Final thoughts and reflections- Teaching and Learning with Web 2.0

I've got to be honest with you... before taking this course I thought I was doing pretty good with incorporating technology into my lessons.  Rude awakening!  I was wrong.  It wasn't that I wasn't aware of all of these technologies, I just wasn't confident in using them in away that would be beneficial to my students.  I was merely using them as a way to spruce up a lesson, not create something that is meaningful and engaging. I am beyond grateful for the new discoveries I have made in the world of Web 2.0.  I feel much more confident in integrating these tools into daily lessons and have actually already began to do so.  I have been using Twitter, diigo and Youtube regularly since my in class adventures.

I'm excited and eager to share all of these things with my campus.  I'm discussing a formal plan with my administration to create a "tech" team to help me roll out training's for our entire staff and help me discover new Web 2.0 tools and fun effective way to integrate them.

My only concern when it comes to Web 2.0 tools is that we are not a 1:1 campus.  We are actually pretty far from that. So while these Web 2.0 tools are amazing for creating meaningful instruction, it's hard for teachers to get excited about tools that may or may not be able to be accessed when they need it.
Overall, I'm loving the newly discovered resources and hope to continue to discover more tools to integrate into everyday learning.  I've signed up for a summer technology conference and will continue to be an advocate for getting more technology for my campus so that we can use these amazing tools throughout our campus.

Vanity Search Repeat

After seven weeks in my technology class I'm doing another vanity search to see if my digital foot print has changed after becoming more active online through Twitter, Diigo, YouTube, Blogging and several other Web 2.0 sites.  After "googling" my name, in numerous formats, I found that my digital footprint has increased and in a very positive and relevant way.  It truly amazes me that even the smallest changes can change how I'm seen in the internet/digital world.  I'm fortunate that my career and technical advances are being reflected in a way that truly showcase my learning goals and objectives.   I feel that this search is a good way to reveal to our students that EVERYTHING that you put on the internet can be seen.    

I'm attaching this image that I found to show the importance of talking about digital safety and our digital footprint with our students.