Digesting some ideas from Steve Hargadon

Failure is free.  What a sweet concept.  This allows me to know that I can just go for it.  Get my ideas out there in any out-of-the-box way that I can dream up.   See what brings people to the network.  Try different videos, pictures, messages and links.  What will grab the attention of my audience and keep them there to engage and share.  Because, according to Steve Hargadon, it is the engagement that trumps the topic.  We want to create a place where conversations can take place.

This can be an asset for the classroom to get students to engage and converse.  Frequently students don’t really say what they mean, they may hold back as they look around the room a little shy of speaking up and/or sharing for fear of sounding weird, or making a mistake.  The online social environment can create an arena where they can add information, ideas, links and such, as a way to speak, be commented to, create dialogue and feel that sense of leadership and participation online.

I appreciate what Steve says regarding promoting the philosophies of being authentic, polite, setting boundaries, expanding on ideas that will better the social experience.  A great example of this in action is one of our teachers, Todd Conaway.  Todd’s online presence is polite, encouraging, he strives to improve the network, and he promotes authenticity.  If we all modeled our social networks after him, what a wonderful world this would be~

As perhaps as our own social networks evolve, we will create an environment where the students and participants can blossom, share, lead, improve, converse, and create an authentic experience that will have far reaching benefits that leave the screen and crescendo out into the real world.