Well, what a journey this has been - a huge learning curve where I've been taken right out of my comfort zone! At times I have been overwhelmed or frustrated and at other times excited about the seemingly endless possibilities. With some modules such as glogster and bubble.us, second life and scootle, I could see immediate applications for my young charges; other modules were more useful for me as an educator, such as delicious and google docs; and yet others like facebook just made me feel I have finally been dragged into the 21st century!
Using ile@rn and blooms digital taxonomy models really puts the Web 2.0 tools in perspective. I feel Second Life would fit into the area of creating. Flick'r could be used at the applying and analysing level and mind mapping, being fairly straightforward would be at the understanding level. Our school uses Blooms to differentiate our programs. The Blooms digital taxonomy map is very helpful, particularly the new verbs and where they fit into the world of technology.
My only reservation is that the use of technology might become the 'be all and end all' instead of a useful and engaging tool. Many children will benefit and become more engaged in their learning, but all children are unique and learn differently and some may not learn best this way. Although it has been proven that short term memory and IQ scores have increased across the last decade (attributed, in part, to use of technology); when you gain in one domain, you often lose in another. In the UK children spend 900 hours a year in class, 1300 hours with their family and 1900 hours on screen time! (Baroness Susan Greenfield 2010). We must be careful that children do not live just in the moment, but are exposed to deep thought and consequences. Screens have only visual and audio - they are not a real experience. When speaking face to face, only 10% of understanding comes from words; the rest is attributed to body language, eye contact and intonation. We want our children to be exposed to as many different tools and skills as we can - role playing (in person), illustrating, speaking, writing with pencil and paper are also useful and necessary.
Having said this, technology definitely provides opportunities for learners to continue to communicate, collaborate, question, reflect and think critically and creatively, just in a different way. After all learning is always evolving and it is the world our children will grow up in, so we must prepare them to get the best from it. Susan Greenfield described it as the machine versus the garden. We need and want the machine - it helps and enhances mental processes, it engages and motivates, it is the here and now; but is this offset by the deficit in true understanding and deep thought, empathy and care about consequences? There must be a balance.
This course has been a challenge, and an eye-opener. I am grateful for the opportunity to experience it and know I am better for having become an e-learner. It has kept my little grey cells active and now I am motivated to keep more in touch with our ever-changing world.
Hi Diane! Its so nice to see someone such as yourself appreciating the Web 2.0...You are right, learning about Web 2.0 is a huge learning curve and i suppose our roles as teachers is to keep up with the times and constantly re-educate ourselves as the world is changing and so would knowledge. One day one method of teaching will be acceptable and then the next year its old! I guess its as similar as doctors always revising their practice as doctors by constantly going back and educating themselves and studying new knowledge. I suppose it would be the same for teachers and where technology is heading that now is the time to fuse both education and technology together as effective learning in a classroom enviroment. It was bound to happen one day I Guess ! :)
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