Final Course Reflection

Here I am at the end!
Despite the feeling initially that there was so much material to cover, the course soon transformed into a fascinating guided tour of the highlights of the the Web 2.0 landscape.  I enjoyed going at my own pace, the optional detours, and the reflections of fellow travellers.
Happy memories of places I'm keen to return to are:

• Blogging (great to reflect yourself and with others)
• Twitter (a wealth of topical information, provided you search with a plan in mind)
• Google Drive (tools to collaborate and collect information)
• Animoto (engaging slide shows)
• Bubbl.us (collaborative mind-mapping)
• Feedly (all your websites in one place)
• Scootle (huge potential for finding, sharing and commenting on resources)

I think Bloom's Digital Taxonomy will be a useful reference for curriculum planning and in thinking about the lower order and higher order digital skills that our students need.  It's interesting to reflect that many students would routinely use many of the Remembering, Understanding, Applying and Analysing skills.  As teachers, we can also facilitate the acquisition of Evaluating and Creating skills through our knowledge of a range of Web 2.0 tools.

Of course, we also have much to learn from our students.  Now, more than ever, they have their own networks and resources outside of the classroom.  The more we can all share this knowledge, the better the learning will be.

The types of tools available will inevitably change.  But those which allow us to work together, to learn and to create knowledge will have the greatest impact on all students.

Finally, I looked around the Course Resource Collection which has a wealth of still more ideas to try.  I rediscovered Voki there, so I'll leave my farewell to my avatar:

Module 8

It was really interesting to set up a Feedly account.  Although not all websites have an RSS feed it was great to be able to see at a glance what all my favourite sites were up to.  In the classroom you might use it as a way of starting discussions on a current topic, or perhaps following students' own blogs.  Although not as up to the minute (or overwhelming) as Twitter, following feeds would be a way of getting a daily update on news in a manageable way.

Module 1

My first post for the Web 2.0 Online Course

After a slow start I've managed to get through Module 1.  The time commitment is a bit intimidating, but I've put the Web 2.0 course link front and centre on my browser toolbar, so I'm hoping seeing it will trigger me to jump on when I have a moment.

I am looking forward to learning more about the online environment - particularly to see what all the fuss about Twitter is about.

We created staff blogs at school a while ago, and I'm not even sure where mine is now.  I'm hoping this blog will be more active, however, looking over the huge list of teacher testimonial blogs I can see mine will be just another drop in the ocean.  I'll be keen to find out how to locate useful blogs...