Social Networking

The social networking group that I am most interested in is called Weekly Innovation. This group is a "one stop shop for higher education news, collaboration and innovation." I have yet to sign up and explore all of its features, but what most attracted me to this group was the "Free On-Demand Trainings." I have never come across this from any website and how cool is it to get FREE training! This is definitely something that I could use to further my professional development and to stay current in the field.

Connectivism

A learner is like the energizer bunny that keeps going and going and going.

According to George Siemens’s theory on Connectivism, “learning is a continual process, lasting for a lifetime” (2005). Therefore, learners must have the ability and skill to search and find new ways to acquire knowledge. This is done so learners can “continue to stay current over the course of a lifetime” in a knowledge economy (Changing Nature of Knowledge). This continual mode of obtaining information and staying current is how learners advance in a knowledge economy. It is also a way to keep knowledge from becoming obsolete. As a result, learners become the energizer bunny in that they continue to create new knowledge and networks by the continuation of learning and learning and learning.

I find that Siemens’s theory resonates with one of the reasons why I am in the field of higher education, which is to help others succeed and promote lifelong learning. With new forms of technology advancing how we interpret and gather information, we as learners have to adapt to the “tectonic shifts in society” and what better way than through the networks that we create.

Using Blogs in Higher Education

Upon waiting for my textbook, I went ahead and thought of and researched some ideas in how an administrator in higher education could use blogs...

1. One way to use blogs in higher education would be for faculty, staff, and administrators to blog about news, events, ideas, and development in their department with other college campuses. By doing so, departments can gain instant access to what other campuses are doing as well as share different perspectives.

2. Admissions can use blogs (and they do) to attract prospective students. It relates directly to students who avidly use the internet. It also provides students instant information about the institution.

3. Administrators in different departments can use blogs to share with the student population what their department does, get feedback from students in how they can be better served, and allow for better student engagement.

Hello and welcome to my blog! I am currently visiting NYC for the weekend and I am having a blast! About to go shopping (of course!) I shall return later with more information about me and my interests in higher education...