Sorry if this post is a little disjointed.   This issue has been building but I haven’t taken my usual time to write and review a post which can take days.  I’m just going to post it and may update it over time.

I’m trying to keep up with all the new network connections being built for the #edcmooc class but it’s getting increasingly difficult. And class doesn’t even start until Jan 28. One of my original objectives for taking this class was to see if I could learn to juggle multiple collaborative tools inside my workplace. I had hoped  the small group that spontaneously formed in mid November would help give me insights into new technologies or techniques to better deal with time management challenges. But that hasn’t happened yet.  In fact, I feel more overwhelmed by having to look at so many additional tools and groups.

I suspect there are multiple factors but at least two that I see include my own schedule (holidays, work, illness) that kept me from fully asking questions and the fact that a foundational network needed to be built with supporting tools/techniques (including experimenting with some). While the experience of sharing insights about elearning has been very inspiring, I feel no closer to meeting my personal objective of learning to juggle all these collaborative networks/technologies to which I am connected. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

In terms of the digital divide, I am starting to see this with the many collaborative tools/networks being established for #edcmooc.  There is Facebook (over 2000members), G+ (only 402 members), Twitter, Diigo, Wikispaces, YouTube, Synchtube, and so on (can’t even remember all the networks at this point).   Since not everyone is on all of them, some people will only get some of the information.  That means that some people must act as a bridge and share information between applications or people will have to join everything leading to more conversations and overload.  This is part of the problem that I have at work with internal collaborative tools – as more capabilities are introduced the information flow is fragmented and networks dispersed.  Somehow there needs to be a capability to prevent this from happening.  I just haven’t seen it yet.