Reflection

Yeah!!
I thought I would never make it to the end of the Web 2.0 course and I’m pleased that I have finished. I found the course to be a great experience as to what is available on the Web and have discovered many exciting tools that I like and I’m sure students would as well.

Today children thrive on new technology. As educators we must ensure they have balanced learning. We need to expose them to all the tools necessary to enhance their learning into the 21st Century. Once presented to them the sky's (web) the limit. Congratulations to all educators who have worked through this and experienced the Web 2.0 course.

I have commented on the following blogs

http://bamboozled-toni.blogspot.com/2010/09/module-4.html?
http://blogjdmh.blogspot.com/2010/11/module-5.html

The ile@rn model is how we want our students to learn.
• Focus on how individual students learn


• Teach students skills to learn – technology and Web 2.0


• Which will enables them to be in the 21st century learning community



Blooms Digital Taxonomy allows teachers to relate thinking skills to relevant use of technology. At our school teachers use Blooms in their differentiated programs so the digital adaptation would really broaden their use of Blooms and provide new ideas for learning activities.

If I were planning a program (I work in the office), I would definitely incorporate relevant and exciting ways to aid the learning of the students.

APPLYING  - I think Second Life would relate to this as students need to show an understanding of a process and task and then need to apply this. Flickr fits with this as well(uploading and sharing images)

CREATING - Second life would also fit with "creating" as they invent and explore.


UNDERSTANDING - Bubbl.us using mind mapping is relevant to "understanding."


As you get more confident and explore the new tools you can utilise them thus creating broader learning horizons.

Overall I think the Web 2.0 course has given me an insight as to what is available out there – so many different learning tools are available. It is important to keep up to date with new technology so we are not left behind. I have left my footprint out there on the Web forever.
 

Thank you to the patient staff members who have guided and helped me through this journey.

Module 10

What is a wiki?

"A wiki is a website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser."

What is a ning?

"Ning is an online platform for people to create their own social networks."

I can see the value of both of these tools in a school the student would enjoy using wikis. Our school uses wikis as part of the intranet. Our teachers are members of the Southern Region ESL Ning. I don't have a need for wikis as I am working as support staff in the office. If there was to be a need for wikis and nings in the office I'm sure I would love to be a member.

I'm really really happy to have reached module 10 and will proceed with the reflection of this wonderful, exciting and challenging Web 2.0 course.

Module 9

What is scootle?



"Scootle has been developed to support access to more than 8,990 items of digital curriculum content developed by the National Digital Learning Resource Network (NDLRN), formerly The Le@rning Federation."

You can find

• interactive learning objects,
• images,
• audio files and movie clips via browse,
• search and filter technology.
• create personal lists of favourite resources for quick access.



What is a learning path?

 

In scootle teachers can set up learning paths for the students in their classroom.
These paths can be saved and organised as favourite digital curriculum resources in themes or topics.  Lessons can then easily be accessed by students with a personal pin number. Teachers can share  resources and lessons with colleagues. Students can use the learning paths as part of group activities.

What is social networking?

A social network service is an online service which allow users to share ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individual networks such as facebook and twitter.

What is facebook?

"Facebook is a social network service and website.

Users may create a personal profile, add other users as friends and exchange messages. Users may join common interest user groups, organised by workplace, school, or college, or other characteristics."

Facebook is great to keep in contact with family and friends who live interstate or who are travelling. You can see photos and chat, it is a convenient way to stay in touch.

You have to be careful what information you put on facebook,  instances have occurred through comments and photos causing some users problems. 

What is twitter?

"Twitter is a website, owned and operated by Twitter Inc., which offers a social networking and microblogging service, enabling its users to send and read other users' messages called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the user's profile page. Tweets are publicly visible by default, however senders can restrict message delivery to their friends list. Users may subscribe to other users' tweets—this is known as following and subscribers are known as followers."

I haven't used twitter because I don't think I have anything of interest to share. However I have heard on the radio some information about celebrities that often gets twisted and misinformed. 

What is second life?

"Second Life (SL) is a virtual world developed by Linden Lab and is accessible on the internet. A free client program called the Viewer enables its users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars. Residents can explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another, or travel throughout the world (which residents refer to as "the grid"). Second Life is for people aged 18 and over, while Teen Second Life is for people aged 13 to 17."

I can see how high school student would enjoy interacting within  Second Life for history, economics and business studies.

Module 8

What is an RRS feed?

"RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardised format."

I have found the RSS feeds to be useful during this Web 2.0 course and also while finding crochet patterns on the web because all the new information I have researched comes to me automatically.



What is google reader?

Google Reader is a Web-based website capable of reading  RSS feeds online or offline.

You can

• manage feeds,
• label them, and even
• share your feed collection with others.

Module 7

What is delicious?
Delicious is a Social Bookmarking service, which means you can save all your bookmarks online, share them with other people, and see what other people are bookmarking.

We have a delicious account set up at school for teachers to use. It is a time saver so teachers can find their favourite site from any computer wherever they are in the world. Not only can you access your favourites but you can share with any of you colleagues, you can make it private or public. Overall I think delicious is a versatile tool that can really save you lots of time while online as it is so accessible.

Module 6

What is bubbl.us?

A free web application that lets you brainstorm online.

What is glogster?

A ‘glog’ is a free online poster or web page. 

Users can insert

• text
• pictures
• graphics
• video 
• audio

to create an interactive online poster that can be embed it into a wiki, blog, or school /class web site.

After watching the video on bubbl.us I created one for Web 2.0 I can see that children would enjoy making these to record and present their learning.

Module 5

Digital Storytelling

Pod, Vods, Videos and Web 2.0


What is pod cast?

You download files directly from a website from special programs called podcatchers that let you subscribe to podcasts in order to automatically download and store the media files to playback at a later date.

 

What is vodcast?

Recording voice and/or images which can be replayed on a variety of media including MP3 players such as iPods.

iTunes is a proprietary digital media player application, used for playing and organizing digital music and video files. The application is also an interface to manage the contents on Apple's iPod and iPhone lines, as well as the iPad.


iTunes can connect to the iTunes Store via the Internet to purchase and download music, music videos, television shows, iPod games, audiobooks, eBooks, podcasts, feature length films and movie rentals (not available in all countries), and ringtones (only used for iPhone).

Whats so good about YouTube?

After looking on you tube hours just go by you get side tracked looking at all different things.