CI 5530 So Far...

Wow - this has been a roller-coaster ride! I can not believe how much has changed (even more, how much I have not been a part of) this ever-changing World Wide Web! This class has been my first exposure to a lot of Web 2.0 tools, which is one of the reasons I wanted to take it.  For instance, so far I have created my first blog, first vlog, first Wordle, and experienced Second Life for the first time.  Last week alone, I edited Wikipedia for the first time as well.  Blogs, vlogs, SL, and Wikipedia are huge parts of a lot of people's lives and I have never participated in any of these communities!  I'm so out of the loop!  Exposure to all of these different tools is what I am most grateful for so far.  

Having said that, I have felt a little (a lot) overwhelmed! In addition to this class, I am also in Intro to Web Design and Hypermedia in Education.  Setting up all the accounts, keeping up with posts and passwords...in the first week I thought I was ready to throw in the towel.  It is still a little bit tedious to check multiple sites - there seems to be a lot of redundancy - not just in this class but in technology overall.  For instance, for CI 5530, we post/check blogs, ASULearn, and a Google Group. For ITC 5420, we have ASULearn, Teleplace, and a separate forum for discussion (although ASULearn has a forum as well). I'm reading about RSS feeds and aggregators but do not understand how to effectively implement them in my situation right now.  I know that I am getting a lot of exposure (which is what I wanted), however I came in not knowing how to swim through all of this and feel like I've been thrown in the deep end!

I loved interacting with everyone via Second Life! It was comfortable to be the "traditional student" and be lectured by the "teacher." I hope we can continue to have interaction like this - especially to clarify questions about assignments or work with classmates on an assignment.  For instance, I would have loved to talk with everyone about the rating/peer grading system...it is driving me crazy! The only assignment that I have been able to rate other people is in the glossary.  Just this past week, the instructions kept saying "rate your peers" but I do not see a way to do it. How do we score each other on this assignment, per the instructions?  When we post entries to a forum on ASULearn, I do not see a rating option.  Sorry to rant, on the ratings...

To wrap it up - I appreciate the exposure to new media. I want to learn how to better navigate it all (and keep up with passwords/user accounts...LOVE del.i.cious! It is going to be so helpful!). I think we should ditch the ratings thing. :)