I was amazed (but thought it was great) to read Lori’s article on the top LHS of http://www.dailywriting.net/Wild%20Gardeners%20eLearning/Advent2007_Day1_WildGarden.html and to see that although Lori had been using web 2.0 for18 months it was only recently she realised that is the name given to her e-uses. I had assumed she had been there for yonks and that I would never, ever get to the stage she was at.

At the end of last year, I heard the word web 2.0 but due to the crazy time it is when school finishes, I put it to the back of my mind. After all, I had to cope with MS Access and Dreamweaver – the software types for the new year 12 ITA course. However, in May, an email came to me from our Moyne Cluster co-ordinator to ask whether we were into web 2.0 yet as web 3.0 would soon be here. At that stage I did not even know if I knew about web 1.0. However, I attended the ICTEV conference in May and decided to join up for all the possible sessions that even vaguely mentioned the word ‘web 2.0′.

Absolutely fascinated with what I heard, saw and witnessed, I was then ‘hooked’ and determined to learn more. At the same time a rich picture case studies grant was being offered by the Victorian Education Department. I decided to apply and to my surprise was a successful applicant. This grant allowed us to work on developing enhanced podcasts with grade 6, using as much web 2.0 along the way.

So, I immediately set up a del.icio.us account and soon got my students to do so as well. I have so many favourite websites that were bookmarked on my computer at home but this allowed my to bookmark them online. Not only that, but I could search for some great other web 2.0 sites, network with others who have similar interests and also share their sites and these are available to me anywhere there is the internet. I shall write more about this fabulous site but it gave me some insights into web 2.0 and how it could be used. It was easy to set up and easy to use. Further down the track Heather Blakey came to our school with her storyteller and Magic Garden and that set us off on blogging. I am not a writer, nor an artist but I love learning and encouraging others to learn so I have used blogging extensively now and google fed into other people’s blogs who are as mad on web 2.0 as I am. Our backyard blog is the result of Heather’s great work.

So, 6 months later, after a lot of hard work, wanting to have everything perfect all at once, including content and presentation, but still not even anywhere near that stage, I feel I have learnt so much, been re-energized, made a lot of global friends , many of whom I only know by their cyber names, and still wanting to learn much more. This is why I think the adventure calendar is so great ……………. and of course I have bookmarked that in delicious!

Anne Mirtschin