Ch 9 - New Schools - vision and reality

Web 2.0- New Tools, New Schools by Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum.

As I read Chapter 9 I thought it would be a good place to start for people new to Web 2.o and unaware of the urgency (at least I feel) that schools and teachers really need to jump in. The phrase that is everywhere in these Web 2.0 discussions is -- if we don't start teaching with the tools we will loose the kids. This is better said by Jeff Utecht as quoted on page 184 -

"If we want to motivate students to create something, something that will last beyond the lesson and the school year, then we must find ways to use these social networking tools in our classroom. If we continue to fight them, I'm afraid it is a battle we will loose."

I love the reference David Warlick's article The Day in the Life of Web 2.0 where he describes a very connected middle school. Connected in the sense of communicating all the way from teacher to superintendent. Here's what he envisions for the librarian!

"The school librarian subscribes to all of the teachers' Monday report blogs and uses a shared spreadsheet to maintain an ongoing curriculum map of what's being taught in the school as a way to support teachers." (p. 180)

A shared spreadsheet curriculum map... sounds good!

There's a new look at professional development too... all online. Take a look at k12onlineconference.org I don't know if I can do all my PD online, but it is a good source and supplement. I wouldn't mind doing online training with a group of teachers at school... we too are social!

Finally, the big debate is gaming and education. I recently read an article where a public library started a game development club. They installed simple game development software and found a total success with tremendous learning going on. I'm thinking about it.... See my previous post
for link to article from Ebsco (available to all Alaskans by our Digital Pipeline statewide databases) and links to game sites.