Changing Education with Web 2.0 Tools

<ul><li>Changing Education with Web 2.0 Tools </li></ul>By Cindy Wright Instructional Technology Specialist Columbus City Schools I believe that we cannot even begin to imagine the changes that are going to take place as the two-way nature of the Internet begins to flower, and that even those of us who have spent time imagining this future will be astounded by what happens. ~ Steve Hargadon Photocredit :http://leadinganswers.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/03/15/monarch_stages.jpg

Engaging today’s students means tapping into what is important to them.

We have a responsibility to prepare them for their future, not our past.

Technology allows learners get their information <ul><ul><li>When they want it </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>How they want it </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Wherever they want it </li></ul></ul>

Today’s students are Digital Natives ( Marc Prensky ) <ul><li>Visual learners </li></ul><ul><li>Multi-taskers </li></ul><ul><li>Short attention spans </li></ul><ul><li>Use technology to express themselves </li></ul><ul><li>Information analysts </li></ul><ul><li>Content producers </li></ul><ul><li>Real-time learners - instant messages, text messages </li></ul>

How students live with technology Different kinds of experiences lead to different brain structures. Dr. Bruce D. Perry, Baylor College of Medicine

<ul><li>Educators must get over the idea that technology will replace them. Any teacher that can be replaced by a computer absolutely deserves to be, because they just do not get it. </li></ul><ul><li>Ian Jukes </li></ul>

When I Become A Teacher

Technology is changing <ul><li>Impossible to keep up with it </li></ul><ul><li>Skills learned today will be irrelevant in the near future </li></ul><ul><li>Focus less on the technology skill </li></ul><ul><li>Focus more on the 21 st century skill </li></ul>

Why Change? You change because you understand learning is dynamic and that to not change means to quit growing. ~ Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/blog/ Photo credit :http://leadinganswers.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/03/15/monarch_stages.jpg

21 st Century Skills <ul><li>Communication </li></ul><ul><li>Innovation </li></ul><ul><li>Creativity </li></ul><ul><li>Problem-Solving </li></ul><ul><li>Interactive </li></ul><ul><li>Collaboration </li></ul><ul><li>Critical Thinking </li></ul>

Applied skills refer to those skills that enable new entrants to use the basic knowledge acquired in school to perform in the workplace.

What Employers Want: <ul><li>Professionalism/Work Ethic </li></ul><ul><li>Oral and Written Communications </li></ul><ul><li>Teamwork/Collaboration </li></ul><ul><li>Critical Thinking/Problem Solving </li></ul>

• Professionalism/Work Ethic , Teamwork/Collaboration and Oral Communications are rated as the three “most important” applied skills needed by entrants into today’s workforce. • Knowledge of Foreign Languages will “increase in importance” in the next five years, more than any other basic skill, according to over 60 percent (63.3 percent) of the employer respondents. • Making Appropriate Choices Concerning Health and Wellness is the No. 1 emerging content area for future graduates entering the U.S. workforce as reported by three-quarters of the employer respondents (76.1 percent). • Creativity/Innovation is projected to “increase in importance” for future workforce entrants, according to more than 70 percent (73.6 percent) of employer respondents. Currently, however, more than half of employer respondents (54.2 percent) report new workforce entrants with a high school diploma to be “deficient” in this skill set.

Welcome to Web 2.0

Web 2.0 <ul><li>Open source content and applications </li></ul><ul><li>Sites that get their value from their users </li></ul><ul><li>Blogs/Microblogs </li></ul><ul><li>Wikis </li></ul><ul><li>Social Networking/Bookmarking Sites </li></ul><ul><li>RSS Feeds </li></ul><ul><li>Podcasting </li></ul>

Open Source Content and Applications <ul><li>Anyone can be a publisher </li></ul><ul><li>All open source material is free </li></ul><ul><li>Relies on a community that encourages reusing materials </li></ul><ul><li>Tools for commentary/free expression-text, audio, video </li></ul><ul><li>Supports social networking </li></ul>

Impacting the Classroom With Web 2.0 Tools

Create your own Personal Learning Network <ul><li>How can web 2.0 tools help you become a better teacher? </li></ul><ul><li>How can you work smarter not harder? </li></ul><ul><li>How can you feel connected to teachers with similar issues, feelings, worries, struggles? </li></ul><ul><li>Get a Network! </li></ul>

Not this type of network

But a professional network

Begin building your PLN <ul><li>Join a professional social network. I belong to Classroom 2.0 (Ning) and the Discovery Educator’s Network (Discovery Education) (http://socialnetworksined.wikispaces.com/) </li></ul><ul><li>Find 3-5 Blogs (Google Blogs) you like and subscribe to them using RSS feeds or Google Reader </li></ul><ul><li>Join a microblogging network like Twitter or Plurk </li></ul><ul><li>Lurk for awhile </li></ul><ul><li>Participate-Become a part of the conversation </li></ul>

