Days of the Week Twitter Challenge

 #SumItUpSunday

Whew... This was a long week on Twitter... Don't get me wrong. I usually take time every day to scroll through the feed and interact by liking or commenting. 

But coming up with content to post every day was kind of exhausting on top of keeping up with everything else. It was a lot of fun seeing what everyone else came up with - especially those #tbt. 

I started my week off a day late with the #MemeMonday challenge. I don't generally log in on Mondays because it's by far my busiest day at work. It often carries over into home so I take what little time I do have and spend it with family. So, when I logged in Tuesday and saw the challenge, I went ahead and double-posted to make up for it.

I might be a day late... but at least I'm not a dollar short!#MemeMonday #EME6414 pic.twitter.com/48Rx3KA1cA

— Christine Wise (@23christinewise) June 14, 2023

My #ToolboxTuesday post is all about Canva. This tool is great because you can make so many designs for so many different types of media, even on the free version.

#EME6414 #ToolboxTuesday Just like @GabHaggins,
Canva is my go-to online tool!! I use it to create graphics for personal, academic, and internship use. It's so user-friendly and I have apps on my laptop, phone, and web browser. That's where my Twitter header and pic came from!

— Christine Wise (@23christinewise) June 14, 2023

#WonderingWednesday had me asking for advice on creating more interactive educational videos. This is one of my weaker areas that I'm trying to improve! 

#EME6414 #WonderingWednesday Best tools/apps for vlogging/creating educational videos on YouTube? wanna be a touch more interactive than screen recording with narration, without paying for Articulate or Captivate.

— Christine Wise (@23christinewise) June 14, 2023

One of my favorite hashtags is #tbt! I love the nostalgia of going back in time and seeing the Nintendos, hit clips, and flip phones :) 

#eme6414 #tbt anybody use Yahoo Messenger back in the day or was it just me?! Image retrieved from: https://t.co/TDZzVwFqJQ pic.twitter.com/VD6bsuU6EA

— Christine Wise (@23christinewise) June 16, 2023

I was most proud of my #FollowFriday. Not only is this an amazing account that everyone should follow, but I even got a retweet and a follow back!! If only I was on my own account and not my pseudonym for this class! 

#EME6414 #FollowFriday My recommended account is @TCEA. This is a non-profit whose goal is to advance teaching/learning through tech... and they are always posting some great content to be transferred to the classroom or for IDers!

— Christine Wise (@23christinewise) June 16, 2023

My #ShoutoutSaturday went to @GabHaggins because I'm only slightly (don't look at me) jealous of how well she tweets. 

#eme6414 #ShoutoutSaturday goes to @GabHaggins! You've shared great content and I love your use of emojis. I'm still stuck in the basic smiley faces 🤣 I feel I have a lot to learn from your tweets!

— Christine Wise (@23christinewise) June 17, 2023

I had a lot of fun this week on Twitter. I also did a few other things that I'll post about later when I have time. #TTYL #SLFN (that's a little #tbt for ya - even on a Sunday) 

I had Lasik surgery yesterday....

 It was an eye-opening experience.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I'm so sorry... I just had to. Why you may ask? Why did I make you endure an awful pun? Glad you asked.

Today, I made a 'Vision Board' on Pinterest... see what I did there?

BTW.. I didn't actually have Lasik so don't come for me. I do want it though and really need it.😳

Pinterest has always been my favorite social media platform.. and my least favorite. This is the one I can spend the most time on. For nothing. I can literally (and that's not a misuse of the word) spend hours upon hours just scrolling and saving pins to various boards. Anything from future home build plans to makeup and hairstyles, to dinner recipes, or educational resources. Pinterest is my go-to. 

When my daughter was diagnosed with Celiac disease, I ran to Pinterest first for gluten-free recipes and tips. 

When I wanted to get back in the gym, I went to none other than Pinterest for workout recommendations. 

When I wanted to style my living room furniture, Pinterest was my first stop.

Whatever the need, Pinterest always seems to have the answer. Even if I just want some funny quotes or serious quotes or Bible quotes, Pinterest has that, too.

I have very rarely, probably less than five times in all honesty, pinned anything from the internet myself. There is an extension for Google Chrome where you can pin something that you find online and create your own pin. This is a way of social bookmarking. Generally, I search within Pinterest itself for what I need and there are so many items already bookmarked and generated in this site, that I don't need to source my own material.

That's what I did today with the vision board. Click here to go to Pinterest and see what my dream home office would look like.

Here's a sample of one of my favorites!!

If you'd like to see the pin I made, you can follow this link, or go to my blog post here!

What is Does Online Graduate School Look Like?

That's a loaded question... I'm not even gonna mention the aspect of having a full-time or kids in this post.

