From K-12 to Higher Ed

Since the majority of my classmates are K-12 teachers, it's understandable that most of our class discussions and projects are geared toward the K-12 environment. However, much of what we've learned is also applicable to higher ed.

The first things that come to mind are social bookmarking and personal learning networks. My blog post of June 12 talked about the need to get more efficient at organizing web resources. Lo and behold, the next day Dr. Z and Lois Lindell showed us around Diigo and how to use iGoogle in conjunction with customized RSS feeds to set up a Personal Learning Network. Using those tools to also tap into library resources will come in handy down the road.

Faculty members at my institution, especially those who are actively involved in research, would benefit from setting up a PLN too. They could in turn show their students, who might be lured away from Facebook long enough to learn about an easy way to aggregate information from the web.

VoiceThread could be a useful and interesting tool for faculty to use with their students, such as those in the Modern Languages Department. There are some good examples of using VoiceThread at the college level here, and excellent how-to resources here.

Although Second Life is an amazing place, I think that its learning curve would be too steep. I'll keep my eyes and ears open for opportunities to introduce it as a possibility, though.

When I'm able to come up for air after these two weeks on campus are over, I'll take some time to reflect further on what we've learned in this class that is transferrable to my work in higher ed.

Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hmk/2741404653/sizes/s/#cc_license