Where to now?

I guess now that I have finished Web 2.0, the inevitable question remains, where to from here? Will I be one of those people that started a blog and it is never added to again, or will this be the beginning of something new.

I read an interesting view earlier today on the development of blogs on

Confabulation:

Just having a blog is not enough. You need a plan so it is not pointless. You need a focus and strategy to really nurture a blog into an indispensable communication tool. Rambling or “incessant barking” (see cartoon above) is of no value. Blogging takes work and dedication.

So I guess I have some decisions to make ...

Course Reflection

Web 2.0 has really confirmed one basic thing - time is my rarest commodity in life. I can only use it once. I cannot make up for lost time. I can easily waste time that I will regret later.

There are so many new tools and applications that I have discovered as part of my learning in this course. It seems to be that there are several options to do the same or a similar thing. Many of these applications I can see highly valuable uses for as a teacher working with other teachers, such as Youtube, Scootle, RSS feeds, Google Reader, Google docs . Some of these applications I can see some use for as a teacher working with students, such as blogs, wikis, podcasts and vodcasts. Some applications I see limited or no use for as a teacher - such as Facebook and Twitter.

Ultimately that is one of the greatest things I will take way from this Web 2.0 course - there are so many options, there are so many tools. So it is a case of choosing what works for you and which tools are most suited to what you are endeavouring to achieve. I have added another couple of things to the list of what I am trying to get done in my limited time. I guess I have to really sit down and look at the options before me and choose those which are best suited for the purposes I am trying to achieve.

The ilearn model reveals that the same key words continue to arise : share, communicate, reflect, engage, collaborate. These are what I perceive to be the key elements of elearning and the challenge to incorporate it into the contemporary classroom. My priority has to continue to be providing quality educational learning opportunities for the students. These tools are just another vehicle that will enable me to reach this goal.

Blooms digital taxonomy gave me a new insight to the traditional taxonomy that I have worked with. This is a clear reflection that the world of the classroom is evolving and will continue to evolve. My part in this is not to throw out everything I have done before and start over but rather to take the aspects that are most beneficial (from both traditional teaching and the digitally enhanced version) and blend them into a workable and cohesive solution. It’s important to see that teaching is not driven by technology but rather enhanced and supported by the use of appropriate technology and digital resources.

At the end of the day, students still need to learn to be literate and numerate. But they also need to be independent and creative learners with a world view. This is the world of these students. It is my role to work alongside them, to assist them by providing the most appropriate resources to support them in their learning.

The ilearn model clearly outlines the generating of a community of learners. I think the next step forward in building this community is to take a personal initiative to continue to engage with other learners to further our application of our newly acquired Web 2.0 skills. We have gained so much insight from the incredible things others are already doing in the Web world. We now need to continue to contribute as learners to this growing online community, sharing our learning so that others too may benefit in their learning.

I commented on Mark Newbury's blog in Module 9 at http://newbsweb2.blogspot.com/2010/06/module-9.html

I commented on Christopher Ingrati's blog in Module 5 at http://chrislearns20.blogspot.com/2009/10/module-5.html

Module 10 : I'm thinking Nings

http://www.storyplace.org/storyplace.asp

I loved this little discovery through the Bookleads wiki.

The world of the wiki and the ning provides so many valuable opportunities for teachers to communicate - sharing best practice, valued ideas and resources. These discussions are surely taking place in staffrooms, corridors and classrooms in school state, nation and worldwide. I love the way that this tool is able to put me into those conversations, to bring them to me. This module highlighted more than ever that teachers far and wide are facing the same struggles and joys that we are in my school. The beauty is that through the use of wikis and nings we are able to bring the reality of finding a solution to our problems a bit closer.

I'm looking a little more closely into the nings (because to be completely honest, I had never heard of a ning prior to this module) and one thought immediately springs to mind - It's Facebook for teachers!!!

The one highly appealing feature of this tool is that it provides a valuable forum for teachers to communicate on the same topic - educating the future. If I was to use this tool, I would definitely seek out specific nings that target specific curriculum areas rather than a general discussion. Scrolling through a large number of posts that are not specific to my particular interests would not be a sensible use of time.

My scrolling through Classroom 2.0 led me to this one :

http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/

It had some great ideas for developing reading and spelling strategies in particular.

