Where it begins, who can recall? Where it is going? I want to follow. What does it mean? We are still constructing meaning. Social connections – continue and grow ad infinitum.
Here’s where this began..
Last spring AzTEA engaged Steve Hargadon to come to AZ and host one of his fabulous Unplugged Web 2.0 conferences (Note to self: create trackback) which led to NECC ( more face time with Steve and then making him my friend on FaceBook.
On a sleepless night??? Low activity day??? A moment squeezed out from between busier moments??? I started looking at Steve’s friends to see who I could find and what I could discover. Social media equivalent of digging for buried treasure. And I cannot say why, but DK caught my attention.
Well, actually, I do recall the single thing that caught my attention. What caught my eye is that DK is from Wales, and I don;t know anyone from Wales and my daughter is part Welsh – actually the Band Teacher from Maricopa USD is Welsh, but he is not FROM Wales (but it led to a deep discussion of family names. Is Wilson a valid Welsh name??? I learned that ‘George’ is and learned some Welsh words). Now in the spirit of full disclosure, the people I ‘know’ from Wales are the Prince of Wales – oops! NOT Welsh and I don’t really know him and the English bloke who turned a hill into a mountain, and then there is that consonant rich language, lyrical and a delightful challenge for the American tongue to attempt! And so there was DK, and I said (in FaceBook speak), ” DK, can we be friends?” And in true social media speak, he said ’sure’! And here we are.
So why today did I decide to drill down deeper? Someone posted that ‘he would be fine’ and my social eye was drawn. And I finally pondered a bit more.
And I found the following URL and I am fascinated: http://mediasnackers.com/
(Tip: Check out the ‘Featured Projects’)
I myself took a little while to discover the social media gems buried deep in Twitter and this assessment is spot-on!
As adult ed trainers/teachers/professional developers … what do we try to do? Facilitate our learned in making connections and construct meaning for THEMSELVES.
As educators, we hope to help students (learners) to find and create their own meaning. (Hmmm! Note to self: Place track back here to my Twitter ‘got it’ moment!) and it is succinctly stated in this blog post, and particularly in a comment posted by ‘Chris’, somewhere in the world, earlier today:
“In my opinion, Twitter is all about “I want the world to know…”. Kids are usually looking for something more focused, meaning that for them it’s all about “I want my friends to know…”. So they choose a closed network rather than a more open network. Just my two cents…”
http://mediasnackers.com/2009/03/twitter-and-teens/
“I want the world to know” versus “I want my friends to know”
Do you agree with this assertion regarding youth in social networks, and if yes, how do we capture this “I want my friends to know” and apply it to our decisions on 21st century educational philosophy, learning, teaching and engagement?
News from Wales: Life copying life.. http://tinyurl.com/MynyddGraigGoch
Expand your social networks, and engage in new discussions with new people with new ideas. There’s treasure to be found in them thar hills, I mean mountains!
‘n ddedwydd darddu
