This is my first experience using a blog as well as an RSS feeder
such as Feedly. After a few days getting used to the setup and the tools for
each, I feel more confident using them.
I am not as impressed with the blog as I am with the RSS feeder. I have read and followed other peoples
blogs in the past and they seemed much more exciting than my own. It almost feels like I am keeping an
online journal, but not one that anyone would want to subscribe to. I am sure once I have added more
content and possibly some links and pictures it will be more interesting and
exciting. I do not have
“followers” yet either, so it lacks the instant feedback of people liking and
commenting on it. The RSS feeder
on the other hand is much more engaging.
I have enjoyed adding content areas of interest to the feed to see what
links came up right away that I would have missed otherwise. It is amazing how much information is
“out there” on the web, and the RSS feeder essentially funnels and sifts
through it to show me only what I am interested in. The feedly set up is easy to start up and to add and remove
content from, very user friendly. I
also appreciate that the information is essentially just for me, because as far
as I can tell, no one else can see MY feedly. So much of what we do online is public and I like to read
the stories of my choice without having to share thoughts or opinions with
others.
Using my personal experience setting up both the blog and the RSS
feed as a reference I read The Cone of Experience and found that these two
services could be used to enhance several “levels” of the cone. It seems that there are parts of each
band from the demonstrations level
all the way up to the visual symbols
level that could accommodate a learning experience. The experiences from demonstrations to still pictures on Dales cone “provide experiences in which the
student is an observer rather than a doer…he is a thoughtful, critical witness
to such experiences, but he has little direct responsibility for the way in
which the learning event will develop.” (Dale, 118) Because each of these bands involves an iconic understanding in which a student learns from a pictorial
experience, a blog or RSS feed would be appropriate. For example, a student could read or look at pictures of a
person making a cake from a recipe and learn from that visual representation
how to bake. There are several
blogs and sites a person could subscribe to through feedly that would allow for
this type of experience. Students
could also follow a blog or feedly from a museum and see images related to an
exhibit of Native American artifacts and bring the abstract understandings into
their consciousness. It is hard to
place the blog on the cone of experience because once a student is writing and
putting their own understandings out there, they have already internalized the
abstract ideas into their own known symbols. I feel that the blog lends itself to understanding if a
student is reading others posts rather than creating their own. The feedly on the other hand can be
manipulated to filter a certain genre of material to the student and help them
gather information and symbolic representations of the topic, therefore giving
them a deeper understanding.
I
feel the blog and RSS feeder could be used in combination with each other to
provide students with a rich experience of reading and responding to
information. For third grade, the
activity would have to be very much teacher guided. The first step would be for students to set up a feedly
account in which they would choose several areas of interest and read some
articles that could be used to summarize or compare and contrast
information. Then, the students
could respond to the readings through their blog and receive feedback from
their readers. Often, with my
students one of the biggest struggles for writing is understanding the audience
who will be reading their material.
Having an authentic group of readers who will be responding to their
work would be helpful because the students would have to be more clear and detailed
in their writing. Siegel wrote
about using computers to “tackle
difficult issues through collaborative and interactive situations.” If my students were able to connect
with other users in various places around the country or world who could challenge
their thinking I feel that they would develop a better sense of how their own
knowledge can affect others. The
ability to collaborate with students from anywhere would help them
tremendously. They in turn would
gain “the power to become effective thinkers and doers.”
To
relate back to the Postman article from week 1, I do feel that each of these
tools can be used to answer a problem.
The blog offers a way to answer “How can we connect with others in
society who may have the same beliefs or interests as us?” while the feedly tool can help solve
the problem of “How can I sift through all of the information on the Internet
and find what is most useful and interesting to me?”
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