Module 10

Wikis, Nings and Google Sites have great potential for a class to create online material together that they can share.  In my experience, students are pretty good at creating websites and will choose this as a way of presenting their research.  The teacher Google sites link was broken, but I found another link that had a good overview of uses.

I've also used the small groups feature of Edmodo to allow particular groups of students to work together on a project, and I think I would now incorporate Google Docs also to allow them to create material in this environment.

Module 9

Quite a lot to take in in this module!  I've used Scootle a little bit before but hadn't explored the sharing options.  The user guide is quite useful and there are some overview teacher videos on Youtube that are also good.  I don't think many teachers at my school know that we could be all sharing learning paths, so this might be something to look into.  Although it takes a bit of effort to both access Scootle and find relevant material, once you've collected some good resources into a learning path things are easier.  I've shared paths with students via a link that includes the PIN, so they only need one click to get there.

I'm still not convinced about using social networking sites in the classroom.  Second Life is an interesting idea and it's intriguing that tertiary institutions are setting up virtual campuses there.  We have a no Facebook policy at school, with no staff-student contact less than 2 years after students leave.  Twitter is perhaps the most promising to me.  It seems like it could be a way of gathering information on current events as they occur - eg. who is being affected by the storm; are there any rainbows; what street art is around; are there any celebrities around the area; what's happening today in science week; where can I find examples of corrosion, birds, butterflies, frogs, spring flowers... Paper.li might also be a good way of combining student tweets or those on a particular topic into an online newspaper.  I have a LinkedIn account but haven't really explored how connections could come together (I seem to get a lot of messages from Richard Branson!).

We have started using Edmodo over the last year or so and I'm a big fan.  I like the fact that it is a secure online environment, that it's easy to share content and have class conversations, that I can collect and mark work online and that I can connect with other teachers and share ideas.  The customer support is exceptional.  And it's free.

Module 2

OK, I've managed to create a Twitter account from home.  At the moment it's blocked at school.  After much deliberation I selected 5 people to follow, then had to find 5 more famous ones.  My account was immediately flooded with messages - I unfollowed these last famous 5!  Found the @ceosydweb2 group to follow also (is there a Melbourne version?).

I use Edmodo in the classroom and have been excited by the "Discover" function that it provides in suggesting sites and resources of interest.  I sense that Twitter may do this kind of thing at a frenetic pace so I'm both eager and aprehensive to see how I handle the flood of information!