The end of New Beginning... A start of a New Chapter!

Hi All,

It's our last week together! Gosh!! Mixed feelings!! Glad that it's ending so no more datelines to catch and no more stress trying to get internet access! SO SAD!!! As I know that it'll be so difficult to keep in touch but we will try won't we??!! I will definitely try! I have learned so much from so many helpful, knowledgeable and sincere friends and teachers!! I thank you all for being who you are and being there always!

This course has help me look at things differently! I have definitely benefited from being part of this course!This is my FIRST online course ever and I look forward to many many more! I really feel like a student again, having to meet datelines and to complete tasks and assignments! This really keeps me young and wanting to learn more. Yes! Jodi, you are right I have more to learn and I can't wait to. Though it is my first online course ever, with the help and guidelines given by everyone, have made it an easy first time for me!

To share a little secret with all of you, among all my colleagues, I am considered one of teh most IT savvy person in my school. But I am obviously not! I am so thankful to be selected to be part of this wonderful course. Through this course, I got to know so many new online tools. USEFUL online tools!! I think from week 1 itself I was already expose to google document and wiki! Geezz... I heard about them but never knew what were they for and never had anyone showing me how I could use them. As we progress, I learn even more useful tools like blackboard, ANVILL, Rubistar, Blogger and many many more. I would need to look at the class wiki again to list down all those wonderful tools. But most of all, I think I got to explore some of them and thought of how I could use them in my classroom to enhance or help teaching and learning more effectively.

Being back to school was great as I got to read, understand and respond to articles, journals, papers and others. I must say I it made me feel intelligent! LOL! I always love to read other's work, especially those related to my profession. Like the article on MI... I've learnt that when I was still a teacher trainee. It's not something new but it was definitely great to 're-visit' it again! To read it again at this age and with working and real-life experiences, I could make sense of it better and I could think of ways how I could use it with my own students. The articles about how technology can help with teaching in the classroom were definitely mind-blowing for me when I first read it! Yes I knew how I can use It to help enhance my teaching. But what got my attention was that it's no longer confine to the 4 walls of the classroom. IT or technology has brought teaching to a different level. It can now happen in virtual space!!! WOW! Isn't that amazing??!!!! Yes! That is what all of us having been doing for the past 10 weeks! Learning in a virtual classroom! I love technology and now I love it MORE!

I hope and I will do my very best to use the knowledge I have gained from the course in my teaching from now on. LIke I said, there are many useful tools out there but as teachers, we need to explore and evaluate them before introducing them in class. In my report, one of the tools I hope to use is Blogger and I agree totally with Jodi that I may want to save that for a more advance class rather than using it with my really weak students. Jodi suggested that a simple WebQuest would be more suitable with my weak class and I think that is just what I'll do!