Thing #23: The End of the Beginning

This class has been a great "kick-in-the-pants" for me, giving me the guidance, motivation and accountability I needed to discover some of the tools available to me as an educator. Beyond discovering these tools, I was "forced" to actually practice using them... and of course once I did that, those tools were no longer so intimidating or scary.

My favorite discovery is not technically one of the "23 Things", but I was led to it while setting up my RSS feeds: the Google Account. I think it's so handy to have everything in one place: RSS feeds, my dashboard, my blogger account, documents, etc. It's user-friendly and provides an efficient way to navigate to important websites. I am also enamored of RSS feeds, because they help me to keep informed, and the NetLibrary, because it helps to feed my addiction (see Thing #22).

Blogging was a great exercise, because it made me process what I was learning, and also motivated me to learn how to download photos from my camera and imbed other images and videos from the web. While these last two skills were also not technically part of "23 Things", this class motivated me to learn them.

As far as actually using these "Things" in the classroom, if I was a "regular" (as opposed to a substitute) teacher I would definitely create a class wiki. I think its capacity for student input makes it superior to the more traditional website. In my personal life, I'm so happy to have learned how to (a)upload photos from my digital camera to my computer, and (b)share them through e-mail or other sites (instead of asking my husband or son to do so). Not rocket science, but for some reason I had resisted learning this skill!

Yes, I'd take another "dicovery"-type class. I'm always intimidated by new things and change, so it helps when I have someone to "hold my hand". As far as improvements to the class, I would have enjoyed an opportunity, on the first day, to meet my classmates in a room without computers, where we were all facing each other, without the distraction and physical barrier of our terminals. I am a very "relational" person, and I thrive on the interactive aspect of the classroom. I think that a more intentional approach to building a sense of community in this class would make everyone feel more comfortable with each other, and also enhance our sense of camraderie when interacting online.

The bottom line: this class dragged me, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century and the world of 2.0 Learning... and for that I'm grateful!! Many thanks to Carol and all of my classmates in this semester's "23 Things".