Report & Reflection 3 - Putting the Internet to Work for YOU!

(2014, November 12).
Feedly Logo [Online Image]
Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feedly#
mediaviewer/File:Feedly-logo.png

Once I finished creating my Feedly account, I been to subscribe to a number of different websites and blogs. Feedly is a new and interesting way for me to view content on the internet. I have always had my own list of sites that I like to view, and many of them I would check daily for updates and new articles. With Feedly, I can set it up to have all the content that I am interested in come to me, instead of actively searching for it myself. (Rowse,2010) says that RSS is a technology that is being used by millions of web users around the world to keep track of their favourite website. RSS flips things around a little and is a technology that provides you with a method of getting relevant and up to date information sent to you for you to read in your own time. It saves you time and helps you to get the information you want quickly after it was published. By using Feedly I could save on both effort and time.

After searching different categories of blogs on Feedly, I found that I was most interested in reading about sports related topics, and was more interested in reading blogger’s opinions when it had to do with sports. One of the sites I decided to follow was Bleacher Report. This site provides all sorts of articles on every sport, with many articles jumping out at me. For example, one of the articles was about tennis, titled “Australian Open 2016: Winners andLosers from Melbourne” which reviewed the performances of a number of players in the tournament. This article was interesting to me because I did not have the time to watch much of the tournament myself, but the article provided me with a performance review for each of the major players I was interested in. This site also provides basic sports updates, opinion pieces and lists all having to do with what sport I wish to read about!

Andreevich, I (2008, March 17) Novak Djokovic 

 Volley [Online Image] Retrieved from   

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

File:Novak_Djokovic_Volley_01.jpg

In relation to digital citizenship, having and actively using RSS Feed Readers is a way to make sure that you are an active participant in the digital world. These feed readers also make is much easier for someone to be connected to the online world by providing so many different feeds all in one place. By being so much easier to use, the RSS feed reader encourages users to be more active online, and to search content and participate in more online, which would lead to a larger digital footprint for that person. Users can tailor their own feeds according to their own interests and beliefs, which would in turn tailor and affect their digital footprint. Personally, I can also add Feedly to my PLE, since it can integrate many of the things that were already in my PLE, plus provide easy access to many more blogs/sites/etc.

After reading about and using RSS Feed Readers and Feedly, I believe that it is a useful tool that can provide me with what I want to know in a quick and efficient way, and opens things up for further learning!

- Jordan 

My Experience with RSS Feeds

At the beginning of my first experience with RSS feeds, it started off a little slow, with some technical difficulties. The instructions in Sakai for how to locate the subscribe button in Firefox were not helpful since the layout for my Firefox is different. Maybe the pictures on Sakai are from and older version, but anyway it took me a little while to figure it out myself. After that I was able to get everything else set up without much difficulty!

I subscribed to all the suggested sites, except for the site starfoile, because the link did not work for me. I then started searching fo

r sites that were interesting to me or could be helpful to me. One of the sites I subscribed to was Business Insider. I figured this site would contain many posts relating to business that would potentially be interesting to me and also be helpful. The first article that came up on my feed from business insider ended up not having anything to do with business: it was an article about NFL quarterback Cam Newton. I love watching sports, and the NFL may be my favourite to watch, so I enjoyed reading the article. The article was titled “Cam Newtonis now the best football player on the planet, and the NFL will never be thesame.” by Cork Gaines. The article details his MVP caliber season, and describes why he is the best player in the world.

In the article Cork states that Cam Newton is the perfect weapon. He discusses the advantages and disadvantages to having a mobile quarterback, with the main disadvantage being the high risk of injury for the quarterback. But with Cam’s size (6-foot-5, 245 pounds) this is not as big of a concern for him as it would be for other quarterbacks. This allows him to do things that other quarterbacks simply cannot do, such as carry defenders on his back while fighting for yards. This article raised many interesting points about how he is nearly unstoppable, and has made me more excited to watch him play in his first Superbowl next Sunday.

Brown (2013, November 11) Cam Newton [Online image] Retrieved from http://blogs.buffalobills.com/tag/cam-newton/

I like to read articles such as this, and I feel that Feedly would be very useful in presenting these to me and cut down the time I spend searching for them!

-J Rhind

Report and Reflection 2: What is a PLE and why do you need one?

Rhind, J. (CC) 2016

As found in one of the articles, “a Personal Learning Environment is a digital toolbox which covers activities such as Generating, Organising and Sharing Content Online. Your PLE may consist of Blogs, Wikis, cloud storage and bookmarking, RSS feeds, Reader pages, File Sharing sites and ePortfolios. These spaces may be built and maintained by you as an individual or part of a collaborative team.” (Digital Study Skills)  PLEs allow potential learners to set their own goals and personally manage their own learning experience by tailoring the content in which they learn from and the process in which they do so.  Learners may also choose to learn buy themselves or through collaboration with other learners. Personally, the PLE can help me view all the things that assist me in my learning. Through the use of technology I can learn so much more about whatever it is I wish to learn about. The things I listed in my PLE concept map not only assist me in my personal learning but also for school work. And many of the things listed below are used for multiple purposes.

