April 28, 2008
E-Journal Entry #11
EDT598
Dear Journal,
It has been a nice two week stretch between classes and certainly wonderful to have a school vacation! The weather and the time off were excellent!! Our last class (April 14), was motivational and beneficial. The planned work time, the email with our work completed/work to finish list, and the time to check in with Ellen about details and ideas was just what I needed to point me in the right direction. Until I saw it all in black & white, I didn’t realize just how much work I had in front of me. I left class thinking two things: 1)Boy, I need to get my ass in gear and get some work done and 2) What a bad year for the Flu shot not to match the Flu virus!! Ouch!!
I spent a great deal of time this past week reading, writing, visiting links, and processing the research required to get caught up on assignments. In doing so, I felt, at times, like the “slow kid” in class who doesn’t get “the comment/Joke”! As I was reading, or on a link, etc., I had to laugh because I found myself saying ”Ahh! Now I understand Patti’s comment on the “Zeitgeist Site” or “Now I get it, that was funny”! I’m glad I actually did the readings, visited the sites, and experienced the tutorials, tours, and exercises before I sat down to write a paper, a plan, or post an E-Journal. It was definitely worth the effort! Admittedly, I’ve been behind the class all along, but I know I’ll get the work done, and in the process, I’ll learn and accomplish more than I thought possible concerning computers, online technology, and Web 2.0 tools!
I read chapter 10 on tutorials. This chapter does an excellent job of reinforcing information about the Web 2.0 tools introduced throughout the course! The tutorials for “del.icio.us bookmarks & favorites” and “Google Reader” helped clarify the terms and separate the steps and procedures for me. The tutorial that most captured my attention was “Audacity: editing sound”! Here’s an application that I can use in the Music Room for podcasts and recording live audio! The features are extensive and easy to use, making “Audicity” quite versatile. Personally, however, the ability to convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CD’s makes my album and tape collection digitally relevant and usable in modern format with the students in my classroom! ”Old school” meets “new school”. I love it!
I have been doing my best to finish the reading and write my book review on “The World Is Flat” by Thomas L. Friedman. I’m not done yet, but I’ve made great strides over vacation. Karen found the book on a collection of CD’s. It’s been a great help to me to have both the book as the visual learning tool and the CD’s for the audible learning tool. Together, I think I get a more thorough digestion of the material! The book is thick and chewy with information but it makes sense to me, I enjoy it, and it dovetails nicely as a supplement to the rest of our coursework! Well, that is all for now. Shawn.
Before youa ctaully write ther eview of Thomas Friedman’s book, I would recommend you read two books, which offer a counterperspective to Friedman’s “The World is Flat.”
The Harvard Professor, Pankaj Ghemawat’s latest book, “Redefining Global Strategy,” is more academically inclined. I read an article of his published in the journal, “Foreign Policy”, where he argues that the world is, at best, only semi-globalized. His argument being that Cultural, Administrative, Geographic and Economic aspects of a nation come in the way of total globalization from taking place and cites examples of the same.
The other small, but interesting book, is by Aronica and Ramdoo, “The World is Flat? A Critical Analysis of Thomas Friedman’s New York Times Bestseller.” It is a small book compared to the 600 page tome by Friedman, and aimed at the common man and students alike. As popular as the book may be, some reviewers assert that by what it leaves out, Friedman’s book is dangerous. The authors point to the fact that there isn’t a single table or data footnote in Friedman’s entire book.
“Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world since the Industrial Revolution,” says Aronica.
You may want to see http://www.mkpress.com/flat
and watch http://www.mkpress.com/flatoverview.html
for an interesting counterperspective on Friedman’s
“The World is Flat”.
Also a really interesting 6 min wake-up call: Shift Happens! http://www.mkpress.com/ShiftExtreme.html
There is also a companion book listed: Extreme Competition: Innovation and the Great 21st Century Business Reformation
http://www.mkpress.com/extreme
http://www.mkpress.com/Extreme11minWMV.html