Final Course Reflection

The Web 2 learning experience....

I do feel I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from participation in this course. Presentation tools I discovered on this course, like prezis and glogs were unknown to me. Words like RSS feeds and wikis were things I had seen, but had never known what they were.

The best discovery though, is how many other things are also out there and how (generally) classroom friendly they are. This course gave me specific samples of what was available and laid the foundations for further discoveries. I feel that this is a strength. I didn't limit myself just to the course content, but I used it as a launch pad. I guess any course is only as good as the participants chose to make it. 

There was the natural frustration when YouTube clips seemed several versions away from the current application I was struggling with, but if no new clips have been created to keep up with changes in applications, that is through no one's fault. It just stimulated and improved my problem solving skills! 

I have tried to show many of my new discoveries on additional posts throughout this course. I have been using many iPad apps in my classroom for publishing and learning and so on, but the new ones I discovered like Puppet-Edu were unfamiliar to me. I tend to use iPads rather than computers as we have had increasing access to iPads at my school as the year has progressed. Prezis have some functionality on iPads and I can't wait for the impending release of the Glogster app. Since I first used the Glogster last month, I have been checking the app store for the mobile version so I can use it in my classroom. I think the challenge for developers will be to ensure that prices remain viable for ever shrinking school resource funds.

The use of all these technologies in the classroom does allow for interactive, mobile learning. I was thrilled to discover many of my class were using their biteslide accounts at home and sharing, editing and working on projects collaboratively. They love creating slide shows on Puppet-Edu, not realising how much writing and often research, they are doing to create their slide show.

The wiki I created shows some of the inherent strengths and weaknesses of such a devise! My class loved engaging with the wiki I created for explanation texts -  however we clearly need to revisit what can be regarded as an acceptable comment and don't get me started on the editing and spelling we will work on in term 4!!! They loved the ability to go back to check on written facts and watch a video clip again if they wanted clarification. It also gave them choice. Each group could select what they wanted to explore and write on something that caught their interest. 
   

Blooms:
I  found the Blooms Digital Taxonomy great food for for thought. If we are only using these Web 2 tools as glorified word processors, then we need to acknowledge their use as such and not promote them them as a grand and significantly new learning tool. Type writers have, after all, been around for a while... 

That is not to say that this isn't also important, I guess we just need to identify how we are using them when we are looking at enrichment and extension and not just the modern way of recording things. A lot of the power of these tools is often only limited by the creativity of the individual. (Minecraft - the out there version of lego and sand boxes springs to mind!!!!)

Many of these tools are multi faceted and can be used as a simple recording/research devise (the two lower order Bloom's skills) all the way to the higher order evaluating and creating skills. Many web 2 tools like blogs, feature all the way through the Bloom's hierarchy, purely depending on how they are used. If you are typing up your class activities for the day on your class blog, you are probably NOT using the higher order skills!!! 

I did love glogster, animoto and prezi (as well as my recent discoveries of emaze, canva, Puppet-Edu, biteslide, just to name a few....), but again, it's level on the Bloom's ladder depends on how the individual uses it. Cut and paste a whole load of meaningless, uninterpreted information - and you are definitely way down the bottom. Interpret, create, develop, apply... well, you know where that leaves you. 

My Classroom:
There was a lot I was already doing - but we are all very much limited to the resources our school budget can accommodate. 

I was already using a lot of Web 2 technology, but I didn't know that was what it was called. Because of this course, I do feel my room is much more interactive and I have very much enjoyed sharing even more 'new stuff' with colleagues. 'Stuff' I have tried out, worked out (eventually) and found quite do-able! 

I have been able to share information with the extra steps I wish I had known.... Face to face learning does have a lot of advantages - while on line learning made this course possible.

When I have introduced some new tool, many of my Year 4 class have asked if it was what I was learning on my course! I love the fact that we all know we are all learning all the time! I think they have enjoyed the course as much as me!

Finally:
I had planned to present my reflection as a fancy prezi. I may do that on a later post, but for now, I will finish here. I have recommended to many colleagues that they do this course. It was frustrating and all the rest as it was all brand new, but it is a great learning opportunity.

I really do wish that more participants had included examples of what they did. When I was struggling with inserting a glog into my blog (!!!) for instance, I took cold comfort in the fact that somehow, others had done it and therefore there had to be a way.

I know it was suggested that examples of different Web 2 tools be inserted into our blogs, but many participants seemed to have over looked this fact. I found a certain irony that some participants claimed the course was full of out dated (not to me!!!) material and ancient learning experiences - using media that they had employed in their teaching for eons - yet we didn't get to share their wealth of experience, knowledge and resources. Alas it was this very group that failed to give others even a glimpse of their vast expertise and learning as they shared nothing!!! If nothing else, surely they could have included an example of a task they had helped a student construct! 

