MindMeister Update #6

In an everyday classroom setting there is a teacher lecturing to at least thirty students about the subject of the day.  Most students would refer to this style of teaching as the drone method.  In this method professors simply talk on and on about a subject without really interesting the students in what they are talking about.  Since there is no interest happening there is no actual learning taking place.  True learning occurs when students are not thinking about learning but rather when they are engaged about the lecture and become truly passionate about paying attention. Since educators have realized this fact about how students learn they have for the most part fixed the issue by introduced technology or e-learning into the classroom.  Some teachers feel that this is accomplished by creating a PowerPoint and lecturing from that. Mission failure.  This essentially just using technology to make a new kind of boring drone session.  When an interactive technology tool is introduced to the classroom students will become engaged.

MindMeister Update #5

When technology is introduced in educational settings students not only learn the class subjects, but technology as well.  Through e-learning in the classroom setting the roles of teachers and students are changing and there is always an ever-present worry that students will be cheating.  In a traditional classroom setting void of technology the teacher is the one who is in charge of controlling the discussion.  When CMC comes into play now everyone is at an equal level with the students now actually controlling the discussion based upon what they have to say.  This paradigm shift in the classroom leaves teachers as more of a facilitator than a driving force.  This shift is not one in which has negative effects, because the students are taking control of the discussion they need to know enough about the material to make a coherent argument.  Since this is happening students are actually learning the material better on their own instead of relying on their teachers to supply them with knowledge.

The internet offers so many benefits to learning such as MindMeister and Wikipedia.  However, there is a very large downside.  Many students who do not wish to put forth the effort to write their own papers often look to the internet to try and steal a paper and turn it in as their own.  This side of E-learning is very unfortunate seeing as how no actual learning is taking place in this criminal act of copying and pasting the work of another.  Although with technology anything is possible.  More and more teachers and universities are subscribing to online services which take the papers of students and cross-reference their work against that on the internet to see if there is a match.  With the contant battle of teachers trying to outsmart students in the field of plagiarism no learning is taking place.

MindMeister offers a prime solution to the paradigm shift amongst teachers and students.  This allows the teachers to assign homework involving class participation on a certain subject requiring students to make meaningful contributions to a mind-map on a particular topic.  This mind-map is online and readily available to all students to collaborate and see the contributions of their fellow classmates in real time.  The students are the driving force of the work simply following the order of their teacher.  MindMeister offers a unique feature where the different contributions of students are color-coded to represent which student added what.  This helps with plagiarism, because it would be very difficult to deny that a student added a comment when it is says so online on MindMeister.

MindMeister Update #4

Teachers and many other educators recognize the significance of electronic learning and wish to use it in all ways possible.  A problem arises that not every student will be fluent enough with computers and technology to be able to use it efficiently.  So now teachers must begin to teach their students about technology before introducing learning via technology.  A great example that has become synonymous with daily life is email.  Teachers often use emails to connect with their students and use as a channel for students to ask questions.  Some teachers such as professor Madsen at St. Ambrose uses emails to not only enforce technology but also to help students in China better improve their English skills by communicating with SAU students.

When thinking of MindMeister the teaching of technology may seem a waste of time given the simplicity of the tool  However, for someone who has never used a computer it is more likely than not that they would not even be able to find where to go for the internet without instruction.  A very nice feature about MindMeister is that after sign up the first map available is a walk-through map.  Even for someone who is computer illiterate this map will begin to help teach them the basics and computers as well as how to begin building their first mind map.

