Learning about Web 2.0 has helped me to understand the progress of technology and the plethora of tools that are out there. My mind has opened to the possibility of using Skype, Google Hangout, Glogster, Voicethread, and Wikispaces with my students.
I am applying some already too! The big down side to this though is FIPPA and PIPA. I think this is being looked at more closely by SD57 because they are the ones telling us to use technology with the students so they have the technology skills they need to compete out in the working world, but at the same time the techie tell us no to using Web 2.0 with students. Since Hillary brought this concern up at an earlier Google Hangout night, I have looked further into this. I thought that a letter home to parents so they are aware of what the kids are using for technology at school was enough for consent but it is not consent I need to worry about. The concern is that our information is stored off of Canadian soil.
The other concern is my students’ ages. All are 12 and under and this is really confusing. As an educator I think we are really getting mixed 
messages about what we are to do.
messages about what we are to do.
So while I feel the pressure to perform and open the school world to these tools to kids who are digital natives, my hands may be tied for doing anything because of student age or privacy protection acts. The messages about the use of technology in Canada and for my age range is so confusing and in conflict with education and policies.
So I have decided to continue with technology, realizing that I do not have tons of time to tech it anyway since I am largely helping students find books, checking out and discharging books and talking books. I am using sample letter from Will Richardson’s opening in his book that helps one to write a letter to parents for permission/consent for students to use technology such as Wikispaces and Voicethreads.
Right now, I am using technology with my students in a small way, where they are directly in the act of blogging or creating Voicethreads. In the next five years, I see myself as becoming more competent in using these Web 2.0 tools and stretching myself further with each lesson. I am not by nature a person who repeats the same lesson over the same way.
I also step outside of that safe zone and try something new. Already, I have been playing with Glogster and I want my next set of students I have for enrichment to play with it too. We could even make a Voicethread and put it into the Glogster! The possibilities are crazy and exciting.
As an educator, I have found that finding ideas on the internet through collaborative links a great resource for getting ideas started when I am feeling off the mark or looking for new ideas. Richardson explains that teachers no longer have to work in isolation. We can now share our ideas and experiences collaboratively and on a world wide scale to help us become better informed and more effective teachers. Whether it is LinkedIn or Edublog or some other Web 2.0 tool we are able to come together and find others with link interests so we can help each other.
Personally, I am starting my own art blog or webpage in the new year. I could start simple with just starting another Blogger site but I am tempted to get fancier and more professional looking. I tell people about this course and my future goals for teaching technology and about creating my own site and I have had a few offers of help. The school tech lives and breathes this stuff and is willing to help. Another teacher and friend from another school in my district is also willing to help me. This course is just the beginning of my exploration. In the future I will have more time to explore! My site will be more scanning and downloading photos of my art than embedding and linking though. I need to explore Flickr and Picasa more for this venture.
My vision of the future for technology is that it will be much more advanced and “embedded” into us by 2020. I think that were we are now is just a wild playground of ideas that will gel into something more universally used. Where we have tons of different gadgets, such as laptops, iphones, tablets, cell phones, etc., we will have one or two main stream devices. There are so many devices for technology out there that eventually a couple larger ones will win the favours of the majority.
At this time we are creating many different things to test what can be done. We will always do that but it will be the additional things we add to our devices that will become the more powerful tools. Already we are adding virtual tools to our computers but what about physical tools besides a mouse or headset? On CBC Radio, there was a show about the use of telekinetic power to replace buttons. Stacey Higginbotham claims that we will soon be using headbands, or potentially a device called Muse that allows our hands to remain free while we send brainwave messages to our laptops or cell phones. Already this technology is being used for people with prosthetics or kids with ADHD. I am excited about this possibility though I am a bit afraid we will all be walking around looking 
like Lillian Vander Zalm (Okay she looks good but...) 
or babies. Hummmm …
like Lillian Vander Zalm (Okay she looks good but...) or babies. Hummmm …
Bibliography
Higginbotham, Stacey. " Mind over machine: Use your brainwaves to control your computer — Tech News and Analysis ." Gigaom GigaOM . N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2012. http://gigaom.com/2012/10/22/mind-over-machine-use-your-brainwaves-to-control-your-computer/
Richardson, Will. Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press, 2006. Print.
Library Thing is about me watching everything. I like to read the reviews, see what is popular, and things like that. I use it to check out books people recommend or are talking about. I follow a couple of my friends and they follow me. As soon as I added “steampunk” as one of my pin up interests I had a few other people suddenly follow me! Interesting. Largely I am a watcher of the sites and do not attempt to connect with other people. I talk about things I see on both social networking sites but that is in person or on the phone.