Web 2.0: Tools for Educators was one of the best classes that I’ve taken in graduate school. I enjoyed learning about a world that I knew little-to-nothing about prior to taking this course. I’m especially interested in blogging. I first heard about blogging when I was working on my Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. One of my professors had a blog and I enjoyed reading it. In the past, I have started blogs but I never know what to write about. I’m excited about this blog because it gives me a starting point. I can keep this blog going beyond this class by talking about anything education, English, or writing related.
On the topic of writing, I am also interested in finding a pen pal in another country to communicate with, in order to learn more about his/her country. I thought this was a fascinating idea and I enjoyed reading my classmates comments and stories on this topic. However, I do have hesitations because of safety issues. The internet is a wonderful tool to our society, especially to education, but it is important that teachers understand the dangers that it can bring to students if it is not used properly or with supervision. I think that it is equally important for teachers to model class expectations to their students and to do this by completing examples of assignments. That is what I intend to do in my future classroom by using blogging for creativity and Facebook for pen pal writing.
Teachers have to be lifelong learners in order to be successful. This class has enhanced my lifelong learning goals as a teacher because it has made me realize the importance of being able to relate to your students, as well as keeping current in teaching methods. I can’t say that I really knew anything about the material in this course before enrolling. Now that I am on the last leg of its journey, I know that I have enough knowledge about Web 2.0 to be able to continue learning about all that it has to offer. There haven’t been too many classes that I have taken in my years of schooling that have made me want to continue learning. This, however, is one of those classes. I look forward to using bookmarking, blogs, wiki’s, photo and video sharing, podcasting, presentation sharing, social networking and virtual reality, all in my personal and professional life.
One thing that surprised me about this class was how easy it was to learn. The course was extremely organized and not difficult to navigate. I have to admit, I was overwhelmed by module 1, since it was the beginning and this was all new material to me. By module 2, though, I was starting to get the hang of it and was beginning to relax and have fun with it. An online class can be challenging since it is up to the student to make his/her own schedule, to read through the module’s, to keep up with the work, and to submit assignments on time. At times, I struggled with the amount of reading, although it was not by any means excessive. I have realized, because of this class that I am a visual learner. The YouTube instructional videos were extremely helpful in explaining each topic and providing an example of what was to be expected of me.
In planning this course’s format for the future, I think that it is important to keep all different kinds of learners in mind. It helps to have the audio and visual aids, along with written examples. The links that Professor Yang provided, through his WebQuest, Technology Tools for Teachers, as examples or templates were equally helpful. PoetryQuest was a huge help in providing a template for myself when creating my WebQuest, CreativeQuest. The SlideShare example from previous classmates was also an interesting and helpful link when learning about other Web 2.0 tools.
My only advisement in tweaking this course for the future would be to check the links that are posted to make sure that they have been updated and are working. There were a few links in Module 5 that were not revised or were private and required a username and password to access. Aside from that, I thought the materials for this course provided adequate information, were well organized and easy to understand.
To wrap up this class, my final reflection is to say that I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this course and the impact that it has had on my teaching mind. I am now confident that I have enough understanding of Web 2.0 tools to be able to integrate technology into my classroom. I am ready to take what I have learned from EDU 505 and apply it to my life and my teaching. I would certainly participate in another discovery program like this one in the future if the opportunity were presented.
