Week 2 Reflections

Hi everybody!

Week 2 has been very challenging and extremely rewarding as well.
I have learned about different search engines, which has changed the way I see websearches and webquests.

Exploring Twurdy Search Engine has been fun and very interactive. I learned how to search for texts according to their readability level just by searching for the novel "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens! I had never imagined a search engine like that! It is free, visual-friendly and easy to use but unfortunately, it has some annoying ads which have nothing to do with education.

Indeed, NoodleTools is the best website with a list of Search Engines! Just by clicking on NoodleTools you can see how well the information is organized. It has helped me accomplish the first learning task on Nicenet: Discussion on Search Engines. Thinking of search engines as a whole with no distinction whatsoever, is not very practical or pedagogical. Choosing the best search engines takes critical thinking skills and informed decision-making.

Describing one of my group was simple, at first glance. However, in a detailed analysis, simplicity shows its complexity. Even though I know my students pretty well, when I had to go into a deeper analysis taking into account the general background and experiences, the knowledge factors and other factors it was a horse of a different color!

Planning for Instruction by using the ABCD Model has been difficult for me. I never use this model to plan my classes but I have to admit it is very useful and inspiring. Taking into consideration Bloom´s Taxonomy has been essential for me to visualize the cognitive domain and the corresponding verbs that go with each level: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. Both the psychomotor and the affective domain are also necessary to do with students´learning styles and preferences in education.

All in all, I believe I have made some significant progress this week, thanks to Janine and to all my colleagues.
I really appreciate your comments and suggestions. Your questions have help me improve my work.
Thanks again.

Roxana