Facebook Learning Blog

“Today, everything is about Social Media. Some industry gurus claim that if you do not participate in Facebook, YouTube, and Second Life, you are not part of cyberspace anymore. Social Media allow firms to engage in timely and direct end-consumer contact at relatively low cost and higher levels of efficiency than can be achieved with more traditional communication tools. This makes Social Media not only relevant for large multinational firms, but also for small and medium sized companies, and even nonprofit and governmental agencies. Using Social Media is not an easy task and may require new ways of thinking, but the potential gains are far from being negligible”( Haenlein, p. 67).

 

Since the learning environment I am creating will also be part of a larger networking and marketing website for my farm, social media outlets will be the most crucial part of my business plan. Linking my Facebook page to my website and blog will cover the primary digital bases of basic modern networking. Creating a discussion forum within my website – also accessible through the Facebook page – will allow users/learners to communicate together as part of a digital network that could prove to be the most educational part of this model. Trial and error – for long time sustainable farmers and newbies alike – can be the most educational experiences that people can share and learn from each other.

As far as Facebook is concerned, I will maintain my farm page myself. Ultimately, my goal is to add as many sustainable agriculture websites, educational resources, and eye-catching humorous farm-related memes that people who have “like” my page are likely to share (thereby promoting my page even more through Facebook). I think it will be important to add new content to my Facebook regularly (if not daily), in order to keep my audience engaged in some way and build my audience/customer base.

M3 Blog Multimedia for Multimodal Learners

This has been a very busy and educational week in both my life and my course assignments. Due to the fact that I am working toward merging the “lateral” J learning taking place on a personal level with the emerging technology tools that we are practicing – it only made sense for me to create a video of the 30’ yurt that my family set up with the help of friends. In creating a farm, and the web-based networking and marketing that needs to be set up along with it, I felt it was important to include my story. The story of what is happening right now in my life, along with the goals that I have for future farm related business ventures and sustainable agriculture community projects.

My audience of self-motivated elearners and fellow farmers can benefit as much as any other group of learners – especially with the accessibility and use of multimedia instructional presentations and videos. Building and farming are two very kinesthetic, hands-on activities (no matter what the specific project or topic). In terms of building a yurt, images, video and personal blogs proved to be more informative than the actual written instruction manual I received from the company that constructed the yurt frame and shell material. Diagrams and photos of actual steps of construction, particularly the finer details, should be made available to their customers. In the very simplistic video I was able to create with Windows Movie Maker, I documented the process of the building project, but do need to add an audio voice over along with text within the still images. In this regard, I am the first to admit that my video was too “cute” and not nearly educational enough – it was more of a documentary than an instructional video.

Using multimedia to engage learners speaks to the multiple intelligences and different learning styles of each individual. I am very impressed with the professionalism and creativity of my classmates’ videos. I am still going through them all, but it is clear that video can be effectively used for any number of topics or subject matter to engage learners and help them understand the material by using a multimodal approach to teaching with multimedia tools.

LETTP M2 blog post

Oh the excitement of community seed banks!

Community Seed Bank

http://www.seedmatters.org/engage-grow/start-a-community-seed-project/

Within my own physical community and through social media sites such as Facebook, I have participated in sharing non-GMO organic seeds with other gardeners and small farmers. There are sustainable seed companies that offer non-GMO heirloom seeds, but the rate at which heirloom vegetables are being replaced (intentionally by some corporations, and unintentionally/unwittingly by food consumers) is dramatically limiting the diversity of produce throughout the world. Within crop zones, and even within smaller microcosms within a close vicinity of each other, there are always seeds that have been passed down through the generations that will only thrive prolifically in that exact location due to all climate and soil variables. (In my hometown of St. Augustine Florida, we had datil peppers, on this specific mountain plateau in the Blue Ridge, neighbors have shared their exclusive local goose belly beans). Governments and nonprofit groups have organized seed banks to preserve genetic diversity in the crops that can be grown and harvested. Using the internet to create a community of practice in the form of seed banks and seed sharing is an example of technology based learning and networking that has innumerable community, environmental, financial benefits.

 I wanted to share this resource, even though it is already in action on various levels and far from a conceptual source - because it provides a model of how technology can be used to protect the most fundamental resources that we need for survival. Education, community outreach and localized cooperation can be used to share and store non-genetically modified seeds. (For those of you who may not fully understand the inherent danger of GMO seeds and corporate proponents for them such as Monsanto - GMO seeds are typically modified for a number of reasons, often pesticide resistance. Unlike "natural" seeds, the crops they produce cannot produce viable seeds for the following planting season, forcing farmers to buy new seed inventory every year, and unable to replant seeds from the previous years. This is a serious problem, especially for subsistence farmers in the developing world who cannot afford to buy seeds every year with profit yields from their crops.)

The more I delve into the use of emerging technology as a tool to empower individuals, and groups of people working for a common good, the more I appreciate the serious potential for positive change in the world... One small seed at a time!

1st Blog Post

I learned that I am far more capable than I had anticipated when it comes to working with technologies. (Albeit a serious work in progress!) The new territory attempted in this module was my first, rocky foray into the realm of Second Life. I have had no prior experience in creating an avatar or exploring a virtual reality – online or in any form of gaming. That was a definite challenge, but I came out of it feeling a lot of relief that I am overcoming the anxiety associated with learning how to navigate through this new territory. It also contributed to a greater sense of self-efficacy in knowing that I can figure out these types of technologies. I also had a number of technological challenges upon entering this course simply by having to wipe the malware off my computer and make sure I was up to date on the tech requirements  – an excellent learning experience in and of itself. I have created a blogger site for my other course this term and look forward to adding one for LETTP as well for the next blog post.

Reviewing the work of my classmates has provided me with great examples for the areas in which I need to improve my own work with new technologies as this course progresses. I have been giving quite a lot of thought to whom my audience will be and how I can incorporate emerging technologies with informational projects related to sustainable agriculture, as well as my own personal goals of starting up a small profitable farm. It is becoming abundantly clear that technology has a critical role to play in the growing slow-foods movement that I have chosen as a (partial) career path. I think it is an intriguing, and potentially very successful topic of interest to address by finding a balance between the modern technological world and the small farming practices that were utilized long before the web was even a preconception in the human psyche. I look forward to incorporating the two to provide emerging technology tools and access to cohesive information that can be used to support sustainable farmers and educate the public on the benefits of moving away from the “big agriculture” paradigm that our food culture is currently dominated by.