Commenting on a blog in a foreign language (Comment Challenge 24)

This was the scariest challenge so far. Since I can read Spanish tolerably well (though writing and speaking Spanish are much more difficult for me), I looked for a blog in Spanish. I used Google Blog Search with the keywords, “educacion tecnológica” and found this blog: Educación tecnológica. (I should have used tecnología educacional, but I found something despite my error.)

I am desperately hoping that the grammar in my comment won’t embarrass me, but I found the experience enlightening. I found resources for educators provided by the Spanish government. I once spent six weeks in Madrid, but never would have thought to use my Spanish skills to look for resources in educational technology. This is something that I am going to have to do more often.

What makes a great comment? (Comment Challenge 23)

A good comment is:

• on-topic,
• succinct,
• and it makes the reader smile

A great comment is:

• on-topic
• succinct,
• it makes the reader think,
• and it makes the reader want to respond

Good comments let the author of the blog know that they were heard, understood, and even appreciated, but great comments push the conversation forward.

My Favorite Comment (Comment Challenge 22)

For today’s activity, you’re going to review comments you’ve previously received on your blog and highlight one or two of them in a post, explaining WHY you liked the comment(s). Were they thought-provoking? Did they ask a great question? Did they encourage you at a time when you needed it? Be sure to link back to your commenter’s blog if they have one.

My favorite comment came two days ago and you can read it here.   The commenter, Robin, happens to be my Aunt.  Part of the reason that I like the comment is the excitement of connecting with family.  Since I grew up in Maryland and all of my relatives lived in Rocky Mountain States or in California, I didn’t have a lot of contact with them.  Now that I live in Utah, we’re able to see each other more often, but not as often as we would like.  Reading each other’s blogs is a great way foster family togetherness.

Additionally, I liked Robin’s comment because she offered a non-edublogger’s perspective on commenting.  I also really appreciated that she gave me a suggestion of what she would like me to write about.  So, to take Aunt Robin’s advice . . .

I am moving to Charlottesville because my husband was offered a position at the University of Virginia.  (My fellow Hokies are weeping right now . . . sorry.)  I encouraged him to apply because I love the Maryland/Virginia region where I grew up and where my family still lives.  We will be about three hours away from my parents and my siblings.  Robb is excited about the new position and we both like the stability that it offers.  Charlottesville is a beautiful town and we are both excited about living there.  Moving will make finishing our degrees more complicated, but both my husband and I are “ABD”.  He’s likely to finish this fall and I should finish by either April or August of 2009.  We think this will be a good move for us.  However, we’re going to be very busy.

A Discussion about My Graduate Work

Last week I got an email telling me that the next issue of the Alumni Magazine for the School of Education has a technology theme and my graduate work has been suggested as a possible topic to feature.  This surprised me because I haven’t really started my dissertation yet.  I’ve just written a short paper for class and talked to a few professors.  I probed a little more and found out that the interviewer will ask me for:

• why I chose the project–my passion
• a description of my project
• its individual impact and projected impact
• how my work might help a regular classroom teacher

I’ll be meeting with the interviewer in less than two hours, so I thought I’d use this time to think a little about my embryonic graduate work.  I’ve toyed with a few possible dissertation topics.  Originally, I thought I would study virtual high schools, especially those that use a “blended” model of instruction.  Then I got a job evaluating Blackboard and thought I would get paid to do a dissertation on course management systems.  However, that all changed when I got the opportunity to teach “Instructional Technology for Teachers”.

I immersed myself in Internet research trying to find out what technologies had become available for teachers in the years since I had left the classroom.  I was amazed.  I used Google Reader, Google Alerts, social bookmarking sites, social networking sites, and emails to “more knowledgeable others” to answer the many questions that I had.  Along the way, I found a blog post about Personal Learning Networks.  Immediately, I thought to myself, “That’s what I’m doing!”  I’ve learned more from my PLN than from any other course or tool in my graduate program.  Few things make me as excited as this topic.  I want to share what I’ve learned with anyone and everyone–and I see myself as a novice at this.

Part of my dissertation research will study the process of establishing a PLN.  I am going to try to find out a model (or models) that can help an individual capture the power of the learning tools that surround them.  I think that another part of my research will address interactions between nodes in successful PLN, but this part is a little more fuzzy.

As for the impact of my project, I’ve promised my mother that in five-ten minutes I could start her on the path to setting up a PLN that would bring high-quality knowledge about quilting (or anything else that she is interested in) to her.  I want to prove to her that it is more than a boast.  Additionally, one of the “Aims of a BYU Education” is “lifelong learning and service.”  To me, using the technology tools available to us to set up a PLN is the best way to ensure lifelong learning.  If I had my way, setting up a PLN would be part of the k12 curriculum.  It’s about learning how to learn.  At the very least, the Freshman Academy here at the university would dedicate time to helping students create and nurture PLNs.

Having a technology-enabled PLN helps classroom teachers develop professionally by connecting them with more knowledge, opportunities, and even mentors than would be available to them without technology.  Additionally, classroom teachers can help their students use PLNs to become true lifelong learners.

Comment Challenge Day 20: Three Links Out

For this one, I started at Vicki Davis’ blog and followed a link from her recent comments on other blogs, to Kellie’s Blog.  From there, I followed a comment from Brandi Caldwell, who referred to Steve Dembo’s blog.  Steve was commenting on his plans to try-out the new Wii Fit.  Like Steve, I also have some unwanted pounds to lose.  My Wii Fit came last night and I’m really interested in seeing if I can use my infatuation with technology to help me shape up.