Classroom 2.0 Ning http://www.classroom20.com/ A great place for building contacts with other educators who are interested in using Web 2.0 tools. A weekly live show on Saturdays gives members a chance to communicate and learn together. ISTE Ning http://www.iste-community.org A new Ning created by ISTE to promote communication among ISTE members. Special Interest Groups for Tech Coordinators, 1:1 and more give an opportunity for focused conversations. 1. Join a Social Network

2. Find 3-5 Blogs to follow

<ul><li>Really simple syndication, a way of aggregating web content in one place. Users subscribe to sites with RSS feeds and the aggregators collects new content and sends it to your desktop. So the content of 30 sites is visible in one place. </li></ul><ul><li>Aggregators </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Bloglines.com </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Netvibes.com </li></ul></ul>Subscribe to Blogs using RSS

www.bloglines.com <ul><li>Instead of checking out all 25 student Weblogs every day, you could just collect their work in your aggregator using their RSS feeds. </li></ul>

<ul><li>Microblogging tool </li></ul><ul><li>140 characters or less </li></ul><ul><li>Use it to see what others are doing </li></ul><ul><li>Use it to ask questions and get ideas </li></ul>http://www.commoncraft.com/show 3. Join a microblogging site

<ul><li>Twitterator </li></ul><ul><li>http://twitterator.org/ </li></ul><ul><li>Use this URL to be added to STAR Discovery Educators list </li></ul><ul><li>http://tinyurl.com/4a7mnu </li></ul><ul><li>http://www.edutopia.org/twitter-professional-development-technology-microblogging </li></ul>

Impacting the Classroom With Web 2.0 Tools

Wikis <ul><li>www.pbwiki.com </li></ul><ul><li>www.wikispaces.com </li></ul><ul><li>www.wetpaint.com </li></ul><ul><li>www.wikipedia.com </li></ul>

Wiki <ul><li>A free online writing space that is created and edited by multiple authors </li></ul><ul><li>Encourages collaboration </li></ul><ul><li>Student interaction </li></ul><ul><li>Easy-to-use interface for creating Web pages </li></ul><ul><li>No software - all you need is Web-based </li></ul><ul><li>Public or private, and you can invite participants </li></ul>

What can you do with a Wiki? <ul><li>Build a classroom/school newspaper online </li></ul><ul><li>Publish student projects and research </li></ul><ul><li>Manage documents </li></ul><ul><li>Use as a presentation tool </li></ul><ul><li>Debate course topics, assigned readings </li></ul><ul><li>Design a student-created “Solutions Manual” </li></ul><ul><li>Support service learning projects (build a website about a challenge in your city) </li></ul>

Wikis http://whsbulldogs.wikispaces.com

http://mehs-slockuk.wikispaces.com/Friends

Wikis <ul><li>http://rdsc.wikispaces.com/Economics </li></ul><ul><li>Http://fpdm.wikispaces.com/FP+cookbook </li></ul>

www.wikispaces.com Now we're taking the next step - we want to give away 100,000 free K-12 Plus wikis. That includes all the features and benefits that normally cost $50/year - for free. No fine print, no usage limits, no advertising, no catches.

Social Bookmarking <ul><li>Web based service where shared lists of user created Internet bookmarks are displayed. Allows user to locate, classify, rank, and share Internet resources by tagging sites. </li></ul><ul><li>Diigo.com </li></ul><ul><li>Del.icio.us </li></ul>http://handouts.wesfryer.com/ohio

Social Bookmarking <ul><li>Saves links to web pages </li></ul><ul><li>Web based so your bookmarks are available anywhere-not just on one computer in the favorites </li></ul><ul><li>Share web page links with others </li></ul><ul><li>Create “networks” of people with like interests and bookmarks </li></ul><ul><li>Organize your web pages with tags </li></ul>

Social Bookmarking <ul><li>Users create “clouds” of tags to easily locate resources </li></ul>http://www.diigo.com/list/eflclassroom/web-20

http://www.slideshare.net/lwright3768/

www.slideshare.net

Digital Video www.zamzar.com

What will you do today? <ul><li>Build digital literacy </li></ul><ul><li>Use the right tool for the job </li></ul><ul><li>Use the tools to communicate more effectively </li></ul><ul><li>Create learning networks for teachers and students </li></ul><ul><li>Provide learning whatever, whenever, wherever </li></ul><ul><li>Provide authentic learning experiences-engaging and contextual </li></ul><ul><li>Provide opportunities beyond the classroom </li></ul>

Don’t prepare us for your world, prepare us for our world. http://www.boxoftricks.net/?page_id=29 –Box of Tricks

<ul><li>My contact information: </li></ul><ul><li>Cindy Wright </li></ul><ul><li>Columbus City Schools </li></ul><ul><li>737 E. Hudson St. </li></ul><ul><li>Columbus, OH 43211 </li></ul><ul><li>614-365-5102 </li></ul><ul><li>[email_address] </li></ul>