I am very thankful for taking ECI 831 and 834 because they have exposed me to a world of dialogue and openness that I would not have otherwise known.  I admit though, these 2 classes have taken me to some uncomfortable places…blogging, tweeting and posting online!  At first I was very uncomfortable with this format but with experience and time, I began to share more and more.  I have to be honest, I’m still not 100% comfortable with posting things online because it is not my personality type.  On the other hand, I really enjoy reading and have learned so much from reading other teachers perspectives.  In my opinion, it’s hard not to want to be a part of this open, sharing community!

My first grad class (ECI804 Curriculum Dev) was a closed sharing environment.  The Prof had us sharing online in small groups.  I remember thinking that this was pretty cool because I had never experienced this before and then I enrolled in ECI831 the next semester and had learned new formats such as Google+, blogging and Twitter.  In ECI831, we were shown how to set up a Tweetdeck and one of the groups I still follow is #Spedchat.  Sharing and learning in this open space has been an amazing experience.  This group of people has made me realize the power of sharing in an open space!  I still follow this group and I’m surprised at the level of sharing, integrity, open and authentic conversations that take place here!