Week 4 Reflections: Upgrading 1.0 Teachers

This week's readings have given me many things to think about. Prior to attending PhD program at FSU, I was a professor at Universitas Indonesia, the oldest public university in the country, at which I had been teaching for 6 years. I realized I was very traditional when it comes to pedagogical approaches. I had never really given a thought that I could integrate the use of social media/other Web 2.0 tools for improving learning experience (well, at least not in formal learning environment).

Not only the readings, the past four weeks have inspired me with so many ideas to integrate Web 2.0 once I am back teaching after completing the degree. I would like to specifically highlight the framework from Dabbagh and Kitsantas (2012), which I thought would be very helpful for upgrading 1.0 teachers like me :)

Source: Captured from Dabbagh and Kitsantas, 2012

(Also useful for our upcoming assignments!)

Reference:

Dabbagh, N., & Kitsantas, A. (2012). Personal Learning Environments, social media, and self-regulated learning: A natural formula for connecting formal and informal learning. The Internet and higher education, 15(1), 3-8.

Eid Mubarak 2.0

Last week I was pretty occupied with Eid Al-Fitr celebration week. Eid Al-Fitr or Feast of Breaking the Fast is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting (source: Wikipedia). With more than 80% of Muslims population, yes it is very big in Indonesia. We had more than a week of national holidays this year.

As a very collective society, Eid Al-Fitr in Indonesia involves many gatherings with families and friends. Below picture shows one family gathering I attended this year. Note: It is only ONE out of minimum 4 gatherings (friends not included), which covers my mother’s & father’s extended families and my husband’s mother’s and father’s extended family. These gatherings were located not only in the city where I live in but also in other cities. Sounds tiring? Yes! The perks of being Indonesians! :)

Source: My own photo. Me? Wearing pink at the front. :)

Indonesians usually wear traditional Indonesian or Islamic clothing for this particular occasion. Me? I decided to wear kebaya (a traditional Indonesian blouse) combined with kain batik (handmade drawing patterns in an unstitched fabric wrap around three meters long).

Why this year is a 2.0 celebration?

Invitations for family gatherings were distributed at our family messenger groups in Line and/or WhatsApp. For the occasion, I bought the whole outfit from a seller I found on Instagram. I then used YouTube tutorials to wear kain batik (believe me, it’s not that easy and my mom usually had to do it for me :p). I also explored other YouTube tutorials for my make-up and hair-do. Lastly, with crazy traffic in the city, I utilized Waze to complement Google Maps in finding the fastest route for attending one gathering to another.

The power of networked individuals, it is.

Web 2.0 never stops to amaze me. 

Lastly, I would like to say to those who celebrate it:

Happy Eid Mubarak 1436H

Taqabbalallâhu minnâ wa minkum

(May God accept from us and you our fasts and deeds)

Being an Atheist in Indonesia & Web 2.0

I accidentally found this Facebook page: Indonesian Atheists. Why this is so interesting for me? Mostly because being an atheist is illegal in Indonesia (surprising, yes?)

Source: Screen-captured from IA Facebook Page

However, it is the way it is. As explained in this Jakarta Post article (June 18, 2012) the first of five principles of Pancasila, the state ideology, inscribed in the Preamble to the Constitution, is “Believe in the One Supreme God”. It is further explained in a lower law, a government regulation, which further narrows down the choices for citizens by stating that only six religions (Islam, Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism) are recognized by the state.

So how about those who do not believe in God? Through the eyes of the state, you are being outside the constitution: You simply cannot. Well, at least, you have to choose one out of six religions in the religion column in your national ID (And NO, you cannot leave it blank). It is difficult to publicly come out when you are an atheist. I am not only talking about negative social stigma but also on how you can get threats or being assaulted by local radical Islamic groups.

The existence of this Facebook page shows that these religious minorities finally have a medium to get connected and openly discuss their beliefs. It is always amazing how web 2.0 provides room for those whose voices are suppressed in the real life. Unsurprisingly, this is a closed group and since I am not joining I cannot look further into the contents being shared there.

Although I believe that this is a small step toward freedom of religion and social inclusion in the country, members still have to be extra careful. One sad example is from the case of Alexander Aan in June 2012, which also got covered in this New York Times article:  Embrace of atheism put an Indonesian in prison (May 3, 2014). Mr. Aan got convicted for trying to incite religious hatred under the electronic information law and sentenced him to two and a half years in prison only because he was publicly expressing his belief through social media. Yes, my country still have many homework to work on and one simple Facebook page might open the door to create public discourses regarding the matter.

