Final Reflections -week 13

It has been a long journey – one of the most intense yet enjoyable terms I’ve had so far. What a great way to complete my diploma!

The list of what I have learned during the last few months is incredibly long – I swear I’ve never I had so many usernames and passwords to remember! Scrolling through my blog, I am reminded of all my learning moments…

But I would have to say there are two things that are the most important to me.

First is the knowledge that the world is changing and technology is evolving everyday. It is not going to stop and therefore we, as educators, must change and adapt to it if we are going to stay relevant. And more importantly, we must embrace the changes if we are to educate our students and equip them with skills that they will need in the real world. Creating lifelong learners is our main goal and we must create learning opportunties that mean something to them.

Secondly, I’ve learned that I can learn! Sounds funny, but it’s true. Before I took this course, I didn’t know half of these tools, programs, and terms and now…not only have I created a photo album and my first wiki, I’ve also recorded my first ever podcast! All of this play seemed so overwhelming and scary when we first begun, and now I approach each new tool with excitement and confidence that I can learn to use them.

Although this course is coming to an end, I know my learning has only just begun. I will continue with my “can do” and “play” attitude - and I hope I can pass on some of what I’ve learned here to my colleagues and students as a way to support them as learners and teachers in the 21st Century. Who knows...maybe I'll even continue this blogging thing. : )

Lifelong learning…here I come! : ) thanks so much…it’s been a blast! Best of luck to all of you! Rest up, catch up on sleep, visit friends and family...all things I'm really looking forward to!

Reflections on the future - week 13

3.0??? Okay, it's taken me three and a half months to be comfortable with Web 2.0, I really don't want to think about 3.0 yet...especially not at the end of a course! :)

But we all know how fast technology evolves and changes and so I'm sure 3.0 is just around the corner and we will find ourselves having to adapt to the times once again.

As I read this week's article from furturelab and considered the questions in the lesson...I found myself answering with "I'm not sure" or "I don't know" a lot.

Honestly, I don't know what the future holds for us as educators, for schools, and for students...all I know is technology is changing the way we live life in this world. And whether we love it or hate it, technology is here to stay. And even though my parents are part of a generation that (I think) tries to avoid most of it and for the most part are successful at the avoidance...I am part of a generation and profession that cannot and personally, I don't want to avoid it all and be left completely behind...there are some things I really love doing now (even though I swore I wouldn't a year ago!) - like, IMing! Can't help myself now, even though I have to pay for each incoming and outgoing text...I enjoy it too much!

It was only yesterday my boyfriend asked me (after observing me spend 20 minutes texting back-and-forth)"why don't you just talk to the person?" My answer "good point" because our conversation would've been over a lot sooner we were talking to each other...rather, our IMing just dragged out the conversation! :) But still, I can't help it...I like it!


On one hand I am very excited by the thoughts of all the possibilities technology has allowed me to do...podcasting, wikis, etc...How great would that be, teachers, students, teacher-librarians, administrators working together to create an online community that extends learning beyond these walls.

But on the other side of things, I'm left unsure and worried by such questions like "will we need teachers and learning in the future, when information is so easily accessible?" Or the fact that student enrollment in public schools are decreasing and with budget cuts...will we even have a job in the future? Or would all learning be online? And the final thing that worries me is the fact that the world is moving into the 3.0, but our education system does not provide funding to public schools for such changes...so where does that leave all of us?

Anyways, the only thing that I am sure of is the fact that the future will constantly offer changes - some small and some huge - and the only way we will survive and make it meaningful for our kids and our students is being flexible and adaptive!

I will leave you with a blog that was sent to me by a colleague...I thought it was an interesting approach to education...maybe education 3.0?

Reading Reflections- Open Access - week 12

I thought both readings (Willinsky and Esposito) were interesting and brought up some interesting points for us to consider.

First, Willinsky's article...I enjoyed his "nine flavors" of open access and being that I knew nothing about the concept of open access - I thought he did a great job of summarizing each one and what it encompassed.

Why is open access a positive thing? From Willinsky's point of view,it "means a gain in the circulation, exchange and advancement of knowledge" and "[extends]its value as a public good by making it far more widely available" (Willinsky 2003)

He makes a great point! I tend to agree with Willinsky's more positive outlook about open access - I think it's great that researchers are making it easier for everyone to find their work.

But even though I tend to agree with Willinsky's point of view on this matter, I have to say, Esposito brought up a few good points that got me saying "hmm...good point".

So here are some of the points that got me thinking:

- Why would a researcher, who already paid for his/her research, want to pay for publishing it as well?

-Also, academic research papers are just that, they are written for other researchers and institutes. So would there be more readers if it was OA? Would regular people understand it anyways? And if regular people did understand it, would the article be all that scholarly?

Yes, I know, seems a bit snobby and rude to assume that regular people wouldn't understand scholarly language - I'm sure there would be lot of people who could read the article and understand it. But I do see his point - would open access really increase the number of readers?
I guess it depends on the subject matter and how useful and/or interesting the article is.

-His comparison of OA to blogs - is it really that bad? I would think OA articles still should have some kind of peer reviewer...would people really just publish their research in the way I blog?
This would really worry me for certain areas of research - medical research comes to mind! I really want any medical discovery to be peer reviewed before it gets to me!

Anyways, interesting readings...here some additional things I learned about OA:

-that there's two forms of OA - Green(self archiving) and Gold(OA journal and hybrid)

-OA are hosted by different groups - Onlineopen and iOpenAcess are two names I noticed in my exploring

- I unknowingly discovered some OA articles via Twitter - I linked these in my week 9 "twitter unblocked" post.

My Vision for School Libraries - week 12/13

Here's my vision assignment via Glogster and Prezi.