I created everything from scratch - with the instructions often sitting beside me on my iPad on a doc or YouTube clip with PAUSE being pressed every 10 seconds. I am very much a 'newbie' and figure that if I can do it, I need to let others know it is possible! As a course participant, I also assume that there is an expectation that you do prove you have studied what you claim to have - that is, supply the evidence. Don't just big note yourself!

Survey to go!
Nearly there.One survey to go. To anyone reading this, you won't see the survey, but thanks for reading anyway...

It has been great for my two sons and my class to see that we are all learning - especially when I ask my year 4s to get the apple TV working on the IWB or try and figure out why we have no sound...

We are all learners together.

Can't wait for the next round!




   

Module 10

Learning Communities, Constructing Knowledge Together in Wikis, Nings & Sites.

WIKIS!!!

Wow! That was fun wasn't it!!!!
Okay, yes, I did learn a lot, but....
It did take some time as there was a lot to cover....
First, we had wikis....
Several YouTube clips and a few sleeps later, I had created my VERY OWN wiki. 
Quite proud of myself I might add... 
My Year 4 class are suitably impressed... 
So am I...
 It was doable and I am looking forward to doing more, but later...
 I had tried to insert my Glog from a previous module, but after a near divorce, gave this up as a bad idea. I did google what to do and found a great prezi outlining what to do, but I still ended up with half a glog embed in my page....
I hope you realise that two months ago, words like prezi and glog didn't even exist in my vocabulary. 

This is the cover from my wiki!!! I have actually added to it over the last few days. I did like the fact that while I was working with one group of children on the areas they were up to, I could suggest to other children that they go and explore the newly added pages like 'volcanoes' and start on the next explanation sequence.

http://stfinbarsstage2.wikispaces.com/

NINGS!!!

 I did like what I saw with the link we were given from our course, so I joined the English Ning and a few days later they decided I wasn't too bad and accepted me!

If you look really carefully, you can see me down at the bottom and at the top of the right hand screen! Just thought I ought to show I had looked at things!

Google Sites!!!

Last, but not least.... 

I do like Google sites and do plan to re-investigate and create sites using this medium in the HUGE amount of free time we have as teachers and parents...

I did look at this very briefly on the Google App Boot Camp I participated in last year. Last year I was battling with a failing laptop from the antiquated equipment with missing keys on keyboards etc that my school was victim to. (I didn't have my own laptop). Things are improving A LOT on that front in 2014 ... 

This time round, there has been a lot more time to study things, not just two brief days (albeit unpaid and away from my family and many late nights to also fulfill my school work commitments). I have also had access to my own PC and iPad. Much better than relying on archaic and broken school equipment. 

Although I am relatively familar with the iPad and use it a lot in my classroom, a substantial amount of Web 2 isn't yet iPad friendly.  

On That Note....

I will save the rest of my ramblings for the final course reflection. If I say anything else here, I won't have anything else to say there. 

That could be a blessing I can imagine some of you thinking...

I can only imagine that though. 

Despite a few people checking out my blog, comments are few and far between so I will remain forever feeling like I am simply talking to myself.

That's okay though. 

From being a little girl I kept a diary and I can remember the horror of discovering my deepest teenage angst's had been shared with the public when my dear (?) sister saw fit to sit down and share my hidden diaries with her friends over a cup of coffee, a giggle and a cigarette.... (Remember those things?! Cigarettes I mean! I do recall them fondly, despite potential ill affects on health.  Sisterly moments however, are sometimes best forgotten.) 

That, I  think, is my biggest fear with social media.

It has such an awesome potential for good, but invasion of privacy is truly a huge issue. Paper diaries and photo albums can cause embarrassment on a small scale with those who have physical access to them. Social media can truly hurt on a global scale with people we have never met knowing our most intimate details.

Those secrets shared by us, remain our responsibility. Our information shared with a global audience and disclosed by others for whatever reason, is a concern. 

Sometimes the interest others have in us is because they wish to get to know us -  in a real and meaningful way.

Tangible and physical.

Not through an avatar or some 'social' image we have have chosen to create. 

Module 9

Networks on the Web 

Social and Professional. 

If we embraced all these networking tools and resources, we wouldn't so much as be leaving a digital footprint so much as a digital Grand Canyon.

I doubt we would get much done either. Not between reading and contributing (having a chat?) 

I also feel that you can get to the stage that you can't see the woods for the trees. With so much on offer, I guess it is a matter of seeing what works for you, your class, their ability levels and the very real issue of what technology you actually have available in the classroom. Ultimately, this may well be the deciding factor. 

Scootle

An oldie but a goodie. It is current and up to date and obviously in line with the National Curriculum. It does kind of put things all in the one place and has many good links to educational resources both here and overseas. I like being able to put things into learning pathways, but there other ways to do this too. Embedding links into a class blog for instance! 

