Ideal E-learner profile. Does it sound like you?

While I was surfing the net today I stumbled upon this site: http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/Preparingstudents.htm#Profile  and like the part about the  Profile of "Ideal" Online Student. 
Here it is:

• Self-disciplined
• Mature, experienced
• High emotional quotient
• Willingness to ask for help (which requires self-awareness and high
  emotional quotient
• Independent

Does this profile fit you like a glove? Are you going in that direction?

I thought it was interesting.
Happy e-learning!

Meritxell

Officially overwhelmed by MOOC!!

The E-learning and Digital Cultures starts officially today and I am officially overwhelmed. I have been browsing through your blogs - very informative, which gave me an idea of how "huge" the MOOCs "phenomena" is. I have to get up to speed!

On the other side, I love the slow movement http://www.slowmovement.com/ because even though followers of this "lifestyle" accept and use technology as part of life and progress, they want to follow their natural rhythms to stay connected to nature (and yes! the moon cycles affect you believe it or not). I love technology but you need to decide which one you want to use, why and when and do not let it take over your life. I guess it is going to take some adjustement for all of us.
I see little 3-4 year-olds using tablets and I-phones like they were born with them, which is great, do not get me wrong, but in my opinion they need to know that there is also a "real" world where you can do things that you can't do in  the "digital world".

I am enjoying reading everybody's blogs and I just feel- I guess like everybody these days- I don't have enough time to see all the different "digital tools" , read all the tweets, attend the hangouts, etc but I have decided that it is ok and that I will try my best.

Social Media make us more isolated or more social?

 Social Media and Technology- good or bad?

I love Social Media and I think we can't deny that a Digital Revolution is taking place. The world as we know it is changing-whether we like it or not. What it is important, in my opinion, is to decide how we will be using all these new tools and resources.

Dr. SherryTuckle, a Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, criticizes social media and their impact on our society nowadays. There is a positive and a negative side of this revolution we are experiencing: some people are using social media to build incredible resources and networks of knowledge or support, but on the other side, there are people who are completely "hooked" to it, and the new generations don't even apologize personally to somebody- they do it on Facebook. These days you see parents in the park that are working in their laptops while their children are playing or checking their blackberries while they are telling a story to their kids before going to bed. Is this what we want as a society? On the other side, there is a lot of people on the net that are promoting a "living in the present" philosophy, which translates in doing one thing at a time. They advocate that technology is a very good thing but we need to decide when, where and how to use it before it is the other way around.

You can watch Dr. Sherry Tuckle in this video if your are interested:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtLVCpZIiNs

Something I e-learned today while I was surfing the net

"It's easy to get burnt out in our over-scheduled lives. Luckily, there are lots of ways to recharge our batteries on a daily basis. Laughing, for instance, can actually make you feel better mentally and physically. “Laughter is the ultimate energizer, as it increases circulation and 'happy hormones' (endorphins) throughout your body".


Did you notice that you laugh less as you grow older? We should make laughing part of our daily activities such a eating, sleeping, taking a shower, etc.  Don't you think?

How many times did you laught today? It counts even if you were watching a youtube video!!

Starting a blog and my personal Digital Era

Hi everybody,

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a long time... so long that I started to think that it would be better to do a Vlog instead. I see that most of you are using Wordpress, which I am not very familiar with but given that I signed for Blogger a few years ago, I have decided to use it during the Elearning and Digital cultures course.

I am currently working as an administrative (civil servant) in Catalonia (Spain) mainly in the mornings, and teaching English to High School students in a Language Institute in the afternoon-evening. I love teaching more than anything else, and right now I am transitioning from a job I don't really enjoy to become an online Spanish teacher. I also teach English to 4-7 year-old students in a different Language Institute- very fun!!. Learning a foreign language takes time, perseverance, motivation, will and humor. I learned English - I meant really learned, not what you do in classes where there are 30 students and you pronounce a sentence once every three weeks- after I finished college (I hold an Economics Degree although I always wanted to be a Biologist- it is a long story). I always thought I was bad at learning foreign languages, and even thought I am not the most talented foreign language learner, I just think I had terrible teachers. In the 90s, people's lives were revolving around internet - like nowadays- so to learn a foreign language, most people thought they had to live in the country where that language was spoken for a few months to be able to learn.  Now you can learn it using the internet if you are a hihghly motivated and indepedent learner or with the guidance of a teacher, if you are not so independent when it comes to learning. Anyway, I really wanted to learn English because I felt that without it I could not work for International Third-Word Cooperation non profit organization and I decided to work as an Au Pair in the US for a year- what a great and life-changing experience.

To make a long story short, I never worked for a International Third- World Cooperation non profit organization because I came to the conclusion that what needed to be done, was raise people awareness of the global economic situation in the First World. Right or wrong I ended up spending 6 more years in the US working as an Environmental Educator in MN and GA- another great and even more life changing experience. So... where I am now? still growing... discovering the benefits of ioga and living in the present moment, long evening walks, free Stanford University lectures on youtube, life coaching and spirituality and wanting to become a social entrepreneur. I love technology and I believe this course will push me to start a new direction towards this digital world that co-exists with the real one.

Hope we have fun these coming weeks.