Participation in Online Communities

My online participation has dwindled greatly over the past few years. Three or four years ago, I used to chat online (via AOL and Yahoo) in chatrooms and instant messaging (IM). I used the chat rooms to communicate with a variety of people all over the world about numerous topics and shared interests. I used IMs to chat with friends and family all over the world. I also used MySpace quite frequently. This realm of online community allowed me to reconnect with people I had not seen since high school. My current boyfriend actually reached out to me via MySpace (we went to high school together :). I spent numerous hours online using these forms of communities (up to 5-6 hours per day at times).

I remember when Facebook started becoming popular. I vowed I would never use it, because it allowed too much access to what people were doing (who would care about what I am eating for dinner). Boy how things change. About two  years ago, I signed up for Facebook. My chatroom and MySpace days were over! I found myself posting exactly what I said people would not care to read about. However, I found that people did "care" and actually commented on the fact that I was getting my hair done :). The addiction began!!! When I updated my cell phone, I found out I could update my status from anywhere and at anytime. I would wake up in the morning and grab my phone to see what people had posted while I was sleeping. I found myself updating my status multiple times a day. I found my online Facebook usage increase considerably. When I started online classes at Liberty, Facebook was always opened while I worked on my assignments.

However, within in last 5 or 6 months, my Facebook usage has declined considerably. For some reason, my interest in what other people were doing  and saying had dwindled. I have also decreased my status updates to about 1 or 2 per week (as opposed to 3 or 4 per day). I now use it mainly to post pictures and look at pictures of my family. I refuse to get a Twitter account (I definitely do not have enough going on for people to "follow" me throughout the day). Maybe when the next big online community fad comes out, my interest will increase, but for now the desire to share is not that great anymore.

Technology Adoption in Schools

As a middle school teacher who has been teaching for 10 years, I have noticed an increase in the amount of technology in the classroom. I have had the wonderful opportunity to be exposed to a wide variety of technology for the classroom. However, I know that is not the case in all districts. However with the rapid advancement of technology, schools have not been able to keep up with it.

Unfortunately, there have been some barriers for me in integrating technology effectively in my classroom. The main barriers I have experienced have been due to the lack of training and time needed to effectively incorporate the technology I have in my classroom. This barrier is more of a teacher related (me) one as opposed to a resource one. Our district has been hit with budget cuts, we have been fortunate that it has not affected our access to technology. Although I have been very fortunate in the amount of technology I have access to, I have not always had adequate time to find ways to integrate it all.  Part of it has to do with trying to balance work and school. Oftentimes, I have had to teach myself how to use it for my grade level and content.