למידה, אינטרנט ... ומה שביניהם

I twittered about how only two of them were bloggers, no one knew about Web 2.0, only a handful knew what a wiki was, and no one had heard of RSS. It really forces me to wonder if we’re stirring up a bunch of hype about “Web 2.0″ just to have something to be enthusiastic about. It’s not a bad thing that these beginning teachers hadn’t heard of Web 2.0. They’re certainly doing it. Most of them IM, have MySpace or Facebook (etc.) sites. They communicate online with individuals and groups, and they’ve used these conversations to teach and learn, though they probably haven’t thought of it that way.

For over a year I’ve been wondering if what we say about kids and their use of computers was true. We keep saying, “The kids are using this stuff all the time - except when they come to school.” But, I wasn’t seeing it. Sure, there are isolated cases, but not as a rule do I see tech-savvy kids. They have their cell phones and maybe their myspace accounts, but they aren’t LEARNING on the web, the way we are, and I have had this nagging suspicion that we were projecting OUR way of learning and using the tools onto them.

Want to know why I think Web 2.0 which has spawned the concept of Classroom 2.0 is worthy? Check out how it has changed teacher practice in 40 schools in Alabama who have been through a 21st Century Teaching and Learning project that, as much as possible, ignored the tools and instead focused on what we can do with the tools to make school more relevant for students. http://www.abpc21.org/

I have the pleasure of knowing 20 somethings who are immersed in these technologies. They do not obsess over wiki this and blog that– they just use them.

תוויות: בלוגים, הרהורים