Throughout the year I have been using Ning and Wikis, as these are a major part of the iLe@rn project that I was fortunate enough to be a part of. We have a school group, KLA groups and project group which has been a great help throughout the iLe@rn project and the web 2.0 course. At school we currently use wikis to get information out to my 12CAS class, as we have tried to make their learning student based due to the various levels of abilities that our students have. By using the wiki, students are able to work at their own pace, view allowable videos to be used for formalised writing tasks and create/post their multimedia projects. Currently we are looking at moral decision making and the students are asked to create an evaluation of a charity initiative promoting the issue to their generation. We post all the directions on the class wiki and then students comment on the projects of their classmates.
As far as teacher communities, we have library wikis that teachers use to find/share and evaluate teacher sites that could be of value for various KLA and unit outcomes. This has been valuable as we are each able to visit and see the resource quickly. This has been a great way of working together.
Overall, web 2.0 has shown me that there are a plethora of resources that are available and given me an opportunity (and a focus) as to how to use them; providing a reason to give them a try. Since beginning the course I have experimented with a great deal of technology that I would never have considered to be useful or known where to start. My students have been demonstrating a more authentic and engaging experience to their learning. They have also continued to show me new applications for technology in the curriculum which has created a greater sense of community within each of my classes. Students seem to remember the skills they are learning and can creatively demonstrate their learning. It has also started a more cohesive working relationship between myself and other teachers outside of my KLAs as we have been going through the web2.0 course together. We have since shared a number of sources that we continue to find and work together to overcome any challenges we face. This collaboration is visible within the classroom as well, as the students love teaching teachers about techological things since it is such a large part of their lives today. This has been a learning experience that will continue to shape my teaching practice!!!
"Turns out there are a great deal of uses for technology in my classes"
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