Final Thoughts...

I have truly enjoyed completing the 23 Things. A lot of these tools I already knew about - but I had never been forced to consider their uses in an educational context. Some of the tools I can really see an educational use for - the blog, for example. Others, I don't really think I will use in the classroom- Animoto and Facebook come to mind.

The best part of the project, in my opinion, is that it forced me to think about technology in my future classroom. If I were to improve upon the program, I would tighten its focus. There would be less free-form exploration of the internet, and questions that force students to really think about it in an educational context.

The other part of the project I enjoyed was creating a blog. I am surprised that I got so interested in the blog, actually. I had always knew they existed, and I had even followed a few. I never thought that I would create one of my own, however. I guess it just never occurred to me. The process of putting my thoughts out on the internet, instead of just absorbing content from the internet, was new to me.

I think that is the lesson I learned from this project. Prior to 23 Things, I was mostly a passive user of the internet. I read things, watched things, listened to things. I had never contributed to the internet. Now, I have more confidence to put my own thoughts and my own content on the internet, for others to use. Now, I have made the transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0.