After three weeks, I am still completely overwhelmed by all the tools that are available to use in e-learning. I can definitely say that the more I advance in this course, the less I feel I know. But looking on the bright side, there is something positive behind all this, and it is the desire to learn more and to become familiar with all these tools. I know it will not happen overnight and I am not sure if I will be able to accomplish it before this course finishes, but I am sure I will keep on working to make the most out of these tools.
Looking back
I can say that I have learnt to use different tools.
Delicious.com has proved to be a very effective tool for me, since I normally use three different computers. I tend to bookmark any useful website I come across and it becomes really tedious when I have to repeat the same thing in all the computers I have access to, so using Delicious to bookmark all my favourite pages has been really practical.
I have become familiar with blogging. I had never tried even to create one, I just looked at them without wondering if they would be useful for me or for my classes. During this course, they’ve proved to be really effective. From “7 things you should know about microblogging” I can list some of the uses: - to offer a backchannel forum during live classes,
- to send reminders of test dates and project deadlines,
- to build online community, and
- to offer notification of class cancellations due to bad weather.
- to offer multiple points of view on a topic,
- to conduct research from different library locations, or
- to send a virtual shout-out to colleagues about a discovery or the results of an experiment so that all members can discuss what that means to the project at hand
I have started to use Twitter with a different purpose. Before PP107, I just posted comments as an alternative to Facebook. In this course I have learnt that it can be used as another tool. I have read the article “7 things you should know about Twitter “ and there are some aspects I’d like to comment on. I agree on what is expressed about being in touch with a certain group of people in a shared space, sometimes we do not have enough time to go over different social networks, web pages, wikis or blogs to see what is going on around us, so using Twitter could be an alternative, since you can access it through different means. It is also stated that it enables “interaction about a given topic. Twitter can be a viable platform for metacognition, forcing users to be brief and to the point. “The fact of forcing the user to be brief is something positive, sometimes learners tend to start beating around the bush when writing, and this can be good practice for them.
I have yet to learn more things, it will take some time and a lot of practice, but I am sure I will achieve my goals in order to provide my students with the best.
