Course reflection

http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/

I am saving this website here so I can add it to Feedly later. Seem to have an issue with this computer and the icloud! I think this highlights just how much websites are able to change at a faster pace than hardware. (able to access Feedly only through Google Chrome).

I started this course at Easter this year (April) - and within four months many websites no longer exist or have changed since the training video. This highlights how quickly things change and why it sometimes feels overwhelming to try to keep up with the changes. Let alone be creative and be the teacher of these to younger minds.

The great thing about this course is I have been able to work at my own pace - introducing a few ideas and activities into the classroom and gaining student and parent response. I have been thrilled with parent response to our class blog. Many working mums have commented on how thankful they are to feel they are being kept in the loop of what is occuring in the classroom. Like all working mums, they are time poor and can view the blog in their own time, even during nightshift.

I think this epitomises the whole benefit of Web 2.0. No matter who or where you are, you can link in and feel part of the school community. It also delineates financial status.

Our class loved creating our religion story of good and bad behaviour through animoto.com. What a great tool that is - and we are keen to do it again for Father's Day. I am looking forward to discovering littlebirdtales.com to find out how "easy" it is, so we can start creating. I think that is the great benefit of Web 2.0 sites is it is allowing access to all people, not through high costs that make it inaccessible. Also my students are so thrilled to see and share our creations they are active participants. Not one of them shies away from attempting to read aloud the information on our blog when it is displayed on the whiteboard.

Feedly will be a way of staying up to date on many favourite websites - and I am looking forward to being able to access Classroom 2.0 as I think that will be a great way to learn about new ways of working that are working for others. But, just as each student and each class have different interests and learning needs, keeping in touch with changing technologies and websites will be continual. Which is where Feedly and Classroom 2.0 will be great tools to keep me informed and up to date.

This learning course is only the beginning, but has been hugely beneficial.