Last year, I audited a jogging class and got in pretty good shape.  My favorite Tech gadget was an Omron heart monitor/watch/stopwatch.  I really wanted to get an iPod with a Nike Sport kit, but I kept waiting for the Nike Sport kit to work with an iPhone.  I’ve heard that this has happened, but now I’m waiting for the 3G iPhone, which should only be weeks or even days away.  Now that  I’m moving, I’ll probably wait on the new phone so that I can get a Virginia phone number.

In case anyone is interested, here are some of my favorite fitness links on the web:

• http://caloriecount.about.com/
• http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/
• http://www.mypyramid.gov/
• http://www.ullreys.com/robert/Podcasts/podcasts/podcasts.html
• http://www.yogatoday.com/

Comment Challenge Day 17: Five in Five

I’m still way behind on these comment challenges.   My birthday was Friday and my husband and I spent it at Disneyland with my mother, father, and aunt (courtesy of my grandmother).  My younger sister said, “Spending your birthday is like every little kid’s dream.”  I have to agree with her . . . and it only took 32 years for mine to come true.

Between my birthday and the upcoming Big Move (from Utah to Virginia in less than 7 weeks), I’ve been plenty busy.  Still, I really want to complete the comment challenge and I took time today to attempt 5 in 5.  I managed to do this mainly by commenting on blogs of family members and close friends.  These are blogs that I follow, but I’m not sure my family members and friends realize it, because I’ve never left a post before.  I commented on the blogs of my aunt, my cousin, my brother in law and my friend Andrea.  Then I asked a question on the blog of a fellow edublogger.

I highly recommend the blog of my friend, Andrea.  It’s called “Come with me to Africa“.  Andrea is a fellow IP&T graduate student/instructor and she’s pretty amazing.  She speaks Spanish, English, French, and Portuguese and is managing to keep up a blog even when she doesn’t have access to running water.  What is most amazing is that she’s in Mozambique right now conducting a program evaluation for a charity and learning tons from the people there.

Comment Challenge Day 19: Respond to a Commenter On Your Own Blog

Today I made a second response to a commenter on this post. I’d been meaning to respond to the post for at least a week, but since I haven’t been very active with blogging lately, I hadn’t gotten around to it. The comment challenge finally gave me motivation.

In my comment to Sameer, I recommended another blogger as resource to offer suggestions about blog discussions. However, I want to respond a little more in a post. My personal experience running a “blog discussion” in class comes from last semester when I set up a class blog for my Teaching with Technology course. I used the blog for two class discussions, one on internet safety and one on copyright issues. I felt a class blog discussion would be an appropriate approach for a number of reasons.

1. It extended class discussion outside of class.
2. It ensured that every student participated in the discussion.
3. I didn’t have to spend time teaching my students the conventions of threaded discussions (seriously, my students in the fall didn’t do well with threaded discussions).
4. Multiple sections of students could participate in the same discussion.
5. It modeled the use of a instructional technology that they could employ in their future classrooms.

To manage the discussion, I posted a prompt on the topic with links to certain reading materials. Then I required each student to read the prompts and the associated materials and post a response by midweek. Then I required students to revisit the conversation the day before class and respond to at least one classmate’s comment. Everyone made at least one post and the majority of students managed to make both posts. I felt that, on the whole, the quality of student discussion was good and I would use the tool again. If you are interested, you can see the discussions here and here.

Comment Challenge Day 21: Make a Recommendation

I already did this about two weeks ago and since I’m behind, I’m going to count it.  I left a recommendation on a post on Wes Fryer’s blog.  Wes was asking for a web-based application that could manage a group to do list with less complexity than project management software.  I happen to collect links to useful applications/resources the way little boys collects random bits of string, toys, and other things in their pockets.   When  I saw his question, I was excited to be able to suggest Hiveminder.  Being able to make a recommendation helped me to feel that maybe I do have a thing or two to offer this community.

Comment Challenge Day 18: Analyze the Comments on Your Own Blog

• Which of your posts have generated the most comments?

The posts on my blog that have generated the most comments all relate to the comment challenge. The posts that have generated the next most comments all have to do with my personal experiences either as a teacher or as a researcher/learner.

• Which has generated the best conversation? (The last question is about quantity; this one is about quality.)

My posts related to the comment challenge are the only ones that could be said to have generated any conversation. The best example is probably the post on “Should we be commenting on other blogs?“

• Are there any patterns to the commenting on your own blog? Do certain types of posts generate more comments than others?

Outside of the comment challenge posts, the posts that generate the most comments have related to mainly to my recent personal experiences. For example, the “Lessons learned post” (one of the comments related to the “Lessons Learned” post was left on the “About” page) and the “Learning Contracts” post. However, my posts about my experiences teaching in Baltimore generated zero comments.

• If you do see a pattern or commonality between posts that generate good comments, what can you do to increase those qualities in other posts?

One thing I could do is find more challenges. However, for the long term, I’m probably best off focusing on my recent personal experiences as a teacher and a learner. The things that I am learning about and teaching about seem to be of interest to a larger community and I ought to be less shy about sharing them.

Comment Challenge Day 15: Give a Comment Award

I’m way behind on my participation in the comment challenge.  I have a good excuse, though–last week, my husband accepted a job on the other side of the country and we need to figure out how to get a house sold and another one bought by July 9th.

Back to the challenge. . . Challenge 15 was to give a Fantastic Commenter award to at least one commenter on your own blog.  I find it hard to pick one.  Both Sue Waters and Michele Martin have been frequent commenters on this blog and deserve the award.  However, since they are organizers of the comment challenge, I’m going to disqualify them and try to recognize someone else.  So, the winner is Ines or inpi, who blogs at http://stora.edublogs.org/.  I am choosing her not only because I like her comment, but also because when I visited her blog I noticed it was mainly in Portuguese and I think she deserves extra credit for following blogs in at least two languages.