OK, clarification here - MASSIVE clarification needed! This blog is ONLY for use within this class as a REFLECTION tool. If you're posting to the class blog, then it's the We're Curious blog & you should only have a text post. If you're posting an original video, then it needs to go in the class Vlog, Deep Thought. There should be LITTLE text that accompanies your video because the main forum for this arena is VIDEO (thus the term Vlog - VIDEO blog). This blog's purpose is to help you at the end of the term go back and look at your reaction to all the different forums in which you've taken part.
Last week, you started the weekly challenge. You were asked to post reflections, post original content, and examine new areas. What were you're successes? What was difficult? What did you learn about managing the content you must create? What other thoughts do you have about the work you're doing?
We had many conversations about the content of the original work you post. My thoughts are, if you post quality content, then you will create a sound following of people who will help you grow throughout your academic and future life. If you choose to create content that doesn't contain quality, then people will not follow you, and it won't matter that you are creating. What are your thoughts on this? What is the value of the content you create? Does it matter?
One new place you were allowed to use to create original content was Animoto. If you tried this, what was your reaction to using it? Is it something you would use again? What was the benefit? Were there downsides? If you haven't tried Animoto, I would encourage you to explore and create. This is an easy online visual/audio presentation tool that could be cool for some of your classes.
Another place you explored was Blip.fm. Clearly some of you spent a lot of time here. What are your thoughts about this application? What are the benefits? How can this be used in an educational setting? Or can it? Nick suggested we could create an online radio station for the school since the school is now looking at allowing iPods at teacher discretion. Can this be done using Blip? What forum would we use to host? Should we explore this? Why? Why not?
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I thought I did pretty well with the reflections last week and this week. I thought that the podcasting was the hardest thing because we actually have to be creative and have everyone listen to you while your doing it. I agree with you. If you we do not have good work out on good sites people wont want to fallow us even if we have good information. I thought animoto was fun and long. I didn't how to really use it but i used the pictures and music off the site and it came out well.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I became more comfortable with last week was the use of Twitter. I think this is a cool form of communication since I started using it more frequently. I have learned more about the class and some personal things about them. This type of posting has to be my favorite for now.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that I found the most difficult was the podcasting because I hate talking into a microphone and having to listen to the sound of my voice. It's also embarrassing to talk to yourself during class with everyone listening. I don't mind listening to other podcasts because I found some that I really like and have listened to outside of school. I particularly like the Ethics Bites podcast that I found on iTunes. I didn't mind doing the video, although I hate being filmed, I would much rather be the director. Although I don't like doing the rubric every week, I think it opens us up to different types of information and that is the purpose of the class.
I agree with the idea that quality content is necessary if you want a quality audience. I try to monitor everything I say on the web because anyone can see it and especially since I am applying to colleges. Anything you put onto the web represents you and your ideas. If you post obscene and vulgar things no one will want you to give advice or be their friend. People have to limit their own speech and vulgarity themselves, because on the web it is your responsibility.
I didn't try Animoto or Blip, but I want to look into them when I have extra time. This past week was spent solely on trying to finish the rubric. As time progresses I'm sure the different posts will become easier to do. I do think that it would be interesting to have a school radio station that plays music that different people like. The only problem we would have would be the people who like explicit material because they would pull off the "I'm a victim and being subjected to unfair treatment". I guess they would just have to deal with it, but overall I think the that a school radio station would be something I would listen to.
Ok thank you for clarifying the differences between the blogs and vlogs. I just have to ask does it matter if we don't post in each of the class forums? I just want to make sure of this before I get points deducted for not doing so.
ReplyDeleteThis week we started this New Challenge thing, using this rubric. I will say I HATED this assignment and I am going to dread doing this every single week. Though we may learn something from it, I think, it is just so boring and I don't like doing it. Do we really have to do this for the rest of the year? Or could we possibly take another approach to this and change things up? Because honestly I think it will become really boring to repeat the same stuff over and over again each and every week. The most difficult thing about this new challenge was trying to create stuff without having to worry it was going to crash or not be able to post onto the internet. The other issue I had was time management because it seemed that there was so much to do I got overwhelmed and fell behind causing me to not complete 1 of the challenges.
I definitely agree with the fact that if you create quality material that you could benefit from the people that may follow you for what you have produced. The value on the content you create could be that people will see it and it could help you, like you said if it were something for school and you needed information on a certain something. Well the better quality material you produce the better and possibly more followers you will have to obtain information from which is a huge benefit. It definitely matters when it is something that could help you in huge ways, such as if you have non-credible information you would be more likely to have more credible information coming directly from someone who may have majored or is also learning a subject you are questioning about. But the one issue I have with this is, what if this follower ends up not being reliable and does not give you credible information? Can you really trust EVERYONE on the internet to give you the information you need?
I was one of the students that decided to use Animoto and I really found nothing special about it at all. I really found no point to it and don't see how this is much different than a powerpoint? And at least with a powerpoint it can be longer than 30 secs. It took a really long time to create something in the Animoto program, and they was very limited selection, such as when it came to the music. Would this be more beneficial if the school were to invest into this maybe? Like, what features does Animoto offer when you purchase the membership? Then maybe that is something we could look into, and then maybe it will become more interesting and a tool more useful in the classrooms.
