Reflection on Blogging Experience

What did I learn from Blogging?

I would say, a lot. Even though I am pretty much familiar with blogging concept since before I took this course, it doesn’t mean that I did not have hard time when blogging. What I found most challenging is to make this blogging activity regular. I love to read other people’s blog, however to maintain my own blog each week, purportedly not an easy job. It requires self-discipline, which I would admit, I lack of. So, by doing this activity, I learned my first lesson: to keep something happening regularly, where external consequences can’t be seen clearly, needs effort. It requires self-discipline. And I think this course has trained me a lot about it.

Then, I learned about the virtue of sharing. By blogging, we shared our ideas, let other people read it and respond to it, and on the other hand responding to other people’s ideas/ writing. It is indeed a great way to learn. We learn collaboratively. I read a lot of articles about how Web2.0. became a great tool for collaborative learning. But that knowledge is not complete if I didn’t have first hand experience. So, this blogging activity has given me the first hand experience I need to completely comprehend the virtue of Web2.0., i.e. sharing.

The third lesson learned is, I should feel obliged to do some research before I blog each week. I couldn’t just write about anything. I need to validate what I write, and in order to do that I need to be supported by data. This is what I learned when blogging academically, instead of personal journal. I did personal journal blog, but I think it requires less effort.

Specifically, I learned about my own topic : wiki & Universal Design, as well as Turnitin AntiPlagiarism Software, Game Based Learning, Clickers, Google Books Project, RSS feeds, and Social Bookmarking from my blogging group : Patrick, Andrew, & Ellen. Following their blog apparently has given me opportunity to observe their experience, learn from it, and then apply it to my own context. Thank you guys!

In general, this blogging experience has given me a chance of reflection. I do love reflection. However, this busy schedule sometimes makes me forget to sit back and review again what I did, what I’ve learned, and what I still need to learn. By blogging, I have this opportunity back.

What can I do to improve my blogging?

To improve my blogging, I think I need to exercise more in managing my schedule, so I have enough time to think and put my ideas into writing, and then post it to my blog. I also think that I need to read more and give comments to other people’s blog. I honestly often forget to comment on my fellow bloggers’ posting. I do enjoy reading their blog and often want to say something about it, but lazy me, I procrastinate until I forgot that I have something to say about their posting. I truly regret that.

In addition, I think I need to pay more attention to my surroundings. By paying attention, I process the information I get from my environment. And by processing that information, I believe I would have thousands things to share in my blog.

Second Stroke. Review of Universal Design [Dot 04-Dot 08]

I started my second blog topic by pondered over the list of topic given, but then I decided to write about the principle that structured lots of technology. That principle is Universal Design (UD).

I began to introduce UD by talking about its history. Apparently most aspect in society's history influenced the birth of UD. Changing demographic, federal legislation, changing economics, changing social climate, the Barrier-Free movement, as well as the rehabilitation engineering and Assistive Technology. All of these situation have brought people's recognition of the importance to design features that benefited everyone.

Then, I tried to present UD's definition. Seemingly, not most people like the term Universal Design. The argument was, "if it couldn't serve the needs of all users, why use the term Universal?" For me, this is very understandable. However, I think it is better for us to pay attention more to the 'operational definition' and to the idea / philosphy of UD. By understanding that concept, hopefully we do not feel puzzled by the terminology. By the way, Universal Design has 7 principles that were developed by a group of people in Center for Universal Design in North Caroline State University, NC.

So, the idea (or I can say, the operational definition) of Universal Design is to design products and services that serve the greater extent possible of people. This means, UD cannot serve the needs of all people. Some people would still find the environment as harmful, and thus need more sophisticated and personalized design. In this situation, Assistive Technology can play its part.

There are differences between Assistive Technology and Universal Design. I listed the differences in my blog posting. However, there is a feature that makes the benefit of UD become apparent. That feature is cost. As Bowe (2007) noted, the products or services designed and marketed specifically for people with dissabilities usually carry a high costs because the potential market is small. And conversely, if the technology can cover the needs of the large population, the price per unit would rapidly fall (note : remember the example of PC)

Afterward, I talked about how the principle of UD being applied in education. I quoted the tips from Bowe (2007) book. Nevertheless, I would like to emphasize what David Rose and Anne Mayer discussed in their article about UD Principles in Learning/ Education. They discussed the importance of acknowledging the goal of learning, whenever one wants to apply UD principles in learning. As Ellen said, this would bring us -as the Instructional Designer- back to the focus, that is prioritizing the goal of learning whenever we design an instruction.