FINAL REFLECTIONS

This course has been a very interetsing learning journey. It has given me the opportunity to explore, even if ever so briefly, many Web 2.0 tools I may never have looked at otherwise and some I had never heard of.
This type of learning is great as it can be undertaken at places and times that suit the learner. We are not locked in to particular times, places or even to some extent, a particular pace.
Web 2.0 can assist in improving learning outcomes for students for these and other reasons. As I said in my reflections on Module 10, Web 2.0 tools can be accessed anywhere, anytime with an internet connection. This allows students to do work, and interract with others at times and places that suit them. Much of the work students do is collaborative in some away and the interractivity of Web 2.0 tools is obviously one of its strongest points. Students can communicate with each other, get help if necessary (once again at times and places that suit them). They can work on group work even though members of the group may be in different locations and edit and track each others' contributions. They can use tools that suit their particular style of learning and communication. With Web 2.0, more and more students should find tools and information presented in a format that suits their learning style. This should help improve student learning outcomes.
I am looking forward to further exploring many of the tools we have touched on such such tools as Second Life and alos to finding Web 2.0 tools to use for my own personal and professional development.

MODULE 10

I have made it through module 10 although not in the detail I would have liked. I will spend a bit more time over the next week on at creating stories, importing images etc. But at least I have the basic understanding of what is 'out there' and what can be possible.
I can see that WIKIS could be a powerful educational tool. Students learn in different ways and the visuals (images, diagrams, brainstorming type activities) which are possible in a wiki, such as Bookleads, would really register with some students. The fact that, like most of the other tools we have explored, wikis are available anywhere at any time with an internet connection is a great plus. Their use for individual contributions as well as group work is certainly a bonus. No excuses now! More members of a group will have the chance to pull their weight. The Bookleads page showed just how much it is possible to include on a WIKI. As a Teacher-Librarian I found this particular WIKI very interesting.
As a Teacher-Librarian I deal with the Information Skills Process all the time and there are many similiarities with BLOOM's taxonomy. The differnt steps are useful in providing a framework, a scaffold, for planning and for ensuring that each appropriate step has been followed. The adaptation of Bloom's into the Digital realm is a natural step and will be useful in guiding teachers and students alike along a structured, planned path of learning.I would place Mind mapping at the creating stage when ideas are being tossed about and firmed up.Items from Flickr could be useful in the 'applying' stage as well as contributing visual images which would help some users to understand and remember the concepts and content of their unit of work.
Second life brings such a great real-life experience to the user wherever they are. Our young people are accustomed to having so much visual and seemimgly real contenet at their fingertips that using this tool will be second nature to many of them and indeed make topics which may otherwise seem dull and old-fashioned take on a new life, a second life, of their own. The interractivity will make ther students feel musc more a part of the learning experience.
So that was module 10. Just as interesting as the other modules and in fact a bit more challenging for me.

MODULE 9

I had received information about Scootle earlier this year and thought it sounded interesting but had not got around to looking at it. Now, as a result of this course, I made time to check it out and can see that it has great potential for finding and sharing ideas. One thing I love about all the tools we have been exploring is that thye are accessible anywhere there is an internet connection. We are no longer limited to the time we are on campus, nor is it difficult to interract with people in other schools and countries. I will certainly be visiting Scootle again and exploring and using it more thoroughly. Without this course I may never have got around to logging on and signing up.
It was also interesting to spend some timne looking at Twitter and My Space. At this stage I don't see myself using Twitter but having had some exposure to it now, there is certainly a possibliity that I may develop uses for it. I have a couple f friends who have been harassed through sites such as Twitter and Facebook so am still hesitant about how much to use these sites and to what degree but as our students are using them all the time it is still important to be familiar with the possibilities these sites provide.

Second Life is very interesting. I had of this as well but never explored it before and I did not know that it had so much educational content set up and ready to use. I wuill be making time to explore this further and will be speaking to some of the other teachers to ascertain whether they habve looked at it and considered it as a teaching tool.
So, that's module 9. I will move on now to module 10 and hope to finish working through it in time to be able to spend some time going back over some of the modulews before thye are locked up at the end of the course.

Module 8

I have just finished working through the exercises for this module. The idea of being able to have all my updates come into one easily accessible spot is great. i will probbaly use this quite a lot!

MODULE 7

This is great! To be able to bookmark and access anywhere will be very helpful. I like the idea of being able to tag so things are easy to find especially as more than one tag can be used. This helps as it is easy to forget which tag was used in some circumstances. The editing of tags is easy as well. I will use this more for myself than for sharing but is great to know that the sharing option is there.

MODULE 6

As I work through each module I discover more and more tools that could be used in the classroom. As I have mentioned before I am a Teacher-Librarian so most of the time I am not the person setting the activity but I am constanly working with students who are trying to complete their set work. Having this knowledge of the different tools they may be expected to use is very valuable for me. Learning about Glogster and how to create bubbleus acounts, how to integrate brainstorming, posters and videos in a class site has been very interesting. The number of free sites and the range of styles that can be used within these is amazing.

Module 5

Module 5 has been interesting. I particularly found the reference to proquest interesting as our school has a subscription to that and so it was particularly pertinent. Our students already do podcasts and vodacsts for some assignments and I had covered the basics before. I have downloaded form the ABC before as well so had some understanding of what was involved. Podcasts and vodcasts and the like will be just as much a part of the work our students do as tape recordings were and probably more used than student-made videos were as far more families seem to have access to the necessary tools both at schoola and at home.
I also enjoyed the New Literacies for a New age video with its emphasis on (perceived) new problems really being old problems in a different format.