Final Course Reflection

When I started this blog on using web 2 tools I knew I was in for an interesting time on different opportunities and tools that are out there for students to use and learn.

I was aware of wikis, blogs ,utube, google documents but was unsure about how to use them. I have to say that I still find myself somewhat confused about how to take full advantage of them.

Web2- Elearning  allows children to engage in technology while partaking in activities that develop skills in collaboration, creative thinking and problem solving while hopefully motivating students in their learning.

The skills students need to develop and used are varied and many. They need to be able to communicate and work with others. They need to use questioning, creative and critical thinking skills as well as using the tools available.

As teachers we need to help the students develop skills that make them become responsible learners . We need to help them by providing the structures and networks that allow them to share knowledge and gain expert knowledge that is outside the classroom .

Here in lies the problem. Our school system places too much emphasis on assessment and results. Teachers are judge on how many ABC's students receive. Using many of these tools we need to forget about a mark but look at how the students go about creating something that has meaning for them. We (or maybe I need to change that to I) need to look beyond have they added animation into PowerPoint, changed fonts used transitions, filled a page, used text styles. We/I need to look at what they have created, what higher order thinking skills have hey used . I need to create activities that will engage them more than just using the skills.

I have over the past seen my role as the computer teacher in teaching the students how to use Word, PowerPoint, , search the Internet  Publisher etc so that they can utilise these skills to complete a document or assignment that they may be required to do . Over the past few years as more programs have become available I have tried to expand those skills to web pages (class one), programs like Kahootz , interactive quizzes, movies, cartoon etc.This course has provided me with even more areas or places to go.

 Some areas however I do not feel that I can do in one 45 minute lesson a week so with the knowledge that I have gained I will be sending out an email at the start of the term to classroom teachers and look at them partaking in some of the activities like blogs, wikis and provide a collaborative effort by helping and working alongside them.


One of the big things that i have picked up from this course is the importance of networking and as such have joined several of the groups listed throughout this course but I would like to see the Diocese help a little more by providing an opportunity for teachers to network more with in, helping or encouraging teachers in different regions to work together like two of the schools in a module where students can communicate with each other .

On the whole I have found this course extremely interesting. It has given me many ideas and areas to try. It has made me rethink how I can encourage students to be more engaged.  I wont completely change my computing program overnight but I will definetly be making changes to what we do in the computer room in the future and how we go about doing them

Module 10

Wikis
I really can see a lot of uses in using Wikis in our lab. The shared document in planning and editing is great for group work and easy to use. The 50+ Web 2 story link was also useful in giving some ideas. I have created a wikis page for my students and have sent out requests to join and will progress from there

I have signed up for both English Companion Ning and  Teacher Ning in the hope to get some further ideas on how to use web 2 tools and Ning.

Google sites also looks very easy to use. We did have students greate web pages last year using another program and would happily change to google sites my only problem is the use of google accounts for students something my school is not totally keen on.I have been having fun creating a web page but as it has personal areas on I am not totally happy to put up here.

Maybe you can comment me or email me and depending on who you are I may send you the link.

Module 9

Social networking has been an area that we as teachers or maybe me as a teacher have been very wary of bringing into the classroom and that is probably what this course is aiming to overcome.

When using social media we do need to look at two areas listed in the module
1. Is it more appropriate for social/ personal use or professional?
2. What applications does it have for school /classroom?

Second Life
As a primary school teacher when I first saw the video of what second life is I totally had answered no for question 2 especially based on the first video that had a young woman shooting someone and a few seconds later we had a couple building a house and making out. The thoughts of what implications this would have was too scarey for words.

However watching the two videos on Exploring the possibilities and Educational uses of Second life opened my eyes to quite a few possibilities for teachers use of this media .

Facebook 
Like so many of us I have a facebook account but use it to communicate with just family and friends. It amazes me just how many parents will have created Facebook accounts for their children just so they can play farmville or candy crush. It also amazes me how quickly people will add friends just so their list of 728 friends looks impressive. People use facebook without being aware of the settings. I commented to a friend recently about a photo of her that someone had posted and she was not aware that all her friends would be able to see it.

As educators we need to make students aware of the problems that can arise by using this network.  Currently we are doing a lot of work within our school on cyber bullying and cybersafety and one of the areas we discuss is facebook and what students need to be aware of

Twitter
I am still fence sitting on twitter. I can see some great opportunities but I still have concerns over its uses as said in earlier module. Guess I just need to keep looking and learning

Linkedin
While this network system would be great to communicate with other like teachers in attempting to set up an account it needs you to have the contacts so unless I have done something wrong I do not see this being much different to Google+

Module 8

I now understand a little more about RSS feeds are but could not join Goggle reader as it retires next week, I can understand why this may be as many people are using ipads and apps and these apps will give you notifications of what is new. I guess this module demonstrates how ever changing the Internet and web is and how some ideas that when started are an excellent idea ( the easy to see what is new on sites you follow ) and are soon picked up or adapted for more common use

Module 7

I have signed up for Diigo and connected to the groups as required found some interesting sites. I picked this site as I like the ability to highlight and use sticky notes on web pages.  I am doing this module why away and on my Mac so will be interested to see how the across computers works on macs and windows.

Added a comment to another blog as required

Can see teachers taking advantage of the bookmark and in staff meeting where we share ideas will definitely pass this and some of the others sites come across onto other teachers

Module 6

Picasa  I am well aware of having used it several times for different things. I especially like the ability to take a selection of photos and create a mosaic effect. Being a keen photography personally I would not use Picasa but can see advantages for students however for simple photo manipulation I would tend to use the office photo editing tool as having a class manipulate photos on the net , from my experience can take a lot of time - not the manipulation but the internet .

The copyright and acceptable use section although mostly common knowledge was also good for refreshing the brain and refirming certain ideas

Module 5

Mindmapping, I have always found this an interesting turn of phrase. Have had experience with mapping having used Inspiration.

I did as asked and created an account with Bubbl.us and created a flow chart based on the Web 2 course.

as you can see I have left several blank boxes on modules unfinished and have listed some of my thoughts and ideas. As I progress thru the rest of the unit I will go back and add more . 

Glogster

I like the idea that students can create their own video or images and upload or embed into a blog. Can see many uses for teachers especially if the teacher has created a classroom blog 

I particular like that the teacher has control of the students account and I especially like that each glogster edu account allows up to 200 students. Being the only computer teacher in the school signing up for  accounts with student access is often restricted to 20 or 30 student accounts which is a problem when you have 3 classes of year 6 with 28 students in each . Having said that it was very annoying to click on link and see costs come up. I did manage to find a free section and after 5 attempts of a nickname with no characters ( missjane I thought was fine ) I successfully got in and created my gloster.

http://502jane.edu.glogster.com/web2

I found myself frustrated in doing it as it is not really user friendly and some things are not intuitive .

Activity 3 

Using Prezi. Prezi looks like a great tool for creating far more interesting presentations. I really enjoy that zoom and movement effect. Unfortunately I do not have access to my school email account and as such will not be able to complete the full activity before 5th July deadline for this course so will look more closely at creating one after deadline. 

Overall this module has given me several great ideas for using the tools in my classes this term . My brain is ticking away on how we can use both Prezi and Glogster next term. Keep watching and at the end of next term I may have several links to students work