Final Reflections:

In answer to what I think was the most important question of this exercise, yes, I would participate if there was another discovery of this type. (And hopefully I'd be a bit more timely about it).

In terms of technologies that were new to me, I think the ones that I'm likely to get the most use out of are the podcasts and web-based documents. I know that they'll both fit into my long-term goals and plans and I'm glad that I got the opportunity to explore them through this program.

I think this was an program where you got out of this program what you put into it. I've been feeling a bit bad here at the end of the line as I work through the bulk of the activities in under a week. It's not, after all, how the program was meant to be handled. In my defense, my work does take priority and there has been a lot to do heading back into the fall quarter. That and I'd already been exposed to many of these programs in the past--so I felt more confident about my ability to do the tasks in a shorter time frame.

Still, I took some time the other night to look through some other blogs and see how other people fared with Learning 2.0. The thing that I discovered is that I must be more verbose than most (but I suppose I already knew that). Even at this late date, I put a lot of effort into these exercises and activities and spent time really thinking them through. That made this experience, hectic as it was, still a useful learning experience for me.

For me, taking the time to actually use and explore the sites and see how they could be relevant in my life (and not just my professional life) made this experience rewarding. It also means that some of the activities that taught me new things are more likely to stick with me.

It seems to me that without putting that effort in, without thinking beyond "I hated this" or "this doesn't work for me" or even "this is stupid" that the whole point of the exercise was missed.

After all, we weren't here to find new ways to play with our old favorites, we were here to experience new things, things that might not be universally liked or useful, but that had their place and function. It was about broadening our horizons and thinking outside of the box. If you brought the box with you, then it was inevitable that you find little or nothing of use to you here.

I hope everyone that participated this time found something of value to them from this--even if it's only the knowledge that the internet and Web 2.0 are changing the way this world communicates and operates.

Thanks to the Learning 2.0 team for all of their efforts (and for stalking me).