Reflection

I have learned so much about technology and Web 2.0 in the past few months that I believe my mind is literally overloaded!

I had heard the term "Web 2.0" before taking my technology course, and I consider myself to be fairly tech-savvy, but I find that I have only skimmed the surface of the virtual world in terms of what it can do for the education sector. I have so much more to learn (and, eventually, teach)!

Technology is continually evolving. The question of how we, as educational leaders, can best keep up with its exponential growth and harness its positive aspects while exposing and rejecting its negatives is one that requires much more deliberation among colleagues.

The power of optimal networking seems to be the central means of conquering this grandiose inquiry. It is not because of one single innovative mind that we have reached such levels of interactivity in "the cloud." We, as a human race, have only made such achievements due to relentless collaboration. It is with this same level of ambition and tenacity that we, as teachers, must find a way to educate our students on how to pick and choose among such a variety of selections while more emerge every day.

Not only are there a plethora of Web 2.0 choices, but once we have adopted those tools, the fun truly begins in attempting to guide our students into synthesizing them in order to communicate an idea.

Furthermore, what happens when, as an educational leader, you come across teachers who are reluctant to get down and dirty with this new technology? What is the best approach to educate the educators so we can reach the students who are already using the technology... but not to its fullest potential?

I am still wrestling with these questions... all of them and more. That's the first step to answering any question though, isn't it? I am excited. I have been charged to help our up-and-coming citizens be civically engaged in a more and more digitally enhanced world. I don't take this responsibility lightly because technology is not going away. It's only becoming more and more integrated into our society and our students (at least my students) have a limited knowledge, let alone proficiency, regarding these tools that are available for free, and absolute game-changers. I've already begun integrating Prezi and ToonDoo into project and presentation options for my kids. It is only right that they see what is becoming possible. Personally, I can't wait to see how they manipulate these tools to their own likings!

In conclusion, it's time for me to throw my ideas out there and see what happens. Thanks to my education, I feel equipped to get out there and learn about as much as I can while collaborating with whos and whats that are already out there to create something new as well! See you in the Cloud!