Online Community Collaboration

The assignment: Monitor and participate in some sort of online community. This blog/forum/wiki might help answer these questions: What can help me in my professional development? What interests me? What do I want to know more about? What are the current goings-on in social studies?



The result: Many frustrating hours later, I had found numerous "communities" but all had their faults - out of date, not interesting, not applicable, intermittent postings with no real "dialogue". I was really turned off by the whole experience. Ideally, I wanted to find a forum directed towards high school social studies curriculum with technology integration. Perhaps my search skills are lacking, but there really did not appear to be much current dialogue on this subject. People sharing their thoughts via blogs, yes, but no debate taking place to expound on or defend their ideas.



Plan B: I resorted to finding a forum on educational issues in Alaska. I didn't have to look far. I stumbled upon the Alaska Teacher's Placement forum, which has been of some value in answering qualification and job fair questions. Posts are answered with prompt, knowledgeable responses; I think curriculum debate might be a possibility, but something I have yet to participate in.



Reflection: This was by far the hardest project for me to get into for our Integrating Technology class. I love questioning, exchanging, and debating ideas -BUT I LIKE TO DO IT IN PERSON. I don't like the lag time inherent with blogging, and I don't like the gaps in explanations that can occur in written dialogue. I think online communication has a time and place, but I much prefer to collaborate with people who know my students, my school, or my particular situation. I have a hard time giving credibility to people I don't know.

I'm happy to share my thoughts, but don't expect to find me doing it online any time soon. This blog is as far as I want to go in web collaboration. If you want to to argue or question - give me a call.