Thursday, July 24, 2008

Chapters from Web 2.0 new tools, new schools

I read chapters 1, 7, 9, and 5. In fact, I took the book to Las Vegas in June and thought I would accomplish something there. My only accomplishment was to lose some money playing Blackjack. So I came back home to read and this is what I discovered.
Chapter 1
The scariest thing about this chapter is the first sentence: “Think back to when you were in school; consider how different everything was then”. I believe that we only have to look back 5 years and see how different everything is, especially in Education. Chapter 1 points out how our online world has changed our work and our educational environments. The main skill that we need these days is adaptability. These web 2.0 tools are part of that adaptability and we will need to know when to use these tools and when to adopt new technologies that will replace our 2.0 tools.
Our text authors say “…the Web is now a participatory, interactive place where we create information collaboratively and share the results”. Collaboration is the key to web 2.0, both at work and at school. As teachers, we should be able to provide our students with these tools.
The authors point out that web 2.0 is a transition from isolation to interconnectedness, and that end users now can do many things that once had to be done by programmers. We are moving from just presenting information and then testing, to a collaborative project-based type of learning that these new tools allow.
The new tools only require a browser and Internet access, and I think the chart on p. 23 is a good comparison of web 1.0 and web 2.0 ways of working. As the authors say, these new tools offer “interconnectedness, immediacy, interactivity, communications, and community”.
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 involves online safety and security. This topic gets more complex as we move to Web 2.0. These topics include security, filtering, copyright, security, and ethics.
This chapter takes a closer look at all of these areas and offers information and solutions to these problems.
I had not considered the fact that our AUP’s would need to be updated to cover Web publishing. The authors list 4 good ways to rework AUP’s on p. 144. In fact, the whole chapter offers suggestions and further resources for ways to look at all of these online security problems.
Copyright laws seem to be more confusing than ever with music and video downloading. The Creative Commons system seems like it can do a great deal to make copyright easier to understand and use. I am going to explore Creative Commons further.
One thing that our school lacks is an online awareness and safety program. At the very least, we should do a survey of student awareness. I also liked the online safety guide wiki created by Vicki Davis in her classroom, and it could be replicated as a project in any school.
My favorite quote from this chapter was “Teenagers too might come to the conclusion that availability equals permission”. This brings us to ethics and I liked the “Student and Teacher Information Code of Ethics” that is included in our book.
The section on parental involvement was especially interesting to me. The suggestions and resources listed in this section offer a wealth of information that we can get to parents.
Online safety and security are more important than ever, and this chapter offers ideas, solutions, and resources that can help us deal with our problems in a thoughtful way.
Chapter 9
This chapter takes a look at the future and some promising ideas for schools. One of the main things I got from this chapter is that we need to have students using the same tools in the classroom that students use at home. This was meaningful to me because I have avoided some of the new technology like cell phones and instant messaging. Perhaps it is time for me to take another look at this mobile technology.
Another sentence that made me think was “Everything anyone could want is someplace online”. That used to mean information, but now it really means everything.
“There is a gap between what is and what should be”. David Jakes wants us to close that gap, and that is where professional development can help. Our school district is certainly trying to create useful professional development opportunities for teachers that will increase their technology skills.
I was interested in the organization School 2.0, so I visited their website. There is a lot of great information and tools that schools, districts, and communities can use to “develop a common educational vision and explore how that vision can be supported by technology”. The toolkit and resources on this site are important.
The future is almost here.
Chapter 5
Professional development is the topic of this chapter. The authors look at old models of professional development involving technology, and then discuss some new models. The chapter talks a lot about creating a “community of practice” approach.
One of the major problems with new technology is that often the hardware and software is provided without adequate training. Everyone knows that this is a problem and there are many plans out there addressing technology integration. Even Congress recommended 7 steps to implement technology in our schools (p.100).
Even good training will not create real change unless there is also ongoing support. Our school district is making progress in providing both the training and the support. If workshops don’t change classroom behavior, they are not successful.
Much of the chapter concerned community of practice. This involves 3 dimensions, joint enterprise, mutual engagement, and shared repertoire. Further reading reveals that this is a culture of learning involving a collective effort of understanding. The culture of learning must include: “a diversity of expertise among its members, a shared objective of continually advancing the collective knowledge and skills, an emphasis on learning how to learn, and mechanisms for sharing what is learned. There are many suggestions here on ways to implement and improve these communities of practice.
The chapter ends by listing some professional development ideas for using blogs, podcasts, and wikis. And once again, there are good organizations listed with URL’s, so that further exploration is encouraged.

1 comment:

Ann said...

One of the speakers for the leadership academy has been David Loertscher and he talked a lot about our need to change our libraries to client driven, learning commons. That feeds into the idea that the web has become participatory, interactive. David says we need to move from the idea that "If we build it they will come" to the idea that "if THEY build it they will use it."

Ann