Lessons+Learned

At the beginning of this course I was hoping we would be able to build web pages for our classrooms. When I found out we were working with Wikis, I instantly thought, why am I taking this class? I had used Wikis before, and I was not impressed with them. However, I was not aware of the numerous elements to creating a Wiki. I only knew from previous classes that you could comment on a wiki space. While creating this Wiki space, I was amazed at how many different things I cold do. This was very exciting.

Next, was the Web 2.0 Toolbox. This was a bit overwhelming in the beginning, but again, I was not aware of how many different types of tools were out there. I am glad we were required to look through these tools, so that we would be aware of what’s out there. I enjoyed using some of these programs, and hope to be able to use some of them in my classroom. I am excited to be able to let the parents of my students know about wiki space, so they have another way to contact me.

Then, came our learning spaces. At this point in time, I found myself in the “sandbox” discovering more and more information that I was overwhelmed with. I found myself in and out of flow while exploring different tools and trying to embed widgets and links. There are so many different types of files that need to be embedded or linked. I was confused multiple times trying to work with some of these tools. However, I feel fairly confident that I can continue working on these by myself, and find success.

July 26, 2009: I now have found myself in complete scope creep, due to the fact that I did not start a new wiki space to link to my home page. I did not realize that was part of the task. However, it makes complete sense that I don't want the parents of my students looking at my homepage for ED 538, but I wish I would have realized that before today. I also learned today that my Photostory will not work unless the person viewing my Photostory has the program downloaded to their computer.

After having the conversation with Kevin about different types of students in class, it really opened my eyes at how I didn’t provide access to one student that I can think of in particular whom missed out on school so often because of behavior. If I had this knowledge then, I could have provided much better communication while he was at home instead of school. Overall, this class was very insightful. I am glad that I took this course and would recommend it to anyone.