Turning down the Lights
Well, it’s time to turn down the lights on my exploration of Web 2.0 tools for EDES501. It has been a really exciting endeavour filled with some super high moments. During this enlightening project, I managed to learn and use a variety tools such as: Blogs, Prezi, Animoto, RSS, GoogleEarth, PhotoSynth, Ipads and Screencasting. Now that the curtain is closing I learnt two things. First, I learnt how to use many Web 2.0 tools both personally and professionally. Second, I discovered that there is still so much more to learn about.
Now I ask myself, where do I go from here? During this class I learnt that the more I learn the more I realize just how much I don’t know. With that in mind, I already have a few tools in my sights that I would love to try in the near future. I think that next stars that I will “interview” are:
- Blabberize: I just saw this tool in action during the last 2learn conference and I think my students are going to love it. Student engagement will drastically increase when they are given the opportunity to create their own talking creatures. How fun!
- Myebook: to help my students create authentic pieces of text that they can actually print into a real book will be a great opportunity for them to highlight their gifts and talents. I would have loved to try this tool during this class; however, time was a factor for the printing process.
- Bitstrips: who wouldn’t love to create their own animated cartoon and even star in it? This tool looks fantastic and will be great for students that have challenges getting their thoughts on paper.
Creating this blog and using all these different Web 2.0 tools has rekindled my fire for using and learning about technology. I learnt about so many new tools that I hadn’t used before and I even managed to try most of them out with my students. Watching my students’ faces and hearing the buzz in the room as they were creating their own Prezi and Animoto presentations, was exciting and inspiring. I was also inspired by their focus and attention when they were screencasting. I loved learning about all these tools and I am eager to learn more. One thing that I will take away from this class is the drive to try new things – even if it is just one new tool a month.
I hope that everyone enjoyed reading about my discoveries in Web 2.0 and would like to wish everyone good luck for the New Year and for the rest of their Master’s classes.
