Course Reflection

What a fantastic technological journey I have been on throughout this course. I have learnt so many new things both that I can use for myself and to use in my classes.

During this web2.0 course I have become familiar with many new and exciting resources. Some of these resources have been things that I would use in class and other things that didn't appeal that much. However I do think that regardless of the appeal to me and my teaching styles they do have an enormous amount of potential within the classroom. From my perspective, I feel that these resources can be used for all students and all learning styles. I also feel that some of these resources particularly voki, bubbl.us, xtranormal and wordle can be used regularly for students with learning disabilities. These resources allow students with learning difficulties to be engaged in the topic and/or lesson whilst at the same time allowing them to work at their ability level without feeling isolated from the class. The use of these resources also means that you could have the whole class working with them again making no-one feel isolated.

Personally, the resources that have benefitted me the most throughout this course are google.docs; bubbl.us; glogster; wikis; and embedding. Since starting this course earlier in the year I have become a frequent user of these. I have enjoyed using these and discovering more about them so much that I have even introduced them to some of my students and directed some students to them for certain projects. Of most benefit so far has been google.docs. From the moment we began looking at them I have used them for myself and with students. For my subject there is an enormous amount of potential with them for collaborative work and group assignments.

One resource that I did not enjoy that much and probably wont use in the future is flikr. I understand how it organises pictures and think that it is a good idea, however for me personally it is not something that I would worry about. I know that it can be utilised successfully at school and amongst the school community so it would be a resource I would recommend to other areas of school such as art, music and drama who would be more inclined to capture moments of their work. For science I can see the use f Flikr to present photos of excursions but not alot of use during normal lessons.

The blog that I commented on was Catherine McDonald's blog. She is a learning support teaching at my school. I commented on her blog because we worked through the entire course together along with a few other teachers and it was good to see one another progress, gain knowledge and understanding but it was also good to be able to help each other through each module and be there to give assistance when needed. My post on Cathy's blog can be found at http://catherinechats.blogspot.com in module 6.

Throughout this journey I have been lucky enough to have guidance from our IT specialists. This guidance has made the journey easier because they have been able to explain and clarify concepts and resources that may have taken me longer to decipher and understand by myself. Their assistance has also opened my eyes to the world of technology, resources and networks that so easily lay at my fingertips. Prior to completing this I did not understand the significance of online networking and the benefits that it has to my profession and me as a professional within the education industry.

Module 10

Our school IT advisor has been pushing the use of Wikis for a while now and I have noticed that alot of staff have jumped on board. I was always curious as to what they were and how they could be used in the classroom and with your class. It was not until recently when we started looking at module 9 and 10 that the concept of Wikis came into our discussions and we were able to have a detailed discussion about there multiple possibilities.

After a lengthy discussion on wikis I decided that it was time to attempt to set up a wiki for one of my classes. So with the help of our IT specialist I successfully set up a wiki for my year 9 class who have laptops and are familiar with wikis from other classes.

Creating the wiki and discovering the many opportunities involved turned out to be fun.

I found that setting up this wiki is going to allow me to make use of the many tools that I have become familiar with throughout the web2.0 course. I feel that this wiki has the potential to initiate a more student centered approach within the classroom. It will allow students to post and share work with the whole class as well as more productive eLearning activities, especially when the activity is connected to an outside source. Recently I have found that when trying to use outside sources to assist in learning that students get off task and learning becomes unproductive due to everyone trying to reach the same destination. By using the wiki our learning can become more productive because I will be able to put the sources up onto the wiki, which will allow the students to access the activity/resource/site from within the schools server.

At present I have not done alot of class work with the wiki but I am hoping that by slowly encouraging students to access the class wiki for different task that they will take the initiative to use it more frequently, especially for discussion as they have a difficult time generating productive discussions within the walls of the classroom.

How can Web 2.0 assist in improving learning outcomes for all students?

I believe that after having gone through each of the 10 modules within web2.0 that I will be able to use the tools and strategies learnt to assist all students within my classes to learn to the best of their abilities. The strategies within this course provide for people of all learning abilities and learning types; however it is up to the instructor to use those tools and strategies to best suit the learner. These strategies have enormous potential for improving the outcomes of students, not just the outcomes of students with learning difficulties. Web2.0 can be used to engage those students who lose interest quickly, to encourage an interactive classroom, to assist in collaborative tasks and to provide students with a variety of learning tasks and activities.

