Yes Tech!

I received an invitation to check out Scriblink from a colleague, Renee.  She was one of the teachers who participated in one of my web 2.0 usergroups last year, and has discovered Scriblink from one of the blogs she now follows.  Yeah!  The two of us explored this cool web 2.0 tool – wrote notes, typed notes, and chatted.  We thought about how teachers and students could use it in and outside of the classroom - quizzing each other, collaborating on projects, brainstorming ideas, etc.  Check it out!

The National School Boards Association published a report in July, 2007, to communicate their stance on social networking for education.  The report, called “Creating and Connecting: Research and Guidelines on Online Social - and Educational -Networking,” is posted on their website, http://files.nsba.org/creatingandconnecting.pdf.  All educators need to read this report. 

81% of the students surveyed (1,277 students ages 9-17) have used a social networking website sometime over the past three months, and almost 60% report discussing educational topics on social networking sites.  Yet the vast majority of school districts ban social networking during the school day, even though students and parents report few problem behaviors on-line.

The stance of NSBA is “Safety policies remain important, as does teaching students about online safety and responsible online expression….but students may learn these lessons better while they are actually using social networking tools.”  NSBA is seeking a balance between protecting students and providing a 21st century education.

From my experiences working with teachers, I find that the general perception of online social networking is that it is bad, scary, and has nothing to do with education.  However, I find that this thinking is due to having had no experiences with social networking.  The 60 teachers who joined me in a Web 2.0 usergroup have now had positive experiences with social networking for their own professional development and learning.  Once teachers discover the fun, exciting, motivating, and powerful learning that can result as a result of online social networking, they hopefully will take the risk to allow their students to learn using social networking tools.  There are safe tools to use…. Moodle comes to mind. 

Does anyone have other ideas about how we can keep our students safe while allowing them to use the social networking tools that are such a huge part of their lives?  How else can we help teachers and administrators overcome their fears about social networking?

Many of the teachers I work with have asked about Flickr, what I use to add photos to this blog.  Here is a screencast created by Jeff Uteche, author of The Thinking Stick blog.  Thanks, Jeff.

Awesome… YouTube for Education! TeacherTube was launched on March 6. The goal of this web 2.0 tool is to provide an easy way to share instructional videos. Here are some of my favorites: Did You Know, Technology Fear Factor in Education, Literature Circles, and Why Teach Technology?

My creation,
originally uploaded by SteveHargadon.

I love this photo created by Steve Hargadon with quote by David Warlick.  It makes me think about the power of having students find and/or create photos to go along with quotes or statements… what a great learning experience. 

Participants in the web 2.0 usergroup are working on finding blogs that interest them – some having difficulty finding blogs that relate to their professional interests (elementary art, chemistry, etc).  Here are some Internet resources that may help…  Scott Mcleod’s survey (see Excel file) on Dangerously Irrelevant, Blogs for Educators from Answers.com, EdBlogger Praxis, and Edublog Awards.  Google blog search doesn’t seem to be much help…  If you know of other good tips and strategies to get started finding blogs, please add a comment to this post!

I’ve met with three of the school-based web 2.0 usergroups (2nd meeting). It is nice to work with smaller groups right in their schools. Each meeting has started with a discussion of Will Richardson’s Edutopia article, “The New Face of Learning” … a great start to any meeting! The teachers are both scared and excited to learn more about web 2.0 tools and seem to really enjoy learning together. By the end of the meeting, the teachers are using bloglines and delicious and will be adding to their accounts throughout the next month. I look forward to hearing about their experiences!

The first web 2.0 usergroup meeting had to be rescheduled due to school being closed last week. The rescheduled meeting took place after school yesterday. I was pleased with the turnout – 45 people. I did a short presentation to answer the following questions: What is web 2 .0? Why study/explore web 2.0? What is the purpose of the usergroup? How much time will it take? When and where will we meet? During the presentation, I showed them my blog, bloglines, del.icio.us, flickr, and a wiki. I told them all about my own learning journey and how it allows me to reflect on my professional day-to-day activities, find resources, and connect with others.

By the end of the meeting, those that were there seemed to “get it” and the excitement in the room was evident. I recorded the meeting so that those who could not make the meeting could be kept in the loop in an easy way.

Smaller groups were established and a team leader was identified for each group. There are now 12 smaller groups and the rest of the meetings will be held in the schools to be most convenient for the teachers. The meeting topics were discussed and the teachers agreed that the plan is doable. Most cannot wait to get started.

I haven’t been this enthusiastic about any professional development I’ve facilitated over the past several years. It looks like we’re off to a great start. The word got out to other teachers today and more have decided to participate. My calendar is full and I am happy.

I appreciate the advice given to me as I planned for the usergroup from Beth Knittle, who has been doing something similar in her district.

I’ve been spending time planning for the overview meeting for the Walled Lake Schools Web 2.0 usergroup. I am happy with my plan. I have been collecting resources that might be helpful to participants, and stumbled upon a video titled, “An Inventive Video Journey to Web 2.0.” created by Michael Wesch, an Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University. I enjoyed the remembering the days of HTML web programming, and find it amazing that the changes to all the new web 2.0 tools have taken place in the last 10 years. The video is enjoyable!

I sent out this email to everybody in my district on Friday:

This invitation is for ALL teachers (all grades, all content areas). Are you interested in participating in a web 2.0 usergroup? It’s OK if you do not know what that means… Web 2.0 includes communication tools that emphasize publishing and sharing of ideas. There are many ways that web 2.0 can make a big difference in student learning! Examples include blogs, wikis, video creation, podcasting, and social bookmarking. Reply to this email if you are interested. Together, the group will determine where, when, and how often we will meet. We will first explore web 2.0 applications, then will identify one to focus on and begin experimenting. The first goal for the usergroup is to learn to use these tools for our own professional development. Of course, you can earn staff development hours. Teachers of all grade levels are encouraged to participate.

By the end of the day, 70 teachers, administrators, and other staff had replied to express their interest! There are over 80 responses now. Wow! I am thrilled with this excellent response. Now I need to figure out how to best get it off the ground, schedule convenient meetings, and plan a strategy to try to meet everyone’s needs…