Week 7: Today I Learn, Today I Question

I'll like to start off with a special note: 

I am very grateful that Mdm Ng was extremely generous in helping us source for more materials about PLE.

This week’s focus on was on How: Designing of a web-based environment for learning & Usability, a topic which I’ve been looking forward for a long time. And it was Yee Hui’s session to present on the topic. When it comes to how, Yee Hui showed us many examples of websites where we engage in “website critique”. We were very excited! Good job Yee Hui!

However, as we ‘browse’ through the examples of website, I soon came to realise that the more dynamic a website is, the steeper the learning curve (And by the way, does a dynamic website equate to an effective website?) Lurking behind the learning curve is the time cost. At the end, I couldn’t help but to arrive at the conclusion that technology can just suck the life out of you!

Would we/ Are we ending up something like this?

If you think creating one is challenging enough, think again. Maintenance of a site is equally a daunting task if not more! (I’m saying this based on my experience in managing the FB group for my group’s Assignment 3)

Yee Hui has actually created many sites, many which are of abandoned site after some time. You know what, I do not know what to feel. It prompted me to ask:

“What would be the fate of the FB group?” (In fact, I had two abandoned googlesites from previous assignments. Or is it fair to classified it as abandoned since it has served it’s short term purposes?)

In the ‘real’ world, abandoned construction site is an eye sore. In the virtual world, what are the implications of these abandoned sites? Is it ok to leave these ‘junks’ in the virtual world?

Anyway, I am sure there’s many good websites out there, some where in the WWW, that would serve our course. My guessing is, some of these websites are white elephants waiting to serve its purpose.