Four weeks of class have passed and I have learned so much, but now I am really thinking about what is my favorite or most helpful of the tools used.  While it is not easy to identify only one I do believe the most popular one right now is wikispaces.com.  When I think about how I used it, how Dr. Zeigenfuss utilized it and how we, as a class, could connect and share I found it to be the best of the launching pads, so to speak.  Assignments were posted, we added blog pages, wikis were developed, links shared, additional value was added by each student, giving so much valuable information and leads to other sources, starts of connections and building of networks.  From this beginning point many other tools can be accessed and shared.  This point of view is subject to change after exposure to yet, more tools, and time to play.   

In my reflection of this class thus far I use the analogy of creating a garden. First one must identify the placement of the garden and the size, this ties into the global view of the world wide web - how big is it, what size do I want to have my knowledge base and where do I house everything?  Then I need to identify the tools I need to create my garden plot.  These tools would be all that is available on the web and through the various networks.  Then I move to the soil, what is the quality of it and how might plants grow?  I see the soil as looking into the quality of the input I receive.  I want to develop quality soil to produce the best harvest.  I want quality information and trustworthy sites in order to produce the best resources for using and sharing.  Planting is done in an organized fashion just the way we want our blogs, reader lists and RSS to be so paying attention to the types of feeds you get and organizing according to your interests is extremely important.  Once the planning is done there is the need for watering.  The water is the RSS feed of information that continues to build the knowledge related to interests posted on my sites and the feeds I have participated with.  Since the soil is good, the right plants have been chosen and watering has ooccurred now we have to contend with the weeds.  I see the weeds described by Rheingold as crape detection and infotention.  Time to manage those weeds, this is where crap detection and attention to intention will come in handy.  So once the garden is created it is the maintenance that keeps it looking well organized and beautiful, just the way our Twitter page, blogs and RSS feeds should look!  So here is what I have learned so far:  the five literacies that Rheingold wrote his book "Net Smart" about, is important to help cultivate exactly the type of garden and harvest you want.  In addition i must spend the necessary time to learn more about what is available on the internet that I can use in my classroom or education plan as well as organize and maintain it. I have invested in a journey from the unknown to the known which will lead me to a place of ease and comfort, even though the journey is long. 

This weekend I was blessed with the opportunity to put 270 miles on my motorcycle, covering PA to MD to NJ, visiting with family and friends.  I enjoyed crab in MD and was given a grand tour of Princeton University campus.  Of course, this meant, not doing any school work!  The mental disconnect was greatly needed. 

I'm sooo confused!!!  Can you guess, I am learning how to blog!