It's the Beginning...

Phew, I didn't even break a sweat!

As you can see, this is my first blog entry for my EDES 501: Exploration of Web 2.0 course at U of A. Starting a blog was easy and effortless. It really was like signing up for an email account and composing a message like Will Richardson mentioned in Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. I am pleasantly surprised as to how user friendly blogs are, but I guess this is why there are so many new blogs being made each day!



Who is Sheryl?

For those of you who don't know me very well, a quick intro would be I am a relatively new educator. I am only going into my fifth year of teaching BC high school English to international students in China. I have always had an interest in how to use technology effectively in the classroom. Coincidentally, the international school I work for is Maple Leaf Education Systems and the school believes in using technology to aid the education of their students. In the past year, every classroom was equipped with a LCD projector, speakers, and campus wide wireless network. So in this past year, I have been learning to use this paperless technology that was readily available in my English 12 and Communications 12 classroom. And now, learning to incorporate Web 2.0 into my classroom is definitely the next step I should be taking especially since my students enjoy using their computers. Moreover, I need to find different ways of increasing my students comfort in using computers to express their knowledge, thoughts, ideas, opinions, and creativity because my students write their provincial exams online.



Why Blogger?

I chose Blogger as my blog host because in the past year, I have switched to Gmail as my primary email provider and I am quite happy with this email service, alongside the Google Documents that I can use to share files and simultaneously edit the files with other users. I plan to use Google Reader as well for my RSS feeds for blogs. So, it only made sense that I would continue to use services provided by Google, which would maximize the use of all Google "thingy-ma-jigs" :oP


Comments on Blog Post Assessment.

The criteria used seems quite fair, although I am already intimidated about the "Writing Style" component. Though, I believe as I publish more posts on my blog, I will feel more comfortable with my cyber voice and writing style.


Blogs - Friend or Foe?

So far? I'd have to say a friend. Publishing a post is definitely more than just shooting an email to someone. Knowing that there could be a potential audience of all sorts makes me think and write differently - yet I can express what I believe freely... definitely interesting! Can't wait to for my next post!