Sunday 1 April 2012


Inquiry Project Final Reflection
Exploration of Web 2.0 tools for UBC LIBE 477 has been a challenge for this novice technology user.  I once went back to the inquiry proposal for this course I asked, why learn about Web 2.0 tools?  Why experiment with new ideas?  Why move out of our comfort zone?  These are all questions that we Web 2.0 novices ask ourselves. After exploration of Web 2.0 tools, exploring current event topics, and discussing technology topics with my colleagues I believe that I have moved from being a novice to becoming an intermediate and on the way to becoming an expert in my comfort level with technology and my ability to share this knowledge with my students and fellow staff members at my school. 
William Kist in his book The Socially Networked Classroom describes teacher’s technological abilities along the lines of Starbuck coffee sizes (Kist, 2010, 7).  The sizes range from short, tall, grande, and venti.  At the beginning of this inquiry project I was a small or tall in the coffee scope a novice burgeoning on intermediate in the ways of exploring Web 2.0 tools.  My goal in picking my Web 2.0 tools was to move me out of my short/novice comfort level towards or reaching the grande/advanced abilities at the end of this inquiry project.
 I decided to start off easy by creating a Glog on polar bears for my habitat unit in science and writing in language arts.   Another short tool that I used was Make Belief Comics where I created and anti-bullying comic and then had my class make one during our computer time.  These two short tools were very successful in the fact that they were easy to create and worked in their delivery and accessibility to my students.  In the tall area of technology I experimented with Survey Monkey where I created a survey for my class on the effects of bullying on them.  What was great about this tool was that I was able to have my students answers tabulated and I was able to relay their results.  My other intermediate/tall tool was Pinterest the interactive pine board where I explored my interests in education, teaching, and Disneyland.  Pinterest was a great tool for all of the information that can be shared between people that you actually know and people all around the world.  Finally, the grande or advanced tools that I experimented with gave me the most challenge.  Prezi the interactive presentation tool was easy to use but I found it a little time consuming compared to the earlier tool.  The last tool that I used was my Blog, which was my most successful.  I love how when I look at my blog I can see the journey from the beginning of this course to the end of it.  I have learnt an amazing amount of information and expertize through this inquiry project.  I can’t wait to spread my learning to my students and fellow teachers.
            Throughout this project I have been creating projects and activities that can be used with my students now or possibly with future classes.  I told my students that I was creating activities for my UBC class and wanted them to help me play around with them and to tell me their opinions of the tools.  My students were very excited to work with these Web 2.0 tools.  Kist talks about achieving a ‘flow’ state with technology and how “the key elements of these activities is their engaging nature, bearing out one of the characteristics of the new literacies classroom, that new literacies classrooms are places of student engagement”(Kist, 2010, 44).  Through the exploration of these tools my students used” these new literacies outside of the classroom to connect and foster relationships with” me. (Kist, 2010, 109-111). I believe that my students connected with the tools that we experimented with and I plan on bringing more tools into the classroom to engage with.
I have been discussing this course and the course work with my fellow teachers in the staffroom, the hallway, and in our classrooms since I started experimenting with these tools and the idea on technological literacies.  Many of my fellow teachers could be defined as novices, we do not have a dedicated computer teacher at my school.  I shared my experiences with the tools and my classroom experiences with them.  I have explained the Web 2.0 tools and a few of the other teachers have tried these tools out as well.  Computer time shouldn’t be just for playing games, experimenting and playing with Web 2.0 tools can be a worthwhile activity as well.  I personally plan on using my computer time for exploration and learning which can be just as fun as playing a game.
As I have stated throughout this reflection in the future I will continue to explore Web 2.0 tool for my own benefit as well as for my classroom and for my potential future library.  Our students live in a technologically advanced digital world we owe it to them to live in that world as well.  “Our students today are all “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet” (Prensky, 2001, 1).  We need to learn their language so that we can be relevant for them and education.  I plan on creating units where technology is a focal point and my students will have the opportunity to use and expand on their technological skills.  In the future I plan on exploring more Web 2.0 tools moving from the intermediate/ grande skill level to the advanced/venti level.  It’s a never ending journey that I plan on enjoying!


Bibliography

Kist, W. (2010). The socially networked classroom, teaching in the new media age. Corwin Press.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 6. Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky - digital natives, digital immigrants - part1.pdf