Cool for the Summer - Web 2.0

I was skeptical about them at first, but now I feel like I need them all!!!! It's this weird competitive thing I have. Like when you leave the restaurant at the same time as your family, but you're in separate cars and you're driving and then ALL OF A SUDDEN, you have this NEED to beat them home. And then you beat them home and say, "I won" and then they look at you like you're crazy because they were driving home and not competing with you. Yeah that's what these badges feel like for me. I need them all and I will do all of the challenges so that I can try to earn them - LOL. I'm not really sure how I'll do it, but I sure am going to try.  I think badges are useful in that context because they provide a nice, healthy sense of competition within a group. There are rules that are followed and stipulations to earning the badges, but there are no penalties for not earning them. I like that people can choose which ones they want to complete and which o...

The number of students that I've taught that have learned so much from social media is astounding. When I taught 5th grade I downloaded this new app called TikTok because all of my students were talking about it. They would come to class singing songs, doing dances, and quoting viral sounds and I needed to know what they were talking about. Not just because I was curious, but because half of the songs and quotes were inappropriate for 10/11 year olds to know.  This type of informal learning is becoming so much more prevalent in society today. Kids as young as one are handed iPads to watch videos so that they are entertained. This gives a whole new perspective on what kids are learning and how they are learning it.  When reading  Greenhow, C., & Lewin, C. (2016), it spoke about the difference between formal learning and informal learning. Formal learning is just what it sounds like and it sounds like what everyone is used to. Curriculum, teachers, students, classrooms....

So, I didn't think I would say it, but I really enjoy blogging. I know I touched on those feelings in an earlier post, but it has become a nice release during my week. I think it has also helped me process what I read better! This week one of the articles I chose was one from Dr. Dennen about being apart of a blogging community. I know that I know what online communities are, but I guess I never really thought about blogging as one. I think it might stem from the fact that I was behind the blogging trend growing up. I was just too young to understand the hype of having one. And then as I got older, they were for recipes, home things, style, etc. so I was still not going to be an author of a blog. What intrigues me the most about blogging though and what Dr. Dennen's article pointed out to me were the different groups of people within blogging communities. There is the blogger, who post their own blogs, which is all of us in this class. There is the commenter, which can branch i...

I have to put one personal thing here, before I dive into my thoughts. I am very sad that our FSU Softball team lost tonight and are no longer in the NCAA Tournament. This was their best season on record, and I am sad that I no longer get to follow their journey this season. I just love them so much!  Now, on to my thoughts that have been cleared up!  Earlier this week, I did my readings, like I do at the beginning of every week. I read the Prensky article about digital natives and I thought about myself and also about the students I teach. I thought about how I am technically a digital native, but an earlier one. I thought about how kids today have much more experience with technology than I do. But then, after I posted in the discussion board, Rachel Wellman (shoutout!) brought up a great counterpoint and said that just because they are from this younger generation doesn't mean that they will have the same access to technology as the rest of their peers. This got me thinking...

Produsage...an interesting term. It has been a difficult term to figure out, for me at least. I recognize that I definitely use the content that is out in the world. I'm on most social medias, I use email/Microsoft Office daily and I use Google to answer most questions that I have. I don't think I had ever heard the term "produsage" until this class, but it makes sense to me, after reading more about it. I would think that I contribute to the internet much less than others, which would make me a smaller produser than others. I rarely comment or respond to comments, but I "like" posts and tweets, sometimes without even thinking. It is just one of those things that comes naturally now. So this would make me a produser, even if I do it subconsciously.  I think a great example of produsage would be the website TeachersPayTeachers (TPT). It's a lifesaver of a website that almost every teacher I know has bought something from at least once. The whole premise b...

Okay, so this week has showed me that maybe I don't know everything about technology and social media tools. I have Instagram and I have Twitter and am fully comfortable with those two tools. I made new accounts for them both and will probably delete them at the conclusion of this class (if you want to follow my personal ones, I'm @sarahstraughn12 on them both!!). They are my regular "go to" social medias, besides TikTok, these days. I use Instagram to mainly keep up on my friends and pop culture. Twitter is one of my main news sources. If there is something happening in the world, I will usually check Twitter first! It is one of the quickest reporters of the news these days.  However, I explored through the RSS Feeder and I feel a little lost. I think that with most things it will take me some time to understand what is going on, but for now it seems to have me a little stumped. Never to fear though, I will push through because I am always open to trying new things ...

I'm starting to like this whole blogging thing, I think. It really has helped me focus my thoughts and to see where I want the direction of this ship to head (metaphorically, of course!). While doing some exploration this week, I discovered that there aren't many people making podcasts about Web 2.0, but there are SO MANY about social media. These podcasts are targeted towards all kinds of groups of people. Realtors, stylists, 'momprenours', influencers, Disney adults, students, etc. The list goes on and on. As I was scrolling through the list, I wondered "how can people produce this much content?" and also, "how can people CONSUME this much content?" It seems otherworldly to me, and I love listening to podcasts. I guess my biggest takeaway from my initial dive into Web 2.0 is that there is so much content out there and we are constantly searching for more. It's one of the reasons why I think that the Internet will never go away. There is too muc...

This week has been L O N G. We finished up testing this week at school and we are in our final countdown of "______ Days 'Til Summer" (it's 8 btw!!) We are also in the process of wrapping up meetings and making sure that students who need summer school are good to go. It's going to be a long last 8 days as well. However, this week got me thinking about the terms in this class and how often I use them. Social media is part of my daily life. I connect with people all the time through it. And I don't even mean like finding old friends or anything like that. I mean I connect with people I already know like sending them posts, tagging them in giveaways and tweeting at them. I think that connect with them through social media has helped me develop a sort of online community. I'm hopeful that this doesn't really change as the years go on, because I love getting to learn and discover new things through the lens of social media. 

I think that I'm too young to remember when blogging was popular, although I'm no stranger to people's musings on the Internet. I was raised on the Internet, it being a mere 5 years older than me. Now, I do remember having dial-up and having to wait for people to get off the landline in order to use the internet, but that was early on in my time. I think that allowing myself to see where the Internet started to where it is now will be interesting. This blog will be a combination of my thoughts on our weekly readings, but also I think just my thoughts on social media in general. As a person from the "millennial" generation, I have a lot of thoughts on where social media began and my journey with using it. But also, I have a lot of thoughts as to where it is now and how I continue to use it. So, this should be something fun and different for me and I can't wait!