Module 9

For a long time I have heard the words social networking being thrown around. Up until now I have not really understood what that has meant. I understood that they were sites where people could interact and converse about common interests, however I did not understand the extent to which they could communicate. Having read through the suggested links, I now understand that social networking is more than just talking to people. It is about developing friendships, communities, cultural tolerance, understanding and learning. With the variety of social networking sites available people are able to just jump online and off they go. Social networking sites allow individuals to communicate common interests but they also allow individuals to find out information about a common interest.

Social networking sites are not just used personally by individuals, they are also used professionally and by businesses and companies. The professional use of social networking sites means that individuals can now develop relationships and communities with other professionals outside their current employment. I know that I have benefited greatly from the many educational networks that have been developed and used by teachers and educators around the world. These networks have guided me to useful resources, tools, websites and advice. I feel that by using these sites I can gain knowledge and experience from other educational professionals as well as helping others. These networks are give and take. Each individual will benefit differently depending on what they are looking for.

As a teacher I feel that scootle is a valuable social networking site to be a part of because it provides valuable resources and activities that can be used in class, not only for science but for all subjects and ages. This networking site allows you to teach students of all abilities because there are activities for all learning and ability types.

Twitter is very public and open to everyone. It makes it hard to monitor who is following what you say, but it also allows you to follow who ever you like. It also has the function of delivering automatic updates, so when someone you know updates what they wish to say you can receive notification.

The idea of social networking sites appears to have a very useful purpose for gathering information to improve my professional portfolio, however I feel that it may not be overly useful within the classroom. While there are codes that can allow you to restrict the flow of conversation, there are still many avenue that allow this work to be viewed publicly. Also some students may take advantage of the network and not use it appropriately.

I think that social networking is an avenue of the web2.0 course that I would like to explore further and in more detail, particularly in how I can use this resource in the classroom because today's student's are more dependent on technology and technology related learning.

Module 8

RSS feeds appear useful for someone who accesses lots of websites that are continuously being updated. However for me most of the websites that I visit on a regular basis don't really receive updates; as a result they didn't have access to RSS feeds when I tried to subscribe through google reader.
I liked the fact that when I opened up Google reader all of the blogs that I have been following for this course appeared. I was then able to scroll through and see recent blog attempts and keep up to date with other individuals in the course.
Now that i know how to use RSS feeds they will limit the amount of email subscriptions and updates that I currently receive, provided they offer an RSS feed link. I found that you can create a subscription link, however these do not always work as successfully as those that have been pre-programmed into a site. That is, they do not necessarily provide you with the same updates.
Having now been introduced to RSS feeds and know their capabilities I think that it is now up to me to go out and search further a field for websites that I can subscribe to.

Module 7

I was first introduced to Delicious at an eLearning inservice earlier in the year. Initially I found this to be a bit daunting. Simply because of the size and vastness of this bookmarking tool. Bookmarks are not something that I normally use; I tend to use search engines and return to familiar sites which I have found to be useful and have used frequently.

Now having been re-introduced to delicious through web 2.0 I feel that bookmarking my resources could prove to be very useful. With delicious not only am I going to learn to bookmark and become a professional bookmarker I can also learn to network with others who look at and view similar sites to myself.

Delicious will provide an opportunity to create bookmarks that can be easily accessed from any computer. This is particularly useful now that school are starting to provide teachers with laptops. By using delicious I can start to keep favourite sites, frequently used sites and useful learning sites in one place without having to worry about losing the address' or bookmark that has been saved onto the laptop if I leave a school that has provided me with a laptop.

Delicious also allows me to TAG my entries. This option is a rather handy tool, especially for someone who is fairly organised. :)

I feel that this resource is very beneficial and now that I have a better grasp of it will most probably use it regularly to organise websites and resources for my classes. I think that I will also suggest to my KLA co-ordinator the possibility of setting up a Science KLA delicious account so that all members of the science department at my school have access to the same websites, resources etc.

Module 6 - Bubbl Us

I really like this resource and feel that I would use it frequently in my classes. I like mind mapping and brainstorming with my students, particularly at the beginning of a new topic to see how much they already know. I also use brainstorming as a way of revising and looking at what has been learnt. I feel that with this tool I will be able to compare students knowledge of what they knew to what they have learnt. This resource would also be useful to students with learning needs because it easy to use and allows them to be part of the lesson without missing out on the information.

Module 6- my glogster

Wow, this tool is fun. I can see this being a very usful tool for making notes on a particular topic or for when kids need to do a presentation on something they have been learning about or have been asked to do for homework. I feel that this tool would be especially useful for students with various learning needs and abilities. It could also be used by students as a study tool if used correctly and effectively.