What is the purpose of the exercise?
It has two parts, the first being that we are familiar with medias like blogs which may be used in DE. The second purpose of the exercise was to experience the pedagogical aspects of reflection and autonomous learning.
What did I think?
I have never blogged before and really wasn't interested in doing it nor had I really considered how it applied to education or knowledge building. However, I have changed my thoughts about blogs as an educational media in DE. What it allowed me to do was build my own knowledge and express myself. When I was moved by something I read in class or something I saw outside of class but related to what was happening I was compelled to write about it and my wheels turned as I pulled the information together. I also enjoyed reading what my "critical friend" found interesting to her. It was funny how we are in the same course, reading the same things, yet it was influencing us in different ways and she affected by different media resources. The idea that she could share that content with me and many others is astonishing to me know. We are creating our own knowledge, and finding what is important to us rather than being fed information, this becomes very powerful in the learning process.
I have been persueded that blogging can benefit the learning experience and allows learners a "self interaction", away from teachers, other learners, or content. I often found myself talking with myself when I would blog, pulling my experiences from the depths, and incorporating them with all the things that surrounded me. Sometimes I was frustrated, other times intrigued, and at times just glad to know that I could express myself without someone talking back to me. My blog offers a place for problem solving and self reflection which I can choose to share with others or not. I will be interested to see if I maintain my blog after these exercizes. Because of my experiences what I do know now is that I would no longer object to the use of a blog to enhance the learning experiences.
