07.28.08
Reflections on my Summer Online Web 2.0 Course
This final week I investigated just one more Web 2.0 tool – Scrapblog.com. It is a site where you can create an online scrapbook of your photos and video adding backgrounds, buttons, text, balloons, shapes, frames and music. It is a blog so it includes a comment area.
Now on to our final reflections of this Web 2.0 online summer course.
How would you describe this course to a colleague?
This course was really unbelievable. If I tried to explain all we did, I would lose them for sure. I was extremely nervous that first week creating my blog. Once I got my first lesson done, as nervous as I was, I realized I can do this. Each lesson is a success story! This course investigated some of the major tools within Web 2.0. By actually taking the time to do each lesson gives you the confidence to try that one tool in the classroom. By having this much experience, teachers won’t be afraid to teach some students and learn from other students. The facilitators have done a magnificent job to have everything you need within the lesson.
What was the best part of the course and why? I really enjoyed the podcasting even though I can’t stand listening to myself. Everything went well. I learned Audacity, and it uploaded smoothly. I was glad to be able to share a little something from the conference. I feel every grade level can integrate this in their classroom in so many ways.
What will you take away from this course to use in your classroom?
Oh, my goodness! I must figure how to use the Wikispaces AND blogs since they both have a purpose. I am thinking the one campus could use Wikispaces to develop their upcoming science fair this year.
What is one thing you would change about this course for the next group?
I was able to keep up each week, but it would be nice for a summer course to allow for vacationing. July 4th week off was a life saver. I truly think these could be mini courses and teachers could take one or all depending on their time frame. During the year the mini courses would be more feasible.
Would you recommend this course to anyone else? Why or why not?
Definitely. Many folks need a course like this to learn the steps to create a blog for instance. It also would provide them the resources to see how others have used these tools in the classroom.
I want to thank our facilitators for taking on this major undertaking. It was a great success!
