module 10

Well, last leg of the journey... I've finally reached the summit of my mountain and can look down at all the knowledge I've gained and start to contemplate how to apply it in both my personal world and in my teaching space.

Don't know that there's too much more to say that I haven't already said throughout my journey but I will attempt to Bloom my way through a basic evaluation of Web 2.0.
Firstly, I have obviously accumulated a ton of information and need now to recall it all, sift through it as time permits, and eventually, collaborating with my colleagues to create new learning experiences for our students, apply it in the classroom and evaluate it's success.

Just as we have used Bloom to challenge our students via conventional methods of teaching, we will now endeavour to embed him (oops!) into ICT learning. No matter what the teaching methods or tools, students will always perform well if the learning is differentiated, challenging and conducive to high order thinking. Activities such as mind mapping can represent both moderate Bloom's tax. via application of related information in the form of a basic mind map - and relatively high order skills where students are required to synthesize content, and perhaps even high order skills, should the mind map be a culmination of complex content covered.

I love the idea of Wikis and have now actually created a Wetpaint wiki for some students. Educational value? As Stephen Downes points out ('Steophen Downes looks at blogs and their uses') blogs give students ownership over their learning and an authentic voice. They also appear to help students create a sense of identity for themselves.

Ultimately, it's all about communication, creation and sharing, whether it be for entertainment or educational purposes. Ultimately, everything we do is educational in one way or another. This includes sharing laughs and gaffes with people you don't normally 'hang with'. Case in point, when I first came on board to do the Web 2.0 course at school, others sat down with me of an afternoon, ready to take the challenge and plunge in head first. Boy did we sink fast! We laughed and tried to help each other out with the most basic task of starting an account- google- the first of many I was soon to discover. Being part of learning communities, both on and off-line is imperative if we want to keep up with constantly changing pedagogy, more particularly now that we are embracing digital learning in order to remain relevant to our students.

I am most appreciative of this opportunity to experience so many sites/tools etc - some of which I would otherwise have happily ignored were it not for this Web 2.0 course. Wikis, Blogs and the like all stand for personal expression, communication and collaboration. Definitely a good thing, both in our personal space and in the world of the classroom. Here's a quaint comment from 'Twitter' (Article on Libraries and Social Networking):

'....an online social network is an Interactive e-playground community.'

Well, I feel like I've been on a playground with this Web 2.0 course. It's been 'fun and games' in all senses. But the real games haven't even started.......

Ciao and GRAZIE!!!!