Kevin's Class Blog

Final Reflections

2005-07-13T23:46:00.000-07:00

Wiki, AIM, and Blogs - not only has my vocabulary grown as a result of this course, but I have learned a tremendous amount about how to operate and collaborate on-line.

Of these tools we explored, I most enjoyed the blogging. Since week two, I have been telling people I know about this tool. During the last presidential election it become a familiar word to many people, but few people I know actually understand what it is. I have introduced it to folks at work to see if it is a tool we can use. It is important to recognize the limitations of a blog, but to embrace the simplicity of how it works. Just last night I was sharing it with a volunteer who is traveling around the country roofing Habitat houses. He wants to share his experience on line with supporters and friends. I suggested blogging instead of a website.

The the yahoo group emails have become standard for a lot of my classes and work groups, so it was pretty easy to understand how they work and their value. It was encouraging to get emails from classmates acknowledging my work, and the format was good for posting questions. I found the group emails as a good way to put an issue on the table and maybe direct me to a specific part of the wiki or class assignment. A few times after reading an email from a classmate, I went directly to the web to see what they were talking about.

While I had the AIM on my computer and constantly popping up to tell me who was "on" or "off" or going "idle," I only used it once or twice. This tool may take me a while to get used to. I just don't like interrupting other people, and I kind of feel like the AIM does that. I know that there are all sort of directions we can put in the program to show if we are "busy" or "out," but it still feels like an intrusion to me to IM.

This was my second time using the wiki in class. I must say, that I became much more active on it this time than last. I also felt that we were more collaborative this time. Not that my team did not work together last time, but I felt like this was more of a virtual team this time. I was impressed with the way each person contributed and most of us took the initiative to make changes to the entire site. It was also cool that people were open to changes being made on top of their changes. The site truly evolved. I suppose that any one of use could have dominated the site simply by how much time we wanted to put in. This is a little different than a traditional team model with a designated leader. Responsibility is not so much designated in this type of virtual collaboration as it is initiate by oneself. The format requires the whole to take responsible for the project. People can not just sit back and wait to be called upon to do something. Everyone's input was necessary to make the project work.

The concept of the group thought being more powerful than any one person's input is easy to accept in theory, but to put it into practice on the wiki is harder. We have to trust that what someone else says is correct or we need to be willing to take the time to research it ourselves and make changes. One person could change the entire wiki, but if we are all vigilant to the changes it starts to self regulate.

This leads me to another paradigm shift for me in this class. I struggled with the implementation of spending 15 minutes a day working on the course. It was hard to get started each day. I always felt like, "what can I do in 15 minutes?" I felt like I couldn't make much contribution in such a small amount of time. What I came to learn is that when 6 of us were spending 15 minutes a day on the class, that one and half hours a day were being contributed to our collective effort. This is where the true value of regular activity comes into play. The little bit of work I may have contributed early in the morning before work, may spark an idea for someone else who checks the wiki during their lunch break and the thought may be completed by someone else that afternoon. Now, for this to be successful, I have to be open to the product coming out different than my original intent - heck it is likely to be more fully developed because of the different perspectives that add to the product.

This reflection itself is a different way of doing things. At first I was going to write this in a word document and then paste it into the blog, but I felt like that was not in the spirit of the class. I decided to write it directly in my blog. For me the blog feels more like a personal journal entry. I don't focus as much on grammar and such as I do on just getting my thought out in the blog. It is a more free flowing expression of my learning than a polished fancy paper. Speaking of paper; this is the first class I have had in my graduate program which I did not use any paper at all. Usually, I print out all the readings and I take a ton of notes which I may or may not refer to again. Frequently, I hand draft ideas or brainstorm on a note pad, but not in this class. Everything I have done has been on the computer. Occasionally, I opened a word document to keep some notes, but for the most part I did everything on-line or through email. This is really exciting because my file cabinet is overflowing with notes, articles and books from past classes.

This class has certainly flown by. I enjoyed it immensely, and I am please to have struggled with a new way of approaching class work and collaboration. The world of the wiki is fascinating, and as more people gain access to receiving and publishing information, the way we perceive fact could change. The group opinion could easily become the "authority" opinion. As we discussed in the first class, this is already happening when we look at e-commerce and search engines.

I hope to continue to growing in my use of technology in my daily life and work environment. Thanks to Pat and my classmates for making this a very positive experience!

preparing

2005-07-13T18:56:00.000-07:00

here i am preparing to write my reflection blog, and showing a friend how to set up his own blog.

Overview of work

2005-07-06T04:02:00.000-07:00

This morning I just scanned through the work that everyone has done in this class. It is pretty incredible. The wiki has evolved from a few headings to a multiple paged site with significant content. With most of us being first time bloggers, it it pretty impressive to read through everyone's blog and see their regular reflections. Since most people don't journal as a regular activity, it can be hard to reflect regularly; but to do it online is another step forward.

I liked seeing the way ideas have built off of one another. For example, yesterday with the use of color on the wiki. I learned how to add color by looking at the edits from what Pat posted. Then Natasha took the idea and used it too. She went another step by adding a line break to separate the references out from the body of text.

This whole idea of the group governing the process and the product is new to me. I am used to having someone in charge. It comes back to what we discussed the first day of class, when we questioned how we define "authority". In the wiki, it open a whole new definition of authority, and questions how I perceive factual right and wrong.

