Journal #2: Affinity groups and Digg

Affinity Groups:

I took the time to research several Affinity groups provided by the course materials.  I found that many of them were out of date, and some of them were not really what I was looking for.  Classroom 2.0 did not provide me with anything worthwhile, so I continue to wonder if I'm using it correctly, or if it is simply outdated.  Most of the posts in the forums had fewer than 3 responses.  I then decided to research my own online presence and determine if I'm already a part of an applicable Affinity group for this assignment.  I have an Edmodo account that I use to communicate with my students, and over the summer, I actively use it to collaborate with other science Educators.  This summer, I also joined several groups on Edmodo during their conference Edmodocon, and am still active in some of the groups that sprouted up around that time.  Here is a link to one of the communities I'm a part of: https://www.edmodo.com/home#/community/science.  I find this to be a useful platform for teachers to share and ask for resources.  It's also very easy to link files and other documents through Edmodo groups, so not only is it useful, it's convenient and has many active members.

Digg RSS stream:

I was ready to not like Digg because I already use another blog reader, "Bloglovin".  However, as I started to use the Digg reader, I really appreciated the format the blogs generated.  The presentation is like an email feed where unread posts are bold, and read posts are unbolded.  It doesn't seem to add unnecessary colors or styles, so I can easily see the content, and scan blogs easily to find any relevant information.  I'm going to continue to use Digg to keep up with blogs of other science teachers, and other middle school sites and news feeds.

Question 1:  How can I meet with and collaborate with other educators online?

There are many online communities where educators actively share and ask for resources and ideas.  Edmodo, Facebook, and classroom 2.0 have many subject specific groups or forums that can provide valuable and timely collaboration between educators.  Explore the many online options to find one that works for you.

Question 2: How can I keep up with the multitude of blogs and news feeds about my interests and subject area?

RSS streams, such as Digg Reader can provide an organized and stress-free way of keeping up with, viewing, and archiving favorite sites and posts.  It organizes content much like email threads and allows you to "like", flag, and forward posts to twitter or Facebook.