Thinking back...

This has been an interesting semester so far. Spring semester is always weird because it goes by so quickly. If you blink, all the sudden it's May. So it's hard for me to think about the fact that the Web 2.0 class is nearing a halfway point since it seems like the class has just started. Or maybe, it's just that I'm finally getting into a groove.

At the beginning of the semester, I thought that Web 2.0 meant that I would get to hang out on facebook the whole semester. Since I already spend a lot of time on facebook, I figured that this would be an easy class. I was wrong on both accounts, but that definitely has not been a bad thing for me at all.

In the beginning of the class, I had a very hard time getting started. As many others have mentioned in their blog reflection, it was difficult receiving so many emails all at once and there was the sense of chaos in the beginning. Since this also coincided with the beginning of teaching semester, I shut down for a few days. When I warily tread back in, I decided to give it a go and try to go with the flow.

I really disliked the first couple of weeks. I was frustrated with defining Web 2.o since it felt like there was a correct answer that was being fished for that I wasn't hitting on. It seemed like a lot of the work I was doing was just busy work. There really wasn't an aha! moment where this all changed and everything was sunshine and lollipops, but after the initial couple of weeks, things started connecting better for me and I wasn't as stressed.

Where I initially was not looking forward to rating my peers and giving them feedback (since this is what I do all day long with my classes), I now really look forward to reading their thoughts on each topic and seeing how each person approaches a task. There are always things I didn't think of that my classmates are able point out or help me see in action. For me, the best part of this class has been the feeling that I'm part of a community. Whereas in previous classes, I always did the obligatory responses to work, now I feel like I'm getting to know my classmates and understand what they like and dislike on a daily basis. The insights that they have offered me have allowed me to think outside of the box a lot more than I normally would. To be part of this community and to be part of what makes Web 2.0 work has really been great.

There have been several tools that I really have liked and felt that could definitely use them in the future. One of the first was google docs. Although we didn't really use it for long, it left an impression because I hadn't been aware of its existence. Now my department is using it as a way for all of us to edit our syllabi in our classes to be a little more uniform. I also really liked finding out about Michael Wesch and his thoughts on the classroom and community. He provided me with some food for thought when I'm thinking about my students or looking up videos on Youtube. I think I often overlooked Youtube's vibrant community. I also found the fact that the Web 2.0 class being in Moodle to be helpful to me personally. As I'm switching all my classes from Blackboard to Moodle, it's nice to have a student perspective on a Moodle class and see some of the possibilities - I probably would have overlooked the glossary, but now I can see how that might work in a class.

There are also some things that I'm interested in, but I need to play around with a little more from the class. I liked Wordle, but I still need to think about how I might use this in the future. I also really liked finding out about editing the various big Wikis out there (Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikiversity), but it's something I would need to play with a little more and think about since it's still new to me. I'm also still on the fence about blogging- I love to write, but with blogging, I still have to force it, and I tend to drag my feet on it a little bit.

I'm still not too keen on a few things though. I know that CMSimple is suppose to be simple, and for the most part it is, but I don't like it. Sure I have the ability to make a webpage quickly, but not being the admin of my page means that I have to turn to D.I. to change or fix anything that goes horribly wrong. Even something as simple as changing the look requires an admin's download, so I'm not completely onboard the CMSimple train. I also don't really like Second Life. I can see the value for having meetings, but it seems like unless you were with a group of people who are pretty astute at Second Life, a lot of time would be spent making sure that everyone knows how to do everything. I'm sure that it gets smoother the more meetings you attend, but for now, it's just not my thing.

As many others have pointed out, right now it seems like I have more accounts than I know what to do with. I've tried to keep my logins and passwords simple, but right now, I have to go back to my profile on the course every time I need to remember how to get somewhere. Having my del.icio.us bar will help a little more with this, but it's still confusing to know when to post where. As Karyn pointed out on her blog, it might be a little easier if we used each thing (i.e. google groups, moodle, ning) specifically for a couple of weeks and then used another rather than trying to balance all three at the same time, and this would give us a better sense of each.

I also liked many of Lucy's suggestions in her emailed blog, particularly in thinking about the big global picture of it all. Almost everywhere I go now it seems like there is a big push for globalization, and I get more and more interested in it as learn more and see different ways that make this possible. But I still know very little and sometimes have a hard time connecting to things on an international level (as a side note, The Vice's Guide to North Korea [this is a link to part one of three] was one of the most eye-opening things I have seen in a long time).

Overall, I feel like the moments of clarity I have in regards to Web 2.0 as a whole and the new things I get to try out have far outweighed the frustrations that I have had. I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester and what I will walk away with at the end of the class.