Thing 13: K-12 Conference

I viewed the session Web 2.0 Tools to Amplify Elementary Students Creativity and Initiative. I found the session to be informative. The instructor’s main point was to let kids explore, hang out with a new tool and then give instructions as needed. Then allow the student to use the tool creatively in a project of their choosing. I found the session to be informative but found it difficult to clearly see her examples. However, this forces me to investigate the resources she used to see how I could implement them with my teachers and students. One tool she recommended was Thinkquest. I liked the concept of providing students with a variety of web resources, asking the students to review several and then choosing one to create a project. This is a different twist for me, usually I dictate the software to be used for the end product and then let the children be as creative as they want along the way.

I liked the online anytime format. Let’s be real — our school days are tight on time so being able to get professional development when it’s convenient for me is wonderful. Not that I want all of my professional development to be web-based and on my own. I do value a balance between web-based and face-to-face.