My experience with Twitter and Considering its Educational applications

I got a Twitter account some time last year or so. Just to see what all the buzz was about. I actually learned a few tricks about it from my mother. Since then I've tweeted 86 times (mainly retweets if memory serves me correctly) and then checked it sparingly to see what stuff people are posting. I have learned things from reading Twitter posts and following links there in. That being said I've done the same on other social media sites as well.

Could Twitter be useful for education? I think it could but it would need to be closely monitored.

Is Twitter the type of social media students would gravitate towards? I'm not sure.

Is Twitter an "old person" social media or a "teen" social media site? Again I'm not sure.

On one hand if Twitter is an "old person" social media site then teachers might be able to use it in the class room and keep the students Twitter accounts strictly academic.

On the other hand if Twitter is a "teen" social media due to the amount of celebrities you can follow it might prove to difficult to manage to maintain an academic environment for learning.

Well that is what I think. 

GED 512 website project wire frame and site map

Information about my GED 512 website project,.

Site title - Home Bible Study Website.

Developer - James M Williamson

Rational or focus - I plan to build a website that can be used for a simple home Bible study. I will use a simple two column design for all my pages with a picture header that I will choose at a later time. I personally prefer a simple design as it will allow the user to focus in on the information. 

Main features outline - The page will have a header, a navigation bar and the page content. 

• Content - Approximately five individual Web pages. Functionally  the site will simple with a home page that feed to the current lesson page, discussion forum page, and the contacts page.  Then the Current Lesson Page will have subpages that will the the old archived previous Bible study lesson.

Target audience - Individuals who will attend the Bible study.

Design considerations. My goal for this project is for it to be a user friendly way to get Bible study material to  the individuals attending.

Limiting factors - Interest of those attending.

My thoughts on "Education and the Social Web: Connective learning and the commercial imperative

I just read the article at http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3149/2718 and these are my thoughts.

Dr. Norm Friesen makes a good case that Facebook and other social media on the internet are engineered to make money. He shows how they do so by selling special advertising space that can specifically target an audience based on information know by the social network. The author also points out that these networks are engineered to discourage dissent, negativity, disagreement and expression of disdain as negativity does not sell as well as positivity. Dr Friesen argues that the commercially driven nature of social networks should be reason enough to exclude them from any future educational models.

That being said, I disagree with Dr. Friesen.  Social networks making a profit is not bad. It is good for our economy and the people that work for those companies, who by the way also have families that will benefit from education. Companies making a profit by having better advertising is also not bad. This too is good for our economy, those companies, the people employed by those companies and their families.  Social networks discouraging dissent or limiting dissent to comments that can be left is just a good idea. I personally have never cared for rude persons or businesses and do not know a person who does.

As for social media not having a place in education, I also disagree with Dr. Friesen. Just because my shirt has a logo on it does not mean I can not use it to teach my child about letters and reading.  Just because the History Channel uses advertising to make a profit that pays for the programming does not mean that I can not learn from it.  Just because Facebook does not have a dislike button does not mean I can not think, type and "post" a "comment" letting others know that I disagree with an issue. Education is about applying oneself to learn and can be done anywhere... even on social media. So when we are crafting instruction plans I do not think it wise to simply write off social media as a source of information.

My experience using Digg Reader for the first time.

I'm not sure I've got the hang of Digg yet, however it does empower you to learn some pretty cool things with just a few clicks.
First thing that caught my eye was news from NASA about the upcoming first launch of the Orion space capsule (unmanned and part way to the moon and back).
Second thing catching my fancy was learning that the Nintendo Corporation in Japan is now 125 years and originally started out as a playing card manufacturer.
I also skimmed through a few more articles talking about past female warriors who had an impact on history and learned a few things about New Jersey, Virginia and Tennessee.
Here is to learning some more things from the Digg Reader!

About Me

I'm a Christian, husband, father, son, Texan, US Army Chemical Officer.
I believe the Bible is true, my wife is beautiful and my boys are a blessing from my Heavenly Father. Born and raised in Arlington, Texas.  Earned a Bachelors of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies focusing in Biology and Chemistry at the University of Texas at Arlington.
I've worked at Fort Knox KY, Fort Sill OK, Fort Leonard Wood MO, and Fort Polk LA.
Currently residing in beautiful Fontana California. I enjoy stories, coffee, beef, and my family.

Chapters 1-3 written response

Learning Web Design, 4th Edition by Jennifer Niederst Robbins chapters one through three are a very informative read. Ms Robbins follows a logical order to her presentation of the information. She begins chapter one explaining who web designers are. She then describes the languages a web designer needs to know and what equipment they use. In chapter two she explores the nuanced differences between the world wide web and the internet. She then proceeds to explains how the information is served on the internet through internet browsers accessing websites through assigned web addresses (called URLs). She then concludes chapter two explaining the anatomy of a website. Chapter three is an exploration of meeting the needs of the modern internet where not all access is done through a traditional desktop monitor.
Overall I appreciated that she laid a good framework to understanding web site design. I also appreciate that she explained some of the history and theory behind it and how much has changed recently. I look forward to seeing how these principles will be applied in our classroom to focus the engine of the internet to facilitate education. I also am interested to see how this class will dovetail with other courses that I am taking. Cheers to our next classroom lecture!