Blog Prompt #2

Module 1 Blog Prompt #2  Task: Describe what communities you will join, your rationale for your selections, and how you think your involvement in these communities will support the design of your project. Please use the readings and guiding questions from the first two weeks of class to help inform your selection This Blog Prompt #2 is related to Step 1 of the MMP for additional information! (See below) STEP 1-Online communities are both collaborative and constructivist.  Educators may use online communities professionally to discuss issues they face in the classroom, to create partnerships, to share ideas, and to learn more about their subject area.  As community members, thoughts and ideas are shared not only through text-based discussion, but also through multimedia-oriented tools such as blogs, wikis, videos, podcasts, etc. Join an online educational community which you think will support and inform your project. Being a part of an online community is more than reading blogs, lurking in forums and watching videos.  You’ll want to be an active, contributing member of the community.  Jenkins (2006) calls this a “participatory culture.” He says, “A participatory culture is a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices.  A participatory culture is also one in which members believe their contributions matter, and feel some degree of social connection with one another” (p. 3). By being active in a participatory culture, you will learn about some of the issues which concern educators today, or which are impacting the educational community in general, and this will help you to obtain ideas, resources, and support as you look to develop your multimedia project. To complete this step of the project, you are required to do the following: 1)  Take the first two weeks of class and think about your project, who your audience might be, and what communities you might join. Visit some communities to learn more about them and to see if they might be able to help inform your project. For suggestions on communities that you might join, please feel free to check out the groups on Google+.  You’re encouraged to join one community OUTSIDE of Google+ as well (Twitter hashtags/conversations/people to follow, professional associations you may already belong to, Edutopia community groups, etc.).  Be sure to spend time each week visiting and contributing to your community, keeping in mind the purpose and goal of your project.  You must sign up for a minimum of two Google+ community groups in total.   Other Suggested Communities: Twitter Link Edutopia Link (Classroom 20) Describe what communities you will join, your rationale for your selections, and how you think your involvement in these communities will support the design of your project. Please use the readings and guiding questions from the first two weeks of class to help inform your selection