The End is the Beginning

An accurate reflection on my learning during this inquiry project is illustrated in the following verse by Piet Hein:

“Knowing what
Thou knowest not
Is in a sense
Omniscience.”

Although I had “little experience with or opportunity to use these tools” (Author, 2011, p.2) and recognized my lack of experience, I hoped that blogging about Web 2.0 technology would provide the occasion for me to learn more regarding “the tools I have read about and explore in more depth the tools that have piqued my interest.”(p.3) I expected to become an expert with Web 2.0 tools but in fact what I have learned is that I may be ahead of some of my teaching peers but I have much more to learn thus my Steps to Web 2.0 journey will not end here.

This inquiry has become part of the process of creating my Personal Learning Network (PLN). I have been able to access, read, bookmark, save and share countless professional ideas and articles through my slowly growing PLN. Beylerian (2011) tells us that developing a PLN is valuable because ”it’s a global education that you are trying to model for your family and your students.”

I chose to explore Flickr, Thinglink, Audacity, Masher, Diigo, and Blogger (including Google Reader and RSS feeds) but as this blog shows my exploration was extended to include: BigHugeLabs, Jing, Soundcloud, Podomatic, iTunes, Movie Maker (not a Web tool), Tagxedo, Voki, and Clustrmap. I look forward to exploring these technologies further and adding my explorations of new technologies to this blog.

Overall my experience with these Web 2.0 technologies has been successful. I acknowledge that I came across some problems, but these were easily overcome with available alternatives. I foresee that the implementation of Web 2.0 tools in my professional practice will be the area of most frustration and possibly failure but I am prepared to recalculate my route when necessary.

I hope to continue sharing my learning through in school teacher PD, this blog and Twitter and I will encourage my colleagues to create a PLN using Diigo and Twitter in order to keep up with educational thought and practice.
I will be presenting Understanding Web 2.0 Tools with Brenda Roberts on Wednesday February 1, 2012 at the Ontario Library Association Superconference Pre-Conference  sessions.

I anticipate continued learning and opportunities for sharing with my ever expanding PLN.

This post was compiled from Final Inquiry Project Reflections submitted for assessment December 2011