It’s the End of the Semester and It's Graduation!

What a journey this has been! I have finished designing and developing the Web 2.0 Tools for Teaching and Learning course in time for the end of the semester! I’d like to personally thank Professor Jamie Kretsch for sponsoring me in this graduate independent study course and her time in reviewing each section of the Web 2.0 Tools course and providing valuable feedback of which I am thankful. I'd also like to mention three books, in particular, that I found very useful and informative: Will Richardson's Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, Gwen Solomon's and Lynne Schrum's Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools, and Reynol Junco's and Jeanna Mastrodicasa's Connecting to the Net.Generation: What Higher Education Professionals Need to Know About Today's Students.

Designing and developing the Web 2.0 Tools for Teaching and Learning course has been a very gratifying experience for me, and I have learned a great deal about Web 2.0 tools along the way. I'm happy that I was able to employ my instructional design skills with technology in such a large, creative educational endeavor. The saying, “the best way to learn something is to teach it” really holds true here. I designed a model that I think will work effectively for educator-participants: learn foundation concepts, participate in exploratory activities that build on the foundation, and then engage in real-world experiences using Web 2.0 tools for teaching and learning in relevant curriculum content areas. In turn, it is hoped that educators will model the use of technology to their "Net Generation" students and provide them with engaging and meaningful experiences using Web 2.0 technology tools to enhance their learning. I hope to have the opportunity to teach this course to graduate education students in the future.

The completion of this course also marks the completion of my graduate program! On May 20, 2008, I will walk the procession with other graduates to receive a Master of Education Degree with a concentration in instructional technology and educational media. This is the fulfillment of a personal dream that began in 2001, while working full-time, raising my daughter, and taking graduate classes at night. If you happen to be at Commencement, I’ll be the one smiling ear-to-ear, as will my fellow graduates!

I began my first blog posting with “life is all about learning.” I’ll have to think about what I’d like to learn next. Well, there was that novel I always wanted to write . . .

(image source: http://www.dorsetforyou.com/index.jsp?articleid=369276)

Independent Web 2.0 Tools Project

I included an “independent project” for participants to complete at the end of the Web 2.0 Tools for Teaching and Learning course. Although there is a great deal of leeway within the specific Web 2.0 tools (e.g., blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, podcasts, and RSS) that participants will experience in real-world content areas that they teach in a classroom setting, I thought it would also be useful for participants to spend some time exploring other Web 2.0 tools (there are so many of them!) and apply one or more of them in an educational context of their choosing. I defined eight additional categories of Web 2.0 tools in which participants could choose for their independent study: multimedia, surveys and polls, social and learning networks, Web-based applications, Web pages, geographical mapping, mind mapping, and mashups. Participants will prepare an independent project proposal, develop the project, and then present it to the class.

As part of my personal research, I found a Web-based presentation tool that I especially liked called VoiceThread. Using VoiceThread, you can create narrated online presentations (slides with audio) and also collaborate with others online, if desired, to record audio “comments” throughout the presentation. Little “avatars” (i.e., pictures) display on the slides as people comment. I had previously worked with Articulate Presenter, a licensed-based software product that I like, to create narrated presentations that can be published as a “flash” (.swf) file; however, Articulate can be costly for the average person to purchase. What’s great about VoiceThread is that it’s a Web-based tool that can be used free-of-charge, and the presentation can be hosted on VoiceThread’s server for public or private viewing.

As part of my personal exploration, I decided to create a VoiceThread presentation for another graduate course I am taking this semester, along with three other graduate students who were in my group. I wanted to do something innovative using technology for our group’s presentation to the class. I also had the idea of using VoiceThread for “digital storytelling/dialog,” instead of a traditional PowerPoint presentation where each person discusses a given slide separately. It was a lot of work and involved a high degree of collaboration, but it was well worth the "start up" effort. I would highly recommend using VoiceThread and will continue to use it in the future!

(image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Computer-globe.svg)