Farewell blog

I have thoroughly enjoyed the reflective blogging assignment. I tried, a much as possible, to blog only when I had truly reflected on something on the course and when I was truly interested in something. In this respect, it was relatively easy to do. The benefits of blogs, as I see them are:

·         They structure one’s thoughts.

·         You can easily identify areas which interest you the most.

·         You learn a lot from others posts.

·         You realise how limited your own knowledge is and how much more there is to learn.

·         They encourage you to open up and to trust others.

·         They encourage sharing and collaboration of ideas.

·         You can learn how to do something better.

·         You can feel proud of some of your achievements. Too often, it’s easy to move on to new projects without having rewarded yourself for a learning experience.

·         You can express yourself.

·         They encourage real-life discussion because you can discuss each other’s interests.

·         They encourage you to ask questions.

·         You can understand people better.

I would definitely consider writing blogs in the future. Thanks to everyone who read (and commented) on my blog, and for the useful information that you provided in your blogs.

Highlights of the Ennis Hub Plan assignment

We finished the Ennis Hub Plan assignment today. I have various thoughts roaming around in my head but the main positive thoughts of the assignment which strike out at me are:

• I had the opportunity to work as part of a team. I enjoyed having had this opportunity, and also working alongside Jeanne (who wrote the content with me).
• I accepted editorial changes. My content was edited by the team. Surprisingly, this was more thorough and scrupulous than edits I have received from a Manager or teacher. If my ego can survive this, it can perhaps survive other criticisms. That can only be a good thing.
• We used a simple, yet effective technique to order the pages of the navigation. We physically cut out each page on a piece of paper and arranged and rearranged each of them on a table to establish some sort of order for the navigation. A technique introduced by Maureen. This was fun and saved us a lot of time writing it and rewriting it on paper.
• I learned detailed conceptual thinking. Some members of the team think in more detail. This encourages one to do the same.

We had some suggestions on what we would do better in further team projects, but I will perhaps leave these for another blog. Thanks to all those on my team for all their hard work.

Time management

Having read other classmates postings, I am left wondering how many classmates are completing assignments ahead of time, especially as the Ennis Hub Plan assignment is still going. Either they are magical or their time management skills are excellent. I imagine it’s the latter.

I have a timetable of assignments posted up in my room so I am well aware of what needs done and when it is due. However, I tend to dedicate an awful lot of time to one assignment. The team projects seem to take up the most time and I find myself dedicating all my time to them, and nothing else. Also, I find it difficult to concentrate on other assignments if one is still pending.

So how is everyone else doing it?

I realise I have to set myself timescales, goals and deadlines, and stick to them rigidly, even if team projects demand otherwise. Also, I’m guessing, it is not possible to devote ‘deep learning’ to all projects. Sometimes, you just need to get it done, especially as we are working within very limited timeframes.

Examples of some books and magazine articles on the subject are: "Time Is Money, So Use It Productively" (Taylor & Mackenzie, 1986), "Put Time on Your Side" (Emanuel, 1982), and "How To Get Control of Your Time and Your Life" (Lakein, 1973).

Dreamweaver and home pages

For the website assignment for Majella’s module, I was generally pleased with how my website turned out. However, there are two major issues I will need to address in future projects and assignments.

Firstly, I need to learn Dreamweaver properly and thoroughly. My knowledge of Dreamweaver includes only what we have learned in the labs, bits and pieces picked up from online tutorials, and help and advice given to me by Brian Carrigan. I still need to learn how to use it properly and extensively if I am to complete the summer development project. For this, I hope to complete the tutorials kindly given to me by Melanie Corr in a CD called ‘The Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 Classroom in a Book’. I also intend on looking at further online tutorials, which some of you have recommended on your own sites. I am concerned about my limited knowledge but I suppose it is just something you need to ‘play around with’. When I wonder if I will ever need to use Dreamweaver again, I am reminded that we are on this course to develop the ability to learn new tools, and not necessarily the new tools themselves.

The second issue concerns my homepage. I realise now (having written the homepage for the team website) that I treat the homepage like the introduction of a help manual. I have been including all of the top level information and all of the links to other pages, on the homepage. However, I have been told by my team that the navigation bar is supposed to suffice for the links to other pages, and that images are supposed to portray some of the information. I must admit, I had to relinquish my usual way of organising information, which can only be a step forward on the learning curve. 

To comment on my blog

Some classmates told me they had problems posting comments on my blog. I think it helps if you preview the message before you post it. Let me know if this helps.

Online communication

In light of the recent discussions, it occurs to me how much more careful I need to be in my online communication with other people. More often than not, my online presence is informal – I usually use the Internet to talk with my friends or with a close work colleague (who know my casual style of writing). In fact, I have enjoyed rather a liberal and impulsive way of writing on the Internet for quite some time. I always considered it as a way of relaxing from the formal writing I did at work. However, in online discussions, that style of writing does not necessarily translate well. Carefully thought-out and well-written sentences must be upheld throughout the discussion to reduce the chances of causing offence.

In fairness to myself, my initial posts were well thought and carefully planned. It was only after a few posts that I began to relax a little into the discussion and started to write more liberally, perhaps to the detriment of my message.

Senge (1994:245) suggests three ways to improve personal communication:

·         reflection: becoming more aware of one's own thinking and reasoning;

·         advocacy: making one's thinking and reasoning more visible to others; and

·         inquiry: inquiring into others' thinking and reasoning.

I am capable of all these skills, especially of reflection and inquiry. I perhaps then have to improve my skills of advocacy, i.e. by making my thinking and reasoning more visible to others. I would also add another aspect to Senge's list (or perhaps it is a part of advocacy): Cushioning (for want of a better word). I can be rather direct. So just like small talk aids the flow of a conversation in real-life, softening the email for the reader can also aid online discussions. For this, I wonder, can one change their personality? ;-)

This also reminds me of a recent discussion I had with a classmate. We talked about the early days of communicating online and how we would have occasionally ignored normal etiquette, mainly because we saw the technology as cold and did not think of the person on the other side as a real person necessarily. It was only after time and after making occasional mistakes that we started to realise that the person on the other side is a real person with feelings and that we should respect him/her. We can learn the rules but sometimes we also learn the hard way.

For more information on netiquette (online etiquette) and articles used in this blog see:

Good Online Conversation - Building on Research To Inform Practice. Sherry et al. Available as a PDF if you search Google Scholar.

http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~davidt/email_etiquette.htm

http://www.thejournal.com/the/printarticle/?id=23225

http://isp-lists.isp-planet.com/email-list-netiquette/.

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1855.txt

http://onlinestudylist.com/etiquette.html.

Self interest v Common interest

In a recent late night work session in the lab, me and a couple of classmates talked about the heightened levels of interactivity in this semester, compared with the last. We each expressed our interest in the discussion forums and team projects, and wondered why there weren’t more of these types of projects in the first semester. One suggestion was that we were not perhaps ready for teamwork at that stage.

In the EL6052 lecture this week, the Five-Stage Model of Teaching and Learning Online was taught which addressed the motivations for participants to work together. It stated that in the beginning, individuals are motivated by ‘self-interest’ and they require extrinsic factors to motivate them. After these factors have been fulfilled, they then seek the ‘common interest’ and they require respect and trust. This is an interesting theory because it is perhaps true that our class were only really in a position to interact with the class, after we had received our results (extrinsic factors) over the Christmas holidays. It is one theory however. Another is, of course, that interactive elements could be introduced on the course sooner.