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[edit] Birds of a Feather Session
[edit] Session Discussion, Questions and Ideas
Discussion Summary: Monday May 7th, 2007
What is Web 2.0?
• Read/Write web
• Next generation web
• Tearing down barriers; more communication
• Community – shared communication
• Students can easily access good quality information
• Changing our ideas about the nature of knowledge
Web 2.0 Services
• Del.icio.us
• Google Reader
• Flickr
• Youtube
Barriers
• Blocking content
• Discouraging use – some don’t want students to access content outside the board’s network
• Time
• Access to hardware; content blocked
• Are we, as a system, too slow in adapting?
Classroom Uses
• Blended uses – Moodle
• Online work – pbwiki, First Class
• Teachers becoming facilitators
• Continual learning – life-long learning
• Teaching skills vs. teaching information
• Teaching students how to think, analyze, and reason
Are We Ready as a Teaching Profession For Web 2.0?
• With freedom comes responsibility
• Teachers are afraid as teachers feel that they are losing control of content
• Teachers haven’t figured out how to incorporate Web 2.0 correctly and productively in the curriculum
• Issue of control – power shift
• Major upheaval needed to switch to Web 2.0 education
• Educators need to ‘get their hands dirty’ to recapture students’ energies so as to not leave them alone online – Can’t ‘abandon’ students
• Teachers have an obligation to become aware of Web 2.0 applications in order to be able to guide students
• Teachers have a role to engage in conversations about morality and the responsibilities of appropriate uses
• Teachers are trying to figure out how to use Web 2.0 tools without actually teaching some basic Internet surfing tools
If The Teaching Profession is Not Ready, What Do We Do To Help the System Move Forward?
• Are teachers and/or students willing to invest the time needed to “keep up”?
• Focusing on the fundamentals – learning and how to learn
• Send teachers to conferences/workshops
Are Students Technologically Savvy or Do Adults Just Believe That They Are?
• What does it mean to be technologically savvy?
• Why do students spend so much time on the web?
• Transferability of skills between webware and software applications
Are We Taking Into Consideration The Students’ Point of View?
• Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants
Post-Session Points to Consider: (Please add to this wiki as you see fit)
- What are some points of interest that you would like to cover during this session?
- What are some Questions that you have around this topic?
- Share some ideas, examples or exemplary practices.
Birds-Of-A-Feather Session: Questions for Further Consideration:
1) How can Web 2.0 tools be used to empower students to enhance the quality of their learning?
2) How can we as a system or as individuals overcome some of the obstacles to using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom (i.e. hardware issues, professional development, culture and attitudes)?
3) Are schools ready for the openness that Web 2.0 tools allow? Why or why not?
4) Web 2.0 tools, such as podcasting, is making it easier for students and teachers to publish online and to a wider audience. Is this helping to improve the quality of student work? Why or why not?
[edit] Session Notes and Reflection
Feedback and discussion.