MindMeister

1. The topic discussed this week was E-learning and it was reinforced by the social media tool MindMeister.  E-learning is the use of all forms of electronic teaching and learning to present information in a new and customized way in order to address the various learning styles of students.  One way of thinking of E-learning is by examining the Cognitive theory of multimedia learning.  This theory operates on the basic assumption that audio and visual information are processed separately and that both of these channels have a finite amount of space in them.  Meaning E-learning tries to combine audio and visuals in order to fully stimulate the mind, but not giving too much information to avoid overloading the channels and creating an overflow of information. MindMeister allows users to create mind-maps where they can succinctly lay out their thoughts in order to get a better understand of a topic.
2. The main benefit that MindMeister serves is collaboration and note-taking.  Here MindMeister allows many users to work on the same project at the same time and to see their changes happening in real time.  This feature gives the benefit of being in the same room with a group collaborating on a project, but instead of traveling to an agreed upon location users simply have to log-in and begin typing.  Beyond the collaboration benefits provided by MindMeister, this tool allows you the ability to lay out your thoughts and ideas.  I can not tell you have beneficial this process has been for me when it comes to planning essays.  If I had known of this tool a year ago, I would have saved myself the trouble of trying to make a good essay skeleton by hand.
3. In my opinion the most interesting feature of MindMeister is the live update capability.  During my in-class presentation of E-learning I found it very intriguing just how fast the map was able to update when other students in the class made changes.  Additionally I liked how organized that feature was with the color coding.  This feature now eliminates the need to email versions of a document back and forth between two parties in order to get the changes complete.  Past the live updates I also thought that it was really cool that there was a feature which allowed you to watch what you had done in the past in order to see your thought processes and also to revert in need be.  No longer will you have you rely on the inefficient ctrl-z.
4. To be completely honest I did not find much of anything very challenging when it comes to interfacing with MindMeister.  The only aspect of this tool that took a little bit of figuring out was how to add new branches to the map. Once I learned that you could use tab+enter, or insert, or clicking the plus at the top left I no longer had trouble with that.  Although when it comes to large-scale outline on MindMeister it is difficult to try and condense the map into a smaller print-screen.  Although MindMeister is made to be used strictly online, it makes sense that when trying to translate it to paper it is inefficient.
5. This tool allows users to share the map with their friends via email or via Facebook.  Additionally when sharing the map the creator can decide whether or not to allow the invitee to simply view or edit the map.  I believe that these features allow communication to go very smoothly between users.  However, on the paid version of MindMeister there is a chat function which will only serve to make the process of collaboration and communication even easier.
6. On a whole MindMeister is by far my most favorite social media tool that we have discussed in class. I am not just saying this because I presented on it, but because I do not see a downside to this tool.  I see only educational benefits, and improvements to communication.  This tool has even been seen worthy enough to be used to create outlines for an entire classes's final papers.  This tool is something that I have been doing throughout my career as a student and now I have an online interface for it.  Being as passionate for technology as I am I do not have to tell you how excited I am to find this tool, and I will continue to use this tool for my foreseeable future.

MindMeister Update #3

Today in most classes teachers are beginning to incorporate many differing forms of computer mediated communication (CMC).  In order for students to be successful using these new forms of technology they must use the technology and familiarize themselves with the different interfaces.  The next step is for the students to become good communicators online.  A trait among young students that is falling by the wayside in current society is to be able to effectively send messages with a clear and understandable message.  When communicating online many users turn to shorthand or slang.  However, when a teacher brings students into the online context these bad habits can become quite detrimental to the use of technology and the grades of the students.

When thinking of MindMeister this tool can be used to bring students together on the online context and also try to improve their skills of rhetoric in order to improve their online communication experience.  When online brainstorming among fellow students can often motivate discussions which will generate a real interest in the subject thereby producing good end results.  Online even on MindMeister students will need to be aware of lurkers.  Lurkers are those who simply sit on the sidelines and watch what is being done to benefit in their own way.  A great way to eliminate lurkers on MindMeister is to set the particular mind map that the students are using to private allowing only those in the class and the teacher access to the mind map.

