Thing Eleven
Something I like about leaving comments on someone’s blog is
that I am able to make what I might believe to be a valid addition to the
conversation concerning the topic being discussed. It can certainly be a continuing
conversation among people or communities, and that is something that I do like.
Something I dislike is that nearly anyone can comment on your
blog, unless you’ve placed safeguards that allow you to determine what comments
are posted/not posted. Some of these comments, posted or not, could potentially
be inappropriate, which could be upsetting, and in the viewing of children,
more than that.
I think this has become more important for online communities because
more of what we do is via online communities rather than face-to-face. It used
to be that we would go to the university and sit through hours of classes, but
we now will most likely complete those classes through an online experience,
making the communities an important interactive experience. This will also hold
true, as time goes on, for our students, as they share their writings
interactively in online communities.
I think you've hit on a very important area of need. Our students need to be able to interact online as learners, but they also need to continue to develop more social, face-to-face skills to be active participants of a learning community, whether online or in a live classroom. There are elements of digital citizenship which they need to practice to become productive global workers and learners. More than ever they need to be effective at written communication because they may be the first or only impression they make on their teachers and employers!
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