Lesson 2 Reflection: A Taste of the Next Generation...

The next generation has been labeled the "mashup culture of uncertainty who face an unknown future." They are distinct from previous generations in that they don't consider uncertainty to be stressful. Actually, what stresses this new generation is "predictability." They enjoy flying by the seat of the pants, taking life as it comes, reacting to wants and needs in the moment. They don't care so much for rigid expectations, mundane busy work, and rule-laden environments.

The previous generation suffered future shock which is just the opposite. Future shock is the fear that we don't have time to prepare for what's before us. My generation prefers the predictable over the alternative. We don't mind thinking outside the box as long as we have a box to begin with!

When these two worlds collide, they produce what I have been experiencing this semester. I was beginning to murmur to myself about how confused I was with regard to assignments and due dates in my three classes. I was searching for something predictable, rigid, scheduled, only to find inconsistencies between calendars, syllabi, and lesson instructions. I was flabbergasted!

Then it dawned on me. Here I am studying about education and learning in the techno-age and among the mashup culture. This is the world they expect; the world in which they're coming of age. They don't know future shock as we do. Their "norm" is different from ours.

This has been my experience. And this is only my opinion. I guess I could say, this semester my understanding has been broadened. My concepts are being dropped. New paradigms are coming into view. How about you?

Team 1 , lesson 1 reflection

• Team work of which I am proud.

Overall I am very pleased with our group! We started communicating early and kept on communicating. We started with phone contact (via Dallas) which was nice since it helped us get to know each other better. Then we primarily communicated through Vista mail. However, we decided that since we were the first group we should make our thought process more visible to others so we decided to have most of our communication in the group 1 section to serve as a possible model for future groups. I think we all did a great job in (1) coming up with interesting questions (2) keeping discussions running smoothly (3) Posting some thought provoking reflections and (4) effectively keeping track of member postings. All in all a very fun and professional group to work with. I am most proud of our strong presence in week 2. Our discussions seem to be keeping folks involved.

• Team work which I found exceptionally challenging.

Since our communication skills were excellent and everyone put a lot of work in the only real challenge we had was deciding which questions to ask to the group. Everyone posed a lot of good questions and we wanted to post questions which were both fun and interesting but that also got people thinking and hopefully pulling in outside information on.Reflections on technology and instructional strategies that you and your team learned from this lesson.
Again keeping in good contact and putting your thought process in the discussion area helps other groups in modeling later. Be ready to communicate in multiple ways. We used phones, IRC/ "chat", email, vista mail and google docs in addition tot he discussion forum.

• Anything your team would like to share

Keeping in good communication from day 1 is key. It's nice to call each other and get to know each other. I can say we had it easy since everyone here is a great team worker and happy to put in their share for a nice finished product.

Image from Despair.com.

Connectivism is Our Link to the Networked World...

Team 1 is using this blog to fulfill various assignments for NAU's ETC 647 course on Personal Learning Environments. Our wetpaint group area is here: http://2009falletc647.wetpaint.com/page/Group+1+Space


Dallas
e: dallasm12@gmail.com
v: 608-4DA-LLAS (GoogleVoice link above)
t: @dallasm12