Key words: intrigued, overwhelmed, enthusiastic, uncertain, determined. I have spent the week taking part in some of the sessions (twitter, blogging, curation) and being partly reassured and mostly challenged. I’ve got a pretty good handle on Twitter, I think, but blogging is definitely a challenge. I have done a bit of it, but I stumble over the same thing others mentioned: I don’t think I have anything new to say. So this is definitely a goal for me: start blogging regularly. Doing #etmooc reflections is my first step.
My other significant #etmooc activity is to start getting myself on platforms I have not used yet. So I joined Google+ and set up an about.me page. I don’t think I need to be out there in all platforms, but I would like to find out what works best for me. I love Facebook (for personal — you can never have too many pictures of adorable grandchildren), Twitter (more for professional) and Pinterest (for anything). I’ve tried Diigo but I would like to get more into it. I actually use Livebinders a lot to store articles as well. Evernote and Dropbox are essential, but I’m not as found of Google Drive or scoop.it. As I said, I’m hoping to sort through all of these and find out what fits for me.
Another personal goal is social curation. I have been involved in professional development in many ways over the years and I really enjoy working with other teachers. I retired from teaching Grade 1 in June 2012 but am still working on some projects involving teachers, and plan to continue. I want to figure out how to help and share with very busy classroom teachers who feel they don’t have time to learn the benefits of social media and technology in their jobs. What are the easiest ways for them to start? I am very involved in SmartLearning (Susan Close’s work: http://www.smartreading.ca/) and would love to share this process more online.
Thanks to the organizers and presenters of this course. I”m having fun!
Betty-Ann
