Journal Entry #3: Commercial Concerns in the Social Web

Friesen, N. (2010, December 6). Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3149/2718



In the article, "Education and the social web: Connective learning and the commercial imperative" by Norm Friesen, Friesen argues that "commercial social networks are much less about circulating knowledge than they are about connecting users with advertisers."  He focuses his article on Facebook, Twitter, and Diggs and brings about four points: learning in a 2.0 web, the media business model, the use of an algorithm to define audiences, and connectivist and commercial priorities.  All in all, has the social network evolved into a controlled world led by advertisers?

Before this article, I never really looked at social networking as benefiting or being based upon education.  Although it might have begun with that intention or has been marketed to be of education, I have never thought of it as such.  When Friesen discusses the business plans of such social moguls like Facebook, Twitter, and Diggs, he mentions that their business model "...restricts their informational design that detract from learner control and educational use."  Isn't most everything influenced and led by advertisers and a higher being? Although, social networks claim to have begun from education and were geared toward learners and benefiting them, it most always evolves into commercialism if it wants to grow and succeed. 

Though there are aims in pushing social networking within the classrooms and education, we need to accept the fact that it is already there.  Commercialism and advertisements are going to be what run the sites and or apps and lead the user to where they want whether it be to other advertisements or to higher click counts.  Social media is being used in education, but not as excitingly.  Perhaps, if it is to be more educationally geared, then we as clickers, viewers, or subscribers should create that trend and lesson the commercialism.




Q1:  Do you think Facebook, Twitter, and Diggs can be more geared toward education and still have the advertisements within it?  


A1:  Yes, I believe that if teachers use it within their classrooms, they have to set the precedence, guidelines and rules and restrictions.  Parents have to be involved as well working together with the teacher to ensure that it is strictly used for education.  The difficulty with that is that students are intelligent and quite tech savvy.  They were born and raised in this technology and social networking and know how to navigate through it even with restrictions.  We should learn to to work with it and not against it as far as advertisements are concerned.  Commercial pressure may limit the social web for education, but not if we don't let it. 



Q2:  Friesen expresses his belief that "Education is clearly a social process."  Do you believe in that?

A2:  I believe that education is always evolving.  What was once learned through experience and textbooks is not learning through experience, textbooks, social media, and peers everywhere around the world.  Education has become less limited and more open to whomever wants to learn it.  Even though it has a lot to do with commercialism, many things in life is because of commercialism.  We as a society are guided by what we see and hear.  It is up to us to determine which path we want to go down even if it is a path led by someone else.  It is up to us to evaluate the decisions and create the outcome.  

Jennifer Lau

GED 512

Journal Entry #2: Diggs Reader and Affinity Group

No Longer A Dinosaur?

I’ve always seen and heard people talk about checking all of their newsfeeds and how many subscriptions they have.  One parent I had was sharing with me that all he did every morning before work was check all of his newsfeeds and then finish them throughout the day when he had a spare moment or two.  I thought, “How hard is that?” I check the weather and news on my phone, too and it takes me about 10 minutes to read the headlines and see how hot or cold the day is.  Well, apparently I was doing it all wrong.  I was called a dinosaur! 

“Rather than click on your daily news app and then the weather app and if you have some spare time, wait for the website links you type into Google on your phone to load, why not read it all from one place?” he asked.  “One place?  Impossible” I told him.  I figured it was out of my realm.  After all, he was a computer programmer and wrote out scripts to teach the computer.  I’m a teacher trying to keep up to date with my students.  He named off a bunch of apps that were capable of housing all of your newsfeeds, but I didn’t pay too much attention because I was so blown away by such an absurd idea. 

