Class suggestions

Overall, this class has been a totally excellent experience. It has opened my eyes to some services that I hadn't ever heard of, and let me know of some alternate uses or communities that are involved in technologies that I was already familiar. In particular, the realization that there really are uses for social media tools in the context of business and libraries has been a great boon to my education. I feel that now I will be able to effectively argue on behalf of emerging technology, as well as recognize when (and when it isn't) appropriate.

One suggestion I thought of was to have perhaps a unit on the forefront of social tools. This would, of course, change each time the class was taught, but there are services out there that come and go and push the boundaries. We have talked mostly in this course about established services that have demonstrable positive effects for the context in which we examine them. Including some questionable or unproven technologies would provide a chance to apply some critical thought as to the merits or frivolity of something new, as well as provide a perspective on the sheer amount of these things that are out there.

Overall, the main wiki delivery worked for me, as did communication over Twitter, since it is easier to "check in" on Twitter than on IM, which requires a little more synchronicity. Thank you for not including much discussion on the eCollege message boards. I can't stand those things, how they reload every time you try and look at a thread or message.

One way to potentially increase communication would be to put the Social Networking unit a little earlier in the course. Or first, even. That way we all could have established a profile, gotten to "know" each other and begun sharing resources and conversation. Besides what better introduction to Web 2.0 is there at this point than facebook?

Thanks for the great class.