I’ve had several shifts.  I’ve shifted some a little of my thinking in the idea of being a 24 / 7 teacher.  I’m really online most of any one day but to stay more fully connected to my students, they need to know that I am available.  I can actually have “office hours” for them and I could be there for any question or concern they may have.  I do lecture at times, but I’ve never been much for that.  I really like the idea of knowledge coming from a conversational point of view.  This isn’t a shift for me except to see it as one shift that many teachers may experience once they truly understand the “new nature” of teaching.  I am reminded that teaching was originally very long, philosophical conversations that Plato or Socrates had with their students.  It is not a stretch for me at all. Perhaps my biggest personal shift is in the area of the social, collaborative construction of meaningful knowledge. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading what my colleagues have written on their blogs and on our class Wiki.  I came into the course not really appreciating blogs and I only understood them from what I had seen previously or read previously.  I only saw blogs as places for folks to vent and rant and rave about whatever topic was on one’s mind.  I was a little more okay with Wikis because another class had used them for several assignments.  I truly do not think they work well for any group endeavor and I think another Wiki site has a better format with better options as far as getting feedback and the like.  I do like Wikis and I can see their usefulness to a point.  Blogs would serve my purpose much better.  There is continuity to them that I can control much more easily.  The content that I would use a class blog for would work well.  I know I could use a Wiki for content but I would have it be individually based.    

In terms of how either has affected my teaching I can only surmise and predict at this point.  I will have a week long summer class in Educational Psychology for my new Chicago cohort.  I am going to set up a class blog and Wiki for them and see which really meets their needs as well as my own.  I think the future of teaching and learning will become even more personal with better and newer technologies that are developed.  I watched a show a while back, on You Tube I think, where Microsoft was showing off their new idea.  It was a coffee table that had a somewhat “liquid” screen that one would only have to touch to get to whatever they needed to look at or work with.  It was fascinating. You already know my view on blogs has radically changed.  For that alone, I want an “A” grade!    I enjoyed making my very first podcast too and I totally see the relevance to using that technology!  Vodcast is another story.  Quite frankly, I don’t know that I’d have time to do that.  Screencasting?  That might be more “real” to me but only because I have so many ppts now that I can rework them into a Screencast if I understand it well enough! 

The more I use a class blog or whatever technology, the more I will see their benefits to my students.  For me, it is always about what will truly benefit them.  I have a ways to go in my own knowledge and I have to practice more.  I’m on my way!  See you.

Sue