Time

2005-07-05T04:58:00.000-07:00

Time is flying by. The class is almost over. When I think about what I have been learning, it is tremendous. There has been more of a change in mind set and an basic understanding of some internet tools than there has been a depth new knowledge. Things to note as I get into my reflection paper.
- learning the tools - wiki, AIM, yahoo groups, blogs
- researching and completing assignments
- regular activity
- paperless class work
- collaboration
- work of the whole is greater than any one part

these are just some thoughts to get me started next week.

look of the wiki

2005-07-04T06:16:00.000-07:00

I hope no one minds a little color on the wiki. In an attempt to make the "look" of our assignment a little more uniform I went through and made all the headers the same. I was also dying to learn how to add color. In the edits area of one of the pages I saw that Pat had made a header green. I was able to copy her command and do the same on our pages.

This is a little uncomfortable to change someone else's work, but it seems to be the nature of the collaborative project. With the best interest of the project in mind, i made some small changes. If some thinks they are inappropriate they will probably change my changes. The good updates will stay and the bad ones will be taken away. This is very interesting.

Kevin

images

2005-07-04T05:16:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to add a photo to my profile, but was not successful. In the meantime, I think I figured out how to add an image to my blog posting.

This is a photo of a trip last year to Guatemala. Lake Atitlan, one of my favorite places in the world is behind me.

Thanks Amy for the idea of posting images. This morning, I decided to read through everyone's blog and see what kind of insights my classmates were having.

Have a great July 4th!

Citations

2005-07-01T05:16:00.000-07:00

Today I got some experience with http://citationmachine.net/

I am also getting more used to navigating the wiki. Still struggling with how to only dedicate 20 minutes a day and still make progress. By working quicker, I feel like I don't put out the same quality I am used to when I really spend time on something. This is showing in the my presentation of the material. At the moment, some of my contributions just look like a group of citations.

At least I am getting away for plagiarism.

I am still working primarily on my own stuff. Tomorrow, I will branch out to work on the entire site, in additional to "my" sections. Group ownership - this is a new way of doing things.

colaboration online

2005-06-30T04:44:00.000-07:00

Today, i started working on our colaborative assigment. Amy and Natasha really took the lead on getting it rolling. First I had to identify the direction they were going in with the assignment. With no real objections to the starting format, I decided to contribute and start filling in blanks. I was doing a lot of copying and pasting. I don't know if this is acceptable or if i am doing it correctly. I did identify where I get the info from, but I did it on the reference link in our wiki.

It is amazing how much more we can get done this way. One area I can forsee being a challenge is when one of us has a problem with what someone else has written. As a class, there is a personal contact behind each entry. Some people may not have a problem changing someone else's work, but I know this will be a sensative area for me.

catching up

2005-06-29T04:29:00.000-07:00

I am finally catching up. it has been hard for my to get my mind around doing 30 or 40 minutes aday of homework. I sit down, and instead of actively working right away, I read and think and next thing I know 20 minutes has passed me by.

Today I toyed with some formatting on the wiki. I would like to get more proficient in this area.

People at work are starting to use our blog. it may take some time to make it a valuable resource, but I am happy our volunteers are exploring the technology.

wiki

2005-06-28T03:52:00.000-07:00

The more I use the wiki the more comfortable I get with it. I can now pretty smoothly go from page to page in the wiki and do quick edits with out much difficulty. My next step is to get comfortable with some formatting items and used to the history section so I can see and track changes.

noticable difference in using the web

2005-06-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

one thing that I am noticing is that I have been using the web much more this week as a tool to answer questions. for the phone book or looking up address or looking up something before a meeting, i have been using the internet more as part of my daily life. just a point of interest to me.

blogging, researching and etc

2005-06-23T04:33:00.000-07:00

I just learned about forgotten passwords and usernames on blogger.com. That is a bad sign about how much I have been using this blog recently. Thank goodness, I was able to get back into my Class Blog and reflect. This morning I chose my assignment for this week, and began researching information about backup policies and procedures. As I read through various web sites I am thinking a lot about how to use this information at work. In addition to doing the assignment and writings a memo on the wiki, this is an issue for my office. Hopefully this experience in class will translate into some type of action to be more responsible with our information at the office.

At our first office staff meeting last week, I mentioned blogging to the volunteers. There are so many people coming into the office for just a few hours a week to run the place, we decided to set up a blog too track changes in the office. Things like "I moved this file box from this desk to that desk." The SCHFH Office Blog at http://schfhoffice.blogspot.com/ This may not be the best format, but the group seemed to be able to handle this idea better than the wiki. At the very least I am please that we have retired volunteers interested in using technology to address our communication issues.

Showing friends at work

2005-06-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

Today I am showing folks from the office how to blog. We are going to set one up for our office volunteers.
- kevin

Bouncing around

2005-06-14T05:04:00.000-07:00

I just spent about 45 minutes bouncing around the web looking for useful information to form opinions and direct ideas for class. While I looked at our collective assignment, visited about 15 web sites and went through my Outlook address book to find past information I have received over the past year. It was amazing to pull up a wiki link I used last year for a class project about donor management software. After reading the assignments for class this week, I can see how some people may think that blogs are a fad, but there seems to be a huge value in allowing people to put information out in blogosphere. We just need to learn how to receive such a vast amount of information and how to decipher what is worth believing in.
-Kevin

Change of routine

2005-06-13T04:54:00.000-07:00

One of the hardest things this week about this course has been taking time each day to get on line and do class work. My routine for my past few grad classes has been to block out a day each week to do homework for class. Now, this class requires daily participation. I need to relize that it is okay to do homework even if I only have 15 minutes to spend on it. it is the regular activity which is important.

First Posting

2005-06-10T05:57:00.000-07:00

June 10, 2005

Here goes. This is my first posting on my first blog. I got over the hurdle of setting it up. The process was actually painless. Today I set up my IAM account too. I am really moving along with getting all this tech stuff rolling. Now, I just need to learn how to manage my time to use these tools effectively without taking over my life.

-kevin