Blog #2 EDUC 630: Online Communities

My first experience in an online community was when I signed up for the babycenter.com newsletter and began to chart my first pregnancy and participating in their blogs.  Through that I was able to connect with other moms and get sound advice when I would freak out over the little things.  I continued with MySpace and then Facebook so I could connect with friends and family.  Most of my online community involvement revolved around the social aspect of it and for simple information and feedback.  Throughout my professional career I have utilized things like SchoolTube and TeacherTube for instruction and lessons and professional exemplars.  In those cases I am able to connect with other professionals and make sure my students are equal in regards to the rigor and standards of others product development.  I believe that my students and I can really benefit from knowing what others are doing in our field and online communities offer that benefit to us and others seeking the connectedness offered by those communities.

Spector, J. M., Merrill, M. D., Merrienboer, J. V., Driscoll, M. P. (2008). Handbook of research on educational communications and technology. (3^rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

Thorsen, C. (2009). Techtactics: Technology for teachers. (3^rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.