Final Course Reflections

I can't believe the semester is drawing to a close and it's time to write my final course reflections!

I have really enjoyed this course immensely. I've had so much fun exploring each of these new technologies and implementing them in various ways. In particular, I've really appreciated the time spent honing my blogging skills. It has been incredibly helpful to kind of be forced to update my blog and comment on my classmates' blogs regularly. It can be tough to make the time to focus on community engagement, but it really is such a wonderful and important part of blogging. I've also found myself focusing more on things like incorporating videos, pictures and links into my posts. I've started making more deliberate choices in labels. I've worked to develop a clear voice. I think my blogging has improved because of this course.

Another part of this course that I particularly appreciated was learning how to create digital stories. I had such a great time creating my digital story and learning how to use imovie. (I'm now more desperate than ever for a MacBook Pro!) This is something that I would have been intimidated to try in the past. I amazed myself with the level of enthusiasm that I had for this project. I happily spent hours reworking my digital story until I was completely happy with it. I'm already planning a few more projects that I'd like to make with imovie. I can't wait to keep exploring with this tool.

I think I pretty much said all I need to say about Popplet, but suffice it to say I see a lot of hours in my future spent on that site!

I managed to accept the loss of Google Reader, and even happily embraced a new reader, and taught our class a little about using Feedly.

I created and implemented a literacy project - with students in Ohio!

We've covered a lot of technologies in this course, and I have enjoyed them all.

In addition, this course has really made me take stock of just how much passion I have for blogging and social media. I have been blogging personally for several years now, but it's something I have always regarded as a hobby. The first page of my iphone is filled with various blogging and social media applications. I check Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest a hundred several times per day. I follow dozens of blogs which I read regularly. I'm a member of several different message boards. I write a book review blog, and I'm toying with starting a Disney fan blog or a personal blog (or both!). I spend a huge amount of my free time glued to my computer. I am always looking for the new great thing out there on the internet, but for some reason I have never really thought in terms of making my love of these various technologies anything more than a hobby.

This course has allowed me to spend a great deal of time further exploring these technologies. It has made me realize that I would like to make a career in blogging and social media. I have recently begun applying for jobs in this field and I couldn't be happier about it. I am looking forward to putting the skills that I have honed in this course to good use both personally and professionally!

What was your favorite part of this course?

Effective Use of Twitter in the Classroom

On the suggestion of my Integrating Technology professor, this week I visited high school English Starr Sackstein's blog, specifically the post 12 Tips for Using Twitter in the Classroom. I was immediately interested in the post because Ms. Sackstein works in a high school English classroom, and English is my area of interest. I also happen to be a pretty big fan of Twitter, so I was thrilled to see two of my passions combined in one post!

I really like the way that Ms. Sackstein describes Twitter as "micro-blogging" - what an apt description! What Ms. Sackstein has done is essentially embraced her students' natural enthusiasm for Twitter, and found a way to harness that enthusiasm and put it to use in her classroom. Each week, she directs students to an article online and then asks that they participate in a chat about the article on Twitter, posting their own comments and also replying to their classmates' comments.

In this way, this teacher has engaged her students and put them in charge of their own learning. She has identified something that her students have a natural passion for, and found a way to integrate that into her curriculum. She simultaneously teaches students the content area knowledge that she needs to cover and increases their literacy by teaching them about the basics of interacting via Twitter.

I love the idea of taking class discussions to Twitter, because I can really see how that would spark students' interest in participating in the discussion.

Have you ever used Twitter in your classroom? Would you consider using it in this way?