This is, however, our student's new reality and thus ours. This new reality is a time of creating content, collaborating with others, and communicating globally.
So, how do we get started? As Ewan McIntosh said in his keynote, we need to understand participation culture, not the tools. He also spoke about the importance of working toward achieving shared awareness.
We should not be led by the tools, but by the issues we are trying address in our schools. What do we want our students to be able to do? How can these tools help us achieve our teaching goals and our student learning goals? The opportunities are as varied as the tools themselves.
Let's work together to rethink and reframe the conversation and in the process, transform our learning environments! And we will discover, as Dr. Seuss once exclaimed, "Oh the places you'll go!"
So, how do we get started? As Ewan McIntosh said in his keynote, we need to understand participation culture, not the tools. He also spoke about the importance of working toward achieving shared awareness.
We should not be led by the tools, but by the issues we are trying address in our schools. What do we want our students to be able to do? How can these tools help us achieve our teaching goals and our student learning goals? The opportunities are as varied as the tools themselves.
Let's work together to rethink and reframe the conversation and in the process, transform our learning environments! And we will discover, as Dr. Seuss once exclaimed, "Oh the places you'll go!"
1 comment:
As I lay here in bed with my laptop reading your posting,(Oh no, what has happened to me! Is this the height of decadence or have I finally turned into a complete techno freak)I realize that you hit it in a nutshell. What I came away with from BLC, and it is not the first time I have considered this, is that it is not about technology. It is about changing the school culture into one of inquiry, collaboration, communication and innovation. This, I believe, should be our vision. If we can accomplish this in our schools, then the use of technology will follow naturally. How can you communicate and collaborate globally without tehcnology? It's impossible. Something Alan November said at one of his seminars resonated with me. A lot of what he said resonated with me. First of all he asked how many of us could articulate the vision of our individual districts. Maybe one person raised his/her hand. He said that if it were up to him he would abolish all technology advisory committees and create information and global communication committees. Gee, as a school library media teacher this sounds really good to me and makes total sense. If we decided to adopt the above vision as our own, teachers would get it and get why integrating technology is essential. To me this is a no brainer. I wonder if we are putting the cart before the horse.
With regards to professional development he said that in order for it to be effective it must have a clearly defined purpose in order to solve specific problems. In other words, you don't teach podcasting, for example, to everyone unless there is a reason and purpose for it. This also makes sense to me. Shouldn't we identify what our needs, problems are and then identify the appropriate technology to address them?
Sorry for hogging your blog.
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