Week 2 reflection questions

• After completing the MAPping information activity: what are your reactions to your findings? To be perfectly honest, the mapping exercise didn't provide me with any "aha!" moments.
• What will you do differently while searching on the Internet for information now? Most likely, I won't do anything different. I am aware that the ranking a search engine assigns an URL in no way speaks to it's validity. Users must also understand this and practice personal judgement and common sense.
• How confident are you with the information you've used in the past (as part of your college career and/or in your profession)? I feel as confident as I possibly can with the information I've found on the Internet. I understand that just because it is said, does not make it true. Besides the fact that the Internet is more open to the general public, I don't think that any previous media source were any more reliable.
• What are some implications for the future of our students if we fail to teach them these skills in school? Just like we have to teach our children not to speak to strangers, we must teach them that same mindset applies to digital communications as well.
• Do you see any advantages for organizing your information via Delicious and/or Google Reader? I see their advantages, but I don't see myself fully utilizing them. I know they are made to improve online organization (Google reader) and provide another means for social networking (Delicious), but I don't see those as services I have an immediate need for.
• What are some ways you think you could use these tools in the future? I could see myself possibly using both services in the future. Either when I fully realize their potential, or I have a personal need.
• This week, you also explored the concept of wikis and created a wiki for a specific purpose. What purpose did you have in mind when developing your wiki and have you started to implement your ideas yet? I created my wiki as an extension of my class website: www.irvingdesignstudio.net. I would like to provide my students an avenue for cloud based information and file sharing.
• What advantages do you see in utilizing wikis? I see wikis as being advantageous for groups to efficiently share and organize information.
• What disadvantages do you see? Wiki's, by nature, are open for the group to edit. This can be beneficial or harmful. Given that many people have editing access, things can be mistakingly or maliciously modified or even deleted.
• Think back to the digital natives reading: How do wikis have the potential for engaging them? Wiki's give those users who might be socially introverted a digital voice. That which is equal to every other user. Almost like the digital equivalent to the Colt 45.
• In exploring the eLearning Tools Wiki, what other web 2.0 technologies did you uncover that you want to explore further?