Is it Web 2.0, Read/Write Web? We need a new name…

Is it Web 2.0, Read/Write Web? We need a new name…for user-created content.

This past Tuesday a group of educators and I met in the MUSD Board Room to discuss possibilities of Web 2.0 tools in education. I am greatly enamored of learning communities, collaborative tools and the potential for global interaction and what ‘global interaction’ could mean to student engagement and attention to detail in the outcomes they produce.

As we work to find ways to continually improve the authentic quality of education, Web 2.0 tools can provide unparalleled support. This meeting was prompted as a result of the bandwidth increase we will realize at the start of the 2008-2009 school year. As we move from virtually non-existent to virtually limitless bandwidth, it is imperative that our teachers and administrators are prepared to think and plan and strategize in ways that utilize this new opportunity, to its fullest.

We had a robust discussion about wiki’s for delivering content (extending classroom beyond classroom walls and school hours) and for collaboration. We discussed widgets and blogs, a variety Google apps (including Docs, Maps, Earth & Space) and social bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us and furl and sites like bubbl, for on-line mind mapping, storyboarding and brainstorming.

You Tube Video - A Vision of Todays K-12 Learner

Another great video that helps educators to recognize the (re)volution taking place in todays learners and the shifts that educators might wish to embrace to help better influence and support their learners

We had an interesting discussion when a teacher asked how all of these ‘new’ things could be incorporated into an already busy and full day - this is a valid consideration. The teacher further expressed concern that technology would deny students the equally authentic experiences of writing and reading. While every circumstance has its unique challenges, I would ask each educator to try one new thing - for themselves - and as they become familiar with a new tool, they will begin to natural progress towards ways that these might positively impact their teaching and/or their students learning. Personally, I woudl like to see these tools in the hands of the students, as they need them, to accomplish their outcome - teachers DO NOT need to be proficient FIRST, they just need to try and then step back, be flexible, be creative and let the progress come - define, guide and support the process - let the students brains do the heavy lifting.

A few months back I heard Dr. Tim Tyson speak and he was relating that as a Principal, when evaluating a classroom, if the students were not busy and the teacher was, something was topsy-turvy in the machinations of that classroom. If you are frazzled (ouch) and the students are disinterested or disengaged, perhaps there is an ‘aha’ moment to be noted there! Make them busier (spell that ‘more engaged’).

Dr. Tyson’s New Web Presence - under development http://drtimtyson.com/
Mabry Middle School Film Festival - take a few moments to watch the AUTHENTIC and POWERFUL learning taking place as these stduents share their real-world learning through film - it is hard to believe, powerful, and REAL! http://mabryonline.org/ Click on Film Festival Picture, then scroll down to award winning films (on the way read about this amazing program and its global impact.

Want to hear Dr. Mabry Speak in person?

7th Way out West (WOW) - May 3, 2008, ASU West
The Hyper-Connected Classroom in the Age of Accountability
I hope to see you there!

I think herein lies ‘the rub’ and the crux of the on-going long held ‘belief’ and misunderstanding of what technolgoy IS. It is not (although it can be) students in a computer lab doing a project that has been wholly defined and limiting (example: You will no create a PowerPoint using this rubric and tell me about the circumstances leading up to the Civil War). Indeed, this example might be in place of the ‘traditional’ book report (typed or handwritten). I might suggest that the use of the PPT is the ‘traditional’, non-integrated way to utilize technology.

Another POV - Perhaps students are charged with crafting their own ‘essential question’ regarding the content (in this example, Civil War) and utilizing tools available to design how they will provide an outcome that they also craft. A friend of mine cringes when he hears ‘Sage on the Stage, Guide on the Side’, so I try never to say it. BUT, it is very concise and serves to remind that the teachers role IS evolving (ready or not) into a facilitator versus deliverer of content. We are taking the teacher out of the realm of teaching knowledge (the lowest form of learning according to Bloom’s Taxonomy and moving students into becoming more responsible for and conscious of their own learning. (Future Talk - Authentic Assessments - The challenges and value of authentic assessment, and how we incorporate this into our data-driven environment. How can we capture authentic assessment in a meaningful way that can be added traditional data calibrations? How, as a nation, do we create sufficient value for this type of assessment, so that teachers are empowered to add it to their repertoire of measurement? Want to talk about this? Me too! Email me at achayefsky@musd20.org!)

In this way we educators best serve our students in preparing them for (as the videos say) jobs that don’t exist, in a future we cannot imagine. We are preparing them for the Global Economy that IS here, that is the economy in which they will seek to create a life for themselves. technology is not the only answer, but it is certainly one of the crucial and accessible ways to develop digital learners and digital citizens for the digital world!

Thanks to all who attended, next class will be HANDS-ON at Santa Cruz Elementary Lab, Monday, May5th (Cinco De Mayo) from 3:00 - 4:00. Due ot the interest in wiki’s and collaborative tools, this time will be focused on … wiki’s and Google Docs. My hope is that teachers will collaborate with their peers over the summer, using these tools to facilitate the dialog and organization of information.

Here’s link to one of my wiki’s that covers the array of topics we flew thorough during this one and a half hour session. (Click on Link to ‘WEB 2.0′ on the Navigation Bar)

We were so engaged in the discussion together, we stayed long and didn’t even notice! =)
THAT is a beautiful thing!