I'm a little overwhelmed at all of the possibilities in web 2.0. I have said many times in the past year that if you want your kids to learn a new play (basketball), you'd better text it to them. Ha!
I'm not sure how each resource differs but I know they do. I also know that they can be used together. My interest is in establishing a blog for our girls athletic program, then using either another blog or other resource for our various teams that would be facilitated by the head coach of the sport. I can envision us using the various resources for practice calendars, playbooks, video highlights, scouting reports, etc. I'm not sure which would be appropriate for each....I just don't understand them all yet. And I'm not sure how they tie in together.
For myself...I already research EVERYTHING but having access to cross country/basketball coaches blogs, etc. is an unlimited resource. I would rather attend a "virtual" coaches clinic on a specific sport than leave town for 3 days and attend one or two sessions that are already too crowded and have limited resources.
I have been somewhat resistant to the digital world when it comes to kids learning. But thing 2 has really opened my eyes to the "way the world is" and how our kids need to learn in order to survive and how we teachers HAVE to utilize all of this technology or we are NOT teaching our kids. Instead of fight them we have to join them. Does this mean that we will eventually allow cell phone usage in the classrooms? If we don't then some of this cannot happen. But will that make the "police work" even more challenging? I know that I learned better in collaboration but back in the day it was sitting in a circle brainstorming or talking about the subject. Digital collaboration can include so much more information....but we have to change some rules and upgrade our technology......, yes?
I can see the day that there are no textbooks and everyone has a Kindle-type device or an
I-pad. That will definitely change everything. But what happens when those devices break or we have some sort of network hiccup? Oh my old-school mind can run wild with negative possiblilites yet I know it's the way we are going.
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You raise some excellent questions, and our district is not alone in attempting to answer them. Many districts are already re-thinking cell phone rules and other uses of social technology. You're absolutely right that at some point educators will have to stop fighting technological advancement and will have to start embracing it as a learning and teaching tool. Of course, along with the adoption of these Web 2.0 technologies comes the obligation of teaching kids how to use them responsibly.
ReplyDeleteI like what you had to say about using the Internet for research and about your preference for excellent online resources as opposed to 3 day conferences! Our kiddos are going to have to be savvy enough to locate reliable and pertinent sources of information and to apply them to their own various purposes effectively in order to succeed in the work force, which is exactly what you're modeling by conducting your own online resources.
Who knows? Maybe sometime in the near future you will actualy find yourself texting plays to your kids! ;)
Great response! Thing 2 complete!