CCK08 Week 3 - Words, words, words

Week 3: Properties of Networks (September 22-28)

Word words words...

For the past couple of days I have spent my time reading some of the Moodle Forum posts and participant blogs. I now have hundreds (or more/) words floating around in my mind. I am so connected to the words, that I am even dreaming about them!

However, I note that most of the information I have read (which is very interesting) is not very focused on this weeks topic. My goal tomorrow is to read some articles which focus more on the properties of networks.

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Moodle Forums I read or posted comments to...

• Quotable Quotes by Ariel Lion (read)
  
• What makes a connection a connection? How are you doing it? by Colleen Hodgins (posted a comment)
  
• Enjoyment & Engagement by Steve McKenzie (Lots of links I'm interested in following up - see resources below)
  
• Neuroscience, learning and knowledge creation by Dolores Capdet
  
• My Presentation by Pier Giuseppe Rossi
  
• The US Department of Defense Understands Connectivity! by Ariel Lion
  
• What does Wordle Show by Tom Whyte. Examples: Course Blog Wordle & Facebook Wordle. Irmeli Aro
  

I am a very visual person (& learner) and a wordle attracts my attention (as all images do) however I don't feel that it assists me to "learn".

Wordle created at wordle.net from my blog post My small world

• Concept maps - a Synchronous Discussion by Steve Mackenzie (posted a comment)
  
• Ethics of Networks by Ariel lion
  
• RSS Feed by Emanuela Zibordi
  

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My thoughts about the Moodle Forum postings...
I find the posts to be a great place to get an overview of a number of different view points on a range of topics. They also lead me to some very interesting sites where I am discovering lots of new information, ideas and tools. However, I agree with Jayne Little's comment: "Catherine, you are teaching many individuals the limits of their tolerance & how to do selective engagement in threads." and I now skip most of Catherine's comments (and the replies from others). I would love to post my agreement to many of the posts that suggest that Catherine's "personal attacks" and "mud-slinging" are not critical discussion, but I am too "thin-skinned" and do not want to risk a personal attack in return.

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Facebook posts I read....

• What can Wordle Do? by Tom Whyte
  

Blogs/Webs I read or posted comments to....

• Moor_Vir by Colleen Hodgins
  
• The Impact of Challenge on Learning at Meanderings by pingadohtor
  
• classroomblogging by Lorna Costantini
  
• The Clever Sheep by Rodd Lucier
  
• watzsheup2.com/webharmony by Rosalyn Pursey
  

Quote: "In closing, I guess I am asking all those people who are thinking of redeveloping curriculum using this approach to teaching and learning to consider the barriers that their students will face. Test your processes thoroughly with your target audience to ensure that the tech barrier is not too high. Also, you may want to hedge your bets and also present some or all of the curriculum using more traditional approaches to account for participants who have difficulty with the “social” aspect of social networking."

A possible topic for my Masters Project - Create an online course using a Connectivism approach and explore (research) some of the barriers Rosalyn has highlighted in her blog.

• Adventures in Corporate Education by Gina Minks
  
• Learning about connectivism by Selena Chan
  
• The Curious and Wondering Eye by Kristina Hoeppner. I liked Kristina's idea of creating a wordle out of her posts.
  

Quote: "I order to see where I have been active and to reflect on my sparse activity during the week, I collected all Moodle and blog posts as well as tweets connected to the the course and put them in the infamous Wordle."

A wordle of my week 2 posts

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People I connected with...

• Colleen Hodgins (via CCK08 Moodle forum)