The End of Boxes

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Subject: [PD 4769] The End of Boxes and the role of social media
From: david dirtyknees
Date: Mon Jul 12 12:22:32 EDT 2010

Hello to All,

One of the changes that technology is bringing is the end of "boxes".

Today, many of us work in one box, live in another, and socialize in a third (friend's house, bar, restaurant, mall), etc. The transportation cost associated with this 1950s structure (inherited, but not really improved upon from the slash and burn societies) is untenable, as are the other costs. Technology is bringing an end to the clear distinctions of home, work, play, etc for those of us who work with our brains. While this transition will be messy, and may not be desired by all of us, it will come nonetheless as a response to our bloated, out of control transportation scheme.

Social media will be used by us for all of our life purposes,so trying out education in a social media context is totally appropriate. I might also add that transportation-based education will soon end, as well.

David

Subject: [PD 4773] Re: The End of Boxes and the role of social media
From: Mohr, James
Date: Mon Jul 12 12:51:50 EDT 2010

Hello Everyone,

I generally agree with your statement that "technology is bringing an end to clear distinctions of home work, play, etc." Yet, I still have not figured out if this is a good, bad or neutral thing.

I am not sure that I want students I work with to be on my Facebook page where things may get posted that are not their business or could create conflict in our student-professional relationship. For example, if I want to post political comments or support candidates, I do not necessarily want students to see those postings. I know Facebook is not "private" yet I am restrictive of who is on my Facebook page and I actually know everyone who is a friend on my Facebook page.

I also wonder what does this do for our non-work time. Let's face it, technology is allowing us to work from anywhere at any time but we are not necessarily getting compensated more (hate to bring up the money thing but this is a reality) for this 24 hour access. When I was in Yellowstone a few weeks ago, I was on a mountain and could still get service. I could actually email work from Yellowstone. What does this say about our ability to tune out of work for just a day or two? How does it impact our leisure time? I love my job but sometimes I do need a break from it. My work email comes right into my phone (and I am sure many of us are set-up to do that) so I can check it anywhere. Another example, is I went to a wedding this weekend and two people at my table started to text other people and I felt the strong urge to check my work email. I resisted the urge but it was strong. I guess this raises some questions . "Who are we socializing with when it comes to social media? Do we focus on socializing with people in our presence or do we socialize with people and work online and pay only partial attention to those with whom we are face to face?

I guess I am both concerned and intrigued on some level about the collapse of the divide between work and leisure time that technology can bring. I see negatives and positives to this development. I see how it can transform our work in education and I see how it can transform my life.

Jim

Subject: Re: [PD 4773] Re: The End of Boxes and the role of social media
From: Marian Thacher
Date: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 6:38:58 AM

I agree that our boundaries are getting very blurry, but I'm hopeful that the social networking sites like Facebook will help us to resolve this better in the future. We all have various groups of friends in our social network. They aren't all one big group. In fact, research shows that most people have 4 to 6 social groups, in each of which they might have up to 10 people that they are friends with. (Who posted the link to those great slides from the Google researcher on this topic?)

We don't share the same things with our colleagues that we would with our kids, our students or our kayaking group. I'm hoping that in the future sites like Facebook will allow us to organize our communications better. For now, as several of you pointed out, the best solution is separate accounts with separate email addresses, which is a pain!

Marian Thacher
OTAN

Subject: [PD 4784] Re: The End of Boxes and the role of social media
From: French, Allan
Date: Mon Jul 12 16:51:22 EDT 2010

I think that Jim Mohr has raised some interesting and important issues. Yes, advances in technology open up a lot of possibilities for improved teaching and learning, especially in terms of access and interaction, and I look forward to my own evolving use of some of these new tools. However, we should be willing to look critically at these possibilities and not just see them as easy and straight solutions to old problems.

One example that has been brought to my attention recently is that of stay-at-home moms. I used to hear that online courses will allow people who can't travel to the classroom to simply get on the computer whenever they have free time at home. However, I have heard from a number of mothers of infants that finding such free time at home isn't as easy as the proponents of online courses would have us believe.

This is not an argument against online courses and the use of social media, but just a cautionary flag that each program needs to look at possible obstacles to their success and implications of their use in order to consider how to overcome those obstacles and minimize less desirable implications.

Allan

Allan D. French

ESL Instructor and Assessment Coordinator
Basic & Transitional Studies Division
South Seattle Community College

Subject: [PD 4802] Re: The End of Boxes and the role of social media
From: Debra Harlow
Date: Tue Jul 13 13:17:47 EDT 2010

The discussion seems to indicate that we are living the reality of Nine Shift! Go to www.nineshift.com to see the nine areas our lives will change drastically by 2020 due to technology. The book is a fascinating read!

Debra B. Harlow
Director, Adult Basic Skills Program
Piedmont Community College
Roxboro, NC

Subject: [PD 4809] Slides on managing your online presence
From: Marian Thacher
Date: Tue Jul 13 21:47:02 EDT 2010

Aha! It was Steve Quann that posted this link to a set of slides on managing social networks and some of the issues that arise. It was posted on Twitter. I encourage you to take a look if you are struggling with the issue of personal life vs. professional life, it gave me some food for thought, and his story about Debbie is a perfect example. Thanks, Steve!

http://www.slideshare.net/padday/the-real-life-social-network-v2

Marian Thacher
[ http://www.otan.us/ ]OTAN

Subject: [PD 4814] Re: Slides on managing your online presence
From: Richard Sebastian
Date: Wed Jul 14 08:06:27 EDT 2010

Marian (and Steve):
This slidedeck you linked to is incredibly helpful! Thanks for sharing it.

Richard Sebastian
Instructional Technology Specialist
Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA

Subject: [PD 4921] Re: Slides on managing your online presence
From: Carolyn Cothran
Date: Wed Jul 21 11:39:48 EDT 2010

Thanks for the link to the slideshare. It is enlightening and helps me be mindful of unintended consequences. I've shared it with several other folks who are also newbies and just beginning to explore social media and possible applications for collaborating, tutor training, and student use.


Carolyn Cothran
"Reading is Knowledge. Knowledge is Power."
Volunteer
Literacy Volunteers-Campbell County Public Library
Rustburg, VA

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