My exploration

The following are extracts from my homework forum question where we had to discuss our explorations of the tools presented to us in Workshop 2:

• Skype: I have downloaded skype and have it working on my computer. I know we won't have permission to use this at TAFE but I still think I could talk to some of my students from home if they miss a class or need help prior to major assignments/tests etc.
  
• Wikis: I have set up a wiki for myself and jotted down some ideas I have been having about a project at work. I have also spoken to my manager about us using wikis for agendas for meetings so everyone can have some say (anonymously) about what we want covered at staff meetings. For students, ? use it as a brainstorming tool to find out what students know about a topic and maybe getting lesson feedback about what was good or bad about a topic and what they need extra help with???
  
• Live classrooms: I haven't managed to set up one of these for myself yet because THEY ARE BLOCKED ON THE TAFE NETWORK!!!!!! Elluminate was impressive when I got to see it in action at the Tapping into Social Networking for E-learning Online Event. It was possible for everyone to interact with each other in a number of ways, eg, voice, text etc.
  
• VETSA classrooms: I have using forums in an online classroom I have but haven't had any responses from students except for a very funny one from a student who had been busy celebrating our victory in the world cup the night before and couldn't come to class. I did have one other student who added some useful links but interestingly enough it really just ended up being a way for me to communicate on mass to the students and they seemed happy enough to get the posts emailed to them.
  
• del.icio.us: This is a place for keeping your favourites and sharing them with others.
  
• Podcasting: Attended an Apple podcasting in education seminar this week which was awesome. I think our students would love this as a way to receive and submit assignments. Unfortunately there are not equivalent tools for PCs!!! Must looks at Podkids and download iTunes to see what podcasts are out there. Also must look at subsribing to relevent ones.