Reflection

It was not difficult to pick a topic for my capstone, seeing as I teach in a career and technical center. One of our main goals is to expose the students to a variety of technology and prepare them for either moving onto a college or university or entering the world of work. To prepare them properly and provided them with a competitive advantage over other students, it is crucial that we as teachers are using the most advanced applications as possible. The most difficult part as an instructor is determining which mediums provide the most educational impact, and then deciding how to integrate your existing curriculum in with an advanced delivery method. Facebook is one of the most obvious of all tools to exploit for classroom use. Virtually every student has a Facebook account, or at the very least, is familiar with the website itself. One area that I began to learn about, as a result of this course, was the "groups" option for Facebook. I've learned that it is possible to provide a safe and private forum for students to collaborate with each other in order to enhance learning opportunities. I have found in my few years of teaching that students can learn a vast amount from each other, and Facebook groups make it a painless way to foster peer-to-peer interaction. Through reading many different available resources on social media, I have myself, learned how to make Facebook a secure and safe way to offer collaboration opportunities. After my capstone topic was selected, I began to discuss ideas with colleagues and other friends who are teachers. I was presented with a very interesting website called "Wiggio". I can best describe Wiggio as a Facebook for education. This site will be one of my most valuable and powerful tools in the classroom. It will allow for seamless peer-to-peer communication and contact. Wiggio will also provide my students with access to guided notes, worksheets, extra credit assignments, and power points. This will be especially important for struggling learners and students who have been out of class. Another tool that Wiggio offers is polling and setting up quizzes that can be administered online with instant feedback. This is valuable information to for pre-testing and also to measure how much more in depth I need to extend my teaching. Finally, a provided calendar will help keep the students organized and reminded of deadlines and other activities.
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