As this course comes to a close, many thoughts come to mind. First, I am very glad that I chose this course as one of my electives. I feel very fortunate and much more knowledgeable about the many available web 2.0 tools that are available to me as an educator and as just a regular person. Second, a part of me is glad that the coursework is over but another part of me really wishes the course was longer and we could have more time and opportunities to work in this type of forum. Lastly, I think that this course has changed the way I view how the internet can be used in my future classroom.
My two favorite exercises were definitely the webquest and the blog activity. I had never done anything more than read a blog so creating one seemed like a huge endeavor. However, it was extremely easy to create and it is very empowering to see one's thoughts and ideas on the world wide web. The webquest activity was one that I had participated in before but never to this level. I had a great partner working with me and the completion of the assignment went very quickly but I feel like we really created a workable, fun, and engaging activity that is both thought-provoking and educational. It was also a great activity to just peruse the web for other webquests, the quantity and quality available is awe inspiring. These two activities showed me how easy using web 2.0 tools can be and that the results can be amazing.
One of the unexpected outcomes of taking this course for me was that I know feel like I have actually added many, many different tools to my toolbox as a teacher. Before this course started, I thought it was just going to be a refresher/description of some of the many web 2.0 tools. However, in addition to being that, it was a chance to actually create projects using these tools. So, in addition to the definition and description of what these tools can do, I take with me the actual ability to create a blog, to create a webquest, to use delicious, and many other skills that I didn't think I would have three weeks ago.
In my opinion, there really aren't many improvements that I can think of making to this course. The discussions died out a little bit but I think that may have to do with the shortened length of the course rather than intended participation. I felt I had the ability to discuss things with classmates and Professor Yang if and when I needed to and the description of the assignments and expectations were all done very well.
I have already signed up to take another discovery course next semester so I definitely feel that they are useful and definitely worth the time and effort. I almost think that these courses should be bundled together into some form of mandatory class that takes place over the course of a whole semester, maybe as an undergrad course.
I think the one thing that I have taken away from this course is that in order to be the best teacher that I can be, I need to use all of the tools at my disposal. The numerous web 2.0 tools offer me and my future classes opportunities for better communication, information sharing, added excitement, and sometimes just more fun. I feel very fortunate that this class has started my journey into this world.
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