Learning Outcomes

At the beginning of this class, I was very intimidated by the thought of having to rely on technology.  I have always been weary of technology and assumed that it was unreliable and would fail on me when I needed it most.  Throughout the semester, I have learned that this is not the case, and I have learned and experimented with numerous ways that I can actually use technology to my advantage. 

I am now aware that as teachers in the Web 2.0 world, it is our jobs to keep up with the ways that the world is evolving and to adapt to the technology that students are using in their free time.  If a student can use technology to stimulate their interests in their free time, it would be unproductive to attempt to gain their attention with something that is dull and uninteresting.  Through the use of programs such as Voice Thread, powerpoint, and many different search engines and web quests, I have discovered numerous ways to make learning seem like something more than the same old lecture style or using a paper and pen.

I was intimidated at first, there were many things I was not sure of, and I needed help along the way, but I am proud to have been able to complete all of the assignments.  I have completed assignments and used resources that I had no idea existed or thought that they were too complicated for me.  I am glad that I had the opportunity to take this class now and get a head start toward being a Web 2.0 teacher.  I now have a "tool kit" of resources that I can use before I ever step into the classroom to teach for my first day. 

I still have a lot to learn, as is clear by the WoW presentations of my fellow classmates.  Everyone did a fantastic job, and it was a great experience to be able to see some of the things that everyone else was working on.  Now, in addition to what I learned on my own, I now have an every bigger "tool kit" of resources thanks to my classmates presentations, which made me aware of many other resources that I did not know existed.  I look forward to playing around with some of those resources in my spare time and being able to understand them even more and figuring out how I can use them to teach. 

WoW Projects

I thought that everyone did a fantastic job presenting their WoW Projects.  Being able to listen to presentations about these examples of technology made me aware of so many things that I never even knew existed.  We are all technological learners, and it can be frustrating at times to try and figure out what things online are legitimate and which things work for us, and being able to watch these presentations really made me aware of some of the truly great things that can be done educationally on a computer and using the internet. 

These projects, and this class in general, have provided us all with a "tool kit" as we either continue teaching or move closer to becoming teachers.  This will truly give us the advantage of having knowledge of technology and programs, web sites, and strategies that we have already experimented with and that we know work for us.  Personally, learning about this stuff know will take a lot of stress away from my life than would have been there if I tried to learn about technology in education while I was already teaching and didn't have the opportunity to really test it out and play around with so many different options like we were able to do in this class.

On my personal WoW project on "Research Tools and 21st Century Literacy Professional Development", it was a very rewarding experience.  These are tools that can help teachers and students to better organize their searches on the internet, as well as ensure that they are finding helpful and reliable information from safe sources on the internet.  I gathered all of my information directly from the web sites, so those web sites are my references. 

Click here to view my WoW project!!!!