Exploring the New Website

On Saturday afternoon, people discussed the new WE LEARN website. Lots of good ideas were generated, and hopefully many of them can come to fruition. If you have thoughts about the new website you can post them below in the comment section.

 

 

Why does WE LEARN matter to you? (Follow up)

Here are some responses of participants:

Tiffani's Piece

This is dedicated to Kathryn and Dominic.

Bluff by Diane Francis

Here are Diane Francis and friends performing "Bluff, " which was written by Diane.

Using blogs to share our ideas & stories

The two main blogger platforms are blogger and wordpress.

The benefits of blogging are that you can express yourself. You can have access to the ideas in your head by processing your thoughts and putting them into words. Sometimes having other people read what you write adds a deeper dimension to your writing.

Stacie suggested that the WE LEARN Web site have a space for blogging on it.

The random conversations that happen...

As much as I enjoy the formal presentations, whole group meeting, and conference sessions, I am most impressed by the happenstance conversations that I was a part of during this conference.  This space is like no other.  Many times at conferences I am hesitant to initiate conversations during the transition and more casual times during the conference, but not at this conference.  I have been fortunate to be part of so many amazing conversations that were unplanned.  The set-up of the large conference space was so conducive to sit with people who I don't know, but quickly go to know.  As a first-time WE LEARN participant, this was one of the most empowering parts of the conference for me.

-Lisa Marie Middendorf

Attending the session: The Forgotten Countryside

As a rural native from Upstate New York, the title of this session pulled me in.  Opening up with the  icebreaking question Kathleen and Rebecca pulled the participants in by asking each person's favorite use of technology.  Participants listed everything from the Cut-and-Past capabilities in Word to playing dominoes with long-distance family members on Skype to tweeting and email. Our answers became an incredible collective list of our technology uses.  We then moved into discussing the various barriers that rural people encounter in trying to use technology.  This brainstorm of barriers moved into an interesting discussion including both barriers and solutions.  The list of barriers included language barriers, limited understanding of how to protect your identity online, cost prohibitivity, and access.

Kathleen then took us into a discussion of key terms like information literacy, yellow journalism, powerful literacy, and social skills. We closed the session with a case study lead by Rebecca including a solution-oriented discussion of how to ease the barriers that rural people and communities encounter.  These solutions included leveraging the resources that already exist in communities, as well as tackling discriminatory biases that exist in accessing and using technology.

Although we ran out of time, the discussion that arose with the various opinions, knowledge, and expertise in the room.  Thank you, Kathleen and Rebecca.

- Lisa Marie Middendorf