As always, I really, really enjoyed Bob’s class. I’m going to miss having the opportunity to take his classes, but I’m looking forward to possible future collaboration.

The most interesting thing to me, about my participation in the class, was that my project was far from what I went in wanting to do. I still am very interested in my “critical information literacy,” but it was good to have some time to explore Millennials in Education. All-in-all, that topic was useful for my current professional position, and it did develop into a framework that I have submitted for consideration for publication.

I really appreciated the interactive nature of the class, the surprising differences and parallels between projects, the chance to work with such amazing people, and looking at the different ways our interests interacted.

As challenging as it was for me to get to Greensboro this summer, I wish I had been able to interact a little more. For someone who uses a lot of the Web 2.0 technologies, I just didn’t feel as connected as I thought I would. Luckily, though, we have everyone’s contact information, so there’s always the chance for future interaction/collaboration. If we can all find time.

One of the interesting dynamics of the class, for me, was that everyone else was in a PhD program. The further I get into the MLIS program, the more I want a little time off before pursuing another degree. I’ve not tabled anything, I’m just still unsure about my next steps.

CUI 688 might be over, but I’m beginning an independent study in the LIS department on social epistemology and LIS. I’ll be blogging that project, too, and I suspect there will be a few parallels among my own projects.

the rough draft website

the ROUGH draft paper 

I would love any comments you have!

If you want to give me feedback during the process. The rapidly-changing web component is here.

Similarly, there is an interesting post about mosh pit as classroom that shows some of these differences in a more textual way.

So, what you find here is a much shorter, to the point, update than you would have gotten otherwise.

1. I’m not podcasting this week because I’m still getting my feet on the ground and it takes longer to do than a blog post– that is, unless your computer eats your blog post!!

2. My paper is now going to be a paper that will be up for consideration for a book chapter.  The paper will be on educating millennials in libraries.  I’ve spent a lot of time this week pulling together everything I’ve learned/thought about millennials and education in the course of this class, and today I’ve started gathering statistics from OCLC and the Pew Internet & American Life Project.  My goal is to get a rough draft up by the end of the week and then spend the rest of this class on the electronic/web component.

3. I’ve finally spent some time with Turkle and Mazlish.

4. After reading Mazlish, I can see why you kept pointing out the coevolution of machines/humans, Sue!  Very interesting stuff there!

5. I really enjoyed Turkle.  My two favorites:

5a. I liked that she talked about computers as tools AND as new models of mind/mediums for ideas.  I agree that when we think of teaching, it is useful to stick to the mantra “technology is just a tool” and not give in too much to technolust.  However, I think that thinking of technology as just a tool is somewhat limited and leads people to ignore how technology really does affect the message.  It is a new medium, and for me, it’s useful to think of that.

5b. I really thought the multiple windows, multiple selves discussion was interesting.  At the time she wrote this (1995!) the anecdotal story was that one window of many was from “real life.”  Today, when you look at student’s computer screens, there are 5-10 IM windows, the internet, Word (for a paper), iTunes, and who knows what else.  Most of those windows are directly related to real life.  To me, Turkle’s discussion of windows as a demonstration of postmodern ideas is more accurate today.

6. Okay, so hopefully this week you’ll mostly hear library, millennial, education related stuff from me.  And (really) hopefully you’ll see a ROUGH draft this Friday!

I phoned in my update to Odeo.  It can be found in the Exploring Media Literacy podcast.
I’m a little worried about my participation in this class.  I (pretty obviously) find the topics interesting.  I spend a lot of time working on my project.  However, when I signed up for the class I didn’t realize I was getting into so many Greensboro meetings. Working full time, doing coursework for this and another class, and keeping up with personal responsibilities makes it hard to take the time to get to Greensboro.  This is something I’m working on right now.

Anyway, I’ll be in town for the next few weeks… hopefully participating at full level again!

Yesterday I attended a symposium dealing with the future of libraries (and therefore, the future of books). It was really interesting! My full notes are at the link above.

One point that I thought was relevant for my exploring media literacy class is useful for my final project. One of the speakers, Derek Woodgate, showed an example of a book that came out with a companion DVD. He said it was interesting, but not really useful. The author then produced the same book as a tagged and hyperlinked document. It was abbreviated, but you could click on one area and get much more depth on that particular subject. Something to consider for a project like mine that goes in several different directions!

This type of document is relevant for people who don't think as linearly. And, at this point, it's well documented that much of the "Millennial" generation don't think linearly. And then, of course, that makes me wonder what is in store for the nature of truth if the way we prove truth (linear, cause-and-effect experiments) is no longer mainstream.

Two other take away points for this class:

• McLuhan's idea that first we create our tools and thereafter our tools create us.
• "Age-cohort dynamics" as generation studies

I mention several sites of interest in the podcast. Here are the links:
Scan this Book
John Updike’s speech
Wreading
The Social Life of Books from Library Journal
the future of the book
Mimi ito’s Blog

Music, again, was Joe Sibol from PodSafeAudio.com.

Second, I was really interested in Christopher Harris’s discussion of digital natives/digital immigrants. I mentioned this off-hand in Blackboard the other day, with little thought other than it was an easy way to make my point. However, after reading Harris’s post, I think I like the knowing/participating/living spectrum more. It certainly fits my understanding of things. It’s also likely more accurate than putting all millennials in the “living” box.

“Wreaders” are the people who read, but write too. They’re the Wikipedia editors and the people who contribute to group writing projects. I really liked one of the comments on the post: couldn’t you call those people “bloggers?”

This kindof goes with the quote I ran across the other day: “In many respects, the blogosphere is a society of readers, all publishing their notes and reflections in real time and linking to fellow readers.”