Finally getting started!

Greetings,

I have been putting off doing my first post as I felt I actually needed to have something worthwhile to say that other people might actually want to read. I must admit, I am feeling somewhat overwhelmed with all the tools and information that is out there. Most of it is not difficult to use, it just takes time to find it, learn how it works and see if I can incorporate it into my learning or teaching. However, after having done some of the readings and playing around with suggested tools and sites, I am starting to get a feel for the scope of 'what is out there'. Up until this point, I have dabbled in using technology in the classroom. Now, I am becoming aware of the tidal wave of possibilities that exist for learning and teaching with Web 2.0.

So far, I have enjoyed the big picture presented by Will Richardson in his book, 'Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom'. It was interesting to note that he differentiates between the levels of what he considers to be 'journaling' versus 'blogging'. I also found the article "Old school meet library 2.0" by Laura Brooks. From that one article, I was able to start experimenting with tools like www.suprglu.com. However, it looks like I will need to explore many more tools before I even need a site that gathers my "content from popular webservices and publishes them in one convenient place"! Brooks also talks about Web 2.0 as more of an attitude than a technology. This is very interesting I was stunned to learn that personal websites are already ‘old school’ and blogs are the new way to share information about yourself and your world! I am starting to wrap my head around the idea of ‘static web publishing’ and how it’s evolving into social participation. If Web 2.0 is really more about collaboration and sharing, then the possibilities for education are endless. The idea that education is becoming less 'top-down' and more democratic really hit home with me. Hey! I didn't know that 'wiki' meant 'quick' in Hawaiian and that it's an acronym for 'What I Know Is'!

As for new stuff I am adding to my blog, I see that some of us are using Shelfari, which is very cool for visual learners like me: www.shelfari.com. On a totally minor note, I like the template for my blog, but need to work on customizing the colours a bit. That will come in time. I feel the need to get back to searching and learning more!