Web 2.0 Learning & Reflections

For the on-line conference exercise, I chose the kicking it up a notch session Time to Grow by Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay.

There was a quote at the end of the presentation that I loved, “Focus on the learning, not the technology”. I thought that was so powerful. Made me feel like I was one the right track. I’m playing catch-up from behind, I’m pressed for time, and finding the tasks increasingly challenging- I’d made it a point to stay agile, open, relaxed, positively focused, and expecting best results. I find that I really enjoy meta-cognitive information. For me it’s very helpful to learn about best practices and how to go about improving yourself in different areas and resources to use and guide you through the process.

I think the best way to measure educational growth is by participation and engagement. As long as students, including teacher-students are DOING, I think its safe to say they are learning and growing. I know I am!

Collaborative learning, non-hierarchycal structure, and participating in digital space are all features of a flat classroom. They can be fostered by teachers seeing things differently and showing students how to see things, as well as themselves differently. We can also foster flat classrooms by staying abreast of what’s going on in ways like participating in educational forums, attending conferences, sharing our knowledge with others, and letting friends and colleagues know about opportunities to learn.

Web 2.0 is great for creating, collaborating, and connecting for obvious reasons. The entire format lends itself to collaboration, and this allows people to connect in ways that happen to be not only above and beyond what we ever thought might be possible, but also ways that happen to be very popular right now. We like seeing our pictures and manipulating them and others garnering feedback from our peers and interacting based on certain stimuli. It’s fun. Even on a tool as unintended for learning per se, as face book, I find that I learn a lot just by checking out what my friends have on their mind or find interesting themselves at any given moment. So when it comes to educational resources, that being their intended purpose, you can learn, do, and connect so much.