Posts

#cck12 | Catching up; Deja vu
brainysmurf, 653 - Dino's #cck12 Blog, January 25, 2012.

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Hi, Dino, I empathize with your experience. I just started into the world of FaceBook, Twitter and blogging in the last eight months and added HootSuite, Diigo and Flickr to the list last week. Perhaps there is some wisdom out there about doing this differently from the outset (such as setting up one's own domain in the #ds106 mooc). Alternatively, I view this whole digital identity management thing as a very important part of my learning about what works and what doesn't (for me) in the open webosphere.

Yes, the multiple signups are annoying. Some sites allow for crossover logins between existing Twitter, Google and FB accounts.

Hang in there, it's a great journey! :) [Comment]

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#cck12 | Why does everyone need to connect to everyone else
brainysmurf, 653 - Dino's #cck12 Blog, January 25, 2012.

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Hi, Dino. I think you'll find this course very helpful in terms of discovering what works for you and what doesn't. I was a late comer to many of these technologies (see my previous comment on your other post) and I have found many ways to make use of them professionally, not just personally.

For me, The Daily newsletter is a fantastic aggregate of the week's readings, people's blog posts, comments on the #cck12 site and Twitter feeds. If you don't like it or don't need it, that's cool too. To each their own way. [Comment]

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Getting Started - Connectivism & Connective Knowledge - #CCK12
brainysmurf, 664 - Road2Learn, January 27, 2012.

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Welcome, Joanne. Your positive spirit about jumping in and learning about all of these technologies is contagious. I've been playing around with various platforms to so you can find me and my networks here:

Twitter: @brainysmurf1234
Blog: http://brainysmurf1234.wordpress.com
Diigo: http://www.diigo.com/user/brainysmurf1234

Keep well and enjoy the journey! :)
[Comment]

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Catching Up at last!
brainysmurf, 681 - Max @ #cck12, January 27, 2012.

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Thanks for expressing your reluctance with blogs, Max. I felt the same way in my first two moocs and only got into blogging a bit with #change11. I was also a very latecomer to Twitter and just started to 'get it' after participating in the live #lrnchat event on Thursday evenings. http://lrnchat.com/

Keep pushing your boundaries, it's the best (only?) way to learn. :) [Comment]

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Son of a tweet!
brainysmurf, 653 - Dino's #cck12 Blog, January 27, 2012.

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Interesting question. I've been tweeting for a few months now (only in networks of like minded professionals, not personally.) Under those circumstances, I don't see any foul language at all. [Comment]

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How to reduce the e-mail barrage for CCK12
brainysmurf, 653 - Dino's #cck12 Blog, January 30, 2012.

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Great tips, Dino, thanks for sharing. I also learned a few years ago to turn off my email notification window (Outlook) and it has helped me regain my focus and not feel like Pavlov's dog every time a new message comes in. Keep up the filtering in your flow! :) [Comment]

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Week 6: My personal learning network (PLN)
brainysmurf, 704 - Connectivism & Connected Knowledge 2012 » Matt Bury, February 28, 2012.

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This is great, Matt. It's visual and easy to read. What program you use to build this image? [Comment]

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The Next Generation of Educational Leadership: One of the Coolest Community-Building Projects Ever
brainysmurf, 687 - Best content in CCK 12 | Diigo - Groups, February 28, 2012.

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My word for this is goosebumpy. What a well-choreographed piece. Well worth the five minutes! [Comment]

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Re: Who's afraid of social media? CCK12
brainysmurf, , February 28, 2012.

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I like your expression "social media darwinism". I see learning and working are changing very quickly and survival of the fittest is called for. Thankfully, students don't have to wait around for some of their teachers to change. They can Google a better source of instruction in another country, on YouTube, on FB or Twitter, etc. [Comment]

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Collectives vs Connectives OPENBLOCK#CCK12CLOSEBLOCK
brainysmurf, 697 - 'Cher Red, March 6, 2012.

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Thanks for this post. I agree fully with the need for participants to determine the level of privacy or openness with which they are comfortable and this can be quite difficult for newbies dealing with various platforms for which the on/off switches may not be obvious.

Personally, I don't see networks as having any walls. I see them more like unfinished knitting with many loose ends that are just waiting to be connected to something else of a shape or colour that could be the same or different from the last. [Comment]

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Taking Notes with Mind Maps
brainysmurf, 687 - Best content in CCK 12 | Diigo - Groups, March 6, 2012.

