This is a reflection post as part of a Professional Development course our school is undertaking.

 This is the final (reflection) post as part of the Web2 Course that our school in enrolled into. When deciding to participate in this course, it wasn’t for the reason of learning about Web 2.0 tools. Rather, it was the opportunity to learn and lead with colleagues. Particularly as our senior school has embarked on a 1:1 laptop program, this movement forward was vital. As equally important is the capacity of teachers in the years leading up to to the senior years.

Although I didn’t gain a whole lot of new information from undertaking this course, I still enjoyed it for a few reasons.

Firstly, by being familiar with the course content, it allowed me to lead other staff at our school in supporting them to utilise ICT effectively for our collective students. We often held “Techie Brekkie’s” where we could come together informally to discuss and share resources and ideas to support teaching and learnings. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and have been inspired by how some staff have really taken this course in their stride to increase their own understanding of current and emerging web 2.0 tools.

By participating in this course, it reaffirmed my beliefs and knowledge regarding the wide range of tools at our disposal, and the myriad of ways to use them. However, one mainstay for me is that it still comes down how these tools are used…for better or worse; as I believe poor pedagogy and the introduction of ICT can at times only amplify the ineffectiveness of teaching and learning.

Have staff developed their capacity to effectively use ICT to enhance learning? Hard to say.

Did the course build confidence for staff in pursuing ICT tools, and expose them to the reality and necessity to harness technology to its true potential? Probably, yes (hopefully!).