I am one of those holdouts who does not use twitter. Despite people assuring me that I would "get it" once I took the plunge, and despite listening to presentations on the use of twitter, I could not see the relevance to me or the pedagogical usefulness of it in my teaching. Thanks to a fellow participant in #PLENK2010, I found this video that finally explains why I perceive twitter the way I do and validates (to some extent) my feelings on the topic: http://tallblog.conted.ox.ac.uk/index.php/2009/10/14/visitors-residents-the-video/
The visitor vs resident analogy made by David White definitely appeals to me. I like it because it is not an either/or proposition and also because it does help me understand my own preferences for interacting with the technology. It is also takes account of the difference between professional/institutional and personal space on the internet. This is a distinction that I do try to maintain. Although I am on FB, this is mainly personal; a few colleagues who are also real friends, are also friends on FB, but that's because they are already in my personal life.
Dear Veronica,
ReplyDeleteI think you mean me with that fellow PLENKer.As self assigned learner I found the video a few month ago, and it helped me to understand myself and the attitude of others towards the NET,like a driver, when he learns that his partner in conversation has no driving licence.
I wasn't comfortable with the digitial immigrant and native analogy; since I'm using more web 2.0 tools than most digital natives. Twitter, I'm not quite sure, whether I have to use in adult education. There are four more weeks to go in PLENK, will see...
Eva
Hi Eva:
ReplyDeleteYes, I did mean you--and that video has now made the rounds of Athabasca University. I in turn posted it on The Wire (a similar idea to Twitter) but internal to AU. I know there is a certain irony about that. And when we had an internal conference on the weekend, I went to a presentation by George S. and Terry Anderson, and they thanked me for forwarding the video-))
The general comment about Twitter was more for George's benefit--I took an online course with him earlier this year, where I seemed to gain some recognition as the Twitter hold out.
Veronica