Lurking and Learning

Untitled

joseantoniook — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 09:04:34 +0000

http://www.sinensix.net/templates/themza_j15_20/site.html

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Wikis as Porffolios

joseantoniook — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 19:42:55 +0000

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My Photos – The Semester Begins (25)

joseantoniook — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 19:25:09 +0000

Thinking about the new semester and my plans for the students I still do not know. We teachers always have the table set and lots of places in our minds and hearts, don’t we?. This year, my heart and mind are set on working on more collaborative tasks. I will set work on social networking aside because the groups I will get have basic language level. Besides that, social networking websites always start as free and later start charging. This has proven to be a bit disappointing to me. So, I will do more work with blogs and wikis. I have blogs that are not updated and will revive them for my new groups. Wikis are also a good way to work with basic levels because they allow us to create pages for students and work like a portfolio to keep their work.
I will be sharing my work here using this quoting feature.

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From darkness to a sparkling connected ELT community

joseantoniook — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 17:09:02 +0000

From darkness to a sparkling connected ELT community He had some knowledge about computers but was only absorbing information He had the feeling he was a blood sucker. He wanted to learn about technology to share what he knew All of us had to adapt to technology : VCR, cassette players. Miracles do not happen. You have to take action. You cannot wait for the institution. Once you start doing something you start learning A blog about what? Blog about what you do best. You should be committed to provide information, be aware of trends, checking visitors, being responsible/accountable for your readers. Recognition
First from colleagues and later from a wider community. Recognition is what motivates us.

Sent from my iPhone

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More Discoveries

joseantoniook — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 07:36:00 +0000

Click to see the full gallery on Posterous:

http://iphone-mpxj.posterous.com/more-discoveries

Sent from my iPhone

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Serendipity

joseantoniook — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:45:48 +0000

This week my laptop crashed again. I really need to get a new one. This did cause some troubles because I am a bit connected and dependent on it (not addicted). When this happens, I generally engage in other activities and find a chance to unwind a bit. I always have backups of lesson plans in external drive, so I always manage to go on without a connection. However, what amazes me is how can always maintain his/her connectivity no matter what happens. I feel that we are conneted to the web and not to the gadgets we use. The web is like an entity that is everywhere. It is always available and ready. Just last week, after some futile resistance and skepticism, I finally gave myself an I-Phone. As i write this post on this very gadget, i cannot help thinking on its unintended consequences, on the it is being by people that has not being anticipated by its creators. I really the idea of antropophagy in technology (humans assimilating technology and using in a sustainable benign and less consumerist way, like cell phones that used in for making money transfers without going through the banking system). In a week i am not using I-Phone as cell phone anymore (I removed the chip and put it back on my old cellphone because my carrier was eating way my credits even i belied i was connected to a wireless network at home or at work)and

Sent from my iPhone

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Social Networking for Classroom

joseantoniook — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 18:57:50 +0000

It’s been already some time I have been ruminating about using social networking in class. Since Ning start charging for its services, I have been searching around for a replacement. Right now I am using grou.ps. This one has proven to be better than ning in many ways. I have set up some communities with my groups and I have been playing around with it. Just today I found out about schoology (a nice name for a service like this) through my twitter network and decided to share their demo video with my blog readers. I am happy that there are so many free alternatives to ning. I will sure try this one with a group and see how it works.

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#bratelsol10 Tools and Technologies for Forming Communities (Michael Coghlan)

joseantoniook — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:19:54 +0000

Right now, I am attending Michael Coghlan presentation at Braz- Tesol and instead of threads on twitter, I have decided to post a summary here. Hope you all like it.
The appeal of online communities is that it allows you to connect with people you already know, people you share similar interests, people you already know via a different medium, and you meet new people.
Online communities can also be used for professional development, connecting remote learners, and modeling a new way of learning for the 21st century (lifelong learning or networked learning).
A result of the constant flow of information is that you need a gang to manage it. People spread information using so many different media that at the end of this presentation there will be a flood of posts that a gang is needed to filter and manage the information.
One of Mike’s gang is the Webheads in Action (a community of internet enthusiasts that uses technology for teaching and learning). The webheads is a community that exists because of technology.
Before my battery dies, I will stop here and continue updates on twitter

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Celebrating Social Media Day

joseantoniook — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:08:14 +0000

Mashable Meetup: Brasília, Brazil | Jun 30 – Meetup.com via kwout

Today is social media day and 500 cities around the world are celebrating it. I have just checked the list and saw that Brasilia the city I live in is one of them. It is for sure a day to celebrate because it has to do with the development of tools that allowed users to move from passive consumers to producers of web content. As a language teacher and a citizen, I am happy to see the possibilities it creates for my classes when my students and I have moved beyond using the web to do treasure hunts. Now we can create our own treasures and share them with the world. The media becoming social is a bit like the fall of the Bastille of official, filtered, censored web. Before blogs, you tube, social networking, and so many other possibilities of publishing content, one could only have his or her voice heard online if he or she possessed very advanced computer skills. The so called social web has democratized the cyberspace allowing anyone to share their ideas in any way they choose with the advantage of getting feedback. Social media transformed the one way approach to publishing into a multi party conversation. The reasons why we should celebrate social media are many. I myself just wish some more people join us, social media fans, to make the cyber and the real world a better place.

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To tweet or not to tweet

joseantoniook — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 02:16:13 +0000

Twitter / Home via kwout

Twitter has recently reached widespread fame and usage. It seems that everyone is twittering now. When I listen to the news on my car radio on my commute to work I hear the news anchor announcing the station’s twitter url. Some banks advertise their twitter accounts as way of getting feedback from their clients. In class, I have observed that most of my students are connected to twitter. However, at the same time I see how people use twitter and I kind of understand why some object joining it and dismiss it as a useless tool, or just passing fad that will go away. They might be right, but while the hype lasts, some of us can get the best it has to offer: its capabilities for sharing, getting news, and keep connected to your friends and updated on your interests.

Twitter is for me like my daily news. The difference is that I get the news every time I turn my computer on. Besides that, I also get updates while I am working on it. Some people claim it is overwhelming and distracting, but so is everything in life. We are always filtering information whenever we read newspapers or magazines, surf TV, radio channels or the web. Twitter is just the same. Besides being a source of daily/breaking news, it is also a way of sharing things I find on the web with the people that follow me. In this sense, it is a sharing button: a good way of spreading news other than sending an e-mail with a link to your friend without the need of a reply. Moreover, it is also a way of being ubiquitous (if this is possible) due to its integration features. Even in cyberspace, we cannot be everywhere, but twitter allows us to be in many places. I myself have connected my account to my posterous blog (which is connected to my blogger blog, tumblr, wordpress, and friendly feed), to simplybox and diigo (which allows people connected to my twitter see the things I bookmark), to facebook, and other services that I cannot recall right now or may feel a bit lazy to list them all (or might not want to make it boring for my readers). I see the later features as a good way to establish a reasonable online presence. To sum it up, in my opinion, twitter can be a great tool if it is used wisely.

Posted via email from Sharing spot

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