On the mother blog for the Honors Residential College, they use the phrase “Narrate, Curate, Share” to discuss the “why” of blogging. I hope you’ll read the description (written by our very own Dr. C) http://blogs.is.vt.edu/hrcblogs/about/
It brings up an interesting point to me that is related to my previous blog – how do we make meaning in our lives, and how can technology be a tool in us learning to be more deliberate and deep in our meaning-making? Often, we may not specifically think about “how” we tell a story, or “how/if” the telling itself will have any effect on how we remember it or any meaning to it we may attach. Thinking about “narrate, curate, share” adds a degree of intentionality that we may not normally get in our day to day interactions at West End or over the dinner table. It is one of the reasons I also like the concept of ePortfolios as a tool in the classroom for one’s work. Though there can be some hiccups along the way, it largely engages us with reflecting on what we know/feel/have done and encourages us to figure out how to share that in a way that our intended audience will glean what we want them to glean.
While I do believe that tools like blogging, ePs, and others can truly enhance the way we analyze, sort, and reflect on our many experiences that make us who we are. However, the online nature also allows us to explore a potentially scary question that we often cannot track in person (unless we have very blunt, honest friends.) With our stories (narrated, hopefully curated, and shared) up on the web, we can easily study them over a period of time to see what stories our stories tell about who we are, what we believe, and what is important to us. For example, what do our worldwide trends on twitter say about our culture? What do they appear to say we as a culture care about most? What about my Facebook posts. What story do they tell about me over time? What would someone who stumbles on only my online identity (potential employer, colleague, friend) deduce about me and would it be the message I want to be sending?
Just some food for thought… I think some healthy “curation” could help us all rather than the binary, on/off, privacy lockdown that often gets discussed (like changing your Facebook name before applying for a job). What do you think?
This blog post made me happy in so many ways. First of all, I love ePortfolios. I think they are extremely helpful and intuitive in regards to thikning about one’s self. I also think they really help students begin to “brand” themself, which is something that, in marketing, I am attempting to do for myself. Through soical media outlets, blogs, personal websites, and ePortfolios, students can create themselves as a brand and then market thmeselves to future employers or simply just to teach others about something they enjoy. An example- when searching through tumblr to find blogs that are interesting, I always look at the title and the layout of the blog. If it looks technical or has jargon I cannot comprehend in the first 30 seconds, I move on. If it seems honest, real, and intriguing I stop to take a closer look. Why can’t we make education like this? Through computers and personal ePortfolios, we can make education much more intriguing and we can make employers and fellow scholars want to look deeper in to a resource or a project that is attached to that portfolio. This also goes in to the online self vs. the real self, interviews are of course important in the employment process, the reason is because they want to get to know the “real” you. But, is that really the “real” you? Maybe your ePortfolio or your blog posts contribute more to what you’re actually thinking than answering questions about hypothetical situations that you may never have even encountered before. I think both are important, in the business world and in the education world. Credit hours may not be the best way to measure face to face interaction between students and professors, but there’s something about actually going to class and hearing a teacher’s personal examples that makes you understand the material better. On the flip side, the online videos and tools some of my classes use make the class seem more relevant and modern, makign me more interested in how it applis to my real life. To sum it up, I think that who you are is reflected in what you post on the internet, your facebook, your blog, even an ePortfolio, all show different aspects of who you are. So, why can’t we incoorporate this in to our education? Why can’t we let students customize their “grading” and brand themselves in a manner that reflects their inner thoughts as well as outer experiences? We can. And we should.