In all the articles, I was interested to note the evolution of the communication modes. Today I don’t think much of switching from email (more private and direct and not so time sensitive) to chat (real time and much more casual) to blogging ( thoughtful and often with a professional or social networking purpose). (I haven’t had time to tweet yet.) It is not as simple anymore as just an ALN or SLN. Coming into a classroom as a traditional teacher, there are stages - scanning the crowd for the social links, learning styles and interest levels. I use every trick in my educational bag to break the ice, form and direct the group, design learning opportunities and catch the ones who fall off the learning bandwagon. I particularly liked the grid in the second article (2000, Khalsa/Hidreth). It would be a good format for an entry to my online webpage with activities in each quadrant. The Candle Power PPT was also very useful in reminding me of the “unlimited moment, the narrowed focus and the reflective pause.” One of the reasons I love reading and do not think that text will die (a la epublishing and Kindles) is that we desire that reflective pause and will find it even in new technologies. The wiki as a site for “oracle of information” is an obvious first choice for print media focused English teachers and librarians. They jumped on this early the same way the UNIX scientists quickly learned to email. I think that overall the patterns of interaction will continue to evolve to meet the needs of both learners and teachers. And yes there is still a “back” of the class - lurking is a passive form of participation.
