Online Learning Communities – Week 3
February 7, 2011
1) Quotes:
a) The use of online communities such as Second Life for the delivery of online classes may change this picture, however, by providing “noisier” spaces that make use of graphic three-dimensional avatars and voice, as well as the use of text. (Read more at location 790 – Kindle)
- Note: How does the ability to change your image regularly change how others interact with a person and how will it change a person’s behavior? Will individuals within an online community be colorless and be judged more by the context of their character than by the appearance?
b) So if conflict is not such a bad thing, and if it is necessary in order to achieve group cohesiveness and intimacy, why do so many fear it and attempt to avoid it, especially in the online medium? And how do we as educators establish norms and procedures for resolving conflict in this virtual community of online learning? (Read more at location 945 – Kindle)
- Will conflict be promoted in this course? What is your opinion of the quote? And if conflict will be encouraged and regulated, how will it be regulated and encouraged within the course?
2) –Discussion Puzzle:
Quote: It is clearly no longer enough to be simply social animals, babbling together at cocktail parties and brawling with each other in business and over boundaries. It is our task—our essential, central, crucial task—to transform ourselves from mere social creatures into community creatures. It is the only way that human evolution will be able to proceed. (p. 165) – Location 714 (Kindle – Sorry but I won’t be able to quote pages — while the Kindle software should include both the page number and the location, it currently includes only the a fixed text location)
– When I read this quote, I thought about in which ways are we truly different today than we were yesterday? In what ways are the homo sapiens different today? Communism tried to create a more gregarious altruistic “new” man, and develop a stronger community built upon the idea of togetherness. Yet, despite their efforts, neo-liberalism or capitalism proved to be more akin to human nature (requiring less government control and coercion to be successful), more economically productive, and along with a much longer list of reasons, capitalism and individualism triumphed.
With this in mind, why would technology or digital communities create society that would be any more community oriented (in broader terms) than it has been before? Narcissistic and individualistic tendencies are on the rise (1). More importantly why would man be more community oriented tomorrow? Thinking about tomorrow, I came across a TED talk while reading an article on CNN (2) regarding “homo evolutis”. While the technological advances explored in this video are very promising, they made me question the assumption that the digital divide is shirking, instead than it has only been bridged within certain technological advances. What are your thought on the effect of technology on man and culture? While mobile technology is becoming increasingly ubiquitous, other technologies may also be increasing exclusion and depending on future policy changes our own health may in the future be prolonged according to our financial capacity. (As it will be the case with many of my future post, this post was written to hopefully generate an educated debate and some degree of controversy)
3) I am interested in seeing to what degree “groupthink” develops within our community. I also visited WELL’s website (Whole Earth ’Lectric Link) and found their site somewhat antiquated but the site appeared to still be active. I wanted to learn more about them, their development and transitions. It was interesting how the book encouraged celebrating events together and also the need to during unfortunate times mourn together. One of the questions I had about WELL and other communities was: How do most online communities form and what is their bonding element? Be it through an MMORPG or through a shared interested in Hispanic food, do all communities share a common element? Also, what are the most successful online communities and did some of them become social movements, and if so, how? The reading was interesting but it brought forth more questions than answers.
