Reflections on B4B Weeks 1 & 2

As I mentioned, this year I joined a few EVO sessions, but I've been most active in Blogging for Beginners. Here are some reflections on the first two weeks of the course.

The weekly tasks and activities have really opened my eyes to the possibilities of blogging in an educational setting. I've seen some great examples of class blogs, explored different blog hosts, and read several informative articles on blogging. The academic year has just come to an end for me, but I'm already brainstorming ways to use blogging in my classes next year (maybe for responding to literature, reviewing movies, or sharing cultural information.)

Above all, this workshop has connected teachers all over the globe, and we've been communicating asynchronously through Yahoo!Groups and e-mail and synchronously at Yahoo!Messenger and Alado. In fact, we had so much fun interacting at the last Alado session, with participants from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, U.S., Ukraine, Morocco, Japan--what an international group! Listening to the conversations, following the text messages, and trying synchronized browsing were real eye-openers! Plus, I've had the pleasure of visiting and commenting on many new and interesting blogs written by educators, students, and others. Even though sometimes I feel overwhelmed by all the information and interaction on different platforms, I'm impressed at how much knowledge and experience has been shared, and how much everyone has learned through the contributions of all the group's members.

During the first week of B4B, over 700 messages were posted to the group, and I created a summary of these messages on the group wiki and bookmarked all of the links mentioned in the group's Blinklist. Although these were difficult tasks, I learned that anything can be done when you have fabulous people to help you along the way: Gladys and the moderators were there to provide instructions; Nina in Ukraine inserted all the photos on the wiki page; and all the participants shared their ideas in the messages! It was a great opportunity to get deeply involved in the workshop and to contribute to a group that I've already learned so much from!

Two of my favorite quotations are "Nothing great has ever been achieved without enthusiasm" (Emerson) and "Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it (Anonymous). This enthusiastic and busy group is certainly achieving many things! I'm looking forward to the remainder of the session!