The Web 2.0 Course was definitely an enriching learning experience for me. I agree that Web 2.0 tools can have great potential to engage our 21st century learners. Tools such as wikis, nings, You Tube, blogs, Scootle and others, if used properly, can definitely enhance learning and make teaching more entertaining. I think that these tools will make catering for the varied learning styles of our students easier as they allow children to learn at their own pace.
The big difficulty will not so much be in teaching students the technology as they are often a lot more knowledgeable than us when computers are involved. The trouble will be in teaching students the necessary skills (communication and collaboration, questioning, reflection, creative thinking and critical thinking) to use these technologies and I believe that these will have to be explicitly taught.
I agree that Web 2.0 tools can help make students responsible for their own learning but teachers will still have to model HOW to be a responsible and effective learner.
Collaboration is always a great way to learn, especially in a girl school. With web 2.0 tools collaborative learning is brought to a new level and I hope that students will appreciate that they are able to learn anything, anytime and anywhere. These tools definitely made my professional development a lot more enjoyable.
As explained in Blooms Digitally Web 2.0 tools can be used to access students’ higher order thinking skills. Our year 9 students worked on an iMovie assessment task where they needed to collaborate to script and film a movie about a scientific topic for a specific audience- working at the "creating" level.
I am aware that we should not just use technology just for the sake of it…technology is just a tool to achieve some of our educational goals. However Web 2.0 tools will encourage teachers to release a bit more of the responsibility to learn back to our students!!! Let’s stop spoon feeding our students…
I really enjoyed reading the blogs of other teachers especially:
My Chemical Journey by Gary Molloy (comments made on modules 2,4,5 and 6)
Web 2.0 by Rachel Noonan (comment made on module 5)
Friday, November 26, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Module 10: Wikis and Nings
The last module asks us to investigate the educational use of wikis and nings. First of all I have to admit that I did not really know what a wiki was. I have of course been on wikipedia numerous times. I have noticed that students also often go on wikipedia as a first port of call when they are asked a question...a bit like we would go to the Encyclopedia Britannica when I was at school.
I went on wikipedia to read about wikis :-) and found out that a wiki is a "website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language". I also discovered that Wikispaces is a hosting service launched in 2005. I also read that since 2010 Wikispaces have cooperated with web 2.0 education platform Glogster EDU and that Glogster EDU now embeds Glogs into Wikispaces services.
I am interested in the use of wikis especially after reading the information on Wikis in the classroom and also the Wikis in the classroom presentation.
I like that it is easy for visitors to easily add, remove and otherwise edit and change some available content which makes it really interactive.
I had heard the word ning but had no idea what it meant. I found out that ning competes with social sites like Facebook by allowing people to create their own social networks around specific interests with their own visual design, choice of features and member data.
I think that wikis, nings and other web 2.0 tools can make teaching more engaging and interactive and will definitely appeal to learners. I think that some teachers including myself find the web 2.0 tools daunting for several reasons:
- you need a fair amount of time to learn about all the new tools and find ways to include them in your lessons.
- you need to "let go" of some of the control and trust that your students will learn without you being necessarily in charge 100% of the time.
- you need to still police the use of these new technologies to make sure they are not used inappropriately.
I went on wikipedia to read about wikis :-) and found out that a wiki is a "website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language". I also discovered that Wikispaces is a hosting service launched in 2005. I also read that since 2010 Wikispaces have cooperated with web 2.0 education platform Glogster EDU and that Glogster EDU now embeds Glogs into Wikispaces services.
I am interested in the use of wikis especially after reading the information on Wikis in the classroom and also the Wikis in the classroom presentation.
I like that it is easy for visitors to easily add, remove and otherwise edit and change some available content which makes it really interactive.
I had heard the word ning but had no idea what it meant. I found out that ning competes with social sites like Facebook by allowing people to create their own social networks around specific interests with their own visual design, choice of features and member data.
I think that wikis, nings and other web 2.0 tools can make teaching more engaging and interactive and will definitely appeal to learners. I think that some teachers including myself find the web 2.0 tools daunting for several reasons:
- you need a fair amount of time to learn about all the new tools and find ways to include them in your lessons.
- you need to "let go" of some of the control and trust that your students will learn without you being necessarily in charge 100% of the time.
- you need to still police the use of these new technologies to make sure they are not used inappropriately.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Module 9: Social Networks
I knew about Scootle but I was just using learning paths done by another teacher at our school. I now know how to create my own learning paths. I think that Scootle is a great resource for teaching science. I have mostly used it for revision before exams but I think it could be use to introduce new topics. I like that students can work at their own pace. I also found that some students that were normally disengaged in the classroom were really focused and seemed to enjoy learning using scootle. I will need to explore scootle a lot more to find out all the interesting learning objects prior to teaching a particular topic. At the moment the vast number of objects is a bit overwhelming.
I have been a facebook user for a number of years now. I really enjoy it and have been able to found a lot of my old school friends using that network. We even organised our high school reunion using facebook. However I don't really think that I would use facebook at school. I know that a large number of our students have a facebook page but I have always refused to accept students or former students as "friends" on my facebook page and will keep it that way.
I had never thought of using Second Life for education purposes but after watching the you tube videoclips I can see how it would be a good way to engage our students. I definitely think it would be great for HSIE teachers. I think that there are also interesting options for us science teachers which I discovered in the Science Learning Opportunities in Second Life you tube video below.
I have been a facebook user for a number of years now. I really enjoy it and have been able to found a lot of my old school friends using that network. We even organised our high school reunion using facebook. However I don't really think that I would use facebook at school. I know that a large number of our students have a facebook page but I have always refused to accept students or former students as "friends" on my facebook page and will keep it that way.
I had never thought of using Second Life for education purposes but after watching the you tube videoclips I can see how it would be a good way to engage our students. I definitely think it would be great for HSIE teachers. I think that there are also interesting options for us science teachers which I discovered in the Science Learning Opportunities in Second Life you tube video below.
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