Blog Response #2 Research & the Reflective Practitioner

Research & the Reflective Practitioner

When I think of research and reflective practitioners I think of the ability of a professional to reflect while in action. Meaning that while a teacher (etc) was researching a topic they could stop and think about what that particular research means to them and to the topic they are searching about. More importantly the can examine how it has impacted their own life and professional experiences through reflection.
After each part of the process the person can reflect on what they have learned and what was successful about the process itself and the new information. In many ways a reflective practitioner is a person who is not afraid to use trail and error and learn from their mistakes.
As I reflected on this topic I realized that I have been a reflective practitioner many times over the past few years. When designing (and redesigning) our school’s moodle culture web page I often would look back at what worked from the previous attempts and try to figure out how to make the new design better based on prior results. I would also ask around and try to get other people reflections and input while I was in the middle of the redesign to make sure that I was able to capture what worked while fixing what did not work.
A good practitioner is able to use the things they have learned (reflections, insights) to improve how they do things in the future.

Response Blog #1 “Creating My Own Social Network”

The idea of creating my own social network seems like a vast and challenging task. There are so many different and new tools out there that can be used to manage and facilitate classroom content. The key is not only identifying the tools but to me the most important part is having a centralized area that will allow each web tool to work cooperatively together.

After reading about and using open source programs like “Open Office” I have realized that there are many useful and inexpensive (in this case free) tools that can be used. Open office is essentially Microsoft Office programs. All of the popular Microsoft applications (Word, Power Point, Excel, etc) are available through open office. The programs work almost identically and if you know how to use one you can certainly use the other.

Our Culture Committee has also begun using Moodle and wikis to collaborate online meetings with face to face meetings. I am currently running the Moodle page for this group and so far the inclusion of this web-based tool has been very helpful when it comes to keeping multiple tools in one location for easy use. I honestly believe that having a centralized location is the most important piece for having educators correctly use web 2.0 tools and use the efficiently.