How Obsessed Are You with Your Smartphones?

I am always interested with technological addiction issue. Thought I would like to share with you all an interesting study conducted by Lookout with 2,097 adults, age 18 and older within the U.S in 2012. It supported the notion that people are getting more obsessed with their smartphones and combining their daily routines with technology-based tasks: 40% check their phones while on the toilet, 30% during a meal with others and 24% while driving.

Source: Screen-captured from Lookout's Mobile Mindset Study, 2012

Check their full findings here:

Lookout’s Mobile Mindset Study, 2012

My questions are: How obsessed are you with your smartphones? What's the worst 'sin' have you ever committed when it comes to multitasking with your smartphones? 

Me? Hhhmm, I did texting while I am driving and during class. Apparently that's common particularly if compared with shocking findings from the 2013 Mobile Consumer Habits study conducted by Harris Interactive for mobile company Jumio, which I found in Time article in July 2013: 9% of Americans claim to have actual sex while texting. 

Try to Fit In

Reading “Becoming a Blogger: Trajectories, Norms, and Activities in a Community of Practice” (Dennen, 2014) served as a guideline for participating in my ‘new’ online community. The part that interests me the most is below table:

 

Source: Dennen, 2014

I found this part useful in observing my community interaction as well as keeping myself being an “ethical” member. I now participate in two Indonesian communities. Some questions I have in mind: Are the above norms applicable in other communities, particularly in a community with different cultural background? Who will enforce the norms once it is violated? I have yet reached conclusive findings, although I found that there are similar reactions to violations as described above.

As a new member, I spent quite a while to observe other members’ posts/blogs (format, storyline, photo use), how they interact, and the language they are using. Although the community is mainly using Indonesian language to communicate, there are specific words/abbreviations used that I am not familiar with.  It is amazing how am I willing to change my communication style in order to fit in. 

So far, I haven't got any negative reactions but I think I am having this post-lurker syndrome: afraid to speak up, afraid of what others think of me. Well, what’s the story with your community?

Reference: Dennen, V. P. (2014). Becoming a blogger: Trajectories, norms, and activities in a community of practice. Computers in Human Behavior, 36, 350-358.

Indonesians on #LoveWins

Image: Diricia De Wet via Flickr, CC license

This week, I chose to read the ‘Networked Creators’ chapter from Rainie and Wellman (2012).  Their discussion focused on the creation in the era of triple revolution. “Anyone with an internet connection and a bit of digital literacy can create online content...”, they said (p. 197).

I would like to relate Rainie & Wellman’s chapter to the latest social media phenomenon: #LoveWins and rainbow profile picture in Indonesia. After the U.S Supreme Court legalized same sex marriage on June 26, Indonesian digital users are divided into two extreme sides. It is a digital war!  Here, I do not want to discuss the substance but more on social media interactions related to the issue. It is worth noting that LGBT was still included as mental illnesses until 1993 (two decades after the U.S!). Moreover, although Indonesia is a secular state, the fact that Islam is a majority religion still influences dominant values adopted in its social-cultural, political, and legal systems.

Two points on the chapter that I would like to highlight are:

How All This User-Generated Content Is Changing the Media Landscape

Pro and cons content initiated by social media elites showing their opinion on same-sex marriage legalization soon created a heated public debate in many platforms, particularly Twitter and Facebook. Contents were re-tweeted, re-posted, created and re-created. The phenomenon influenced traditional media to also cover this issue. In the past week, I have seen more than two talk shows on national TVs. The issue was evolved into the discussion on LGBT rights in Indonesia. Interestingly, some speakers in the talk shows were chosen because of the social media contents they created.

Everybody Wants To Get Into The Act

The use of hashtags such as #LoveWins and Facebook’s rainbow profile feature have facilitated digital users to ‘act’. These actions received both positive and negative reactions. Some followed the actions, some created counterarguments, some commented on others. It is amazing how social media give opportunities for people to voice their opinion.

However, I also noticed one thing. For some users, it is a war! Not only on the issue but also on the individuals. One of my friend’s FB post supporting LGBT rights (he is a university professor), for instance, received hundreds of hatred comment, which mostly attacked the person who created the content. Some comments even threatened the person saying that he should be ’stopped’ for promoting ideas that could bring harm to the societies. I feel sad. Isn’t it democratization of media participation that makes Web 2.0 amazing? Is it cultural? Is it common elsewhere? Or is it related to education or economic levels?