Flickr

1. The topic discussed in class this week was the idea of Organization Online.  In other words, networking.  Flickr is a tool that allows their users to upload photos and videos online which allow them to share their interests as well as their business with others.  The users on Flickr that I came across in my experience consisted mainly of small businesses and organizations who seemed to be trying to get the word out about their business in order to promote growth.  The fact that these users are building an online profile brings to mind a similar feeling that blogs brought up.  In following with the Uncertainty Reduction theory Flickr allows users to tell a certain self-image of themselves in the online context.  This may or may not lead into face-to-face interpersonal communication but the end result is a diminished uncertainty about the user.
2. Flickr allows small businesses to be able to network in the online sphere very easily.  Even those who are not tech-savvy will be able to easily navigate and use Flickr to their advantage.  As a result of this user-friendly aspect many business are really benefiting from using this website as a way to grow their business.  Especially because in today's society people are much more likely to surf the web in search of a place to go out to eat, or get their hair cut, than they would be to open up a phone-book to locate a place.
3. I thought it was interesting how these different users best felt their profile would help their business.  Many of the pages I looked at had different but similar approaches achieve the same goal of expanding business.  Some pages had a very organized layout of photos and descriptions that really told you a lot about their business, but even so these pages did not leave much to figure out.  As a result you almost never needed to research more to make a decision whether or not this business was something that you needed.  On the other hand, I thought that the pages where not every detail about the business was expressed gave the viewer something to wonder and often sparked more interest that way.  
4. In-class when building a profile for Harry's hair salon I thought that it was easy to find pictures that would best represent this small business.  However, just because you have built an acceptable online presence does not mean that you will generate a lot of interest on Flickr.  I found myself rather stymied when trying to figure out how to generate traffic to the actual page on Flickr.
5. No longer will you have to go out to functions hosted my similar business in order to network your business.  Flickr allows you an online platform for you to do all of this leg-work from the comfort of your own home.  Networking is an integral part of business, it always has been and will only continue to grow as technology does.  By offering a service that is seen as so crucial to businesses this tool definitely improves communication and in a mature, adult, and efficient way.
6. While I myself have no need for Flickr in my life I found that by pretending to be a small business I enjoyed my usage of Flickr.  With that being said, later in life if I ever find the need to grow my own small business or if I have a friend who needs help with such I will be certain to remember Flickr.  The website is not among the garbage sites out on the internet.  Instead this site is a tool which all businesses would do well to utilize.

MindMeister Update #2

In the technology age we have currently in society there are now more and more attributes being added to what is considered general knowledge.  Before the internet being thought of as literate happened if a person could talk and write efficiently   In a nutshell being literate happens if a person can effectively communicate with others.  Today that ideal is the same but it incorporates more aspects than before.  Now to be considered literate one must be able talk and write, and well as do the same while working with computers.  With the internet and all of its information being at the fingertips of everyone who can use it, those who cannot use it are falling behind in terms of literacy.

E-learning or the use of electronics to learn or have material taught did not always exists, but now that it does students must learn how best benefit from it.  In school teachers are able to use tools like MindMeister in order to teach students concepts of the class.  Then after teaching use this tool teachers are able to make this map available on the internet so that their students can study the information at home on their own time.  MindMeister has an interesting feature where the maps made can be set to public, shared, or private.  When the map is set as public everyone can see it, when set to private only the creator of the map can see it.  If the map is set to the shared option only those the creator wishes to share the map with by invitations can see it.  As far as learning goes MindMeister allows a very user-friendly set-up to teach with success.

MindMeister Update #1

Ever since computers and many others forms of technology were introduced to education learning has been irrevocably changed.  Students more and more turn to search engines like Google or Bing for homework help instead of going to their teachers, asking other students, or even more unlikely opening up a book.  Since this trend is an unstoppable force of nature, schools incorporated this technology into learning and revolutionized the way classes are held.  No longer are students solely researching topics from books, or taking notes off of the board.  Students in today's society have a multitude of niches to find this information.

By using tools such as MindMeister teachers are able to conduct lectures in a manner in which students will more likely be interested because a computer is involved.  MindMeister at its core is a fancy online note-taking assistant which allows ideas, thoughts, and concepts to be laid out in a neat and organized fashion.  With this organization no longer will mindless doodles occupy the same space as the hard hitting concepts of Physics, or Computer Science.  If professors utilized this tool and made students map out chapters of their textbooks these classes would have multiple maps containing the very tools to success.

