What++I+Learned

Lamb, Ryan EDUC 538 7/15/10 **Lessons Learned** As I increase in age I find it harder and harder to keep up with the pace of technology. I believe my technological skills are satisfactory, but definitely not at the level that most of my students will be at. Coming into this course I was a little nervous that I would have troubles keeping up with the rest of the class, but the class was constructed in a way that I could learn at my own pace. This took the pressure off of me. Instead of being worried about what everyone else was doing, I was able to concentrate on my own material. I will have to admit that I found myself getting frustrated at times due to the lack of direction. At times I felt that I was thrown into the deep end and it was up to me if I was going to sink or swim. In the end I was always swimming just fine. The teaching strategy of the class was “self discovery.” The instructor facilitated the class, but the students were the ones who were really in-control of their learning. I think this is a wonderful teaching strategy, one that I will use often in my science classes. I gained an extreme amount of knowledge in a short amount of class time. The information that I gained from this course will be helpful as I move into my teaching career. Web 2.0 turns the World Wide Web from a passive environment into an interactive environment. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with each other as contributors to the website’s content. These changes to the World Wide Web reflect the same changes that are occurring in the classroom. The classroom has become an interactive environment, where the teacher is no longer the soul contributor of knowledge and learning. Today’s students collaborate, use critical thinking skills, and learn through self discovery. Web 2.0 facilitates today’s learning styles. I am glad that I had the opportunity to take this class and learn the endless opportunities that Web 2.0 carries with it. I am equally excited to install Web 2.0 into my teaching strategy to increase the level on learning for my students. I really enjoyed this class. Out of all the classes in my program I see this course being the most beneficial during my teaching career.