I saw that we were going to be doing hands-on projects in this course like creating Blogs, and things of that nature. I completely expected to be learning about those things, but not actually using them. Creating the Blog site was actually quite simple, and had several similar set-up items like while using a website design wizard. I really liked the idea once I started playing with it. I think that this external “application” helps promote free expression, and creative writing, and thinking, unlike the discussion section of blackboard, where it feels more restrictive for some odd reason. The idea of not knowing exactly who will be reading what you write (other than us of course) helps the importance of more meaningful writings, although at the same time, the uncertainty is equally intimidating.
Unlike my previous knowledge of Blogs (at least knowing what they were), going in to this week, I had only seen the term RSS feed, or RSS reader. I knew they existed, but had no idea what they were , or what purpose they served, let alone what problem to which each of these tools is an answer! I think that the RSS reader can be an awesome tool for getting information on just about anything you want. In fact it seems as though if not set up correctly, you could have an information over-load, that is to much stuff coming in compared to what you are try to get out of the system. For example, I only subscribed to 6 RSS feed, and after a few days, have over 1,000 articles waiting. To me, sifting through the unwanted things is problematic, however if used, and set-up properly though, it can be an awesome tool. I really like how some have subscribed to theirs & possibly other peoples blogs as feeds to also incorporate the two together. I think that using both have been a good learning experience.

From Dales Cone of Experience – I believe that both technologies (RSS Reader, and Blogs) most lend themselves to the the middle section to upper middle section, beginning with “Educational Television”. This seems to be where we are moving from in-person experience to more textual, graphical, less hands-on . Blogs and RSS feeds offer the ability to read, see, view video / and graphical depictions of media. RSS Feeds may be a bit higher on the cone.

Student centered grading has become a large part of our curriculum design in Aviation. Using a Blog for students to reflect on their recent training sortie would be a great use for both students, and instructors. Combining the use of both RSS feeds and Blogs could be a great way for a small group of students to be able to express their experiences to other students. The use of the two technologies could also be combined similarly to what we have done in this course, but tailored to aviation events / and news. The possibilities are endless.