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This is quite timely given a conversation with a fellow educator last night who had looked into the history of lectures. Apparently, lectures were a necessity when printing was wildly expensive and the lecturer was the only person who had a copy of the material. Students needed to take notes from the lecture, often verbatim, to have their own written record of the material that was presented.

In a time of profound knowledge abundance and searchability, I hope we all start asking ourselves when and if a lecture is appropriate anymore. [Comment]

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Teacups and CCK12
brainysmurf, 686 - Communications & Society, March 12, 2012.

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Thanks for this lovely story, Keith. I have cross-referenced your post to an asynchronous conversation about defining moocs that Jenny Mackness wrote about in #change11 recently.

http://jennymackness.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/the-philosophy-of-moocs [Comment]

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Re: mom, this is how twitter works
brainysmurf, , March 12, 2012.

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My pleasure, Dino. I found that part enlightening as well. I've only been using Twitter for about six months. Still lots to learn. :) [Comment]

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What do you want from this course?
brainysmurf, 726 - Dino's #CCK12 Blog 2.0, March 13, 2012.

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Hi, Dino. It's delightful for me to hear a trainer acknowledge that he doesn't "live the life" of his learners. I wish more trainers and designers would do the same.

It seems that trainers and training designers try (in vain?) to replicate the lives of their students in formal training in the hope that the training will be 'sticky' or applicable to their real-world experiences. What I've learned through connectivist moocs so far is that this attempt to replicate the real-world inside a separate learning environment is quite limited. We are rarely able to design the learning event to be a close enough approximation to translate easily back on the job. And, even if we did succeed in making a good approximation, the real-life situations change too rapidly for the design process to keep up. We can't cover all of the mutations in one go.

Rather, I think we're better off spending our training design and delivery time offering learners ways to connect with each other and with experts in order to figure out for themselves what they need to know in order to solve the problem at hand. That way the contextual relevance is there, the subtleties and nuances are incorporated and the learners are empowered to seek and apply solutions.

In your example about Twitter and Diigo, you've started to explore what these tools can offer. Perhaps, if you introduced these tools to your learners, they can start to explore (independently and/or together) under which circumstances their needs are met by using these tools. That exploration (comparing, contrasting, analysing, synthesizing, applying, creating) is incredibly important and it belongs to the learner, not the teacher to figure it all out for them.

In the case of Twitter, in particular, Jane Bozarth does a wonderful job of explaining how it can be used in learning in her book Social Media for Trainers.

Hope this helps? :) [Comment]

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Concept Map CCK12
brainysmurf, 648 - meanie, April 5, 2012.

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Thank you so much, meanie! Your map inspired me to brainstorm my own (finally). [Comment]

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My concept map is in my blog
brainysmurf, 687 - Best content in CCK 12 | Diigo - Groups, April 11, 2012.

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Thanks for sharing the evolution of your mind map. It's neat to see the progression and synthesis involved. Phase 3 doesn't seem clickable like the others though? Keep up the great work! [Comment]

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How is the Connectivism course content related?
brainysmurf, 726 - Dino's #CCK12 Blog 2.0, April 12, 2012.

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Thanks for sharing, Dino. I like the bubble on the far left "Mostly over my head", which is how I feel about a few of the concepts or topics. Your last line also made me think of its opposite: how we live in an age where opinions and actions can be swayed by networks that *don't* support something (protests against human rights violations or censorship, raising awareness of issues and politics, etc.). Cheers! [Comment]

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Final Thoughts CCK12
brainysmurf, 648 - meanie, April 16, 2012.

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Congrats on surviving and thriving in your first mooc! It sounds like you learned quite a bit about yourself, where you feel confident and where you might wish to learn more. In my opinion, time management is a big factor, especially when dealing with the volume of electronic information available through a course like this. Here is a blog post about some of my strategies. Hope it helps!

http://brainysmurf1234.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/how-i-make-time-for-social-networked-learning/

Good luck and see you around the webosphere! [Comment]

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CCK12 How Connected is Chris
brainysmurf, 665 - The World According To Sweety, April 25, 2012.

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Right on! What a great way to express yourself and demonstrate your new knowledge and skills. I love George's accent and Chris' happy dance about the expected grade. Nice job! :) [Comment]

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