So here I go with my first official blog. I'll have to admit right from the start that if I were not enrolled in this class there is a pretty good chance that I would have never had a first official blog. Being a big sports fan I frequently cruise the web searching out blogs that have opinions and rumours from the sporting world but never thought about creating my own mostly because I wasn't sure of what I would talk about. I am happy that I joined this class and now have the opportunity to join the blogging world sharing my thoughts with the my classmates and who ever else stumbles upon this site. After only a couple weeks of classes and two different presentations I believe that blogging could be an advantage in my career moving forward. I think it will be a good tool to use in my class to post a number of different things from class info to due dates and everything in between.
I look forward to the rest of the term in this class gaining tools and experience from different aspects of the internet. After only 3 classes I have taken in some good insights from both our presenters. Mr. Evans seemed like he was quite passionate about his work and was excited to present his thoughts about personal learning networks. I think that developing a personal learning network could have a lot of advantages for a teacher. I liked how joining very simple websites can open up so many opportunites to so many resources. When you join twitter and other social networking and bookmarking sites you can see so many different ideas and resources posted by other teachers. I am happy that I will be able to look to these sources as I enter the profession and get as much support as possible while gaining experience in the field.
Howard Griffith also did a good job of outlining the details of online learning. I was surprised to see the statistics that showed how a combination of web based course work and face to face time resulted in higher marks. I think that online learning can have its advantages for a number of different people who aren't able to attend classes or don't have the resources available at their school. The Internet has become such an important tool in our society and it is good that we are able to take advantage of it in education. I will admit that I do have concerns with some aspects of social networks that take away some of your privacy but overall I am in favor of Internet use in education.
Annnyways I am happy to get my blog off the ground and running and look forward to the rest of the term in Internet for Educators.
Stay Tuned......
Very true how joining a few very simple websites can provide you with soooo many opportunities to learn. Its so easy and you literally have hundreds and hundreds of resources at your fingertips when you use the sites to their advantage. I agree that this will prove to be very valualbe as we enter the field of teaching and the support will be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI was unable to attend thursday's presentation but that is interesting that Mr. Griffith mentioned that the statistics demonstrated that a combination of web based course work combined with actual face time resulted in higher marks. After reading about WBC I can certainly see how they can be valuable resources to teachers and provide opportunities to students that may otherwise not be avaialable.