End of Course Reflections

Let's revisit my personal goals for the course:

(1) Utilizing Web 2.0 technologies for personal productivity so that I become comfortable enough to then use them with my students/teachers.
(2) Re-train my brain to be electronically social in addition to being electronically savvy.

Goal 1:
I began using Web 2.0 apps solely for this course. Throughout the seven weeks since being introduce to Web 2.0, I have begun seeing real-life applications for them, especially for blogging. I believe that I will choose blogs to be my tech integration focus for next school year. I am initiating an electronic collaborative among TAKS specialists and reading specialists this summer. We will be studying and communicating about integrating math and literacy. I'm very excited!

I plan on introducing blogging to my staff in the fall. We have a school-wide science fair coming up in the fall, and blogs would be such a superb way of showing students how part of the scientific process involves communicating with others. We'll probably use Gaggle's message boards, but we may be able to use an educational blogging site. I'll research it.

In addition to professional uses, I have begun a second blog of a personal nature. This will be used by myself and perhaps by my doctor as we go through the weight loss process. I've been with this doctor for a few years, back when I lived in Richmond, and it is always a real pain finding a new one. We still have phone appointments a couple times a year, and this would be a great way for her to see how things are going.

Goal 2:
I am not very social by nature. But, I did sign up on Facebook. I have started visiting my Facebook site every couple of days as a way of keeping track of old friends and colleagues. The stupid quizes bother me, as do the ads. But, it is nice to see how everyone is doing and what they're up to. I'm going to try to keep it up. I don't think there's any danger of overuse.

I'm not interested in living in an virtual world like Second Life. I may visit occasionally so that I'm familiar with it. I have too much to do in the "real world." I do subscribe to a blog of a mother who goes undercover in Club Penguin, which is like Second Life for kids. I am keeping up with the psychosocial implications of CP on kids' development. Interesting stuff.

I think that my blogging will be a way of reaching goal 2 because it involves communicating with others, just not in realtime.