Final Module - Course Reflection and Feedback

Well here it is - my last post for this course. Although it looks like I have completed them all in one night, I have actually been working through these modules for two years and have now sat down to write my reflections.

I think all teachers need to realise that education is changing. We are teaching children that will one day be part of careers that have not even be thought of yet. For this reason, we need to be up to date with the best teaching techniques for our students. Web 2.0 is a big part of that. Especially with the national broadband being rolled out, the possibilities offered are infinite.

The course ha enabled me to explore a variety of web 2 tools, and also reflect on how to use these in my classroom, as well as using them in my own planning and organisation.

I take with me a number of new ideas, as well as consolidating on ideas I brought to the course.

Module 10 - Learning Communities, Constructing Knowledge in Wikis

In 2009 I had a YEar 6 class who were a good bunch of kids but who found learning boring and I needed a new way to get them to work together. I created a Wiki through Wetpaint and the results were amazing. I found it so hard to hold a class discussion as there were three-four kids who would dominate. So I set a discussion question on the Wiki and each child as to contribute to the discussion as part of their homework. It was great to see how the children were participating in this, and how it helped their confidence in class grow.

Web 2 is a big part of our education, and even though I have used aspects of it in my teaching, I now have more tools to work with in the future.

Module 8 - Managing Your Flow of Information on the Internet

So this blog didn't load up right.

So I will say again - I am an avid user of Google Reader - and am subscribed to many blogs, but my two favourite educational ones are Free technology for teachers and the Ed compass blog about using the smart board in the classroom.

Module 9 - Networks on the Web, Social and Professional

Social Networking is an issue I often find myself conflicted about. While I am a lover of Facebook and Twitter to keep in the loop with news of my friends and selected celebrities, I worry that are social networks replacing our personal human contact networks? Jimmy Kimmel, the US comedian, is front lining a campaign to defined people on Facebook, suggesting we delete people on our friend network who we would not interact with in everyday life. Statistics suggest we can calculate the number of real friends we have by dividing our Facebook friends by 11. I like to think that if I passed a Facebook friend in the street I would at least say hi. I also love that I can keep in contact with family and friends around the world through this medium. The issue of children using Facebook is a real bug bear of mine. Last year 90 per cent of my Year 6 students had Facebook accounts, and judging by the content of their profile pages, many of them were unmonitored by their parents. While social networking can be a powerful communication tool, it can be just another way of getting to someone. As teachers, we need to be aware our students are on these sites and the content and information they share is not always appropriate.

Module 7 - Building Online Communities

Like Module 6, I breezed through Module 7 as I had already created a delicious account in the previous Web 2.0 course I had undertaken. However, I did create a new account and set my links up as KLA teaching ideas.

I also looked at a fellow participants blog. She had created a post about using Glogster and Prezi in her class with a gifted student who had expressed a boredom with PowerPoint.

Module 6 - Exploring Photos and Videos on the Net

Ok - so I breezed through tis module. I have had a Flickr account for a few years and use it to share photos of my children to my family and friends near and far. I did look at the commons photos though and think this would be extremely useful.

Here is a photo from my Flickr account of my daughter Claire at Woronora River back in 2008. She was 9 months here and is now about to turn 4 - good times.

Module 5 - Creating and Communicating Online

Ok - so this module was all about creating and communicating online. I started this module with bubble.us. This was a great mind mapping tool and I think this would be great to use in a classroom for buiding up knowledge of a topic, both prior to beginning, during and after completing a unit of work. I began a bubble.us on Web 2.0 but had to stop as I could have continued forever.

Glogster was the next part of the module and I can see so much potential with this tool. Next year I will be starting at a new school and I bought I could use this tool to get the kids to build a glogster about themselves so I can get to know them.I used my bubble.us to create my glogster.



Prezi was the next part of this module - and oh my god - how much fun I had! I thought I would create a Prezi on a topic I knew quite a bit about - the band Jebediah - and what turned into a 10 minute exercise turned into a 2 and a half hour creation.

The History of Jebediah on Prezi

This would be a very powerful tool in education. Your whole unit of work could be presented in aprezi! Bye Bye PowerPoint forever.