The Chosen Fishbowl 1-3 period 2
Please reflect on the use of Skype today in class by recalling the discussions as well as looking over the transcripts from group one and group two. React to what went well, what were some challenges or concerns, and what do we need to improve upon. Not only do we need to question what we did, but we need to be constructive with our criticism offering suggestions for improvement.
Realize that the emoticons will not appear in the transcript. Make sure to compare the use of Skype to the use of Blogger. Also, keep in mind in your analysis what the objective was for the inner circle, the outer circle, and our entire objective of fishbowl.
posted by annes @ 1:47 PM
18 Comments:
I think that our fishbowl went okay today. I also think that skype affected our fishbowl and the center conversation negitivly like kimmy already said. I think that blogger affected it somewhat also but not as much as skype. People weren't joining in on the conversation as much and the conversation on skype was often getting off topic. Also many people were using the icons too much and that was affecting the conversation. since skype was much faster pace than blogger there wasn't a strong conversation going on or as many questions being asked.
on the other hand i liked skype more than blogger because it was a lot faster and it felt like we could talk more to the other classmates.
I think that when we do skype again we need to stay on topic for sure. Also we need to participate more on the conversation going on in the center, and the people around the outside of the fishbowl need to incorporate and also talk about the conversation going on in the middle.
Well, I think that when we first started, we were a little excited about skype. Once we got conversations started though, they went pretty well. After a while though, someone just says ONE thing, and then everyone is talking about something that doesn't even relate to what the questions are. I think that if we want to use skype, we're going to have to stay on task and not abuse the privledge. If we're at home though, it makes it easier so that we can communicate with others if we just have questions.
The thing that I did like though was how we had two conversations and we could make different questions. I also liked the power to change the subject. It got the conversation to veer in a direction with everyone knowing where it was going.
I also liked Skype better than blogger for its fast pace conversation. For some reason, I could think faster and I could say what I wanted more easily. But on the other hand, I like blogger because people tend to stay more on task plus, we get comments from people outside our class, like Pat for instance.
I liked skype mostly because I didn't have to key keying in the little code to ensure I wasn't spam. However, the bad thing was that the conversations went too quickly, with several people asking the same question at once. In my group, there were people complaining that there weren't any complete thoughts being said. I guess they weren't used to it. It was easy for me though. I think that Skype was better than live blogging, but not a ton. More than enough to say that I would rather Skype than blog.
With the blog, it was aggravating because the conversations kept going to fast, and not all of us type or thing 40 miles per hour. However, that was not too bad of an issue on account of the fact that it took forever just to post one comment.
Skype was an improvement, I do believe, but more people need to join the conversation in the center. I know that some people, along with commenting on the topics, were chatting with others in the class.
Another problem with Skype, which I'm sure you'll hear several times, is the speed at which the conversations go. Some people stil take longer to respoond, and by the time they do, the subject has changed.
So, although Skype IS better than the blogging, there are still a few wrinkles to iron out; including participating in the discussion, and staying on topic.
I agree with pretty much everything that has been said. I liked Skype because it refreshed automatically and I could get my ideas in on the discussion faster without having to type an anti-spam code first, but there were some negative aspects.
A lot of times, the discussion got off track and sometimes a change in the subject was completely disregarded and people just kept talking about what they were talking about before. Also, Skype was more structured and had only one question that a person could type in at a time, so it was not as open-ended as the converstaions on Blogger, which could go anywhere. I think that because we were answering only one question at a time it limited the conversation and a lot of answers were repeated because evryone was answering the same question. Also, Skype is more like IM because it has the emoticons and everything, so a lot of people were treating it like IM and not talking about the topic in the fishbowl.
Although this first fishbowl with Skype wasn't the most successful, I think we should try it again just to see if we have the same results or if it works out better next time.
I thought it worked very well. Because I was in the middle it was nice not to have to refresh to see the comments, so I could easily pay attention to the conversation in the middle and glance at the discussions on skype. Also, I noticed that people started to take use of changing the topic, which kept the conversations fresh and allowed the discussion to move from topic to topic as they came up. My only concern was at the end a few people got distracted.
I think that Skype has a lot of potential if we follow the guidelines and possibly set a few new ones.
People need to treat it more like blogger than IM. People would just say random things to add to or agree with or disagree with something that was said 3 minutes before they said it, and by that time, what they were referring to was gone. Thus, it was very confusing to know what everyone was talking about, especially since the topic kept changing. Also, I think that we are trying to use these electronic chats to fix a problem with actual discussion. This problem is the fact that sometimes you don't get a chance to say something about the topic when everyone is trying to get their word in while not trying to interrupt people. On the electronic chats, there is no structure to not 'interrupt' people and thus everyone is getting their word in, but it often doesn't make much sense. People will often go off of what other people say, and so five different ideas may develop from a few comments and those ideas will be put out there for others to add on to, and we end up with five conversations trying to occur in one. This is a problem with both blogger and Skype, but in Skype, everything is much more rapid and people don't use complete thoughts or refer to what they are talking about, and it becomes very confusing from everyone being so off topic. You can see that I was one of the ones "complaining that there weren't any complete thoughts being said." Its like trying to have a complete discussion/ conversation where all anyone says is, "Yes. No. UHHUH. Cool idea. Whatever." It doesn't make any sense. Here is what someone said on Skype during the discussion. " whenever that occured." And if you look at the comments around it, you have no idea what this is supposed to mean. Especially if you have been trying to listen to the center or formulate your own thought instead of just reading what everyone else has been saying. With Blogger, people had to completely write out their thoughts and they actually listened to the center. Which was not happening here and was a problem.