Dungeon Blitz

1. The topic that was discussed in class this week was the concept of social gaming in the online context.  This focused around the theory of narratology which is concerned with the affect that narratives have on our perception of the culture as well as the world around us.  Dungeon Blitz is an online MMO game where you can pick different classes of warriors in order to begin your questing.  During the game the character you have chosen begins to get wrapped up in various different quests with stories that are based on saving someone, or achieving some goal.  These quests are narratives that help to better explain the world of Dungeon Blitz and why you are questing.
2. This tool allows its many users to escape the grind of everyday life and be transported to a world where you can be a warrior and fight off trolls, and save damsels in distress.  This is a quest based game which means that the users must embark on an adventure with a goal in mind set by the game.  For example you may have to fight through hordes of enemies in order to save the helpless NPC character created by the game. This game also allows you to invite your friends from Facebook to come along with you to chat or to quest together.
3. Me being a gamer mostly on XBOX found the game play very different from what I had grown accustomed to.  Instead of a controller I was now using the keyboard to play a game.  The difference I soon found out added to the intrigue of the game, and because I was not accustomed to this kind of play style I found myself more challenged, thereby having more fun than I ever would have otherwise.
4. The more I began questing the more I found out how difficult it was to overcome the hordes of enemies.  At first I did not realize that you could upgrade your equipment to better your stats.  As a result I was going up against stronger, and stronger opponents without growing any stronger myself.  I learned a little how to better my character but in the end I found that I had to really alter my fighting style to combat the harder opponents.
5. I found that I much preferred the lone wolf approach when it came to questing, I enjoyed going through the game in a single player style. Since I had this approach in the game the only time I ever talked to the other users from in between quests.  During this time I would ask some of the more highly leveled users what they thought of the game.  Some simply made flippant responses as I expected, but more than not I actually got genuine responses about their critique of the game.  Most said that they enjoyed the questing in the game and it was a great way to waste a lot of time without even realizing it.  Dungeon Blitz is a great and fun environment to communicate with your friends from Facebook and even a good place to initiate new relationships.
6. On a whole I really enjoyed playing Dungeon Blitz.  My enjoyment stemmed more from the actual game-play and questing than it did from the communication in-game.  Since I was immersed in the game-play I did not actively seek out communication.  I believe that the only reason that I communicated with other users was so that I could accurately answer the questions on my blog for this class.

Second Life

1.  This week the idea of Virtual Communities was discussed and if defined as support groups formed by emotional bonds and experiences similar to those forged by geographically local communities.  In Second life the users get the opportunity to travel to different worlds (server locations) in order to chat and move around with other users who may share the same interests.  Second life has taken the idea of virtual communities and made so many specific niche areas for certain users to go and enjoy themselves.  Second life is a conduit to find a personalized virtual community that each individual user will enjoy being a part of.
2. Second life allows users to chat with each other in a free, and open manner.  The personal information that is shared here is sometimes surprising.  People will not be shy at all to share, what gender, ethnicity, age that they are along with, personal interests and perhaps even physical appearance.  Second life like Facebook allows people from all over the world to converse and function together in an open format.  The difference being that in Second life users can completely change their avatar to something far different than a fake picture.
3. For me I thought it was interesting to be able to change the avatar into so many different categories of life, from animals, people, to cars, and vampires.  The variety of avatars combined with the different ways other users clothed them always made it interesting to see who was about to walk around the corner.  Additionally I thought it was pretty interesting that users were able to fly around the map regardless of what avatar they selected, so to see cars flying around was quite fascinating.
4. In Second life much like Omegle I found it difficult to carry an intellectual conversation, many users I tried to talk to either weren't interested or decided to write ignorant things.  The amount of times I actually found an intellectual conversation are far outweighed by number attempts at this type of conversation.
5. Second life is very useful when users wish to find a specific world or virtual community that fits their own style, because of this ease of access sometimes the users in the world users teleport to will share similar interests.  I think of Second life as a database full of virtual communities for users to find and enjoy, in this aspect I believe that Second life succeeds in communication.  On the other-hand  because many users disguise their identity behind avatars it is still impossible to have a 100% genuine conversation with other users a problem that is much more difficult to have in person.
6. When I went into certain worlds that were highly populated I found that the game began to lag and cause improper functioning.  For me I found this highly annoying and immediately teleported to another world to escape the jumpy, slow connection.  I found that this issue along with the disguising of avatars really turned me off from ever willingly going back to second life.  On an overall basis, Second life succeeds more than it fails at conversations when thinking in terms of virtual communities.