I am so glad I took this journey into the world of the ning:)

Can you believe it ? Me ... a growing fountain of knowledge :)

The best thing about undertaking this course has to be that my husband who spends all day in the IT world is asking me for advice ... what is it? how does it work? can you show me? This is learning in action :)

Module 9 : The thing to do...

Randy has done it again!!

I like scootle as a resource tool. It has some great resources that are easily accessible. Being able to locate them in one well organized place is a positive for all teachers. It’s necessary to do a little bit of sifting to find the right resource – but isn’t that the case with all resources that we access? It is a whole lot quicker than sifting through the resources on the shelf!!

Being able to access Australian resources is also much more appealing. Particularly when it comes to literacy resources, the use of appropriate content is important. Relevance of resources is always an issue. This tool enables some well educated and resourced decisions to be made.

Social networking has definitely become the thing to do.

I’m already a Facebook user. My favourite aspect of this application is that it enables me to keep in touch with friends and family overseas and far away. We share photos, have chats and keep up to date with what’s going on in our busy lives. I’m losing interest in being inundated with updates of the lives of people I see daily or weekly. If I really wanted to know or considered them “friends” I would make a genuine effort to make sure we were in contact already. As for the need to maintain your facebook through your phone throughout the day – come on, I have more interesting and important things to do with my time. I’ve tightened my privacy controls to limit how much people can and can’t have access. I’m a bit skeptical of the term “friend” and the desire of people you don’t even know to become your friend. User discretion is definitely required with this one.

Twitter doesn’t appeal to me at all. This is Facebook on an even more regular “reporting scale”. Who really wants to know what someone did every 5 minutes of the day. I have a phone, I can text a message to a friend if I need to. “Follow me on twitter” = I am a big noter, I want people to stop and notice me as I draw as much attention to myself as I can. No thanks. I’m not a user and can’t see myself being one.

The conclusion I have come to with social networking sites is that they have the ability to become an incredible drain on one’s time.

Comment made on http://newbsweb2.blogspot.com/2010/06/module-9.html

Module 8 : RSS Feed = Updates as you want them.

What a fantastic tool.

I currently receive a lot of updates from websites that I am a subscriber to. These come in the form of emails. But it's not quite as simple as open an email and read the update. It's often a "several click process". Being able to receive feeds from sites of interest that I am able to peruse at my own interest is fantastic. This is the equivalent of having someone else read the daily paper and highlight the relevant articles for you.

I can definitely see this becoming a real favourite tool of mine. It will be great to be able to subscribe to sites that update me with new information as it goes online. I'm all for tools that make my daily life more time efficient and less overwhelming.

Module 7 : Del.icio.us

Not related at all to cooking or the fruits of a masterchef :-)

It's actually a social bookmarking tool!!

I have to be honest, I had never heard of delicious prior to beginning this module. I'm going to be honest and say that I am actually going to sit on the fence on this one. I'm not so sure whether I am a fan or not of this tool.

On the plus side, I like the ability to be able to bookmark favourite sites that I am able to access from any computer I am working on. Some sites I am able to remember because they are often used or have easy names to remember. Others I google based on a partial recall and scroll through the results with mixed success. Now there is delicious - this is a real energy saver - not needing to have them recorded or logged elsewhere. I can really see the benefit of being able to organise my favourite sites/links in one location - rather than on my home mac, my macbook and my computer at work.

As I sit on the fence, I'm thinking the wheel is round ... why reinvent the wheel. If I am able to access high quality resources that are tried and tested by other teachers this is a real plus. To be a reliable and responsible user, I have to tag quality resources that I have tried and tested myself. Further, the tag needs to be explicit so someone else can find it easily. Those that I think are just worth a second look should probably be bookmarked using my previous approach - reserved for a later look rather than tagging straight away. If I am able to share my own resources with other teachers then this has to be a plus too.

I'm thinking this would be a great resource to take on board as a staff. I can really see the benefits that a tool like this would have within our school learning community, particularly when teachers move between grades.

On the down side, using Delicious means that it is another site I have to log into rather than heading straight to my bookmarks menu (which is a really great feature I love about my mac). It would mean that I could access these from other locations (so a plus). I'm not so sure that using bookmarks of others would be something I would really get into in a big way. What is good for me, may not be good for a colleague and vice versa.

This is a tool that I think I have to give a bit more energy to exploring.