As I do not have my classroom (at date of writing) this week’s seminar exploring of online communication tools didn’t have a lot of practical context for me. I was glad that the other members of my cohort shared so opening and honestly about their experiences, as I feel I learned a lot from them.

I did enjoy participating the Twitter chat (#bcedchat) as it provided me with some valuable professional networking and exposure to different people’s opinions. My successful participation in the chat also encouraged me to reply to a few tweets from people I follow this week, which has increased my appreciation of Twitter as a sharing platform in addition to a networking platform.

Sharing on Google+ was a less transformative experience for me. Although I do receive updates when items are shared in the OLTD cohort, I sometimes find the sheer volume overwhelming. That in itself is a helpful lesson for me on how much can be too much for students. It is also good for me to gain some experience with the Google+ platform, as prior to this course I had not used it, but I still see it as more a bulletin board of interesting articles and links then as a tool for collaboration and networking.

As one of my missions in teaching is to create an appreciation for Science and develop scientific literacy in students, I am very interested in using collaborative tools, such as discussion forums and wikis, to help students develop meaningful dialogues and produce materials that can be presented the the greater online community. I feel like microblogging and blogging would be a safe way to begin working on collaborative skills with students, and help them gain confidence with online tools.

Before I adopted any tools in my classroom, however, I would need to carefully consider who my students are and what their level of comfort with different tools may be. I dislike the term “digital natives” as I feel it can give educators a false sense of the skill levels and understanding student have in using digital tools. Any tools adopted would need to have a relatively low barrier to use, and I would need to be fully prepared to support students as they learn the tool – or have someone available who could.

I think the successful adoption of tools really depends on the understanding of what they are being used for and who is using them primarily.

Reference:
Kear, K. (2011). Online and Social Networking Communities: A Best Practice Guide for Educators. [Kobo Version]. Retrieved from http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/online-and-social-networking-communities