Online school looks a lot like this:

Reading and reading and reading. Seems like that part never ends. It's all for a good reason, don't get me wrong. We need to read about these topics to better understand and gain foundational knowledge. Then we start on the assignments where we apply that knowledge. All of that is the standard Grad School rigamarole that you come to know and expect.

Here's a few things I didn't quite prepare for....

1) A fridge full of energy drinks. At 31 years old, I thought I left my energy drink days behind me. Boy was I wrong. Don't get me wrong, I'm a solid 4 cup of coffee a-day drinker. I gotta have my caffeine. But I thought for sure I wouldn't be purchasing these again.

2) The potatoes of my childhood. I couldn't go more than a couple of days without eating these or the dreaded hamburger helper. We legitimately had an entire cabinet dedicated to the stuff in my house. I hadn't even thought about these until the other day when I was crunched for time. I always make potato dishes from scratch. I needed something easy. I had neither the time nor energy to peel potatoes. So I set a pickup order for these bad boys.

3) Dropping BIG bucks on a new monitor..... okay, okay. Maybe this wasn't a necessity. But hear me out. It's sooooooooo amazing being able to put 3, yes you read that right, THREE, different internet windows on one monitor and not have to flip back and forth on my tiny laptop. So, it was definitely a good investment.

4) Needing to brush up on my prayer skills. I'm very involved in church. I fill in for teachers and nursery, we go all the time and are involved in all of the events, and that's even where I'm doing my internship. So, I'm very familiar with the ins and outs of prayer. And as a member of an Assembly of God church (which if you're unfamiliar - believes in the tenets of Pentecost), we're all about spiritual gifts of prayer. There was something about the unsettling nature of using social media - and so much of it (that I've since warmed up to) that had me reaching for this Bible study for reassurance. I think when we're in times of uncertainty, stress, or just have a lot of moving pieces going on, it's nice to have faith to lean into.  **P.S. Not to be preachy, but if you want to, I'd love to talk to you about it :)

 

Reflecting on Week 4

 This week was busy.... and not so busy.

I found some challenges to participate in. I was awarded some new badges. Score!! 

I backed off of some social media, while I embraced others. I feel I've been spending more time on Reddit, probably because of the paper that's coming up. I've also been researching and watching videos about these tools.  Now that we're using Diigo, I'll start adding some of things I'm reading to it, so y'all can see them, too if you want.

One of my favorites from this week was found in one our readings.

Horstman, Tierney, and Tzou (2020) created a table that lists the different types of functional badges. I really enjoyed reading this article because it gives you a working knowledge of how to create and implement this into your classroom or work environment. As I read through the different types of badges, it really brought me back into gamer mode. A lot of these remind me of achievement you earn or unlock when playing video games. I enjoy just how similar these are, and I know I've said it before, but it calls to that part of me. I've seen several of these utilized in this class already, I'm curious to see if we'll hit all of these before the semester is over!

Horstman, T., Tierney, G., & Tzou, C. (2020). Design principles for creating digital badges to support learningLinks to an external site.. Information and Learning Sciences, 121(11/12), 889-907. https://doi.org/10.1108/ils-02-2020-0042Links to an external site.

Badges and Gamification

 

With all of the challenges and work towards earning badges, I thought I’d take some time to read a little about them. In other courses, I’ve read about gamification, so I was already familiar with the concept, but I’ve not had a chance to participate in anything like this. Until now.

According to Merriam-Webster (2023), gamification is “the process of adding games or gamelike elements to something (such as a task) so as to encourage participation.” I’ve seen this often through my academic career. Encouraging students to participate through the use of games seems to be an easy way (from a student’s perspective) to engage students in the material. I’ve seen instructors create obstacle courses, play bingo, even set up their own version of Jeopardy in the classroom. 

As a college student/grad student, when tasked with creating a game as an assignment, you really see how much work goes into the process. From start to finish, gamification is a big endeavor – so you should make sure it is going to work for your classroom. I know I respond very well to the challenge of games, but others won’t always be the same way. Some students are going to be more introverted, others aren’t going to be motivated by prizes, so it’s important to make sure that the right environment is present for the games to be effective.

Speaking of prizes…. In middle school, our prizes were candy. In high school/undergrad, our prizes were bonus points on an exam. Now, we have the opportunity to earn digital badges. I think these are pretty cool. It’s a way of showing your achievements. 

As a part-time gamer (it’s my off-season because of school), I love unlocking achievements in games. That’s one of the things you strive for, right? I don’t know any gamers whose goal is to go straight to the finish line. In doing that, you miss all of the side quests, the bonus levels, the extra gear, the hidden things, and easter eggs. You’ve gotta get those achievements, those badges, to level up your character to make the game even better.

And who doesn’t love to show off those badges just a little??

