What a journey this semester has been! At first, I must admit that while I was excited to interact with others interested in social network learning on a professional level, I had a few reservations about how this might work in a live classroom. (I’m waiting to try it in real time though…)
It was fun to begin sharing resources immediately in our course Diigo and to begin to set the foundations for a broader PLN by following new hashtags and other professionals using Tweetdeck. Both made filtering the influx of information more manageable. While I thoroughly enjoyed the Twitterchats for just-in-time PD sessions, I wasn’t a huge fan of the webinars, but that was mainly the limited availability and ways in which the topics applied to my field. I think that I will be on the lookout for more relevant sessions on Twitter in the future. Most interesting was the reputation management portion of the course. Exploring the depth and breadth of our digital footprints is important and something worth sharing with ALL students. It definitely teaches us that there is such a thing as oversharing and how it can potentially harm your future. I look forward to finding a way to integrate this activity. Curation was a unit that seemed like second nature as teachers have done this in and out of the digital context. However, I think this is definitely a practice I want students to begin in my freshmen courses. It could be a reference that is accessible all throughout their secondary years, if they utilize it. That unit definitely had me in my creative zone. Our last units dealing with implementing social networking into instructional units was a true opportunity to put some of these ideas into practice. Considering my initial reservations on this topic, I see why it was the last unit of study.
Lastly, I want to address the use of blogging throughout the course. Reflection is an important aspect of the learning process, and I am so glad we have had these posts to harness our thoughts to share with the public. It was my favorite aspect of the class, but then again, I do love to write. I love to express my ideas creatively but, more importantly, with voice. I began my blog last summer, and I have not been as up-to-date as I had planned. And, if I have to give myself a blog grade, I’d award myself all the points possible as I have put so much effort and thought into crafting my entries. This course has given me an opportunity to get my writing gears going again, and I hope to encourage my writing class to do the same.
In closing, I must say that I have enjoyed the interaction, the growth, and the ideas this term.