I just signed up for the netvibes site, so I'm twittered, blogged, and net vibed now... I think I'm connected in all of the various places to which I was guided by our MOOC. I would normally describe myself as someone very familiar and comfortable with the online learning environments, but I'm very challenged with the personal learning environment idea. My past experience was with "contained" learning tools, such as blackboard, eCollege, and Moodle. I have never used blogging, twitter, or netvibes for any classes in the past, so it's a learning experience for sure. I am at the same time excited and filled with anxiety. I have the feeling of wanting to draw a line around the various tools and pooling them together into one area. I feel like I'm missing something. #PLEK12. Just put the hash tag here so this paragraph will be picked up, but where is it being picked up? Twitter? Netvibes? Not really sure, but I think those two areas will pick up my blog.
For those of us new to social networking and personal learning environments, I wish we had a map that would provide the jump off points to the various tools we can and should be using. How do we know that we are addressing all of the areas we should be? This is not an environment for "checklisting" if you are a checklister - making a list of tasks and wanting to check them off. It is an environment for freedom, and freedom and networking can lead to great things. I'm embracing the concepts and ideas of our class, I'm just not "feeling it" yet. Hopefully that will come with more experience.
As far as a topic for inquiry, I'd like to focus on the following:
I aim to study electronic performance support systems for weight loss programs, including online communities and tools. I am interested in how online tools might help with the overall behavioral success of a person following a weight loss program beyond just diet and exercise. Electronic tools are becoming more and more part of every day life. With the personal learning environments and growing dependence on PDAs for constant communication, I am wondering how these types of tools (performance support for weight loss such as food journaling, exercise tracking, and motivational tools) help overall success in weight loss programs beyond diet and exercise. I am especially interested in how these programs might intertwine with childhood obesity programs.
Allison
I have to say I am loving your blog. I am also in this class and I am trying to "feel" the PLEs as well. I am not yet "feeling" it but I am working on it too. I am really glad to see that someone else is in my same boat.
ReplyDeleteI am very interested in your blog and what you find about the online tools and weight loss. A online tool that I have found very helpful is the National Body Challenge put on by the Discovery Health. I will post the link as well, but this is something that is interactive and has some great tools. I hope this helps. I look forward to reading more.
http://health.discovery.com/national-body-challenge/national-body-challenge.html
Thanks for the reference to the national body challenge. I was thinking of posting the Dr. OZ challenge. He has a neat graphic where you log your food and it calculates the calories in/calories out and estimates what you should be losing/gaining. http://www.sharecare.com/auth/login
ReplyDeletehttp://lowcarbcompatible.com/ - This is a website that discusses a plan that I believe works for those people who feel they are addicted to carbohydrates. It chronicles one couple's success, and they link to many related articles and research.
ReplyDeleteI've been on Twitter for a few years and it is really my "go to" place. It does take quite a lot of work and patience getting Twitter to work for you. It is really useful when you build relationships on Twitter and that takes time, just as it would in real life. If you would like some suggestions of people to follow, feel free to ask.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited about your topic and I will be looking for some good suggestions from you!