Reflecting on Pass-It-On: Sharing iGoogle and Blogging

I felt the lessons I planned and undertook were successful in achieving the objectives. The learners were people who had struggled in the past to see the use and relevance of various web-based tools, but expressed an interest in learning about them. The use of my own iGoogle and blog as a demonstration and discussion tool was a great starting point, as it got the learners thinking about what some of the uses for them might be and in what contexts – they came to the conclusion that there were features of iGoogle that would be useful (such as the world clocks and weather systems, Google maps widget, NZ and UK news updates) and liked the ability to have logons for various web based services (e.g. gmail, yahoo mail, facebook and grabaseat) on one page for easy access. Learner 1 successfully setup her own iGoogle account with my help, changed the theme and added a variety of widgets/gadgets that she was interested in (and in fact ended up with more on her iGoogle page than I have on mine)!

Learner 2 found it interesting to explore my blog and look at some of the blogs I was following – she could see relevance for herself in a friend’s blog that I follow, where the friend is travelling overseas and is using the blog to update family and friends at home with stories and pictures – she could see this being useful in her own situation instead of sending group emails as she has done on previous trips. I was able to allay her fears about privacy by pointing out the option to have a ‘closed’ blog so that people needed to be invited to view it, but also pointed out that they would then need to login to view it. While she decided not to setup a blog just yet, it was great to take her through the process of how to do this, and for her to come to the conclusion that there is value to blogging. She also shared a blog that she had seen on stuff.co.nz, Lady in the Red, which looks at financial matters specifically for females, and I enjoyed the opportunity to investigate a blog that I may not have otherwise found.

I also found that the chance to share my knowledge and learning renewed my enthusiasm for what I had learnt previously (as it was a few months ago that my CCL Learn sessions finished), and helped cement the processes and understanding of these topics in my own mind – I firmly believe that the best way to learn and remember something is to teach it to someone else – and there is nothing more rewarding than sparking an interest or passion for something in someone else!