Omegle / Meet Up

1.   Both Omegle and Meet Up serve the purpose of meeting other people, and even sometimes meeting people with a specific interest that may match up with yours.  On Omegle especially you are constantly beginning new conversations, and new relationships.  When thinking about the different stages of relational development using Omegle you may initiate, differentiate, and terminate up to fifteen relationships within the first five minutes of using the tool.  While this is all a form of online interpersonal communication I feel that there is no way to truly connect using this tool.  However, on Meet Up you are able to find others who enjoy doing similar activities that you do and from that first connection I believe a lasting relationship can be forged. 
2. Omegle is used to talk to complete strangers, about absolutely random topics or one of your choosing.  Meet Up is used to find others with similar interests that you have and then go out and participate in those activities.  Both of these tools are a different form of interpersonal communication used to meet other people and make connections.  As a social media tool both of these succeed, however, as a tool being used to forge connections only Meet Up succeeds.
3. I thought that both Omegle and Meet Up were a unique way to communicate with people that you would not ordinarily meet.  With all of the millions of different specific niches in this world it is nice to have a site that has an easy way to find other people who want to do the same activities as you.  As far as social media sites go I actually enjoyed Meet Up and I am the first person to condemn any and all forms of social media.
4. On Omegle I found it extremely difficult to find a person who was actually on that site to talk seriously about a topic.  Most of the people on that site simply wish to be crude, and swear, and play on stereotypical biases to be ignorant.  Those individuals completely turned me off to using that site ever again.  On Meet Up you are able to find specific niche activity such as Lego Motion picture group. However this tool pulls from all over and these activities may be anywhere from five to 1,000 miles away.  It is sometimes difficult to find certain activities nearby your area.  You can set a search parameter of a specific amount of miles, but this limits your results.
5. Omegle in my opinion completely complicates communication because of all the ignorance that runs rampant through the users.  Meet Up on the other-hand most takes their users on a more personal level using their specific interests to make connections, and then from that it is up to the users to make lasting connections "in person" using face-to-face communication.  What I really enjoyed is the combination of online and offline communication used to make a successful social media tool.
6. On an overall basis I enjoyed learning about these new tools, mainly because of my intense love for everything technology.  Just because I love technology does not mean I will warmly embrace every new innovation.  I found Omegle disturbing and an all-in-all failure and Meet Up was a success in which I enjoyed using.

Response to Blogging

1.  Blogging online is a chance for all of the internet to see what you create and to weigh in on what they like and do not like in an open and honest format.  Knowing that blogs are view-able to the entire internet some users may want to be very conservative about what they post knowing that everyone will be able to see it.  On the other hand some people may want to post everything about themselves but under an alias, an alternate identity.  When blogging or using any sort of online social media it gives the user a chance to pick an identity for online that may or may not be different from offline. 
2. Blogging allows users to post data about any topic so that others can easily view it without having to download anything, or sign up for an online subscription.  The fact that the data is available free makes blogging such a nice way to post homework questions to get feedback, or to talk about a computer problem and get troubleshooting advice.  With each different problem raised in life you can be sure to find a blog specific to that problem.  With so many blogs out there now it is very easy to be your own IT guy, and to be your own TA.
3. I found that while blogging I lost track of time completely when I was searching for new widgets to put on my page, or when I was looking to customize the fonts.  Any time I get really interesting by a new area of technology I immerse myself in it deeply so that I can get a full understanding of it.  With my love of technology I found it simply awesome that I was able to install a hit counter right on my page.  I had seen them before on other sites, but it was just so rewarding that I was able to do that myself.
4. Finding widgets to put on my site and where to place them I found easy, but when it came to all the minute details such as background colors, and fonts I found it challenging to know how to change the correct one.  I remember I was looking around the advanced settings of the font colors for a good fifteen to twenty minutes just trying to figure out how to change the background color on my hit counter from black to transparent.  I eventually figured it out and now I know for future reference.
5. I believe that blogging is a bittersweet technology.  It allows you to see many different points of view on any given topic and to find answers to homework or computer problems, but like other online technologies it detracts from our offline communication.  When blogging users may get in the habit of being disingenuous because of the low accountability factor involved with the guise of a screen-name. In our offline communications individuals tend to be more genuine in conversations because you know who you are talking to.  Blogging is a blessing and a curse to our social lives.
6. On a whole I only enjoy blogging when it comes to the technology side of it.  I truly loved creating my blog and personalizing it to what I wanted it to look like, but past that I am still a firm believer in interpersonal communication in person.  I feel that communication in person is the most meaningful and lasting.  Any relationship I have made in my life I have made face-to-face, and by that same token I maintain these relationships face-to-face as well.  Blogging may help some aspects of life, but it certainly hurts our face-to-face communication.