Bornfeld and Rafaeli (2017) did a study on gamifying and badges. They wanted to see if badges would have a positive impact on user behavior. They completed a big data natural experiement and collected the data from a website. They exported this data to a spreadsheet and then analyzed it.  This study did support the hypothesis of positive results to using badges as motivation but did cite issues and threats to the validity of the study.  The authors also agreed that as with previous studies, the effect of implementing badges depends on the quality of the users.

I feel like there will be a place as the world continues to dwell in the digital realm where the badges are going to become important for resumes. I took a Microcomputer Applications course, where upon completion of each section, I received a digital badge for my proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. Those are now such common applications to have knowledge of that I don’t feel the need to display the badges on my resume or LinkedIn, but that’s just an example of where things might be going. If I took a course in Adobe Photoshop, instead of a printable certificate to submit with a resume, I wouldn’t be surprised if I received a digital badge nowadays.

Bornfeld, B., & Rafaeli, S. (2017). Gamifying with badges: A big data natural experiment on Stack ExchangeLinks to an external site.. First Monday, 22(6). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v22i6.7299

Merriam-Webster. (2023, June 3). Gamification definition & meaning. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gamification 

Diigo... How the Heck Do You Use This?

Diigo is a content curation site that allows users to tag, annotate, store, and share resources from across the web. The way I understand it, it's basically a place to store your bookmarks (instead of on your browser) that can be shared with others, and can be tagged for easy searching. 

When I first opened this site, I had no clue what to do. I just stared at the screen and kind of wondered, where do I go from here? I clicked on the "My Groups" link and scrolled through the shared resources. I really like that there's a place I can go to find resources from like-minded individuals.

I ended up turning to YouTube to find a tutorial video on using Diigo - shown below. (Pssstt... there's actually already a very helpful video on the EME6414 YouTube channel but I guess my tired brain didn't think to look there first).

Once I figured out how to use the basic tools of Diigo, I embraced this content curation site a lot more. There are still some features that I have not explored, like the 'Outliners'... but I plan to play around with it a little bit and see what all it can do.

My favorite thing about it is the tagging within the groups. It's like having your own specific search engine. For example: When I went to the EME6414 group page, I typed in 'Twitter' to the search box. Anything that had been shared to the group that had been tagged as Twitter or annotated with Twitter populated in the search. This is great for communities of practice and researching/sharing resources within a specific field or area of discipline.

For anyone interested in what the Diigo site looks like when you've interacted - here are some screenshots of 1) submitting a post to the group and 2) commenting on others' contributions.

What are you going to contribute to the Diigo group?

Long, Hot Weekend Instagram Challenge

 Congrats to those of y'all that accomplished both challenges!! It was a lot. 

I was just a few photos away from completing both, but I wouldn't have been able to get this post up in time. So, I figured I'd better play it safe. 

This was a lot of fun. I already had plans to go out this weekend, so that was lucky for me I was able to get some of these. Most of them, though, are stock photos from online. 

Most of my real photos were applied to the other challenge, but oh well.

I'm going to do a quick description of why I included each of the photos.

1. Sports - My daughter is obsessed with soccer lately. Inside, outside, doesn't matter where, there is always a soccer ball being kicked. This is an homage to her.
2. Nature- This stock photo was just beautiful and reminds me of my grandparents' property growing up.
3. The arts- My kids love to paint. It is their current favorite craft.
4. A concert- This scene reminds me of every concert experience I've ever had. Until I push my way to the front, anyways.
5. The movies- This is a real shot from this weekend. My Granny and I have a tradition of seeing every Fast and Furious movie together in theaters. And before you come at me, yes, I know they've gotten pretty out there and ridiculous. But it's still a tradition. And it's still a reason to go eat popcorn and get a break from the real world for a few hours.
6. Fine dining- This is my version of fine dining. Santa Fe Cattle Co. Usually I go for their burgers or tacos, but I tried to be good and get a salad knowing I was gonna be getting all of that theater food in just a little bit :)
7. A barbecue- Some pictures are worth a 1000 words, so I'm gonna let that one speak for itself.
8. Relaxing- Not my image.. but this is my favorite way to relax. A hot cup of coffee and a good book.
9. Hanging out with friends- This picture actually had another person in it.... but you know how Instagram's dimensions are. So to make it fit, I had to crop the other person out. Gave me a good laugh thinking about how semi-anti-social I am that my idea of "hanging out with friends" was hanging out with a dog".
10. Big night out- I love, love, love fireworks. A big night out for me would definitely be grabbing a blanket, finding a place doing fireworks, and just going to sit outside and watch them. That would be perfect.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Christine Wise (@christine.wise23)

Social Butterfly Challenge

Here's my attempt at the Social Butterfly Challenge..