I used the Glogster in Module Five to direct my class to Web related learning tasks. 

I added a Biteslide slide sequence to my blog. This directed my children to the task I wanted them to complete in reading groups and took them to the You Tube clip I wanted them to see. Unfortunately these slides can't be downloaded at the moment hence the need to embed it somewhere! I used my Prezi in much the same way.

I will admit I haven't used Scootle for a while and had forgotten that it does have good resources and things you can access straight away. I do feel that other sites offer more though. See some of my favourites on the link on the right. 

Sometimes having so much to chose from does mean that you forget some older sites. Other sites more 'subject specific' have tended to become favourites.



Second Life - Good for 'bad hair' days... 

This was rather 'out there'!! I don't know what I was expecting, but it is quite different to the other networks covered in this module. It would appear that you communicate to and with the world through your avatar. I can see that it would be extremely entertaining and engaging to children and teenagers in particular. It would also mean that if I was running late and didn't quite get the hair and makeup done, I could present a fantastic alter ego to my class!

Some of the avatars and worlds looked a little scary. I chose not to join the site at this point in time. 

I did notice that some universities are using the medium and love the thought of a virtual tour through the Sistine Chapel or a quick chat with Shakespeare and some of his characters. 

When I saw that Dell provides a virtual tour through the inner workings of a computer, I couldn't help but recall old episodes of The Magic School Bus when a classroom of children are shrunk and explore all manner of things - from the inside of a volcano to the circulatory system of a child with a cold... 

It does seem that educational institutions are just beginning to supply content so I will wait and see. In the meantime, I will use virtual tours that are not quite so interactive and I won't be throwing away my Magic School Bus DVD's just yet.

Facebook

This and related sites just get bigger and bigger. The time some individuals spend on it is quite scary too.

It seems to be a way for many to self promote and feed their egos. People measure each other's popularity by just how many people 'like' what they've written/done/said/looked like...

As the bulk of companies - even local area Police Stations - do have Facebook sites, it is an easy way to share and receive information about safety, recalls, products and so on, but it is predominantly used for chatting. Nothing wrong with that, but do we really need to share with the world every nuance of our lives as so many do? 

I have seen teenage nieces post photos of their belly buttons... Saw another person take time out on Christmas Day to announce to the world that they didn't like Christmas Pudding... Maybe it's just me but....  

It can be used by mothers desperate for help with a homework task (I've heard that one in the playground!!) or checking on a planned excursion and missing note. That's fine, but do we really need to see pictures of children being toilet trained? Cute for the family album maybe, but perhaps in twenty years, quite mortifying for the individual concerned.

There is not too much point in discussing the issues of privacy and the dangers of Facebook, digital footprints and so on, as they are continually discussed in the media. 

The real use of Facebook in the classroom is to discuss it as an example of how to be safe on the internet and be careful of what you say and post. We are not permitted to use it in our diocese anyway and that could well be because the CEO doesn't see it as a valuable learning tool either. 

Twitter

I did end up joining Twitter in this module. Better late, saw no great need for it in the primary classroom...

Many schools do have Twitter accounts as a way of disseminating information quickly and efficiently.   Saves trying to listen to the radio to work out if a sports carnival is still on or not due to rain.

I joined up to some news and newspaper sites. Given the fact that information is kept brief is good, but as it only hangs around for a short time, if you are really interesting in following some educational Tweet, you may well miss out on something good -and you can't stop a hundred times a day to check every new notification.

I did think it was used in a novel way to share information in class between individuals, but it really is technology dependent. Fine in a high school where many children would have mobile devices, in a primary classroom with a few computers, it's use is limited at best. 

Again the You Tube clip suggested it's use a sharing medium for all those little personal moments of your life. Like the cup of coffee you are enjoying. Why not just enjoy the coffee with the person you are with? Another site used this type of desperate need to share every bit of your life as an open invitation to any potential burglar in your extended circle (who you may well not even know) to seize the opportunity to clean your house out.


Linked In

Doesn't look bad for teachers and net working, but I like Scoop It and following other teachers with similar interests through that medium, blogs and Pinterest. 

On these virtual pin boards, we can all share a wealth of ideas and collections with each other. I feel no great desire to enter into discussions about my vegemite sandwich lunch and get to know complete strangers by joining chat sites. 

I am hard pressed fitting things in to my day as it is.

Let's share resources, we don't need to share our lives with the world. 

I like to add to my collection of information and sites to make my life easier. I enjoy sharing this too. For that reason, I have added additional posts with sites I have discovered that would be useful in the Primary classroom. I don't feel the need to add to my virtual 'friend' collection....

That could well make me a 21st Century Leper!