Yay! Finally there!
Overall I'd have to say I was keen to do this but not always keen to spend the time on it. Now that I've finished I can see that it was a good process, even if some of the tools eg Twitter, were not necessary or relevant for me.
I have certainly developed my own skills, but to be honest if I don't continually use something I need to learn to do it again anyway. No doubt I will still have questions to ask of a friendly colleague when trying some of these things again.
My teaching has been broadened to incorporate many of these tools, but ultimately if students can't read or write properly we are failing them. There is nothing wrong with 'older' methods of teachings, despite what some may say. Basically, it is about blending all the strategies together to suit the environment. All that we have done in this course, like anything, needs to be used in moderation.
The iLe@rning video was excellent, but like others have said including Kathryn Fraser and Nick Phillipson, it would have been really helpful at the beginning of the course. The idea of engagement is what all committed teachers would want in their classroom and we need to use whatever enables this to happen. Something that I disagreed with from the video was the comment that it breaks down the barrier between socio-economic classes and the like. This is not completely accurate as anything that involves costly equipment will have divisions. There are still families who cannot afford computers especially when they need to be updated at such a fast rate. There is also the problem with the various types of internet access at home - not always effective, especially if a family has several students and parents who all want to use it. I know my internet access is slow and it took nearly 20 minutes to watch the 6 minute ilearning video! While it is decreasing I think the area of e-learning can be a real social justice issue.
The linking of iLearning to Blooms Taxonomy has provided greater understanding for it use. While Blooms is a natural part of what teachers do in the classroom the Web 2 tools have now just provided another method of how to achieve these. There is certainly more opportunity for the creation process with some of the Web 2 tools, but the lower order skills can also be accessed using the same tools eg remembering information and understanding it enough to include it in a wiki.
I would like students to be able to gather information fromm various sources, predominantly books, but be able to express their grasp of it in a variety of methods including these various tools.
Second Life would incorporate some creation, Flikr would be more about gathering information I would think rather than fully meeting one of the stages of Blooms Digital Taxonomy or perhaps some applying, and Mind Mapping would incorporate all levels of Blooms (depending on the depth of use).
I am looking forward to continuing to learn and grow in my teaching and my general use of technology in life. I will continue to try new things, but like everything it always comes down to time!
To all the people who helped me along the way, Ben Ticehurst, Jay Meyer, Paul O'Shea, Miriam Gascoigne, Jessica Ursino - Thank you!!!
Its time to pop a cork and celebrate!! (I hope!)
Comment made on Brett Richardson's blog at the following link:http://richosblogspc.blogspot.com/2010/06/course-reflection.html?showComment=1278146688163_AIe9_BEsxg3IquyDS62a9NHJMq2QmyQ5ZAkZMKZ9zlBd0aMz0j38fkpRiFzxF7czotPg1E9u9y8oDeiHn8jcKfrU2FI9-8AOpbYFEOY3dJLOzOVzqVxRaXTtiH6JW_EaUTNMOQj5LkOuZDiYN1Zi2jSeT66inpjxqHDxF04iVPyTirhzqwpuiDne5Iuwx3FgGn2Rx1O8rt2Vjd4UhhgHMMoUjQf5wQ34fbrAMZ-FkB86Kn1a992JDoDKdxzfUR_zjGxYS35eQ5Vk0sfyvBrZj8O8NOpxiJR5lXUR8dH6DiYQetwhUtMYKXYvxtQ3bjhiY63oLpGoxia5DfZKQqLj3urYKHB2NsDaAgMytLb-LEU-Dhw_rWPWmTaHgWXV1X4xesAvcFdYnGQllN2t6E-Fniusp2lcGxweU9cNjHerZe5lDmv1wuwl6FOyrtOmUF6X9jvUhQ_Ud2mCmFeikvNWc8UJOAkjMEQpyRWsSRGBtmr1PmXk5QZ6EICRo0yWwyJYFqYzPFv1Xh9xQr7SxMCaoO5edjmtQ-_PaYXQMTm0R1WE8RdQS2XGu9f76KPnu6DUD8L93ykgOx072JfBB-khoibkOxehQENuk70qjO-dnnY9zt7Yg63UOP-FUUvoCqWbdLrQIxSL9FguWI1bgnFjLglfLg10tdW8m7_8jX2l0TGARfS0XQGAgbpmwWD5bHKML7cy7rjUvWNDld5Up9rYX3vcdJhT-BI58_39U52KBA2oGqEecvsrbXG9rQFoOcEKi8KoZGZPiWCOQ69aOB3YEpThOBHjgtKLzDCUmIKpj4xJRZeS_iGqg63c33pouLj4UyxNFfGc5rNmFOXWnb42UVzrdr-m9Lms5n-xJJWV2VhPm2v_RFyLMch37oGSaZ3AI8XuAsHmZUL4GYGO3E-QTdTvHzwUJ_J1kISbinL2AYvPrgaoms78jZYckMCHa5dDEoXRb8O24qVYIDivmAPL93FQ-SHjtwpgJ24v0IhWv2S0R6rtSo7yPsObw9d9ChULrMZx80fifme1#c4020216846268537813
