Module 2 Reflections

I'm thinking a lot about the possibilities of either blogs or wikis to "hybridize" my instructional television course. I like the blog for its ease of use. Blogger.com makes it simple and fun, and I know my students would enjoy both personalizing their blogs and responding to class prompts in this forum. My only problem, as I see it, is with web filters at the schools where I teach.

A wiki might hold more possibility in terms of not being filtered, but they seem more difficult to build; I can't ask students to do anything too complex or frustrating. I need to try more wikis, to see what else is out there.

One disadvantage of teaching via ITV is that my students don't get to know each other very well; they don't have an opportunity to interact and find out about each other to the degree that studnets do in face-to-face courses. A blog would be the perfect "vehicle" for students to personalize, to show who they are, which, in my experience, they desperately want to do.

Reminder to self:
1) Get the list of schools where my course will be offered next year
2) Draft communication explaining my plan and justification for "hybridizing" the ITV course
3) Meet with my principal regarding this plan
3) Make appointments to personally visit the schools to answer questions and establish protocol

In conclusion, I'm very optimistic that a blog or wiki would fulfill my need for:

1) a more efficient method of obtaining student assignments (than the postal service!), thus allowing for me to provide more frequent formative assessment.

2) a forum for student discussion, where all students have a more equal opportunity to participate than they do in the ITV venue

3) a way to build "community" in the class, which I found so very difficult to do in the ITV room.

Thanks, Dr. Datta Kaur Khalsa, for allowing this weekly reflection to be a place for summative thoughts and planning. I so appreciate its usefulness.