The new world of social networking gives me anxiety. After spending 2 weeks learning the potential of web 2.0 tools I feel unsure of my ability to use some of them. I will never be able to master all of the tools, both present and future, that will continue to help students learn. I don't have the same intuitive thinking that allows younger generations to use web 2.0 tools effortlessly. I will have to work harder to understand and make use of web 2.0 tools than most of my students.
Should I pack it in and give up? Hell no!
I'm ready to start making some mistakes. I expect to be corrected and instructed by my students. In the future I anticipate that they will be the ones showing me the web tools that will allow our class room to move forward. As is always the case it will be hard to give up old methods and start making the best use of new methods. It must be done to give students the best chance to succeed in time of economic change.
Friedman's The World is Flat gives historical context and immediacy to the notion that our children will be competing and living in very different economic climate. One thing made clear in the book is that in the capitalist world of globalization many people will work in different ways. Even knowledge jobs such as programmer or engineer may not pay very will if there are 350,000 people graduating with those credentials from Indian Universities every year. If an American student doesn't possess special talents valued by others or skills that can't be outsourced they could be in for a long and frustrating life.
Unless the fiber optic cable is cut, students today will need web 2.0 collaborative skills to compete. They need to practice these skills in the context of learning in school not just outside of the classroom. Many students in the flat world today already exercise those skills. We need to make use of the tools in school as well. Teachers must also be able to make the most of web 2.0 skills. I hope I continue to be amongst the ranks of teachers that use technology to help students learn. Todays social networking tools make it clear that powerpoint is no longer good enough.
I plan to use wikispaces this fall for student collaboration. I plan to use blogging as a way to assess learning and give feedback. My students will use pageflakes and protopage to display and share their efforts with a larger audience. I plan to make mistakes and fail as well as succeed. I will not know all the answers. It may be more than a little frustrating but to teach students of the 21st century I need to use the collaborative tools that will give them the best chance at being competitive in a global marketplace.
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2 comments:
How can anyone learn everything there is to know about anything in two weeks? If I learned anything this week it is that technology is moving faster than either one of us can run. Perhaps the secret here is to use the students as the experts and have them keep us updated. If it makes you feel any better, one day our students will be facing their own children who will be using innovations that confuse their parents. It is a constant loop. But the advantages of using the technology for our students makes the struggle worthwhile.
I understand the feelings that you share in this post. It is one thing to learn about these tools, but the implementation is key. Keep focused on your goals about what you wnat students to learn. The tech tools will take care of themselves.
I echo Carol's sentiments. Students are the experts with some tools, and can keep us updated. I was unaware of this multiple IM browser interface until I caught some students using it in the lab. I warned the students about visiting sites without my permission, but I also asked questions about the site. I find, however, that we know more about many Read/Write web tools than the students. Our job is to share our knowledge and model ways to use these tools. You'll do fine with these. Keep the conversation going with your classmates and see how they are using the tools. Collaboration works.
AEP
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