Graham has asked for some input into his presentation at the K-12 online conference. His key questions "Why is Web 2.0 important for Educators?" & "What have you done to increase Educator awareness of Web 2.0?" within the conference theme 'Overcoming Obstacles'
The responses to these questions are recorded on Podomatic.
Click here to get your own player.
Listen to number 2 first - they are stacked in the wrong order - ooops!
Podcast shownotes ;-) ha ha
NZ edublogs - wiki directory of NZ educators & classroom blogs & podcasts - created by Jedd & contributed to by the rest of us.
Tom Sheehan "The Orchard"
"The benefits of blogging - it is real writing for real people. The children begin to understand that they are connected and belong. Many of them try very hard with their writing to make it as good as possible because they know that people all around the world are reading it - as well as each other. From a personal point of view my own writing has improved greatly over the last 12 months. I'm still a hack but I am improving." (my emphasis)
TUANZ 2006 Web 2.0 Presentation
ED Weblogs - Barnsey would you like to comment on this post - your perspective on the questions?
Professional reflections on education in NZ - Dancing on the shifting carpet
1 comment:
To consider Web 2.0 I’ve gone back and looked at our history with Web 1.0. We have been on the net for 10 years and using computers for word processing and simple games for even longer. There was a community expectation to do this and they were willing to put in the money and to back me as the classroom teacher. Also as a sole charge teacher I knew I had to bring in changes to the programme or I would quickly go stale. The main problems faced were time, lack of technical ability, lack of appropriate gear, and most importantly I didn’t have clear goals in terms of children’s learning. Basically I was having a go, seeing what happened, and then if it worked incorporating it into the classroom programme.
However there is a rolling inevitability with technology. Each time I go to a conference I’m introduced to something new. Each one takes a step up in terms of commitment by both the school and the classroom teacher. The main themes I’ve followed in the last five years show this. Powerpoint presentations – video – weblogs and now mass member online games to develop higher order thinking skills. Simple to complex in terms of time, technology, money ,and technical and professional support. And that’s just to get it introduced. In real terms I feel I’m only skimming the surface as I’ve never had the time to sit down and truly reflect on the implications for children’s learning. In fact I’ve probably given up on that and am now relying on others to do it for me.
What we are doing now in terms of technology is just the beginning it’s going to keep developing and we are going to keep falling behind. It will need a shift in the basic structure of our schools. I think we have already seen the need for this in the secondary system but it’s going to be needed with primary as well.
Oh and since I was going to write about weblogs – audience is everything. It can be as flash as you like in terms of presentation but if they are not getting feedback it will gradually fall flat. You have to actually sell the weblogs a worldwide audience.
Richard Barnes
Matau School
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