Continuing Personal Professional Development in Web 2.0 Tools

My introduction into the world of Web 2.0 technologies has been very interesting and informative. This class has allowed me the opportunity to explore a variety of Web 2.0 tools, including Twitter, YouTube, Netvibes, Protopages, and Diigo. While I had previously had some experience with YouTube and was aware of Twitter, the other tools were new to me. Over the past six weeks, I have discovered elements of all of these tools that I believe can make them useful tools to incorporate into an educational setting. I know that I have just begun to touch upon all of the multitude of Web 2.0 technologies available and I hope to be able to continue learning more about other tools as I continue my educational journey in both my graduate courses and my teaching career. A personal goal of mine is to never stop learning and with the many ways that technology quickly changes, there will always be something new and exciting to explore. My plan for continuing to learn more about Web 2.0 technologies involves taking advantage of professional development workshops/classes offered through the school district where I work, as well as using the tools that I learned about in this class to keep myself informed about changing technology and explore new tools. There are always various technology classes offered through the regional education service centers and those classes are certainly something that I want to take advantage of. Just this past year, my sister was able to attend one such class that involved teaching educators new apps for iPad that they could incorporate into their classrooms. When I am not able to attend these type of classes, I plan to continue to follow various technology or educational technology (ed tech) resources online using tools like Twitter hashtags, Diigo shared bookmarked pages, YouTube videos links, etc. Using these tools will allow me to keep up with new information related to educational technology and Web 2.0 tools. Most importantly, I think that the best way way for me to continue learning about Web 2.0 technologies is to not be afraid to try new things. While I do not have a classroom of my own at the moment, I hope to secure a classroom position in the near future. Having my own classroom can only further motivate me to continue to learn more about new tools and technology in hopes of using it to transform the way that I teach and the way that my students can learn.