Every so often, I just put things aside and take a couple of hours and just spend some quality time on another educators weblog. Today was one of those good days. I like looking back over the posts. I find that I gain fresh insights, see more possibilities, and just get a kick out of the awesome benefits we get from weblogs.
I decided to spend some time on Aaron Campbell’s under the influence of epoche. I love that name. Read his About this site to learn more about why he chose that name. I wish more webloggers would share their class dynamics like Aaron is doing. This is absolutely one of the best parts of weblogging in education. Opening up your thoughts, your ideas, your reflections, as well as those of your students for others to read is a gift. In his post, To Comment or to Blog Aaron writes…
Think of a comment as a gift. When you leave a comment on another person’s site, you don’t expect anything in return, nor do you expect a conversation to arise. There is no need to re-visit the site to see if the person has responded, just as you would not check up on people to see if they were indeed using the presents you gave them over the holiday season.
Think of a blog posting also as a gift, but one to the community rather than a specific individual. That community also includes you! We trackback when we wish to expand and reflect upon other people’s conversations (both inner and outer), not only as part of meeting our own learning needs, but also to expose our reflections for the benefit of others. They can choose to listen (RSS subscriptions) or tune us out according to their needs. Thus, it is the blog posting that should be given a greater significance when it comes to learning through conversation and reflection.
What I really like about Aaron’s site is how he clearly lists goals, reading assignments and tasks for each week. Here is his syllabus. Then at the end of each week, Aaron posts his notes on the class discussions, interactions, and conclusions. His midterm evalustion criteria is here. It is excellent.
We also hear about the ins and outs of learning Manila, the dilemma of public exposure, the experience of learning in public, the importance of voice to weblogs, various blog tools, how technology facilitates the learning process, and many other interesting side topics that weave right in with the focus on learning and building a community.
So I say thank you, Aaron for your gift. A couple of hours from my day were well spent! Your writing reaches and affects me, as I’m sure it does many others.
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