Thing 23 - You Made It!

This has been such a great experience for me. I just spent some time going back through all of the "things" that were covered, and I can't believe how much I have learned in such a short time. I think the most important thing I will take away from this class is an increased confidence in working with Web 2.0 tools. Most of the things we talked about had crossed my path before, but I never felt ready to take the plunge and explore. It can be intimidating and frustrating to take on the task of expanding your technological skills, but I found it to be much easier than I thought. I never thought I would be the one who created a webpage for our counseling office, but now not only do we have a page, we have photos, videos, cool graphics, and so much more!

I like that I can now be a person to whom people can come if they want to learn more about Web 2.0 tools as well. There are so many valuable resources out there to help us reach students, and hopefully if I can lend a helping hand to interested teachers, we can really start making a difference. I know that I will continue to delve even further into the tools we have already learned about, and be much more open-minded to any new tools that arise in the future. I realize that I may not use ALL of the tools available to me, but if I can reach just one more student by taking a risk in technology, it is worth it. I can't wait to continue learning about and then sharing information about these wonderful tools. From several videos in this class, I was reminded that kids are so eager to try new things, but they still need a helping hand along the way. I think if students see that we are willing to take risks with new technology, their minds will open up even more to experiencing new things.