Module 9

 I have never been a user of online social networking- I guess it could be disinterest, as well as having kids who keep me up with the latest gossip!! It has opened up new avenues for my family as I now keep up with family overseas and know what is happening. It has also reconnected me with overseas cousins I haven’t seen for years- funny how relatives catch up with you!!  I think Scootle from the Learning Federation is a great website to use in the classroom, especially with a Smart Board. I have not used it much in my classroom but I definitely think I will start using it more.

I had not heard of Second Life before, so I was unsure of the education benefits of it. It reminded me of Sketchup- maybe because of the graphics and colours. The videos showed how Second Life can be used for a variety of things such as a modern way of role playing and visiting places from the past.  I can really see the benefit of using it in High School for creating a “virtual world” for Visual Art and  for drama (just imagine creating design sets, costumes, etc). It could also be great to use in an upper primary classroom and I think the students would really respond well for themed work.

This year Facebook has come up as a concern at IEU meetings as some teachers share experiences of others accessing their “private” space.. Although according to Facebook’s privacy policies, it seems that a lot of information can be accessed. I find that my kids share lots of gossip with me about people we know- for example, who has split up with whom, status of someone etc. This is quite scary due to the public nature of the site and it is obvious that the media has found it a great source of information and pictures of suspects and people who have died. Apparently because a  picture is on Facebook, it in the public domain and therefore can be used without gaining permission.

Twitter is fun and appears very frivolous to me and perhaps a source of light relief. I signed up to follow Danny Devito’s twits!! Ha, ha. It seems good for a laugh, although politicians seems to take it quite seriously with Barry O’Farrell being a constant user I am told. I will reserve my options as to its use at this stage (hey, I sound like a politican!!).

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