Vanity Search Week 7

As this semester comes to an end I reflect on my new vanity search and how it has changed in the last 7 weeks from the start of this class. When I searched for my name online there wasn't much change from the first of the semester. Now for how I have changed as an educator and how I will implement it in my classroom with my students? I will def. use the web 2.0 tools of glogster and maybe even blogging. I have my English 1301 students write a daily journal in class but I may set it up to where they do it online. My only concern with that is to what extent I can do it since we will be in a college classroom without computers. But I could make them do it online on a site where they blog, as we did in here and use a wiki to share with others in the class. And google docs, I love the collaboration used here....will use it without a doubt. I have used dropbox this semester and they hated it, but I plan to continue using it because I feel it is a relevant tool that they will need to utilize later in their college years. I enjoyed this semester with all my classmates and Dr. B again. ;) Thanks for all the feedback

Final Reflections week 6 & 7

When I started this class I thought I was aware of a lot of web 2.0 tools. As the weeks went on I learned that yes I may have been exposed to them but I didn't know all there was to know about web 2.0 tools and they are ever changing so it is one thing to know about them but another to really use them. Take the social bookmarking, I had been required to do it for another class but I had no idea that you could form groups in it. Also twitter, I had never used it before this class, I didn't hate it but I am not sure I will use it again.
Of course there are many advantages to using the web 2.0 tools the one that I think is the most prevalent is that they are great for collaboration. In today's society when teaching the 21st century learners it is important that we meet their learning needs and create a collaborative learning environment... what better way to do this then by using web 2.0 tools.  The only thing that I would like to see more of is more teacher training related to these technologies because as of right now I believe they are the future of education, yet schools aren't making room for funding to train teachers or for the proper equipment and maintenance related to that. As far as avoiding something related to these web 2.0 tools, I can not see that as of right now. In evaluating one specific tool this semester I will evaluate glogster, which is the tool I used for my final project. I think it is a useful tool that students can learn from because it has a way to make an online poster that links to other related information. It also helps students stay on task with what they are researching, very good example of a web 2.0 tool.

Social Bookmarking week 5

Social bookmarking is not a new concept to me, I have had to use it before for another educational technology class. I am so thankful that I was exposed to it and had the chance to learn some about it. I have used it for several semesters now and think of it as my online portfolio so to speak. I know if I bookmark something I can go back to my library and find it. I like that it has collaboration as well, because as a teacher that is essential to being a lifelong learner and demonstrating to our students how to be just that. I learned something new though when I had to "join the group" for this class in social bookmarking, I didn't know that was part of it. I like that a lot and can see using that in my college classes that I am currently teaching. Overall my adventure with social bookmarking was a very informative one and one in which I keep learning and bookmarking. :)