January 2017
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SHOULD WE EMBRACE THE WEB?

Before I learned about networked learning, I tended to have negative feelings about the internet like this:

Source: https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS6xlXxXey4M3D78pTzUKiwI4hsEE3AV5_4bDddxowpWgBFw1HU Accessed Jan 26, 2017

Usually, I prefer to close the laptop and put my cellphone into another room before focusing on studying and working, except for the moment when searching online is necessary. Here is my old thought:

“we believe internet could increase our productivity and help to obtain knowledge in seconds. However, it also wastes us a lot of time by overloading too much information. Since human brain is quite limited to select and process information.”

Also, I feel that I’m easy to be distracted when work on the web. for example, I planned to search how to geocode points in ArcGIS, but often ended up with reading news or shopping in Amazon. Because my subconscious mind always wants to find something interesting and easy to do than sticking with the difficult learning problems. So I really doubt how web could help regarding learning, although it may be a good way to engage students.

Source: https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcReYPfRm-xD7gmkQ8vVP9NsJcQ2cU6J6Ec3PzVELbU11hgNXTKWJQ. Accessed Jan 26, 2017

However, the article” Twitter and Blogs are not just add-on to academic research” somehow changed my mind by some good points. First, writing blogs and twitter is a good practice of writing and getting feedback from your audience. Second, as you try to explain your research to someone who may not have advanced knowledge as your peers or advisor, you have to first convince yourself that this research is interesting and contributes to the public knowledge, instead of playing with methodology or increasing publications just for promotion. This article opens a door and let me see a new world about the next generation of researchers.  It shows how to find a wider audience for your current research, and know what others are doing in your field. As a young researcher, I would like to explore networked learning and take advantages of the internet instead of letting it control me.

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