The course has offered some great learning experiences working with WebCT, as well as, the Weblog and Wiki.
Completing the activities where we had to contribute to the Wiki was something that was consistent throughout the course. It directly related to the modules we were completing. Many of us found it frustrating not having the same organization we had in the forum, which we were all used to, having taken a couple of courses already. But, I think we all found our footing in relation to going through the Weblog. Also, getting encouragement from our professors helped. They made it known that it was not possible to go through all the postings, but encouraged us to pick the ones that peeked our interests. This helped me, and made me feel more at ease and less anxious about working within the three different platforms.
Our course revolved around literacy. When the question came up on whether the definition should be changed to include digital literacy (from the posts that I read) we agreed that our changing world and view on literacy must be reflected in its definition. Something that many people connected with within this topic was a post Lynnette made in the forum (Digital Literacy and Multiliteracies – Section A) about support for teachers and professional development, especially when it comes to older teachers who are not as adept with technology. It seems to be that no matter which school we are teaching at or which province we are in there are always teachers that seem to not have the will to learn about what is such a major part of their students’ lives.
This has been a very insightful course, with great people and professors. Wishing everyone all the best for the Holiday Season! We made it!
Milena 🙂
Hi Milena,
I think our new culture of interrconnections is still a difficult concept for some educators if not most. Although they may function with digital devices within their own lives, the idea of bringing technologies into the classroom is either feared due to lack of knowledge on the tools or met with a fist, some prefer to remain with they believe “works”. Bolter (2001) claims that the World Wide Web is a chaotic distributed system. Is it possible that this new form of chaos may steer our educators way? I agree that teachers need to be given support, especially for those individuals who have not grown up with these tools in their lives.
Bolter, Jay David. (2001). Writing space: Computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print [2nd edition]. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.