Wednesday, 12 March 2014

Module 2

Blogging in the classroom has for many years been a mystery to me. I never saw the need to blog and didn't really understand the benefits it could have to me or my classroom. The emergence and availability of many web based tools to the education sector has opened my eyes to the use of blogs within the classroom.

Many web based tools allow students to creatively investigate and develop concepts and skills using the learning styles they are most comfortable with. The use of web tools caters for all learning styles and can be specific to various concepts covered within a classroom. With many different tools and concepts being covered it can sometimes be difficult to monitor students work.

This is where blogs work to our advantage. We can monitor and showcase students work no only to the immediate community but also to the global community also. Blogs give us the opportunity to collaborate and form partnerships with various communities around the world. Blogs give us a common platform where we can share the concepts and ideas we have developed and allow us to investigate new and interesting ideas.

Our current classroom blog has seen immediate success with both our school community and that of our sister school (in Indonesia) participating in a banner competition together. We have also been able to showcase some of the work we have been doing in class. Below is the link, check it out!

http://ourlovelylady.blogspot.com.au/

Module 1

I am really excited about completing this Web 2.0 online course.

With so many online tools available these days it's hard to keep track of them all. I want to investigate tools that can be integrated into my school community. Not all tools may be suitable for your particular school / classroom. Every school / classroom works differently and so what might work in one community might not work in another.

Throughout this course I would like to further investigate these Web 2.0 tools that will integrate well and benefit the students at my school. I think the "Jane Hart" list of 100 tools is a great starting point!

I would also like to investigate how I can better implement the current tools I am using within the classroom.