Personal: Within the next 5 to 10 years, I plan to be 5 to 10 years removed from graduating from Brock with my degree in business administration. I hope to have found a stable job in a career path that makes me happy, and to have already made steady progression through that career. I hope to have cleared up all of my student debt and have moved out from my parent’s house, and be taking steps toward starting a life and family of my own. I also hope to have spent some time travelling and seeing other parts of the world. To accomplish these personal goals, finding a good job to support myself financially and allow me to live comfortably will be crucial.

Learning: In order to accomplish these tasks there are a number of skills I will need to learn and/or improve on. To order to be successful in almost any career communication is crucial. This blog and other learning experiences from this class will help me improve on my communication skills and my digital communications skills, which will help me in the future. I will also need to further my learning with Microsoft excel, access and data mining programs such as SAS.

Environment: My learning environment is fairly fast paced, with a number of courses teaching different things that I am trying to learn all at once. I need to try and keep my learning environment organized and make sure I do not fall behind in my studies. I can also surround myself with others who will help me in my learning and not hinder it (Reliable group members, etc.).

Rhind, J. (CC) 2016

Habits: I find myself distracted fairly easily and it can be hard for me to focus on something for a long period of time without getting distracted. I also tend to leave assignments to the last minute. This is a habit that should be destroyed. By keeping organized and one top of things, and by pushing myself more I may be able to reduce my procrastination. I should also try to work in a more secluded environment in order to focus better and be distracted less often.

This Wordle is first one I have ever made, but I found it interesting to see it made, and made so quickly. Based on my previous reflection, the Wordle accurately reflected the key points of my reflection, highlighting digital and footprint as the biggest words. In conclusion this week I learned about different tools online that are quite useful and also was able to make my own PLE in look forward to seeing whether or not this will change over time!

Report and Reflection 1- Making Connections in a Digital Environment

Hewson, Kurtis. (2011, October 26) 

Digital Footprint [Online Image] 

Retrieved from (https://kurtishewson.wordpress.

com/2011/10/28/evolution-of-digital-footprints/)

As the everyday uses of technology become more prominent in our society, the more involved everyone becomes in the digital world. There are many different ways for people to immerse themselves in their technology and create an online presence. Through the use of many social sites such as Youtube, Facebook, twitter, Instagram, blogs etc. people will become digital citizens, creating a digital footprint in the process. A digital footprint is the term used to describe the trail, traces or "footprints" that people leave online. This is information that is transmitted online, such as forum registration, e-mails and attachments, uploading videos or digital images and any other form of transmission of information — all of which leaves traces of personal information about yourself available to be viewed by others online. (Beal)

When it comes to having a digital footprint I would prefer not to have one at all. This of course is nearly impossible, since I have a number of social media accounts. I do not normally post anything on these accounts and I try to monitor who is able to view the things I post my adjusting my privacy settings. Since having no digital footprint is not possible, instead I focus on having a positive digital footprint. Having a positive digital footprint is especially important for me, since many employers will search potential employees to see is they have any inappropriate things online, and may choose not to hire them due to these. I can achieve a positive digital footprint by having good online etiquette, by being careful with what I share online and ensuring I post no inappropriate subject matter.

Brooke, Tyler. (2011, September 11). 

[Online Image] Retrieved from (http://

bleacherreport.com/articles/2195854-

ravens-terrell-suggs-comes-out-of-tunnel-

with-gladiator-mask)

While doing the digital footprint scavenger hunt, by searching someone’s name on a search engine such as google, many types of information can be found. Since I do not have much personal content on the internet, not much appears when I search my name. There are only my Facebook and twitter accounts that appear, and they are not even at the top of the list. Many other people surprisingly (to me) share my name and most of their content is what appears. When I search a celebrity on the other hand, such as NFL player Terrell Suggs, much more content appears. Any news stories and articles related to him appears, along with his Wikipedia page and NFL and ESPN profiles.

For the Secondary Digital Driver’s license exam, I finished with a score of 18/20. I made two mistakes under the elements of digital communication and etiquette. I found the quiz fairly straightforward, with the one of the mistakes being from misreading the question. I found it a little surprising that schools are expecting students to keep their phones turned off. I felt like this defeats the purpose of having a phone at school, since if there was an emergency the student would not know. I thought keeping the phone on silent was a fair compromise.

These were the main things that I learned this week, I look forward to further improving my knowledge of the digital world.

-Jordan R