Here I am now.  In my web design course asked to try it out.  I was skeptical; resistant.  How would I possibly have so many feeds I’d be interested in following?  Well, to my surprise, it is quite amazing.  Not only do I have everything housed in one place, it actually updates itself and gives me a chronological list with titles of the articles.  I don’t have to search.  All I have to do is scroll and click.  It has actually taught me a thing or two about what I can add in my teaching and classroom activities.  I can learn from others who are in the same boat as I am with the new Common Core Standards rolling out and incorporating technology more so into my curriculum to prepare my students to the future.  This is why I joined the affinity group groups.diigo.com/group/classroom20.  Classroom 2.0 shares with me some obstacles teachers have had with ipads, the do's and don'ts with ipads in the classroom and what I can do with the apps and ipads in the classroom.  All in all, diggs reader was a great idea and now I have a way of organizing all of the feeds in one place.  The most important thing, I feel, from this diggs.com reader is that now I can feel less like a dinosaur.  

Q1:  What do you hope to gain from the affinity group Classroom 2.0? 

A1:  I hope to get up to speed with what teachers are doing with the ipads they use in their classrooms.   I hope to also get some ideas to share with my colleagues about ipads and their apps.  It is also a struggle for veteran teachers to jump on board with ipads in the classrooms which makes it hard for my first grade team and me to implement these new skills when others are so resistant.  

Q2:  Do you think students would be able to create either a blog or a diggs reader for the classroom?

A2:  I had a colleague who taught Kindergarten start a classroom blog (moderated by the teacher and parents).  She would start with a general question of, "What was the favorite part of your day?" and move along the year with questions like, "Why is it important to be a good friend?" "How can you be a good friend?"  She told me that of course it started slowly, but as they became more familiar with the keyboard and had parent support, students started to blog more and discuss it in class.  This helped her class become more close knit and friendlier to one another.

Journal Entry #1

Jennifer Lau
GED 512
Reflection of Chapters 1-3

Robbins, J. (2012). Learning Web Design : A Beginner's Guide to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web Graphics. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly. 




Summary: 
 
After reading chapters 1-3, it really opened my eyes to just how much goes into web design.  Not only do you have multiple parts of the web page that consist of layers, but the URL itself also contains specific sections.  I knew it was a complex system, but when it is broken down in the text book, it really made me realize just how much it really consisted of. 

When talking about what you need to get a web page started, it seems pretty straight forward.  However, when you actually begin to build upon component and component, there are so many more details that need to be addressed before the whole comes together.  Though it may seem as though you only need the basics such as: an up-to-date computer, extra memory, a large monitor, scanner or digital camera, a second computer, and mobile devices, and the software, one really needs to know what the end goal is and what part can be done by yourself or if a team of experts is needed to achieve your goal.  When putting together all of the components, it was interesting to read that everything was made up of layers.  The CSS or cascading style sheets is made up like a layer of cake.  First, you would  need the structure or the foundation of the web page using HTML.  Next, you would to build upon that layer with style sheets called the presentation layer.  The last layer you would need is the behavior layer.  Here scripts are written up to make an interactive page.  Once all of these come together, the web page is ready to be navigated and is also appealing to the eye.  

Q1:  How would understanding the basic components of web design be beneficial?
A1:Knowing and understanding basic components of web design allows you to create a strong foundation of understanding in which you can build upon.  Creativity can be utilized more so when you understand what and why something is happening and how it looks.  When you have a basic understanding of web design, you can troubleshoot faster and learn to build upon what you know to create something new.

Q2:  Can a webpage be incorporated into my classroom? 
A2:  I have come across many technical difficulties with my district website.  It is supposed to be a plug and play type format where you can click the different sections and then post up the content.  Unfortunately, it is quite limited as far as creativeness goes and it is also quite visually boring.  By learning how to create a web page, I can then use the one I create rather than use the district version.  I can also create some sort of project where students can create a mock webpage that goes along with a book report of some sort.  This way, I can begin to prepare my students of the future more so rather than stick to the ways I am used to.  This allows me to learn and take a chance with technology rather than sit back and watch as my students begin to teach me everything that is so second nature to them with technology.