The first blog I have decided to follow is that of Jay Cross. He is a blogger and author of materials related to business effectiveness. He has several blog headings to follow on his web-page, and the one titled “Internet Time Blog” struck me as interesting. He has written several entries over the last week or so, and I think that I am beginning to understand the purpose of his writings. He is a man consumed by what the internet has to offer, and how connectivity to others through the internet is crucial to global communication and learning.
In his latest postings from this past week and a half, he has focused on two main topics: the tenth “birthday” of Wikipedia, and using mobile Wi-Fi connections to constantly stay connected to the internet. The posts themselves are overall informative pieces, with some of his own opinion thrown into the mix. His most recent entry from Saturday however, is an interesting comment on how internet news headlines can be contradictory to what the article is actually talking about. His example was a headline that claimed that most learning that takes place in people’s lives is informal and to embrace that concept. He agreed with the headline, but as he read the article, it actually became quite clear that they were promoting formal learning in business settings.
Mr. Cross’s blog posts tie together quite well with our readings from this week, especially with the Zawilinski (2009) article. It is evident in Cross’s most recent post that he is looking to engage people at a level that opens up HOT blogging. I was surprised though that he has only incited very limited responses by some of his readers. Furthermore, the comments that were received were very superficial and not detailed. However, I think that in a school setting, a blog post like Cross’s can be used to spark conversation in a social studies class on how not to judge an article simply by looking at the title. It appears that assumptions cannot be made on what the article is about until we actually read it. This can open up the floor for our students to be more “title cautious” both when searching for articles online or when publishing them.
Teaching students to evaluate sites is essential. Have you come across articles about Wikipedia being a viable source? I have observed teachers discourage students from using the source because it isn’t reliable. (See the article by our very own Kelly Chandler-Olcott.) Instead, we need to teach them to discern what is reliable and unreliable. On another note, do you think you would ever use the HOT template/graphic organizer Lisa provided? (PS She is one at UConn in the New Literacies Lab.)
ReplyDeleteFrank, how did you find that blog?
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading your post, I noticed you did something we should teach our students to do. You evaluated the blog you found, observing things that were included. This is something I have been taught to do by KCO, and perhaps you have been too, since you did it! Before doing a project or activities ourselves, we always looked at models and made observations about what was included and what we think should be included. I think this is invaluable to teach, especially with something new like blogging.
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