Blogs, WIKIs, VOKI, etc

I have finally bitten the bullet and starting working on my blog. When it comes to technology, I am a bit behind the times and I know that I definitely lack the confidence to implement new things. I think that my husband and I are the only people who don't use Facebook.

This is the first time that I have ever looked at Blogs, let alone create one myself, and along with a lot of other people I was a little apprehensive. But once it was setup and I started messing around with it, I became a little more confident. One example/idea I had of a Blog being used by in schools could involve students researching and documenting their family history.

After I created my WIKI, I was still a little unsure of it all. I had heard of WIKIs in conversations beforehand, but I never knew/understood what people were talking about. The video on Moodle regarding 'WIKIs in Plain English' was helpful for me to understand the concept. The camping example provided was good, because I could see that this concept could be translated to my husband's annual footy trips and social golf club. Next year, I might get him set up on Wikispaces and it will save having so many emails. The video in Moodle on 21st century learning gave two good examples on how to use a WIKI and I hope that I can try something like that. At university, part of the assessment was the development of a business plan for a local business. Due to a lack of WIKIs and emails, group meetings were usually done face-to-face. A WIKI would have worked great in this instance.

VOKI was a lot of fun to play around with. The Nintendo Wii has a similar setting and I can sit there and create around 12 Mii characters in one sitting - much to my family's amusement. I can see these characters working in the classroom to hook students into a topic. Some ideas I had were using historical/political figures to introduce a specific topic (ie Winston Churchill, F.D Roosevelt & John Curtin to talk about their WWII perspectives). I'm sure this idea has already been suggested. Students could also do the same with their assignments. I think that I will let my son have a go at the VOKI software to see what he can create.

While I was a little apprehensive about the technology, I now enjoy experimenting with all of them to see what I can create. I could sit here for hours.

I understand that I need to be confident in using these technologies when I start teaching. From now on, I will be committed to experimenting with different technologies in order to provide my students an engaging and meaningful learning experience.