Final Blog

Finally I have come to the end of the Web 2.0 Course. I would never have made it if it was not for Scott Hansen.  Scott led most of our staff through each of the modules which allowed us to be able to work together and learn together. There were also many other benefits such building a common eLearning language, having a shared experience and building staff morale – unexpected outcomes from the commencement of the course.

When I look at the ILEARN model, I notice that I was able to achieve many of its outcomes.  

  

The Web2.0 course has also been a great learning experience for me. I have learnt to use and apply some of the tools in my classroom practice.

While the course was meant to be about 20 hours (10 modules x 2 hours), I found it took a lot longer for me.  After Scott Hansen introduced us to each of the modules and navigated us around the tools for that topic, I would then spend individual time trying to work on that module on my own. The way the course is set up though was brilliant. I could access the Web 2.0 Course any time of the day or night – seven days a week. What a fabulous tool to be able to access.

Looking at the ile@rn model and blooms taxonomy model at the end of the course is a great way to conclude the course.  

As children learn in so many ways through so many different tasks at different levels and at a different pace, the Blooms Taxonomy digital model links well to the web 2.0 tools.

CREATE - digital story telling, itunes, flickr

EVALUATING - podcasts, class wiki, blogging

ANALYSING - blogs, glogster, bubblus

APPLYING - flickr, delicious, itunes

UNDERSTANDING - blog writing

REMEMBERING - RSS feeds, websites, bookmarks

While I found the course quite challenging at times, I also took heart from following other people’s blogs. The blogs were also really valuable for me to reflect on my own learning. The course was also great as I could work at my own pace, in my own time at my own level.

I am now more aware of the infinite number of technology tools that are “out there.” I will never ever get on top of them but I take heart from being an “ongoing” learner. 

Module 9 and 10

Two weeks ago we looked at Scootle. I have looked at this before but could only go so far before I had to subscribe. It has fabulous content - great for classroom teachers. The issue of cost, access, passwords etc need to be further explored but it is a great teaching tool.

We also looked at Social Networking sites such as facebook. I do not have my own facebook page but my sons do and I have navigated around their pages to know something about it. I would be very concerned about using Facebook in schools. I am aware that one is meant to be 13 years old before you can have a facebook page but I know that students as young as 8 in our school have a facebook page. Already Facebook has caused problems in the primary school with various inappropriate posts and bullying issues. Where does the line end before an issue is home related and not school related?

We also looked at other Social Networks that encourage professional, social and learning communities through the use of Wikis. (Some of the posts on some Wikis are unbelievable.... some people must have nothing better to do than to share their life story!) I was also surprised at some sights that are available, such as Virtual Worlds!!! There is so much "out there". I'm blown away.

Module 5 iTunes

iTunes is a fabulous way of accessing music, podcasts and other great resources for the classroom.

One of the best features of iTunes is iTunesU. This was only started a couple of years ago by universities in America. It contains lecture notes, powerpoints, resources to complete whole university courses. iTunesU is mainly aimed at tertiary students but secondary schools are now accessing them for their students and some primary resources are gradually being added. You can use this program to find heaps of resources for your own personal use and also, to a lesser extent, for the classroom. Some of the applications on iTunesU were programs for learning another language. These would be great to download and use for our new arrivals students. They could use the "How To Speak English" programs.

Another great download was TEDTALKS. This contains excellent podcasts containing 20 minute documentaries about current topics in Science, Computers, History and a huge range of interesting and contemporary topics.

You Tube is also a great tool. It should be used though with protection. The only two rules to remember about using You Tube is that you can't download and store videos on your computer (however you could add to Favourites) ans also you can't use content that a has a copyright on it.

I absolutely loved this Module. Great for future investigations.         

Module 7 and 8

Today Scott Hansen took us through the use of "DELICIOUS." It appears to be a brilliant Social Bookmarking Site. This would be great for sharing web sites with colleagues and for having access to my "favourite" sites using any computer that has internet capabilities.

I learnt that you need to have a Yahoo account to access DELICIOUS. Scott also explained the term "Folksonomy" - the tagging language that you use to access your tagged favourite websites.

I really liked how you can follow other people and their tags and how you can share your tags with others. This is an area I would really like to spend time on and become proficient in using.

Module 8 was about RSS - (Really Simple Syndication). I'm sure with practice it will become "really simple" for me to use. My understanding of this module was that it is like subscribing to magazines. You access favourite web sites through Google reader and if the site has a live feed, you can add it to your Google Reader Page and keep up to date with the latest information from that site.

Scott demonstrated other uses. He showed us how he can access recent blogs that people have posted without having to go the long way to access blogs. He explained that it could be a good way to access students homework.

This is another area that I should spend some time on "getting down pat" how to use.

Thanks Scott for being so patient with us. It really helps our learning when we feel comfortable being able to ask "basic" questions.       

Module 6 - Mind Mapping and Glogster

Today Scott introduced us to Mind Mapping - through Bubbl Us - however it didn't work! We then googled "Mindmeister" and had a play with this mind mapping program. I can really see the educational value of this. I will need to spend a fair amount of time "playing" with Mindmeister before introducing it to the class.

GLOGSTER!!! Brilliant. I can already see possibilities for my Year 4 class using this program next term. Our topic is "Co-operating Communities." Would love to see the students prepare a glogster on their local area and neighbouring suburbs. Should be able to use a variety of technologies in this unit. Thanks Scott for offering to come out to help in the classroom with GLOGSTER. I will definitely take you up on this offer.

Thanks again Scott for coming so early to our school and working with the staff. I am finding working with you and our staff a much better way of learning than doing the Web 2.0 Course on my own. We have so many opportunities to ask you questions and share our learning (and questions) with other staff members. The support is invaluable to me.      

Modue 4

Today Scott introduced us to Module 4 - Flickr and Youtube. We learnt how to search for a photo in Flickr, how to save it and how to add it to our blog. I also learnt what size photos were best to download for different purposes i.e. small photos for blogs, square photos for podcasts and large photos for  powerpoint presentations.

Flickr appears to have a greater number of usable images for class activities. The only drawback I see is that when searching for a particular image, you may have to type in a number of key words as people may tag their pictures in an obscure way.   

Flickr would also be a fantastic resoure to use in the classroom because unlike Google images, Flickr photos would be almost always be appropriate for the students to browse and use - no rude photos!

I have used Youtube before in the classroom and it is brilliant. I did learn today that I am not allowed to save youtubes to my hard drive. Thanks Scott!!!      

Panicking

I'm struggling at the moment to spend time on practising all the skills I have learnt in the Web 2.0 course. Is there anyone else out there that feels the same? Will have to learn to give dedicated time to this course.