What could have added to the fact that Skype and our discussion in general could be that we are still being introduced to the book and we don’t have our thoughts flowing as much because of that and maybe we were still a little lazy from break. (Although I am not trying to use that as an excuse, it just seems often that we aren’t as excited on Mondays, especially when we have been gone for a long time.)
Because of this, it seems like it would be helpful for people to:
1. Use Complete sentences and thoughts
2. To develop those thoughts to contribute to the conversation instead of saying “I Agree” or putting out something random that doesn’t make much sense.
3. To listen to what is being said/ to read what has been said instead of just saying what is on your mind, even if it is unrelated to what is being said.
4. Don’t constantly change topics! -- It got very frustrating when you had a good conversation or an idea on the current topic and then out of the blue we aren’t talking about that any more.
Over all, Skype seems to work well for what we are doing, because Blogger seemed slow and we never got a chance to read the comments very much. With Skype, If we just slow down a bit and follow the guidelines, it could become exactly what we are looking for
Today’s use of Skype in my opinion was entirely a test drive. We were a little to excited to use it at the beginning of class, and therefore we seemed to wonder off topic. However, I do prefer Skype to live blogging because 1) no refresh, and 2) faster pace. I believe that after today’s test run, we could go much further in our conversations then we have ever been before because of the pace.
One thing that really sticks out in my mind is that we really didn't stay on topic that much. It seemed like we did at first, but it wondered off. Also, this is a very slow paced book. I like it so far, but we really haven’t gotten too far in the story. Maybe this fishbowl came too soon, it seemed like we didnt have much to go off of. Maybe we did we just didn't perform in fishbowl like we usually do; then again it is Monday. But regardless of the fact that it was Monday after a 5-day weekend, we still should not have wondered so far off topic at times.
Today, we did not really accomplish what fishbowl is meant to accomplish, but I'm not worried because i think today was only a glitch, and next time will be much better. We will be more experienced with Skype then, and it will go much better. Also, perhaps the pace was a little too fast. If it was possible, more than two groups on the outside might be a better option. And just a final thought, we didn't really fill those empty chairs like we usually do, but i believe that was only because we were getting use to Skype.
Oh, and I predict that blogger will work better at home, only because everyone’s schedules will be different each night.
I had a question about Skype.
I don't have any contacts that we put on our lists from school. Is it supposed to transfer over? Does anyone else have this?
With Skype i like how we can have different conversations going on in different chats. it make everything less confusing. Today we did get a little of topic but i think it was because we were excited. i remember when we first did blogger that we got excited and carried away too! skype is a little harder cuz it is fast pace but i think we will get used to it and i like how we dont have to refresh all the time! i also like how we dont have to do the word verication each time! thats annoying!
I think that the Skype test drive (as Brian calls it) went pretty well, althought there is some room for improvement.
Because of the IM style format people tend to send small, useless messages as is the habit on IM. Messages like "I agree" and "good point" when alone are not only useless to the discussion but distract from the conversation. If they were followed by an original thought it would be better, but these are things that can be fixed easily with time.
Overall, i really enjoyed Skype more than blogger because what seems to happen with the blogger is that I will be reading blogs and by the time i respond and then refresh there is a barrage of new blogs. Because blogs are usually long, I tend to skip over some blogs and probobly miss good thoughts, just to keep up with the fast pace of discussion. With Skype, on the other hand, message pop up instantly so there is no worry about that.
Other than the use of incomplete thoughts or useless comments, I enjoyed Skype much more than Blogger because it is a clean, easy way to have a silent discussion, without being bogged down with huge comments or constantly refreshing.
Yay Skype!
We really needed to stay on topic. We really got off topic a lot and many people posted random comments that didnt relate to anything. Besides that I really liked it because it is so fast and you dont have to reload every five seconds. It is good having your ideas on the page and everyone els'e instantly.
As stated, we do need to stay on topic and finish our sentences so we know exactly what each other is saying. I do like the Skype, but we should be more careful on how to use it.
I really liked using skype because it was easier to read everything instead of having to refresh the page every 5 seconds. But on the other hand, the conversation moves so fast that its hard to type your comment in and have it read by anyone.
I have another thought! Like Hannahj said, it is nice not having to refresh the page. But, if you have a really long insighful comment, it sounds ridiculous on the Skype page since the topic you were responding to is long gone. It moves really fast. I really agree with what Kathrynt was trying to tell us yesterday, about slowing down and listening to the inner circle and finishing with complete sentences. Way to go.
Kathryt~
My contacts didn't roll over from school either!
If we can give each other time to type our thoughts instead of racing through and entering your ideas and changing topics so quickly. I know my thoughts and typing was hurried because I wanted to keep up with the group. It was quite stressful and I tried to make it less so and that didnt really work to well...Also we need to stop putting lame little thoughts that are like three words and keep saying the same thing. I swear our group said "the religions have the same ideas but express it in different ways" like 2o times. It's very frustrating
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