Organizing My On
Line Life
The class on
Friday was really excellent. The structure was ingenious. I only wish I had had
as much to say about Skype as the other three members in my group had to say
about Diigo, Evernote, and Dropbox. Jack is mind-bogglingly knowledgeable and
skilled in Diigo and gave us an absolutely superb lesson in its use and
application. Saskia has been using Evernote for a while, and very insightfully showed
us how well organized she is using it. And Paula has been using Dropbox for a
while as well, and gave us a great tour of it and explained its applications
fabulously. We talked about Skype and discussed various highly instrumental
uses for Skype in the classroom. Here is one I will share, from my handout:
Here is a true-to-life
example of how one high school instructor used Skype in the classroom in
ways otherwise impossible. Chelsea School District chamber choir director
Steven Hinz in the 2011-12 school year had his students sing works by
world-class composer Sydney Guillaume. Via Skype, the composer visited the
classroom and spoke to the students about music for almost two hours. The
students then performed for Mr. Guillaume works he had composed. Finally, the
composer critiqued their rendition of his music in detail.
In the end, I
was particularly convinced of the utility not only of the promise of Skype for
instructional practice, but also of the potential of Evernote to (finally) get
my life organized, and especially of Dropbox for storing and sharing files of
all kinds.
When it comes to
Diigo and Evernote, I guess I’m not so sure I will use them right away. Part of
the issue is what I would call reduplication
of effort. I worked as a contract administrator for a machine tool
distributor, and we had to have both electronic and paper copies of everything.
Previously, it was all one copy of everything on paper. In my academic work, I
basically operate on paper, and am wary of spending time on electronic
versions, partly because I historically have had a hard time relocating digital
files. I think these applications would help centralize and organize files, but
it would take a full-blown transition to paperless to make that succeed.
Preston, I appreciate your honesty about seeing certain tools as being "reduplication of effort." In some ways, I agree. Although I think I also see that not embracing these tools also leads to the same problem.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I can take notes with a pen a heck of a lot faster than I can with a keyboard. I know why. I have a journalism background from days before laptops (yes, kids, there really was a time). We were trained in the "art" of shorthand. I also know that my usually proficient-enough typing skills would improve if I devoted time to practicing that type of note-taking. What I don't know is if that effort is worth it at this point.
One factor in reaching the tipping point is that reduplication of effort, as the finished product has to be digital. In other words, I don't see the point of having a redundant file simply because there are flashy tools out there that can easily make it so — I see this a digital pack-ratting, and I worry that we are a culture moving from physical hoarding to e-hoarding. On the other hand, as the means of communication become less and less my choice to control (toward, as you say, "a full-blown transition to paperless"), reduplication of effort is also a problem.
This was a real pleasure to read. I agree that Diigo and Evernote seem like tools that duplicate one another. The funny thing is that certain people swear by Diigo and others swear by Evernote. (Last year's MACers were bigger fans of Evernote; this year, Diigo seems to have an edge.) I use both -- Diigo for almost everything except crafty topics -- I save those in Evernote so I can save the images. (I use Chrome, and Diigo's Chrome extension doesn't save images.) Definitely don't feel you need to use both -- we just include both in the assignment so you can pick. (Most people need SOME way of organizing their online info!)
ReplyDeleteI like your example of Skype in the classroom; reading this portion of your post gave me ideas for similar utilization in my physics class so thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteRegarding your discussion of reduplication of effort (nice term, has a ring to it), I found myself in the same conundrum earlier this summer and decided to make a speedy transition to all digital, for the sake of minimizing effort spent on trivial tasks. That said, my organization took a blow but that could perhaps be remedied by Evernote should I ever have time to shift my life to a new digital location. And then I feel I could still ask, Was all this effort worth it? When is the right time to make the switch, if ever?
Kind of the same comments I left on John's blogs...
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with your analysis of Skype. Before Friday I had no idea you could do these types of things with Skype. I see the most benefits for the students coming from the Skype application whereas the other three are more for the teacher. Although I can see the Diigo application working for student projects as well.
I left the comment on two other colleague's blogs that I use Evernote as a "brain dumping grounds" in addition to all its other capabilities. If i need to remember something for later, but don't think I actually will remember it, I throw it in Evernote. For example, if I hear of a band I want to research more (say Negative Approach for example) I add them to my Evernote list which I have titled "Music Research." I have the Evernote app on my phone, so a few key strokes and its in my list and out of my working memory (without any energy expended to move it to long term memory).
So I ask a question, is this a good thing? Is it good to have these "electronic memory reserves" or are we training our brains not to remember things? Or....are we clearing our working memory to be able to better focus on higher order thinking or tasks at hand?
I really like your example of using Skype. I was in choir in high school and I would have loved a chance to speak with the composer of a piece we were working with! I think this is a stellar use of technology, but I'm curious how often this is possible. Most teachers probably do not have access to composers (or the equivalent in other disciplines). I think using this effectively requires a lot of networking that I might not have time for as a first year teacher.
ReplyDeleteI think there are uses for technology (like your Skype example), but I think teachers often use technology just to say that they're using it and to look like forward-thinking teachers. If we use technology correctly it's definitely a good thing! We should use it to enrich student learning, not to overly support it. The example you gave allowed students to add to their understanding of the music, but it didn't train their brains not to remember the music, right? I'm not sure if this is making much sense, but in short, I think we should be cautious about what we use technology for.
What do YOU think?
Ryan, in answer to your question about whether these digital "dumping grounds" are a good thing, I would ask: Do you go back and use the information? For example, with your music leads: Do you ever follow up on them?
ReplyDeleteIf so, I would say this is a useful storage of information.
I suppose some might argue that, unlike storage in the physical world, information you aren't gonna use doesn't really take up any space, so it's still not a "bad" idea. As far as storage space, no.
But I wonder, what happens to our mental space when we overload ourselves with links and resources and things that we have interest in but no real likelihood of pursuing? Personally, it causes me anxiety to think there are so many "to-do" lists out there. What do others think?
I agree with you about the 'reduplication of effort', but for some reason I am still using both. I think I will run into problems when I am trying to find my files in the future. So I appreciate what you are saying about making a 'full blown' effort to transition into organizing your files online. I need to use a day or so to reorganize the information we already have in preparation for the upcoming year. This will be good practice for life as a teacher when we have to keep track of so many kids and all their assignments and assessing how they are progressing. I hope that if you do make the transition, that it goes smoothly for you and you find digital organization to be useful.
ReplyDelete