Lastly, this week we learned about Blip! I am so glad that we were introduced to this application because it is an application that is definitely enjoyable. It is just like having your iPod in class but actually being allowed. It is nice to be able to listen to music knowing you aren't going to get into trouble doing so. Also it makes working much easier because being able to listen to the music you want helps me concentrate a lot better than if I had to hear the sound of keyboards typing away, and of the sound of the vent turning on every 2 min all day in class. I do think Nicks idea of creating a school radio would be a great idea, though it may not be all too educational, it would be something fun though.
A few of the applications that were introduced to us within the past week were pretty cool. Twitter for example is a really cool thing to follow people on. It seems like ever since I signed up for twitter people have been advertising it everywhere. It's really interesting but kind of boring because the people that we are twittering with are sitting right next to us.
ReplyDeleteBlip.fm is AMAZING. It is really awesome feature to be able to think of any song you are thinking of and be able to play it. Also following other people and see what songs they are posting. My favorite thing about this is how any song you listen to gets sent to twitter so all of your friends can listen if they want to.
Overall this ruberic is just ok. Doing the same thing over and over again really doesn't teach me anything new in the end but it does enhance my already known skills. Doing it in a week makes it to crappy though. I feel like I can do more and better if I had more time to do it all in. The first two lines of the ruberic is easy and actually kind of fun to do but once I reach line three and four I dread this class because they are sooooo boooorrrrriiiinnnngggggg.
I really don't think we should do this ruberic every week for the rest of this class. Maybe we should do it every other week or something =[
My successes for posting original content were how easy it was to post things. The difficulty for posting all of those things were time management. I didn't do well with managing my time. Managing all my content wasn't an issue, because I didn't get everything up. I agree that if you create quality work then you will be followed by many people. The value of creating good quality work is people will follow you and they will give their opinion about your work. For Animoto I liked how easy it was to make a movie. The benefit of Animoto is making a good presentation easily. The only down side with it is you can't put music by a known artist on the presentation. I didn't look at Blip.fm that much because I like to use another radio website called pandora. It would work in a school setting if a radio station was set up for the school. I don't see how we could make the Blip.fm work with the iPod. I think a wiki would be the best way to do the radio station if we do make a radio station. I think we should explore this more to see if it would work in a school setting.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to agree with Cameron, but maybe not as vehemently. I don't HATE the assignment, but I've gotta tell you, Mrs. Wilson, I think there are better things we could be doing. This is a communications class, and despite all the work we've been doing, there seems to be little communication going on. I mean, you posted a rubric for us to follow, which most of us accomplished with aplomb, but there really, really doesn't seem to be much of a rapport going on there. I don't know. Maybe I'm just crazy.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, successes and difficulties. I'd say one of my successes was that podcast, "How to Kiss," that I did with Hannah and Andrew. I still think it was hilarious, although apparently some disagree.
Not only was it funny, but I think it was also well put together and I handled the whole Podomatic thing very well. That would be one of my successes.
One of my difficulties is that I feel mildly awkward posting things on the same forum over and over. I know I have the OPTION to post elsewhere, but it's actually been kind of narrowed down to just the "We're Curious" Blog. YouTube and Deep Thought basically have the same problem--it's WAY too inconvenient to post a video and upload it onto a blog. Aside from the fact that it takes FOREVER, I feel really silly making a video about a video. The Wiki I feel odd about because Wikis are supposed to be INFORMATION SOURCES, not opinionated forums. In a way, posting on it makes us as bad as the people that go around and mess with true information just for poops and giggles.
There. I said it all. Go ahead and fire me now.
I will admit that I was one of the people who accidentally posted on this blog for the weekly challenge. My thoughts on the new weekly challenge are both good and bad. I think that it is a good thing because we are able to utilize sites and technology to get a grade in a class, and I find that a fun thing to do. The bad things about it is that it can get tedious doing the same thing over and over every week.
ReplyDeleteI used animoto, and I found it to be a fun, easy way to make slideshows that aren't boring. I think that I will use this more often on my own time and probably for other classes as well.
In conclusion, I think that most of the things that we do in this class are worthwile and may help me in the future. I like this class a lot and I most likely will recommend other students to take this class.
I think i might have been one of the people who posted my weekly challenge to this blog. I personally hate the weekly challenge only because I have never blogged in my life. I like the new experience but I personally find blogging kind of pointless. ( no offense to anyone )
ReplyDeleteI like making the videos though. it is a good way for me to be goofy in a context i'm allowed.
This week i became a DJ on blip.fm. I love this because music helps me concentrate during class and gives a small but noticable push. My playlist consists of Rock and Metal.
The weekly challenge things were going good for me at first but after awhile it just all went downhill. I thought that the weekly challenges were ok but they got kind of annoying after week two. But also this week we discovered blip.fm and I think that it is the best site that we have learned about in this class. I like how I can listen to any song that I like and it is just an amazing site, I wish that I knew about it earlier.
ReplyDelete