I have been thinking about this post for days now. It is difficult to find adequate words to describe the impact of this class. If you were to ask any graduate student in this program how many classes they take and pay for that they feel has little real world application, unfortunately, there will be many on that list. However, when talking about how many classes we have taken that have truly changed the way we think about teaching and learning, and really provided us with tools that are directly applicable to the classroom, there are few, and this class is absolutely one of them. Not only has our instructor brought a fresh and real attitude to our classroom, but the objectives of this class have always been clear. We were in class to learn about technology in education and build a blog that discussed our experiences and thoughts about the technologies we learned to navigate inside or outside of class.
The process was interesting, engaging and exciting. I found myself using my blog in a research project at a local high school and as the topic of a research paper for my advanced instructional techniques class. I have found the research on the use of blogs and other web 2.0 tools to be incredibly interesting and validating. I am 100% sure that a blog is something that I will use in my classroom in the future, as well as almost everything else we have learned and worked with this semester. I must also give thanks for my professional twitter account. I would have never been able to fathom twitter as a professional development tool, but it is. I have found myself lost on twitter for hours, following links to other educator's blogs, videos, TED talks and then on to other websites and so on and so on. I have found so much information and insight from twitter, and it is also something I will be using for life.
Ultimately, this has been one of the most valuable classes I have taken at the university. Hands down.
The process was interesting, engaging and exciting. I found myself using my blog in a research project at a local high school and as the topic of a research paper for my advanced instructional techniques class. I have found the research on the use of blogs and other web 2.0 tools to be incredibly interesting and validating. I am 100% sure that a blog is something that I will use in my classroom in the future, as well as almost everything else we have learned and worked with this semester. I must also give thanks for my professional twitter account. I would have never been able to fathom twitter as a professional development tool, but it is. I have found myself lost on twitter for hours, following links to other educator's blogs, videos, TED talks and then on to other websites and so on and so on. I have found so much information and insight from twitter, and it is also something I will be using for life.
Ultimately, this has been one of the most valuable classes I have taken at the university. Hands down.