This class has been so good! I have thoroughly enjoyed all the exposure to different Web 2.0 tools that I have not used and I think I have used a lot of them! I have particularly enjoyed my new found love of Twitter and what it brings me professionally. Sometimes I am not sure that I can keep up with it all! One of my favorite educators that I have found and followed through twitter is Cult of Pedagogy. I have been so inspired to try some activities in my classroom that don’t even require technology. One idea of hers is Chat Stations that are just about the students talking. Some of the Web 2.0 tools that were peers contributed to our class that I had never heard of were Edpuzzle, Flipgrid, or even Seesaw and I want to check them out. They all three seem like tools that so many people from our class have had success with. Unfortunately, our school district does not allow any of them to be on our school ipads that are issued to our students. Basically, we cannot use any apps that allow students to make their own accounts because of that I have not explored them much at all.
When determining if I am going to use a tool, first and for most I look at the terms of service, look for alignment with COPPA and then I use the search feature to see if there is an age restriction. If there are no restrictions then I move forward with exploring it more. The most important part of a tool that I look for is my students’ ability to engage and create. I find huge value in students creating with technology. I want them to not just be consumers, but also producers. Also, as I have been on this journey, I have really kinda made a bit of turn in what I do in technology. I think at one time I would just try anything and everything just to try without the learning standard being at the forefront. I try and be careful now that I am not using technology just to use it, but that it is serving a greater good and purpose of enhancing the learning goal. As mentioned in one of the comments made, I want my students to use a few tools well. That way the tools are seamless in lessons. There shouldn’t be so many used that are new and different that it bogs down the goal of learning.
Two of my big ideas in teaching is collaboration and creation. Web 2.0 tools allow for both of those and I believe are a valuable part of what we need to be teaching our students as digital, 21stcentury learners.
EDTech 