Participate 1.1.3 Ideal Digital Learning Community

As I have been researching and looking through some of the digital learning communities that are available, I have noticed some things that I feel are quite important.  There are a few qualities that I feel are important to making a digital learning community ideal.

1) Attractive/User Friendly - When someone is looking to join a digital learning community, they first thing they need to do is be able to easily navigate through the site and find what they are looking for.  No one likes to search and search to try and find what they are looking for.  The easier a site is to navigate, the more likely people are to join the site and come back.  Also, everyone likes a website that is attractive and not too "busy" with junk.  But that attracts your eye and makes you want to see what else in there.  

2) Organized - For a digital learning community to be idea, it is important that it be very well organized.  That would take a lot of effort on the part of the designer, but in the long run, I feel like it would really pay off.  Organization shows that the people that have put the digital learning community together, truly care about what they are doing and trying to share with others.  

3) Safe - There are so many websites and online communities that are not safe and it is always difficult to know which ones can be trusted.  If I were able to design an ideal digital learning community, I would make sure that it was a safe environment that was free of cyber-bullying and distasteful comments.  Since most of these sites allow sharing and commenting on posts, it would be important to constantly monitor the content of what was being put out there.  

The thing that would set my DLC apart from others would be the communication.  I would want this community to have communication that would benefit everyone involved, almost like talking with the teacher across the hall from you.  Questions could be posted, people could answer and give their opinions and personal experiences.  To me, those are the best ways to learn.  If you will listen and take advice and talk things through with others, there is so much that can be learned about pretty much any topic!

Participate 1.1.2 Joining a Digital Learning Community Quest

I have learned a lot while investigating these various digital learning communities.  This was something that I had never heard very much about, but it is very interesting.  There are so many different options for different digital learning communities from music to technology to math to post-secondary education.  Before you join a digital learning community, it is important that you know what you are looking for and what you are interested in learning.  It is also important that you know if it is a credible learning community.  That will take some research on your part.

As I was looking through the different digital learning communities, there were some things that jumped out at me.  A few of the different sites did not seem very user friendly.  They seemed like it would take a lot of "clicking" to find what you were looking for.  There was also a couple of site that didn't seem too trustworthy.  But it did seem like there are a lot of very useful learning communities.

The digital learning community that I was attracted to and decided to join is the Khan Academy.  I think I was drawn to this community because I am a math teacher and this site focuses on math instruction and help.  This seems like it would be fairly easy to operate.  I like the fact that you begin the site with a pretest to see what you know, then skills that you have not mastered yet are added to your library of things to do.  The only problem I can see with this is that if there is a student who struggles with math, this list of tasks to complete could seem quite overwhelming!  But I do like the idea of the skills specifically being pointed out that still need to be mastered.  I look forward to learning more about digital learning communities as I continue with the online training.

Participate 1.1.1 Character Traits Quest

I feel like the 3 most exemplary characteristics of a digital citizen are responsibility, respect, and security.  

Responsibility - When working/learning as a digital citizen, it is imperative that responsibility be the first priority.  With all of the advances in our technology, we have to always keep in mind who could be reading something we are posting and where it could end up.  I feel like responsibility has many branches.  And of those many branches, I think that respect and security are two of the most important branches.

Respect/Etiquette - As I was reading through some of the resources, I noticed a common element.  Many people discussed how people may "act" differently online than they do in person.  Many people post mean, rude or hurtful comments towards other people, and even use offensive language when they are online.  But those same people may be quiet as a mouse in person.  But I feel like you should respect people that you interact with in any way, weather it is in person, online, or over the phone!  Respect is an extremely important part of being a digital citizen.

Security - We have the capability to do almost everything online these days.  With all of these options we have to be extra careful about what we put out there.  This could mean anything from your address and phone number to you social security number.  Obviously, no one wants to be a victim of identity theft.  But I feel like security also includes ensuring that the software and programs that you download and use are safe and secure.  There are so many spam popups and virus emails that sometimes it is hard to know what is safe and trustworthy.