Web Tools 2.0 was one of the most beneficial classes I have taken so far. My favorite project was definitely the Wiki/WebQuest project. I feel that they are extremely useful and beneficial for teaching and learning. They offer convenient ways to work in groups, edit and save from any computer, and create the use of higher order thinking.
This course has assisted and affected my lifelong learning goals by helping me realize how important it is to continue my professional development as a teacher. There are constant improvements to technology and new applications to use that are critical to teaching and learning. All teachers should continue improving their teaching strategies and tools to benefit their student’s learning. Web Tools 2.0 have helped me improve these skills.
When I read the topics of each project, I had heard of and was somewhat familiar with each one. However, I was surprised with the various ways to use each web tool. I never realized how much more organized social bookmarking is than the old version of regular bookmarking. I was also surprised at the various ways to use blogging in education. Reading about how students can communicate with professionals from all over the world gave me some good ideas to incorporate blogs in the classroom. It gives the students a sense of reality and insight to those people’s professions. I created a WebQuest for another course I took a couple of years ago and thought they were extremely beneficial in education. However, the YouTube video on wikis gave me even more ideas for their usefulness. The camping trip example was very helpful. Wikis can help anyone collaborate with one another, especially those people who are so busy. Being able to access wikis at any time helps people to organize information with just a few clicks. All of these web tools are much easier and efficient to use because you don’t have to be on a specific computer where you saved the information. By being able to save to web pages, it allows anyone to access it from anywhere and at any time.
If there was another discovery program like this in the future I would absolutely participate in it. I thought the assignments and information in each module were helpful and well-understood. Each module was outlined similarly, making it easy to keep track of where the information for each module could be found and there was no confusion on what was due and when it was due. The professor’s notes gave a great amount of information, including video clips, web links, and explanations. The video clips from YouTube to explain the projects in each module were especially helpful. I learned so much from this course and am taking away many valuable teaching tools. I don’t think there is anything that could be done differently to improve the course. I understood every concept and thoroughly enjoyed it.
