Module 1

Greetings!

Allow me to introduce myself...

My name is Alfina and I am creating this blog as part of the Catholic Education Office Web 2.0 course. I currently teach Year 4 at St. Mel's, Campsie. This is my third year out of university and loving every bit of this year.

IT is not new to me, and so are Web 2.0 Tools. At the end of last year I completed a two-year computer networking certificate at TAFE - something I enrolled in "just for fun", and recently my grade partner and I worked on the Multimodal Literacy Project, where we used blogs to allow the students communicate to primary school students in Korea. I have never seen such motivation!

The video on viral education was interesting and so true! The video offered some key questions about how we can use the Web 2.0 tools available to use to our advantage. I like the question (around 1:11) "Is it as democratic as it makes out?" Democracy means involving everyone. Last year, a police officer was invited to the school I worked at to speak about cyberbullying. We talk about exclusion in the playground, but what about on social networks? I know some people who 'pick and choose' their "friends" on Facebook, whereas others add everyone and anyone who wants to "be their friend", regardless of whether or not they know them. You have the power to allow people access or to block people. Exclusion can still happen in this forum, where people are excluded. Its a big thing to be 'cut' from some one's friend list in Facebook or MySpace.

The next video "What's it all about" contained a slide show of Web 2.0 Applications. Previously, an application was software that you installed on your hard drive and could only access from your own computer. This 'revolution' (to use the term from the video) allows the remote accessing of applications, so that you can access your data from any computer. Say goodbye to compatibility issues and trying to find where you saved a file! What most users don't realise, is that all of the data is saved on remote servers belonging to the application developers. If the servers crash, data may be lost. The danger is that users will soon unknowingly rely on others to store and save their data, thinking it is in a safe environment and will remain there forever...

The "Web 2.0 is here video" made me think of one main point. No longer are there 'experts' in society. Web 2.0 tools encourage everyone to contribute and be experts. Experts no longer need to rely on book and magazine publishers to approve their content. People can publish their thoughts and ideas for themselves. It's typical 'free speech', and, in reference to the first video, democratic. The question arises then, how is the content monitored to ensure it is truthful and communicating valid ideas?

Video 4 had a great explanation of Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0. I'm now noticing that some websites are integrating the two platforms together in their websites. For example, the 2day FM website is Web 1.0 based because the company controls the content, yet it incorporates Web 2.0 tools through blogging and Twitter links as well. It's good to realise that Web 1.0 is not yet obsolete.

The 25 Web tools for teachers provided an extensive list of web tools that can be used by anyone, not just teachers. I've used most of these tools before. Of couse, a web browser MUST be number one! How can we use these wonderful tools without one. I was also excited to know that I was using number 3 - a blog, as I type. I'm a Twitter member (a micro-blog), I use email (several infact!), and instant messaging (MSN). I fell in love with Bubbl.us (a mind-mapping tool), in the Easter holidays when I went to an EdNa conference. It's so easy to use and very visual for the kids to follow. I've build websites before but find Dreamweaver a bit annoying to use. I like FrontPage, as it is a Microsoft application like the rest. And of definitely I'm a Facebook member, and can't live without it now!

The iGoogle task was quite easy, as I already had an iGoogle page. I was unaware of setting up my own Gadget, so that was a bit of an experience.

I sign off with images of my iGoogle page, and my Google Gadget. Until next time....

A