I made it

After reading several different articles about how to set up my blog for class, I finally made it! What strikes me as interesting about this whole process is that traditionally I could consider myself to be a risk taker. Willing to try just about anything without giving it a great deal of thought. However, with processes related to the Intenet, I am not. I devoted two days to studying on how to "do it right" before I was ready to actually take the action necessary to set up my blog.

That is amazing to me. It has provided with me an opportunity to reflect on how different an experience this is for me compared to my "net generation" children. They are eager for interaction and more confident to try new technology of any kind. I certainly find the comment in our text about them being "authorities on the digital revolution' to be accurate. It brings up interesting conversations at the kitchen table as I ask them questions about how to navigate this new media.

Once I have played around on it for awhile, I gain confidence and am willing to move onto trying different functions. That initial hesitation is gone but it has taken up time. I typically do not observe my children taking the time to read something first than moving to the application-they seem to be comfortable moving directly into giving it a try and making mistakes as they learn "live".

My approach to learning related to what I consider "live" open sources of information is different than what I would do with other software applications. I am more cautious when using blackboard discussion boards, discussion threads on line and a blog because I want to know the rules before I post. I find it important to honor the guidelines in these live arenas. However, if I download software off the Internet or buy a program and install it on my computer, I am likely to just jump in and try it without ever reading the directions. I find this difference in my approach to learning interesting and figure that at some point posting will become as comfortable for me as loading software and trying it out!

but for now, I did it!! my first posted is complete.