This course provided me with many valuable teaching tools. It strengthened my understanding of the necessity of technology in education by showing me the possibilities for engaging students through the use of Web 2.0. My favorite discoveries were the creations of a social bookmarking site, a wiki and a webquest. I was unfamiliar with these applications until they were introduced in this course. I enjoyed being introduced to the organization of social bookmarking and I am eager to use the social bookmarking tool as a way to organize information to be accessed by students for research topics. I am eager to share with students how to create one of their own as well, as part of a reference list. I enjoyed being introduced to the flexibility of a wiki. I appreciate how it eliminates the waiting for and trying to keep track of emails sent between group members. I will share with students how to create a wiki for the collaboration aspect of a group project. I also enjoyed being introduced to the structure of a webquest. The structure provides the teacher with the ability to plan and organize what material students will have access to and what steps they will take to reach their final destination. I am eager to design additional webquests. I believe they are an extremely valuable tool to foreign language because of the opportunities they provide for students to be exposed to culture beyond the classroom setting.
This course has affected my lifelong learning goals by helping me to see even more clearly the importance of remaining current on technology. As educators, it is our responsibility to prepare students for the future. In order to be able to do this, we ourselves need to remain knowledgeable about the current technologies. We must find ways to incorporate these tools into our curriculum and instruction so that students are prepared. I also believe that we can learn from students, as lifelong learners. Students often have much to share about their world and may have valuable information to share with us if we are willing to learn from them.
I am pleased to say that there was a very surprising take-away from this course, and that was the Web 2.0 sharing tools. I found a multitude of resources that I will be able to use in the French language classroom. For example, I found pages upon pages of pictures from France, Paris, Canada, and other French speaking regions which had been taken by travelers and shared. I also met up with a former peer who also teaches French, and we plan to use Web 2.0 as a way for our students to interact in French. It pleases me to walk away from this course with tools that I intend to use for specific purposes in my classroom: a social bookmarking site, a wiki, a webquest, a blog of educational sites, and a collection of websites with resources that I will be able to use in PowerPoint presentations and other instructional deliveries. I feel like the projects I completed in this course were purposeful and meaningful, and that my content area was valued and respected.
This course was very well designed and all activities related directly to the content and objectives. The activities were a hands-on way of using the information to show the learner possibilities. What better way could there be? The information was straightforward and provided realistic tools to be used in the classroom. The course also provided flexibility, for the learner, and for the assignments. Assignments were created based on the learner’s content area and topics which were of importance to the individual. This was most useful.
I would absolutely choose to participate in another discovery course like this one if one should be offered in the future. I do feel like I truly “discovered” new information and tools of which I was not aware before. I feel I am now more knowledgeable about how to implement technology in the classroom, and I am now well equipped with a multitude of tools to begin the new school year.
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