Final Course Reflection

This has certainly been a challenging but rewarding professional development course! I

was a bit apprehensive at the start but soon enjoyed using some of the new tools I have learned.

I really like working at my own pace and have the options to explore some stuff. The youTube way of explaining ideas in each module is definitely my way of learning. I found it much more interesting and easier to understand the ideas when they are presented visually in simple and clear manner. This could well be the way most students learn in this technological world!

Nowadays, students are constantly using some sort of digital devices to be connected. The final youTube on the eLearning with the iLE@RN model has explained the concept so well that if we want to capture as many "e"s for student learning, it is inevitable that we use some of these tools in our educational settings. We as teachers have the important role to facilitate the proper applications of these tools to improve student learning and gaining knowledge.

There are still many more tools for me to learn and many new ones will soon be available. If we have an open mind and willingness to explore, they could have positive impact on the learning of both teachers and students!

Module 10

As MyClasses will probably be phased out soon at school, Google sites are good alternative for sharing materials and communicating with students. I will definitely use it to create individual class pages with some of my classes.
Wikis seems easy to use and looks like a great tool to be incorporated into my Google class sites.

Module 9

Scootle has been introduced to my school a while ago. Getting into Scootle from the Catholic school system involves quite a lengthy path and can be a pain at times. However, it is a place rich in educational resources. Every time when I searched in there, it's almost certain that I'd find something useful. I particularly like those interactive activities that can be shared with students.

As someone who is relatively new to all these web tools, I must admit that when I first watched the introduction about Second Life, I was shocked! It gave me an impression that it encourages people to escape from the real world and immerse themselves in imaginative places doing whatever things that they can't do in real life! Having watched the two youtube clips on possible applications of Second Life in education, I realised how narrow-minded I was! Nevertheless, I still think for educational purposes, Second Life is more suitable for certain areas which require imagination and creativity such as humanity, design, technology, arts. As one of the presenters said "it is important not to replicate what is easily done in real life and to transport  it to Second Life". Compared to other teaching methods we are using  right now, I am not sure how beneficial Second Life can be for teaching Science and Maths?!

  To me, Facebook and Twitter are more of a social networking tool rather than using them with students at school. We are advised not to use Facebook with students anyway. Since signing up with Twitter in Module 2, I am yet to find a suitable opportunity to use it with students. Like many others,  my biggest worry is how to make sure that students are using this tool for educational purposes and not become side tracked by others!

I signed up LinkedIn before this course as it was recommenced by a colleague in my previous job. I have not explored much about it but I can see great potential in using LinkedIn for my own professional interests especially in the academic areas. It seems that LinkedIn is one of the most popular web tool signed up by many professionals around the world. It keeps me informed about types of professional activities my previous colleagues are involved in and is certainly a good tool to look up for professional collaborations.

Module 8

Again, this is something new to me!
It certainly is a great tool to safe me time and keep me up to date with things I am interested in.
I can also see it has great potential for use among students and colleagues at school.  To use it properly however, they need to be informed/taught about this tool. I may try it next time when students are doing a class project!

Module 7

Wow! I have always wonder if there is a way to sync all my bookmarks so I could access them from any computer. Didn't know about Delicious and Diigo until this Module. They seem to solve all my worries about my bookmarks. All I need to do now is to start using them and get familiar so that I can introduce them to students doing research tasks. These could also be great tools for organising and sharing resources among teaching staff!

Module 6

This is the most fun module so far! I wish I had learned about Picasa earlier.

Through out the year, we have taken so many photos during all sorts of school events. Picasa is a great way to share photos with the students or colleagues at school.
Just yesterday, last day of term 3, my Year 12 homeroom students first got their VCE jumpers. We took a few class photos with my iPhone. I was wondering what would be the best way to send each of them a copy of these photos. As soon as I have learned about Picasa today, I have uploaded these photos and shared with the students. I will definitely be using Picasa more in the future, organising and sharing photos from excursions, activities, committees etc. will be so much easier!

Not just for work, my own holiday photos too!

Module 5

Bubbl.us, Glogster and Prezi are all new to me. We encourage students to use mind maps in their learning. I could imaging students showing more enthusiasm if I got them to do it on Bubbl.au, especially those in the younger year levels, 7 & 8.
I will definitely introduce Glogster to students next time when we do an assignment. It looks very pretty and being able to embed videos and sound will make the presentation much more substantial and interesting.
Prezi is introduced to the Year 7s in our school each year. I don't teach Year 7s. However, when I teach them in the following years, I must admit that I have not seen any student presented their work or assessment tasks in Prezi format. Wonder why?
  

Module 4

A picture tells a thousand words. Nowadays, digital storytelling is imperative in education. As a science teacher, I think that a good animation/video from Youtube not only clarify some more difficult concepts to the students, it often also give them a much better idea of how these scientific concepts are related to the real world in their everyday life. Sometimes, that is what it needs to boost the interest of some students in studying Science! One issue though is that with the busy life of a teacher, searching for a good video on the web could be very time consuming. Tools like Animoto looks good and easy to use. However, depending on the subjects and topics one is teaching, finding relevant photos to be used in the video may not be an easy task! Nevertheless, it is a good tool to use by students for their project work!

Module 3

I've used Google Docs before to share documents with my Year 9 students. What I didn't know was Google Forms. This could be a very useful tool next time when I organise some events!

Module 2

This is my second blog! I just need to follow each activity and learn...

Module 1

Just overwhelm with the '25 tools every learning professional should have in their tool box' and how little I know about them!