Altruism - Digital!

Digital Altruism - something that instantly appealed to my lifelong commitment to doing unconditional good! Please watch the inspirational presentation below - it really makes you want to go on and find a/the meaning of so many wonderful things people think and do!

Digital altruism

View more presentations from Sorey Garcia.

Trust and Respect

Yes, it is time consuming, yes, sometimes you feel discouragingly insignificant in such a huge blogosphere, yes, the impact you produce is next to zero in this stage, but… but…

The satisfaction to discover and re-discover out there thoughts and ideas you have always had and kept for yourself for some reason compensates for the “wasted time” and transforms it in “time regained” because finding out there, in the wide world, people sharing same values and attitudes compensates for the frustration of not finding them in the immediate proximity. However, I know there are such people around, and I’ll do my best to find them.
As to the impact, I don’t worry, you can’t have it in such a short time. Making an impact needs patience, focus and self-confidence…and trust from others.

At the same time, yes, Trust and Respect, said Chris Betcher on his blog, Betchablog, are decisive values in the creation of a good relationship between educators and students. This reminded me of old wounds – the suspicion climate in a Romania traumatised by communism –
So, others too fight rigid frames within which you “are guilty until proven guilty” – others too have to fight educational policies in which students roles are restrained to accepting passively decisions taken for them, with too little space left for discussion or negotiation –

Food for thought for all of us: to what extent do we offer our students a framework based on TRUST and RESPECT, meant to bring us THEIR Trust and Respect?
Or, in Chris Betcher’s words: Seriously, what’s the worst thing that could happen if we created an environment of trust and respect?

Vance Stevens - atentie, profesori!

Din Vance Stevens: MODELING SOCIAL MEDIA IN GROUPS, COMMUNITIES AND NETWORKS
(http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/past-issues/volume13/ej51/ej51int/)

The solution is to offer workshops bottom up, which means that they would be something that staff would organize themselves. Ideally there would be staff who would feel themselves a part of a community of practice and who wish then to engage other members of the community in activities and discourses which would improve the practice of all its participants. CoPs reverse the directionality of the impetus to learn. Rather than there being an onus on teachers to shape up and learn prescribed technologies, the message of these events is more like, “Hey, some of us think we have discovered some new tools that will help our teaching, why don’t we get together and you can show us what you’ve discovered lately, so we can all learn from one another?” In this format, teachers model and demonstrate to one another what they might then pass on to students, and if they do this through social media then they’ll learn about the next generation of social networking technologies as they work together. In other words, rather than fighting technology and considering it a burden, teachers will be using it in ways they can see might be effective with anyone assuming the role of student. But in order for this to happen, teachers need to be given some relief from non-stop teaching and marking, at least the ones who would be willing to get this going.

Dar cel mai bine se vad toate acestea pe Slideshare:

Modeling social media in groups, communities, and networks - Socialnetworking 2009 Online Conference

View more presentations from vances.

Profesori si ale lor bloguri...

 De pe http://www.techlearning.com/article/14006 un articol din 2007 - interesante motivatiile celor care tin bloguri - le-am subliniat! Am regăsit sentimentul pe care îl încerc de ceva timp, şi anume că

o IDENTITATE VIRTUALĂ este la fel de dificil (dar nu imposibil!) de construit precum orice altă identitate. Din perspectivă profesională, prezenţa în spaţiul virtual este un atu şi o şansă de dezvoltare în multiple dimensiuni.

Sunt tot mai convinsă că va veni o vreme (şi poate nici nu este prea departe) când comunităţile academice (prin definiţie conservatoare) vor valida prezenţa în spaţiul virtual al membrilor lor ca pe o fireasca valuare adaugată a activităţii ştiinţifice.

