EDUC 630 DB2 - Online Communities

My first exposure to an online community was America Online (AOL).  AOL provided a means for me to access the internet, email service, and a variety of discussion boards/chat rooms.  I also used the internet access to plays some online games.  This was prior to the popularity of massive multiplayer online gaming platforms.  I never really used it for education at that time, just for entertainment and communication.  Soon thereafter, the Navy developed its own computer network and designated the Navy and Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI).  NMCI provided us email service and internet for official use.  Business practice rules were relaxed enough for us to have limited access to the internet for unofficial use.  The Navy also created a website called Navy Knowledge Online (NKO) for eLearning and career resources.  NKO has become a valuable resource for me both professional and personal use.  I have even used some of the database access for college research projects.  As a result, much of the Navy’s training has now been transitioned to eLearning format.  Unfortunately, this training tends to be not much more than self-paced presentations with some narration.  One advantage to NKO’s eLearning program is its centralized record of training which is used to update a variety of personnel records.

More recently, I started using Facebook to help keep in touch with my family while I was deployed to the Middle East.  Since social networks have grown in popularity on a global scale, many educators have begun trying to capitalize on their use for teaching and learning.  One such social network is Second Life.  Childress and Braswell (2006) identify Second Life as a “massively multiplayer online game (MMOG)” in which students and teachers can meet in a “virtual café” to discuss course topics.  I took some time to explore this environment and found that it seems to have potential for use as an educational tool.  Other useful tools I like to use are wikis and blogs.  Clyde (2005) identifies wikis as an “interactive website” which users can use for “education, business, and library science and information management.”  They are great for collaborative projects because they provide a single point for uploading and editing project elements by multiple users simultaneously.  A similar technology is a blog, short for web log, a site used for online discussions, journaling, and web publishing.  These are also useful as collaborative learning tools and have become a central focus for a recent collaborative professional development project I am developing for my current duty assignment in the Navy.

 

References

Childress, Marcus D., and Ray Braswell. "Using Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games for Online Learning." Distance Education 27.2 (2006): 187-96. ProQuest Central. Web. 24 July 2012.

Clyde, Laurel A. “Wikis.” Teacher Librarian 32, 4 Apr (2005): pg. 54; ProQuest Central