Ok. You got me. I may be having fun with this. 

Fine... I'm having a lot of fun with this.

You add a challenge to something and I am there for it. I'm competitive by nature. It's in my bones. I don't back down from a challenge.

I started scrolling through blogs looking for post titles that caught my eye. I focused on topics that I was focusing on myself. Twitter has been my Achilles' heel so far, because it is so hard to get your message out in just a few words. So, I've been doing my research to make sure I understand this platform. I also struggle with having my social media accounts set to public during this course to allow for everyone to communicate with me. That's a big change from my norm. It allows for all of these different things to flood my news feed - or whatever the kids call it these days.... (I was just informed they don't say something's fire anymore so apparently I'm not up on the lingo.. the horror!!!!)

A Web 2.0 Learning Blog created a post titled "A Trip Through Twitter". In this, a list was created of what appears in the following feed. I thought this was a unique way to catalog what the social app is feeding you every day. Then, you can use this information to curate your feed by manipulating what you input/search.

After that, I traveled over to Bits & Pieces and encountered a post, "the lurker life." This post resonated with me on every level. It matched me to a T. I am a natural born lurker and there is nothing wrong with it. I am working on that in this course... I even branched out on my personal Facebook today and made a challenge post to my friends and family. This post linked some great resources about lurking in social media if you're interested in hearing more about it!

One of the tools we learned about that I was so excited for was the RSS feed. Inspire. Learn. Educate. created a post "Is RSS Feeds the Answer?" This post explores the idea of RSS feeds and some of the functionality, or lack thereof. There are some great comments on this post as well!

After I left the blog-o-sphere, I made my way over to Twitter. I had posted a Tweet about loving the challenges and had been receiving some feedback. So, I decided to respond to some classmates to show my appreciation for their replies! 

#eme6414 who else is thankful for these challenges? It’s keeping my brain focused and giving me purpose in the social platforms so y’all aren’t subjected to my randomness 🤣

— Christine Wise (@23christinewise) June 2, 2023

I just had to share Unreliable's Tweet. There's a goldmine of comedy here if you pay attention. A lot of the posts from this classmate are comical. In this case, I didn't think words were necessary. I let Jim Halpert's reaction say it for me :) 

Starting all these new social medias, the number of ex's that are popping up as recommended connections is giving my mild palpitations. #Eme6414

— Unreliable Blogger (@Auditorycurl) June 2, 2023

What do y'all think? I am breaking out of my chrysalis? Am I becoming a #SocialButterfly? 

Mini Post

This is from my Personal Facebook but I really felt led to share it here in case anyone needed to hear it today. It's completely unrelated to Web 2.0 topics... but I'm gonna follow what God says to do so...

(I didn't embed the link since my personal account is private)

If you don't read anything else on Facebook today, please read this...

I'll admit, I've been kind of passive lately in giving God praise for my blessings. I feel like I've been on autopilot about it. It's been one of those things that, when something good happens, I say "Thank you God, Praise God" and I go about my business.

I started a study on Prayer this week, and this is one of the prayer prompts. You write a prayer listing out all of His mercies and blessings He has given you in one place.

Y'all... If this doesn't humble you to your knees, I don't know what will. When I started writing this.... I was just in awe of how much God has done for me, in just the last couple of weeks. I think we get so comfortable living our lives, that we don't see how much these blessings add up and we can take it for granted. I pray it daily, "thank you for X, or thank you for Y or Z". But to pray "thank you for everything all at once".. WOW.

So, I'm challenging you today, use the below prompt and write out a prayer thanking God for His mercies and blessings from the past week or two. Everything you can think of He has done for you. Be specific, everything you can think of. Really reflect on it. And be humbled at how much He has done for you.

Then, Praise Him!!!

I Hope You're Hungry!

 Y'all!!

I have discovered a love for Reddit... More specifically, I have discovered a love for the subreddit r/GifRecipes. 

This community is a group of people that post recipes in a visual format. For a busy grad student and mom like me, this is a lifesaver!!  I can watch a quick recipe video or gif, and voila, dinner is planned.

Not only does a visual recipe allow you to know what the ingredients and steps are, but you can actually see what is going on in case the written directions are confusing for a beginner level home cook.

It's also nice to see someone else's technique who has created the dish before. It eliminates some of the trial and error that most people have to go through in the kitchen.

Check out this brussels sprouts video and tell me this doesn't look absolutely delicious!!

I'm a dietitian tasked with creating nutrition focused recipe videos and I have no idea what I am doing. This is my first attempt. Any feedback or advice is appreciated!
by u/Gazmocity in GifRecipes

I'm giving myself a personal challenge of creating a recipe gif over the weekend and posting it to the subreddit. So come back and visit me on Sunday and I'll link it on my reflection post! 

一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一一