Reflections....

Ah, reflections on the course.

As always, I love this course. Likewise I have my frustrations and attitudes (see Passwords, below). It all just moves soooo fast. Just as we become accustomed to all of this, it will be bypassing iPad and moving to our iPhones. And I still can't embed a Picassa image in my blog (illegal URL error message).

But its wonderful stuff. The implicatins for teaching are enormous. I am still blown away by how wikis can provided collaborative note-taking. And our adventures with the 100 most popular webtools is great fun and a great time-killer. I spend an entire day playing with my delicious links and I don't even like the thing.

And of course, my agenda is split. I am using the tools for education, yes. But not teaching an academic course. Thus certain things are more valuable than others. Ning promised great things, but didn't pan out well. So I am still looking for a portfolio opportunity. Jing is the best, allowing me to make instant screen tutorials.

But my greatest agenda these days is the Nation and how the tools can work in teaching traditional values... is this a dislocate in terms and theory? I don't think so. After all... my department if called "Preservation & Technology." In the end, sometimes it works, sometimes not.

Using technology to record oral histories and to create language learning tools has worked well. Using digital graphics to create calendars, coloring books, etc. is popular. Digital Storytelling has held its own, collecting 5-10 stories every month or so. On the other hand, Second Life didn't work for me (my own limitations, plus limited access for tribal members). Moodle, and the loss of my materials was my largest failure. Still trying to get it back. Will probably have to start over. Facebook is working for a few people. Access is limited to stories and other archival materials. But we work at it.

OK... my projects for the semester.

#1. Social Networking for "Basket Full of Stories"
This is going well except for Facebook. I have the Blog set up for it that describes the project, the timeline, team members, and participating tribes. There are links to related sites. As soon as there are good samples of youth/elder combined stories I will post them there. So far I am the only one using it, but will encourage others soon. It does fulfil our goals so far.

Facebook not so good. First I made a new gmail account, but used a false name. Now Facebook shows that and I cannot change it. So I deactivated it. I will try making a new page under my name now, something I resisted. But couldn't remember how. In general I find Facebook a frustrating unwieldy system. Obviously I am a minority... or an antique.

I am continually re-working my wiki to reflect an emphasis and links to pertinent DS sites and resources. Maybe better there than my delicious.

#2. Skyping for Tribal Collaboration
Spent the semester investigating the idea. It turned out there were several decisions to make. And four choices to get started: Update an iMac and project the results, buy a Windows laptop and project the results, invest in a large screen TV and laptop, invest in a "Smart TV" to Skype directly (this technology not quite available yet). These are not all my decisions to make, as some of the investment would be from my department, and some from other departments. We will still need to collaborate on a decision. Also the other nations we are Skyping to would need to be outfited as well. Its still a viable plan and will be implemented in the future.

Along the way, I have tried to contribute to the discussions (when not traveling). I have tried out new things as they appear, and have re-worked my older projects, adding and revising. And I am an avid attendee at Verde CyberSalon.