Okay, I did it! I created my blog and am now posting my first-ever blog!
I viewed "The 7 1/2 Habits." I think for me the habit I have the most trouble with is number 3: "View problems as challenges." I tend to let obstacles derail me--especially with technology, when it's easy to say "forget it" and go on to something else. For example, during the "7 1/2" tutorial, I was unable to open the attachment to the Learning Contract. It would have been easy for me to become derailed at that point. Being enrolled in Marymount's Web 2.0 Learning Program will help me because of the structure and the accountability built into the plan. Another Habit that is more difficult for me is number 6: "Use technology to your advantage." When I remember back to my days in college using a manual typewriter and little sheets or correction paper (or even earlier to high school, when I typed newsletters for my Girl Scout troop on ditto and nearly passed out from the smell of the ditto correction fluid!), I do know that technology has added much to our lives. However, I also think that in some ways technology has detracted from our lives. I'm thinking particularly of cell phones and maybe MP3 players too, which often seem to isolate people rather than bring them together. My dealing with technology means that I am often wrestling with my view of much technology as "necessary evil."
As far as the habits that are easier for me, I think that number 4: "Have confidence in yourself as a confident, effective learner" is something that I do have. I don't have a fear of technology per se, but a reluctance to use/do something with technology if I think it's going to take a lot of time, or as I mentioned above, if I come to an obstacle then I tend to abandon the project.
I also like Habit 7 1/2: "PLAY!"
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4 comments:
Welcome to the blogosphere! You have some really great insights into your own learning. I have to agree that sometimes technology can create more problems than it solves and is oftentimes used indiscriminately. However...I am so happy every time I create a Word document and do not have to struggle with the messy whiteout while I make corrections.
While I was reading your comments about technology isolating people, how true! I haven't spoken to a lot of people for a long time because of the convenience of email. Some, for years. And I know what you mean when you say technology isn't very friendly. It is frustrating when it doesn't do what it's suppose to (nothing to do with the operator, of course! :-)), and you just say, "forget it". A class seems to be required when learning most of this stuff. However, I am already learning from this class -thanks Mary- and am anxious to see how I can apply these lessons. But next time I'm giving myself a cool name like Footnote.
Yeah, I wasn't very creative in my naming either. I like "Mezzanine." I want to know who the other Learning 2.0 bloggers are!
Ah, the old double-edge sword of technology. To me, the isolating tendencies of recent technologies are a continuation of forces that have been at play for some time representing the loss of the commons. Neighbors no longer know each other, commuters travel to work in their private automobiles, and public spaces not associated with commerce seem increasingly rare. Nothing new here – Robert Putnam talked about it in his seminal work Bowling Alone (hmm, can't seem to link to the article. Here's the URL http://bowlingalone.notlong.com).
I think this relates to the choices we make both individually and collectively about how we want to use technologies. If I’m talking on a cellphone, I can’t be giving my attention to people in my immediate vicinity. Ditto with listening to an mp3 player. But, I am communicating with someone on the cellphone (or email), and I might be listening to an audio book or a lecture on my mp3 player, which, while not social, is no more anti-social than reading a book. The question is, can we use these technologies as ways to “rub shoulders” with people we would otherwise not come into contact with as well as with those within the communities we are involved in? Too often I think we don’t discuss the (ab)uses of technology collectively. Kudos to you for bringing it up.
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