Blog Reflection - Week 2

After completing the MAPping information activity, what are your reactions to your findings? What will you do differently while searching on the Internet for information now? How confident are you with the information you've used in the past (as part of your college career and/or in your profession)?

I found the MAPping activity to be interesting.  I always knew that there were sites like martinlutherking.org existed, but I did not know how to validate a site’s content.  In our society, everyone has the right to their opinions, in addition, it is extremely easy to get a domain name and add any type of content to it.  I will admit I always assumed that if the site’s content came from a credible source, such as an educational institution, that the information was reliable.  Going forward, I will definite validate they websites I am acquiring information from.

What are some implications for the future of our students if we fail to teach them these skills in school? After all, the schools may block access to sites, but students still have access at home.

It’s very important that we teach students how to validate information found on the internet.  If they do not validate their sources, they will input erroneous information into their assignments which could impact their grades.  I remember taking several classes where I had to turn in my resources before I started my paper.  I would have my trainees/students do the same and show them how to validate their sources of information.  

Do you see any advantages for organizing your information via Delicious and/or Google Reader? What are some ways you think you could use these tools in the future?

Time-saving is the biggest advantage to using Google reader.  I usually browse a few sites in the mornings while drinking my coffee.  Using Google Reader, I can view updated info on all of my sites much quicker.  I also plan to create a blog for my unit member s so they can communicate with me between drills.  This would be much faster than responding to tons of emails every week.

This week, you also explored the concept of wikis and created a wiki for a specific purpose. What purpose did you have in mind when developing your wiki and have you started to implement your ideas yet?

I’ve used wikis before but never considered creating one.  Considering the training challenges that I face in my unit, I think a wiki would solve a lot of issues.  While I was creating my wiki, I was thinking about what I could put in it.  I started creating an outline so I wouldn’t forget the topics I want to address.  I’ll fill in each topic as time becomes available.

What advantages do you see in utilizing wikis? What disadvantages do you see? Think back to the digital natives reading. How do wikis have the potential for engaging them?

For me, the wikis would be a tremendous help for training members in my unit.  We have a lot to cram into two days per month and often some training is left out.  By creating a wiki that they can access anytime they want, I’m hoping they can get some of the training that they are lacking during the weekend.

In exploring the eLearning Tools Wiki, what other web 2.0 technologies did you uncover that you want to explore further?

I'm pretty much going to use the blogs and wikis for my training needs at this time.