Week 7: Learning Networks

The Digital Ethnography site was very interesting to me not only because the content was relatable and interesting, but due to the concept of using the site as a means for sharing students’ work and learning with an audience. “Going public” is an important final step in the learning process which is often overlooked and underrated. It is imperative that students have the opportunity to share their learning and publicly reflect on the learning process. Digital Ethnology is definitely a site that I will follow to see updates on this professor’s class as they learn about the human natures.

The students who created the videos on Digital Ethnography were motivated to learn and create compelling presentations for the information they learned in their various projects. When students have a clear end goal in mind, they will, far more often than not, achieve their goal no matter what. When students create sites such as the sites we looked at this week, outsiders can peruse the information in search of anything in which they are interested. Informally, many people learn information and skills through podcasts such as the Teaching with Technology podcasts. These types of websites sharing expert-created media allow learning to easily happen in many directions.

Continual partial attention, a term with which Linda Stone has begun using, was a very interesting concept as it was something to which I was able to easily relate. As an Apple user playing a hundred or better roles in many different facets of my life, I find it very difficult to make time to deeply pay attention to any one thing. Between my computer, iPad, and iPhone, there is always some form of information coming through these synced devices, and I am constantly caught in the middle deciding which is most important and how to prioritize all of my responsibilities.

4 thoughts on “Week 7: Learning Networks

  1. Pingback: Week 7 overview of group 2 | Emerging Learning Technologies

  2. Karen Yarbrough

    Continual partial attention is sometime we need to start thinking more about as educators. Some people can have things on the back burner, as it were, and function just fine. Other people need more focus. I used to have a biology teacher in high school who’d play music during labs and such. He had to stop because someone complained. Eventually, he just did it anyway unless it was a test. We need to consider how media impacts attention and focus.

  3. Justin Montgomery

    Your phraseology “going public” is golden. I can hear myself calling it out in class, motivating students like a team of business execs who are about to announce their product to the world. I’m stealing this phrase from you.

    I’m glad that you mentioned podcasts. I know a senior in high school who listens to three or four different podcasts every morning on his bus ride to school. Students will pursue their interests no matter what. Knowing how to access the right resources is important, and finding media-based ones appeal more to digital natives.

    Regarding continual partial attention, check out Lifehacker’s article, <a href="Your phraseology “going public” is golden. I can hear myself calling it out in class, motivating students like a team of business execs who are about to announce their product to the world. I’m stealing this phrase from you.

    I’m glad that you mentioned podcasts. I know a senior in high school who listens to three or four different podcasts every morning on his bus ride to school. Students will pursue their interests no matter what. Knowing how to access the right resources is important, and finding media-based ones appeal more to digital natives.

    Regarding continual partial attention, check out Lifehacker’s article, More Productivity Myths, Debunked by Science (and Common Sense). I agree with the article’s position on Myth #2 about multitasking: flexibility in selecting tasks as the need arises trumps the notion that doing several things at once increases productivity.
    " title="More Productivity Myths, Debunked by Science (and Common Sense)". I agree with the article’s position on Myth #2 about multitasking: flexibility in selecting tasks as the need arises trumps the notion that doing several things at once increases productivity.

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