Thursday, June 25, 2009

ITED 511 Blogging Assignment Entry #1

1. The first blog I found is The CITE located at http://thecite.blogspot.com/. The blog is authored by two employees of the National Association of College Stores. The blog seems to be dedicated to discussing topics that involve a lot of m-learning devices and applications for use on items such as general cell phones, iPhones, Kindles, and other electronic reading devices. The blog also goes into other areas such as availability of downloadable content through sources such as Google e-books and the application of Second Life and alternatives to big name devices. This blog is relevant to my career because more and more the military is looking for ways to reduce its footprint while deploying and training its fighting force. One of the ways it can do this is by using mobile devices. The more content is available on devices such PDA, iPhones and Kindles, the less technical manuals soldiers are required to carry around with them and the more information is readily available to them when it is needed. Blogging for me is something entirely new. I am so used to just surfing the net to find the information that I need that I didn't know that there were easier ways for the information to be gathered for me. In the future, when I need information, I will definitely considering searching for blogs out there where communities of interest have already gathered that can supply some of the interest I need without the need for me to spend quite as long surfing to find the same information.


2. The second blog I found is LearningMatters located at http://learningmatters.tv/blog. This blog is hosted by an independent non-profit company that provides material to the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and PBS. The intended audience of its blog is the general public. The blog covers such topic areas as education policy, gender, policy, teaching, technology, testing, higher education and twitter to name a few. I believe this blog is relevant to where I see myself going because I really don't know where I will be going. But what I do know is that I will need to understand the students that I will potentially be involved in developing instruction for. To get a better understanding of their psyche I think this site contains a "somewhat" unbiased accounting of public opinion that can keep me on my toes and in touch with the net generation and what they feel is important to them and keep abreast with technological finds that will make instruction more fulfilling for all involved. While blogging will definitely not be the only way for me to get information, it will definitely help me get those little bites of information that will provides a "tasty snack" when the meal (a full educational course) is not available.

Leadership in transition

The more I read about leadership and all of its characteritistics, the more I see the cracks in my armour. After spending 22 years in the military I came to think of myself as a pretty good leader. I believed that I earned the respects of my leaders, peers and followers. But now as I am entering the civilian workforce, I am forced to take a step back and look at my leadership practices in a different light. No longer is that need of people around you to "blindly" obey my every wish. (Not that they ever did before!) Respect is not given in the civilian sector the same as in the military culture. It is going to be very hard for me to come to grips with the fact that not everyone is respectful of everyone's authority as a matter of right. I am so used to leader entering a room a silence falling that it un-nerves me when people constantly talk during a briefing. Is this what is store for me throughout my civilian career? Will I have to compromise what I believe are steadfast principles of leadership/respect to deal with a culture I don't understand? This is definitely a case of lifelong learning. You will never know enough about the culture you are apart of. You have to adapt your leadership style, gain new skills and cross new borders for every career you enter into.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Welcome to my blog

Not sure how this is all going to go down but I guess its not all bad. I will have to see how it goes. I'm still a little leary on having my business out there, but I guess I will have to work with my insecurities.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

The beginning

This is the first blog I've ever written. I not quite a techno-phobe, but I have privacy issues. I will try this and see how this works.