I didn't have time to read this article once I located it online, so I bookmarked it in Diigo. (Okay, first I bookmarked it in Firefox, then in Diigo). I've had an account there for a while, have bookmarked a few things, but that was it. It was just someplace where I could access my bookmarks regardless of the computer I was using. And to be honest, that was more in theory than in practice. Now I see the benefits of using a site such as Diigo, and how it applies to what was discussed in the article regarding social learning. Not only was I able to highlight material and add comments through the use of sticky notes, but what was really neat, was that I could see what other people had hightlighted and their comments. Part of the last paragraph in the section, The Brewing Perfect Storm of Opportunity, was highlighted already and there was a short "conversation," regarding the problems that these tools create as far as content is concerned. The response spoke of "fear based" decision making around trying to monitor content, commenting that students are out on the web already saying/doing who knows what, and that we need to engage students and help them have more productive, respectful conversations. This example struck me as a participatory medium in action!
I'm also wondering that as we become a more global society, are we also becoming a more isolated society? While our virtual world is expanding, is our physical world shrinking?
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Thanks for this story of you experience with Diigo, Susanne. Very helpful to read about your discoveries.
ReplyDeleteYour final observation regarding isolation is something I haven't experienced. I have become more connected because my online learning has increased my personal and professional network of colleagues.
For students, we need to monitor their online activities in the same way we would monitor any other activities. It seems to me that we have a responsibility to guide them through developmental stages in all areas so they mature in healthy and productive ways.
Dennis
I *have* experienced the problem of my physical world shrinking when I spend time on virtual-world connections! When I disappear down the "black hole" of blog posts and article links and emails and such, I don't play a game with my husband (tonight) or don't come color with my daughter as soon as she'd like (this afternoon). I also don't call my old friends on the phone, or walk around the neighborhood where I might run into my neighbors -- or if I do, I choose a route where I WON'T run into them, because time to walk fast and get exercise is so short! Time is a limited resource, and I'd rather spend it on in-person or at least telephone connections than on virtual connections. That's why I have a LOT of interest in Diigo -- it has the potential to SAVE time by keeping me from looking for the same sites again that I already found once before -- but very little interest -- OK, absolutely no interest at all -- in purely social networking online. (It's also why I wish people would use their full names on Chatzy. I'm WAY more interested in reading what someone has to say if I can figure out who they are.)
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