Connecting to the Larger World

Dr. Sherman Dorn, an education professor at the University of South Florida who blogs at Shermandorn.com, notes that his blog offers an alternative outlet to academic journals for his thoughts on public policy issues. Similarly, Dr. Alex Golub, professor at the University of Hawaii, says his cultural anthropology blog, Savageminds.org, creates a "public sphere" or "civil society" outside his professional association and helps him find new content and resources.
The ability of blogs to connect professors with the larger world outside of academia was also noted by other faculty. For example, Dr. P.Z. Myers, a University of Minnesota professor of biology who blogs regularly at Scienceblogs.com/pharyngula, enjoys the opportunity to discuss scientific issues with those outside his small towns. Myers likens blogs to a worldwide Speaker's Corner in London's Hyde Park, where you "can find plenty of people arguing away, and it's easy to bring your own soapbox and start a discussion on anything you want."

Integrating the Digital into Traditional

Most of the professors I contacted said their institutions were either supportive of or ambivalent toward their blogging. Jim Maule, a Villanova University professor who blogs at Mauledagain.blogspot.com, said that his regular publication in more traditional academic outlets precluded any concerns other faculty might have about his blogging. Both Dorn and Golub note that they've heard very little from their faculty colleagues about their blogs, perhaps because they try to be fairly discreet, only blogging about public issues rather than their own institutions, and categorizing their blogging under outreach or service rather than publication for tenure.

Tips for Newbies

Maule recommends blogging regularly, writing short posts, and using your blog to float ideas and get feedback. Golub says to be sure that your "enthusiasm for your subject shines through on your blog" and to use the blog as a mechanism for fostering your own intellectual development. But Myers insists new bloggers also should be patient. "The key words are fearlessness and persistence," he says. "Readers will reward you for speaking your mind—no matter how controversial you might be—but it takes a long, long time to build up a presence on the Web."
Some of these academic bloggers have tens or even hundreds of thousands of visitors per month on their blogs, a total matched by few, if any, academic journals. Postsecondary faculties are beginning to recognize blogs' potential to reach larger audiences off campus and also to see the benefits of the perspectives of non-academic peers. As colleges and universities begin to validate and even encourage faculty blogging, we will see an increasing number of professors lending their considerable knowledge and expertise to the blogosphere. I can't wait.
Scott McLeod is director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE) at the University of Minnesota and a regular blogger at www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org.

La vanatoare de granturi si idei...

Pe ger si viscol spre/dinspre Europa, de luni dimineata, cu greu, tropaind pe coridoare, prin birouri cu fete zambitoare...
Unde e oare acel minunat birou sau acel minunat site care sa gestioneze printr-o inter-fata (!?) prietenoasa batalia omului obisnuit cu hatisurile birocratice?

Nu e! Nu e! Asa ca înarmaţi-vă cu multă răbdare, cu o dantură  care să vă permită să scrâşniţi din dinţi pe când aveţi aerul că zâmbiţi!
Si va amintiti că  munca nu a omorât pe nimeni, dar nici de lene nu se ştie să fi murit cineva.

Ah, da, între timp, poate aruncaţi o privire aici, sunt lucruri frumoase.

E-portfolios si lifelong learning

Iata cateva video-clipuri despre e-portfolios

O introducere simpla si simpatica:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B3tujXlbdk

Utilizarea lor cu studentii
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ_CRwifBCw

Hmmm, ar fi interesant sa lucram ceva in sensul acesta cu studentii nostri.

Uff, inca o caramida la identitatea virtuala...

Horoscopul pe scurt (?!) spunea ca inceputul anului va fi o perioada de incercari... Deci sa incercam. Aici intentionez sa-mi gasesc una din voci - teach-erita de engleza a studentilor de la Facultatea de Asistenta Sociala si Sociologie a Universitatii Babes-Bolyai. Cea care incearca cu indarjire sa-i invete, uff, engleza pentru scopuri academice. Mari dureri de cap, in conditiile in care romana pentru scopuri academice pune probleme majore.

Perioada de tatonare, zic, cred, s-a terminat - e vremea de proiecte, de studii serioase, de cercetare -  Pana una alta, ma uit cu admiratie si respect la eforturile colegelor de la Timisoara, Gabriela Grosseck si Carmen Holotescu.

Sincronizarea cu tehnologiile web 2.0 da batai de cap globale - interesant acest articol!