It’s surprising to me that in 2010, there are still big districts that are blocking all Web 2.0 apps — wikis, blogs, etc. These are some of the most powerful tools we have for differentiating instruction.
I have to think these decisions are being made by people who aren’t in charge of instruction and who are mainly motivated by wanting “no problems.” (And as I always say, if you want no problems, just pack the computers away or don’t even by them.) I restate my offer here to talk to leadership teams at these districts about the benefits of these tools and the ways they can be implemented safely. Please let our teaches and students have the tools they need for 21st century learning!
Are whole categories of tools blocked in your district? Do you know who is driving policy on this? Have efforts been made to revisit these policies? What are the barriers?
Wikipedia is available, but many blog sites are blocked.
I”m enjoying all the workshops you have had at the conference.. I just hope I can remember how to do it alll
I have enjoyed all of the technology sessions but I am a little hesitant with my ability to implement in the classroom.
I think the more educators that are willing to push the envelope, investigate Web 2.0 tools for instruction and ask their districts about usage, the better. This will force districts to look at these less traditional avenues for instruction in the classroom.
Excellent point! There is a fear of the unknown.
so true! I also think blogging can extend the class session…like a running Socratic seminar
I looking forward to Blogging.
I can see how blogging would help students who find school boring and are disengaged students get comfortable with sharing their ideas with others. Blocking these opportunities for students to do this does not help them become more motivated and engaged (in my opinion).
If we want students to develop into positive contributing citizens of the future then we will have to educate them in the proper way to use the tools of the future. Our district blocks certain tools.
But, we are fortunate to have approval to use many of them.
It is an interesting balance of caution and necessary risk. A game analogy: “You can’t get to second base without stealing first.”
But why does progress depend upon theft?
I love all of the available technology and the web tools, but I wonder how much is too much. If I have a blog, read blogs, have a website or a wiki, twitter, and facebook on top of my regular planning and grading; is it realistic timewise?
(please excuse stream of consciousness writing)
thanks for providing so much information for us to use
AN overwhelming amount of information…But what concerns me is the concept of plagiarism??
The root of the problem (as I see it) is that those who ultimately make these decisions do not use the technologies and thus they do not see the value. They have not had that personal aha moment that lets them see what they’ve been missing. Thinking back to when we first started using the internet, it was seen by some as a time waster with no educational value. Once some of them found a reason to use the internet, they began to embrace it. Unfortunately, it is easier for many of our instructors to boil things down into something that they can understand how to use and grade – not something that the students understand how to use. Also, to many of them, CAI is wrongly seen as technology use.
Instead of complaining, we need to take a different approach. Demonstrate (by modeling behavior) how these sites can be used. For example, I’m often asked how I keep up with technology and I show my newsreader with around 350 feeds. After they say “How am I going to read all of that,” I show them how it only take 10-15 minutes to determine which articles I’m going to read that day. Today, more than ever, we need to practice, and teach, time management techniques.
Also, organize your colleagues so that you are not a lone voice – show your administrators that this is what you, the users, want. IT should be there to service the users – to provide them with the resources necessary to do their jobs. But, we should be willing to understand (with sufficient explanantion) why some limitations, such as bandwidth usage, may be in place. You should also recognize that there is a difference between work and home.
Lastly, I am the person in my district that operates the filter. I often get requests from teachers for access to websites. When asked why, they have no clue what they are asking for. I even once had a high school business teacher ask for a site (reason – its mentioned in the text book), and then attempted to blame “the filter” when her students went to an online gambling site. These types of incidents are not treated as “teachable moments” but instead turn into blame-fests, causing overreactions all the way up the chain until someone has the ***** to put an end to the complaints.
(Love your site, sorry to take up so much space with my rambling)
Thanks to everyone for your insightful comments.
Curt, you make some very good points. Thanks for writing! (I’m not sure if you were at the f2f session where we discussed this, but I opened with an offer to meet with any leadership teams to show the advantages of these tools in differentiating instruction. I think that everyone wants what’s best for kids, but often the people making these policies don’t know the huge instructional advantages of these tools and/or they don’t know that there are ways to make them “safe” and to educate students in media literacy and smart use of these tools. Also, the more instructional leadership knows about the benefits of Web 2.0 apps, the more they buy into their use.)
We all need to do advocacy to make sure the benefits of these tools are known so that are students aren’t deprived of their benefits. And when that doesn’t work, I think it’s worth the benefits to be civilly disobedient in order to best serve our kids.