Course Reflection

Well here I am at the end the Web 2.0 couse and I'm feeling quite pleased with myself!! I must admit that when I first heard about the course I was a little nervous as I'm not a techno person by nature. However I have really found the course to be a great experience as it has really opened my eyes to what is available on the Web and I have discovered so many great educational tools that students would love. I have commented on the following blog http://easyasabc-anna.blogspot.com/2010/09/module-5.html#comments
I think the ilearn model really sums up how we want our students to learn. The key message being that we need to focus on how our individual students learn best and then we need to equip them with the skills needed to learn, so that they can make positive and valuable contributions to 21st century learning communities. Technology (and Web 2.0)  is one of the tools that helps us help our students achieve their goals.
Blooms Digital Taxonomy allows teachers to relate thinking skills to relevant use of technology. It would be extremely useful in planning as it integrates aspects of technology with the relevant thinking skills which provides teachers with many ways to cater for different learning styles and needs and to challenge students to think differently. 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. I think Second Life would relate to 'applying' as students need to show an understanding of a process and task and then need to apply this. It would also fit with "creating" as they invent and explore. Flickr fits with  "applying" (uploading and sharing images) and mind mapping is relevant to "understanding."
Overall I think that the Web 2.0 course has given me a starting point to exploring the tools that are available for our students. Exploring each of the modules has enabled me to become familiar with so many new aspects of technology and also made me realise how important it is for us to keep up to date as teachers, so that we can engage our students. Technology is integral to our students way of lives so we need to use it as a way of engaging our students so that they will be motivated, challenged and involved.