Summary

WoW! I have finally done it, lol! I started, I went out of town, I had a family emergency, I had to work, I almost didn't finish, but I did it! I have learned so much about the Internet and all it has to offer. I thought I knew, but I didn't know everything there was available to us. I am so glad to have taken this course and finished it. My goal was to finish and learn something new. Boy, did I ever learn some new things, lol. There is so much to use that I don't know where to start, or how to even present this information to my team members in the fall. I guess I will just have to try a little at a time and go from there. Eventually, all teachers will be aware of Web 2.0 anyway. My favorite discovery was learning more about Flikr and Online Image generators. It took me some time to play with different sites, but I eventually figured it out and got what I wanted. I just loved learning about what all I could do with my pictures online. This course has made me more technologically aware of what is out there and available for teachers to use in the classroom. I don't think it stops here either. I knew there was new technology out there that needed to be used, but I didn't really know how to use it with my students. I only knew Promethean Boards and traditional school programs like Word, PowerPoint, etc. I also knew how to use various educational websites through another staff development that I took last summer. This technology has taken computers to a whole other level.
I was surprised by the suggestions to register for social networking sites such as, MySpace and facebook. I know that it is frowned upon on by many for the bad press it gets. I think that this course made me more aware of other ways it can be used with teachers, students, and parents. I discovered some other great networking sites through Ning, like Classroom 2.0. I really think that this course should be completed by all teachers in our district, or at least by representatives from each school. I would definitely be one of the firsts to sign up for another discovery course. This was so much fun and enlightening! I have gotten so many great ideas to motivate students and make learning fun from this course. I really enjoyed reading other teachers' blogs and being able to learn from them. I was even able to work at home in my pajamas comfortably, lol. It was great! I will definitely use del.icio.us and RSS feeds more often and add more to My Yahoo! page. As I have mentioned before, I have learned so much that has caused me to "think outside of the box". I will be doing a lot more with computers and advocating technology to my team members. I will try to collaborate with R. Brown, who also took this course, to educate others in our school about possible uses of this technology. I will look into using more websites in the computer lab and in the classroom. Hopefully, after this course, more websites will be unblocked for usage. It is difficult to get started if there are too many limitations in school. Take a look at the video I posted from You Tube on "A Vision of Students Today" It will make you think...