Goals for this Technology class

The focus of this class is on technology, and I would generally say that I am interested in using and learning about technology. Looking over the syllabus and the first few activities and readings for this class, I would like to do two things over the next eights weeks.

As we building our Personal Learning Networks, I hope to become more familiar with the programs that we are using, and to accumulate a list of sites, blogs, and groups, etc that I feel comfortable with and excited enough about to continue visiting after this class is over.

Also, I would like to find at least a few of the programs and web 2.0 tools that we are going to be using that I can incorporate into my classroom. Unfortunately, the trick in doing this is the filtering and blocking system that we have on our internet access at school. To make this successful, I would need to be able to have the students guaranteed of access to the tools. There are some that do not have internet at home, so they would need to be able to work at school. While it is not overly difficult to get websites unblocked on a teacher's personal computer, there would need to be more justification and proven uses to get the site unblocked school-wide. As we learn about these tools and their applications, my goal is to be able to find applications for them in my classroom, that will help to engage my students.

On a much more superficial layer, there are some web 2.0 tools like Niing and Delicious that I have either not heard about, or have never used. In these cases, I would just like to gain some familiarity with them.