Fin de la nuit

It's not a PhD related idea, but who knows, it might becomes useful... It is still about using social media in teaching. Another idea during my long train journey back home last night: to incorporate Flickr in the Visual Comm module. I'll set up a group in Flickr, upload some pics for students to annotate and analyse in a Flickr discussion; students could also/preferably upload similar images for the group. Would be good for 'semiotics' task. I would need to do a quick Jing demo, to show students what I have in mind. In turn, that Jing demo could be used as discussion point (video demos would certainly interest the tech comm students).

The first week on the ELLS has come to an end, and a requirement is to reflect on learning on this part of the course. This is a great idea, not just to reinforce learning, but also to track what needs to be done or thought about when starting the social media journey. The technical part of it was trivial, which is a mixed blessing. The ease of setting up various facilities (this blog, Flickr and Twitter, and before this, delicious and LinkedIn) obscures the bigger issues of identity and privacy (I haven’t hit copyright yet, but no doubt this will come). The Mason and Rennie book has a lengthy quote from Lou on page 57. This sparked off a number of ideas partly about my reluctance to use Flickr, but most importantly in terms of understanding the reluctance that some students might have in using social media. My reluctance to use Flickr are showing my visual work has several reasons. Because I am new to Flickr I see it as amorphous, or as I said elsewhere, as a kind of uncurated exhibit...

Following my own trend of thought, I inadvertently completed one of Week 1 task - the selection of a photograph to express my identity. I could have chosen Flickr, but I can't say I like this social software. Nothing wrong with it, and it is possible to add commentary, but I just don't respond to the lack of context. Flickr makes me think of an uncurated exhibition where images/artefacts are just displayed without some kind of thread. Fine for end-of-degree student shows (though even here, 'end-of-year' is the thread). All this to say that I'd rather have my pictures embedded here in my blog, where I can give them an 'inflection'. I can also kid myself that they are likely to be less public. I like the idea of using images as part of a self-introduction - something to adopt in my own practice as a tutor :-). Using a picture that is not one of oneself is also an interesting idea. It has to be something with some kind of meaning, and as the meaning is not nece...

This is a small experiment about loading pictures - to see how easy it would be. This is also a somewhat larger experiment about using imagest to connect with students (and possibly other people). I uploaded a photo that has meaning for me (to do with my Celtic roots), but how do I need much to disclose? And when? I can see how sharing pictures at the beginning of a course could help 'break the ice' (something I probably should have done in with my Eastern African students). They reflect a personal experience , so there needs to be a 'story' to support the social dimension. At the moment I am not sure what else there could be in the use of pictures in my teaching. This isn't too say that sociability is not important - far from it. It's more a reflection on the kind of teaching I do (about professional communication and academic writing). But perhaps it's the same as with the use of social media: at first, things aren't clear but meanings and purposes se...