The Great Fire Wall!

So, here I am again almost an entire year later.

Why haven't I been here you ask? ...

Was I bored with the idea of a blog?

No.

Was it too hard for me?

No.

Did I not have the time?

No.

Do you live in a particular country and due to the firewall were unable to access your own blog?

Bingo. A little ridiculous? I think so. Instead of blocking only information deemed block-worthy, they have decided just to block entire access to sites, no no, good idea; much easier that way (!!)

To access facebook, blogs, youtube and a plethora of other assorted goodies I have (after using various proxies - which have one by one been discovered) bought a VPN. 6 months ago I didn't know what a VPN was, so even though I haven't been able to explore the world of ICTs to the extent I'd like to, I suppose I could take something away from the fact that I'm still learning something.

It makes me a little sad though that I, and many like me, cannot set up something as innocent as a blog to experiment and explore ICTs and their applications in education. My motivations, as mentioned in the first post have not changed - I still want to make my classes relevant and more interesting for today's students - now I'll just have to find different ways to do so.

I used to teach a lot with youtube. As a literature and English language teacher I would show speeches, ads (to analyse), various news broadcasts and even self-uploaded bits and pieces by the youth of today to use when discussing youth issues etc - this has now been made more difficult.

So the task now is to find alternatives to make it relevant, to fine alternative ways to include technology in my lessons.

hmmmmm.......

Where the hec do I start? To research!

Let the eJourney begin!

Here it is...

My entrance into the world of blogging!

OK. I've been talking about it for years, reading others' blogs for even longer. It's time to branch out and attempt one myself. It's not that I'm technophobic, I was just focusing on other areas such as making and editing films with my kids in my English class, or monitoring and facilitating interactions between my current year 9 students and some at my former school in Australia via an electronic classroom. These things however have always used programs already set up. So, while these things may in fact sound pretty impressive, they haven't really left me with any real technologically savvy skills...just the impression of them.

I have found myself with a lot of theory and little practice. 

Do I know what a Podcast is? 

Sure. 

Have I ever made one? 

Nup. 

Do I have a Smartboard? 

Yes, and I recognise how lucky this makes me. 

Do I use it?

All the time.

Do I use it effectively?

Not nearly as effectively and I could be.

Time for a change, time to get out there and time to explore first hand (or mouse) what will work for my students in my classroom. 

Let the eJourney begin!