And There Was One - My Course Reflections
Here's my last post for this course. It seems like it has been a long time since Haikus and Top-Ten Lists, but as in my favorite style, I've included some bullet point lists and summaries. Happy reading!
Since taking the course, my view of social software changed a lot. Originally, I thought that 2.0 tools were used mostly for personal use, now I can start thinking about how they can improve my work place. Also, I didn’t realize how much social software was already integrated in a lot of my day-to-day tasks! I was most surprised by the quality of interactions with my classmates. I found that blogging in this group not only gave me a chance to talk about professional topics, but to get to know my classmates in a professional way that may not have occurred in a face-to-face course.
Technologies Recommended for Personal Use
Muves
Technologies Recommended For Professional Use
Wiki
Screencast
Technologies Recommended For Both
RSS
Blogs
Podcasts
Mashups
Bookmarks
Suggestions for Improving Learning Activities
- Discussing podcasts and screencasts earlier in the course, perhaps before gaming? I suggest this because of my perceived overwhelming response that people really enjoyed working with them and gaming did not rank as high. Also, I know that I wanted to incorporate it in our presentation but we had to submit a proposal early on in the semester before we even tried these tools.
- Giving extra time for the podcasts and screencasts because some people seemed to need extra time to work the software.
- Instead of having to comment on two blog posts, comment on one and give the option to comment on an article that someone has posted from the previous week. I know it was a resource that I did not use too much. I felt like the structure of the course didn’t really allow for it.
- Bookmark two articles instead of three. Sometimes it was hard to find electronic resources.
- Set up a more structured gaming experience. What if we replaced an Elluminate session with one gaming session?
Drupal was very intuitive to use, especially for adding content. It was nice to have a website dedicated to our course, but I also appreciated not being forced to use every feature in Drupal because sometimes other tools were easier or more appropriate.
Overall, I really enjoyed this course. Firstly, it was really well –designed in terms of content and pace (a nod to Meredith). Secondly, it was completely appropriate for a virtual environment. Thirdly, I would recommend this course to anyone who wants a survey of web 2.0 tools and issues. I would to go back through some of people’s posts and articles because there was so much excellent information made available. I really appreciate working with everyone and hope that they keep in touch or drop me a line some time down the road.
I’m planning to keep a blog and del.icio.us account through the rest of my studies at Palmer --hopefully much longer! Is anyone else planning to continue writing? Let me know, I’ll try to follow it and see what comes of it. If you need anything in the future or want to collaborate, please drop me a line at my personal email or blog email.
Have a great summer!
