I’m dipping back into #byod4l today. I didn’t manage to do anything really yesterday in the communication day. Kind of ironic as I thought it might be an area where I would be active. However, other non #byod4l communication such as email, twitter, blogging and that “work thang” kind of took priority.
I’ve just watched the two video scenarios and I relate to both of them. Like the student I do worry about where and how to save and share “stuff”. Over the years I’ve tried many different services and some listed in the curation resources area. Even now I’m still smarting from the delicious debacle, I flirted with diigo but it didn’t quite do it for me, I’ve tried pearltrees which I like, but my pearls are getting too big now so favourited tweets and a kind of weekly blog post also have their place in my chaotic curating methods.
I also empathise with the teacher who was bemoaning the fact that students don’t engage with the additional online resources she provides as they see them as add-ons. Whilst better course/activity design may go some way to address this, I can fully understand why this is the case. Students have to be pragmatic about what they do. Pragmatism is the key thing that will get me through #byod4l (and has done for other MOOCs I’ve managed to complete). It is a key, often forgotten about, aspect of self directed learning. When there is so much “stuff” around you just can’t engage with everything. But having the metacognative skills to make the most informed decisions about engagement is now more than ever a key part of any educational experience. It’s great having so many curating tools, but knowing how to use and manage them effectively is an ongoing challenge and one I struggle with.
One other related #byod4l activity today, here’s a screen shot of Brian Kelly, me and Jim Emery trying a bit of collaboration this morning using a new to us free web conferencing tool appear.in
