Final Reflection

Well I certainly feel I have seen so much this term when it comes to technology. Our Web 2 course at St Kevin's has been made possible by the enthusiasm of one person... Amanda Smith, who thought it would be a good idea to work together as a group. Time, like in any school is very tight and precious and I know I have struggled throughout the term but the support has made all the difference to be up to my final reflection.

There are so many things I could discuss. We are living in a different age. It is an information rich age and we need to use this to our best advantage. I do agree I probably thought that technology was just learning how to use a new application but I do see now that elearning is not about the electronic as such but about Engaging our learner and we still have a lot to learn about this. I like all the E words.... Evolving, Examining, Emerging ...but there are still a lot of questions and as a principal I need to think about do I Engaging learning environments, am I giving enough time to this whole area to help really get teachers on board..... have I considered how our school will embed Catholic values into elearning? and what priorty am I giving to a whole school plan for elearning.

The course has certainly highlighted the wonderful world of sharing (which certainly wasn't emphasised when I started teaching and I'm not THAT old!!!!) All the modules held interesting applications. Google docs, glogster, I love my blog and I have enjoyed seeing many others, flickr is great and I think the whole set up of the course is excellent, easy to navigate and highly informative and supportive... an outstanding resource for all. I have to say I love my iGoogle page... my husband asked how to feed the turtles the other night!!! Google reader is very handy etc etc. The scariest part was in module 10 when you go to the 50+ tools and just see what you still dont know about!!!!. Having Blooms Digital Taxomony on the site is great and something we need to incorporate into our documents.

I was reading an article from Education Today about Moodle (Term 3 2010) and the author talks about students processing at "twitch speed' which means they are not used to waiting and wondering. They are always testing and trying. They enjoy random access and can jump from page to page. They believe learning is interactive, fun and challenging. They stay connected and are used to finding information they want or need.

We need to be aware of this and stay connected to our students. Teachers matter.. we need to challenge our students to be reflective and creative and responsible. If we share together we will build powerful learning communities.( I believe we have done that in a very simple way by all working together to support each other through the course)We need good teaching and learning!!!! Technology is just the tool.

I have enjoyed the course. I am not a digitally confident person but I have certainly developed my skills and understanding through this course. I am a firm believer that we need to have a strong understanding of technology to continue to support teaching and learning. The information isnt going to go away or get any less!!!! I remember watching a "What if" youtube at least three years ago and the information on that was pretty amazing. I have been following the blogs from people at St Kevins, one such blog is stkamanda.blogspot.com and I have looked at a couple of others, but i have also commented on Kathy Barkers from Holy Spirit, Kathy-journey.blogspot.com. I havent commented on it yet but I have become a follower of Mark Rix blog for the Cannonisation!!!!!! I was most impressed with myself for that.