Module 6 Blog Reflection

What online resources have you used to improve your teaching, and how do you usually find them?

At the moment I am engaged in a staff training course that will help me become sufficiently proficient in using available online tools/resources in education. My aim is to master these tools/resources adequately in order to be able to use them comfortably in my classes; I am excited about the skills I am gaining and looking forward to using an array of online resources for actual teaching purposes. For my own purposes, while practicing the use of these tools/resources, I have checked out some sites and tagged them, using Delicious; my next step is to classify this material so it is more organized, and therefore, easier to use. I am now using Google Talk on a daily basis and find it faster and more effective for communication than sending emails. I also feel that when I become more proficient, I will be able to use online tools for organizational purposes (e.g., shared calendars) and for improved communication with my colleagues and the students (e.g., shared documents). I am considering student use of Glogster with embedded media such as animations, audio and video, to create posters and presentations for a humanities project and to produce an informative e-portfolio, and teacher use of Glogster to present motivating/stimulating introductions to lessons. As my level of confidence in tinkering with amazing online tools such as Prezi, VoiceThread and Podcasting develops, I see myself using them not only to engage student learning, but also for my own personal and professional needs.