Overall I have found the Web 2 course enlightening. The challenge now is to take this "taste" of the available tools and turn it into a full teaching "menu".
The main fustration is the lack of PD time to properly incorporate these tools into the programme. I would like to see the English faculty given a realistic block of time to divide up the programmes for each year and develop E learning resources for allocated units of work.
If individual teachers could take ownership of one Web 2 tool they could then mentor others and provide ready made lessons using the technology.
As a Special Needs educator many of these tools are particularly exciting given the technology's ability to engage the learner and the capacity to differentiate without adding greatly to the workload of teachers.
Students are frequently able to work at their own pace and at varying degrees of complexity. Glogsters were a fabulous tool to engage my year 10 Life Skills students who felt a sense of success using this method to showcase their knowledge.
It is important to understand though, that Web 2 technology is of little use without meaningful pedagogy. Poorly constructed lessons are still ineffective even if they are delivered through Web 2.
I have commented on Janine Timillero's blog
Jane, thankyou for your insightful course reflection and blog posts. As the course goes on it is easy to be overwhelmed and forget what has gone before. You reflection and blog posts I found were very concise and really gave an overview of what has gone before. They have captured for me the important points of each learning module. I will be reading this blog again in the future.
ReplyDeleteThanks Colin