Angela Burgess - Electronic Portfolio
  • Introduction
  • Video Reflection
  • Resume
  • Vision
  • Diversity
  • Standards
    • Standard 1 >
      • 1.1 Shared Vision
      • 1.2 Strategic Planning
      • 1.3 Policies, Procedures, Programs & Funding
      • 1.4 Diffusion of Innovations & Change
    • Standard 2 >
      • 2.1 Content Standards & Student Technology Standards
      • 2.2 Research-Based Learner-Centerd Strategies
      • 2.3 Authentic Learning
      • 2.4 Higher Order Thinking Skills
      • 2.5 Differentiation
      • 2.6 Instructional Design
      • 2.7 Assessment
      • 2.8 Data Analysis
    • Standard 3 >
      • 3.1 Classroom Management & Collaborative Learning
      • 3.2 Managing Digital Tools and Resources
      • 3.3 Online & Blended Learning
      • 3.4 Adaptive and Assistive Technology
      • 3.5 Basic Troubleshooting
      • 3.6 Selecting and Evaluating Digital Tools & Resources
      • 3.7 Communcation & Collaboration
    • Standard 4 >
      • 4.1 Digital Equity
      • 4.2 Safe, Healthy, Legal & Ethical Use
      • 4.3 Diversity, Cultural Understanding & Global Awareness
    • Standard 5 >
      • 5.1 Needs Assessment
      • 5.2 Professional Learning
      • 5.3 Program Evaluation
    • Standard 6 >
      • 6.1 Continuous Learning
      • 6.2 Reflection
      • 6.3 Field Experiences
  • Field Experiences
  • Blog
  • Capstone

Web 2.0 in the 21st Century Classroom

1/19/2013

2 Comments

 
Picture
How many of us remember the classroom pictured here? In our experience, students sat quietly in their seats and took notes while the professor lectured. Occasionally, the professor might question students or solicit commentary from them. And yet even these interactions were more to prove that the professor was in charge and to keep students on their toes than to actually engage students in learning.

The purpose of Web 2.0 is to change that. By engaging learners with the content, rather than having students simply remember and understand content, we will create lifelong learners able to thrive in and beyond the 21st Century classroom. They will apply what they learn, analyze what they find, evaluate its purpose and accuracy, and create new knowledge and products. As a result, students learn from us and with us.  Teachers allow the students to teach the teachers and fellow classmates. Most importantly, students maintain a certain level of control over what they learn and how they demonstrate their knowledge.

With the advent of new technology, teachers must understand that they may have to lose a level of control in the classroom. The classroom becomes a place to discover new information, not to cover a chapter in a textbook. The teacher becomes a resource, but not the only resource. For some teachers, this can be panic-inducing. Indeed, if we fail to prepare students by detailing and explaining our expectations for the process, it will create total chaos. On the other hand, if we begin a class, or even a unit, by teaching our expectations for student behavior, engagement, learning, communication, and final products, we may be surprised at what students can do and create.

As seen in David Warlick's article  A Day in the Life of Web 2.0, people today are multi-taskers. Teachers listen to podcasts created by fellow educators while driving to school; parents read and contribute to Wikis created by members of the school community to inform and be informed about what is happening in the schools; students text each other to discuss new project ideas while researching information for the project.  The school presented by Warlick is an idealized one in which teachers are able to work collaboratively across disciplines because they share students. Such a situation is not always possible, but as is mentioned in the video Shift Happens / Did You Know? by Karl Fisch, we must prepare students for jobs that do not yet exist to solve problems that haven't yet been imagined.

Finally, teachers must change both their expectations and their processes in the classroom. As the Internet was not commercialized until 1995, many teachers today taught themselves how to use it. Our students teach themselves how to play new games or use new devices all the time. In contrast, the same students often appear to have lost the ability to use common sense when combining technology with a classroom environment. Why? I believe that it is because schools have separated technology from the classroom for far too long. It is up to us as teachers to TEACH them how and when to use all of the tools they have at their disposal, including digital tools. By doing so, we can teach them not just our content but also the skills necessary to thrive in a world changing more rapidly than can be recorded.



RESOURCES
Fisch, K. (2007, June 22). Did you know? [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/06/did-you-know-20.html

Warlick, D. (2006, October 15). A day in the life of web 2.0. Retrieved from http://sddial.k12.sd.us/events/laptop_institute/Files/monday/warlick_harnessing_the_new_shape_of_information.pdf

2 Comments
Angie Aufderheide link
1/20/2013 10:25:50 am

I agree with your perspective. Integrating technology successfully is not about the actual skills needed to use the technology. It is about teaching our students how to use technology to raise their level of thinking. In so many cases, it is the teaches that we must teach how to use the technology. When you were reading the Warlick article or watching the Fisch video, did it occur to you how outdated both were in just the few years since they were published? That was one of the first things that I noticed. Almost in an effort to prove the point of the article and video, their own works are so quickly outdated. I would be curious to see what the statistics that are mentioned in the Fisch video are today. How much growth has occurred since its publication in 2007? That six years is an eternity in terms of technology.

Reply
Angela Burgess link
1/21/2013 07:30:40 am

Angie, yes, the references to MySpace were especially amusing. I went to YouTube and found an updated version of the Fisch video. It talks about Facebook, but not really Twitter, which has also been adopted and now almost abandoned by our students. My students tell me today that it's all about Instagram and Snapchat. What is worrying to me about that is that they have gone from social interaction, to social snapshots of interaction in 140 characters, to simple pictures. Are we really regressing back to an era when a picture is the highest form of communication?

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Angela Burgess is a high school French and Lit teacher, as well as an Instructional Technology Specialist.  She is also  understandably a Francophile and technophile. She obtained her M.Ed. in Instructional Technology from Kennesaw State University in May 2014.

    Archives

    May 2014
    January 2014
    August 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    August 2012

    Categories

    All
    Reflections On Learning
    Resources
    Rubrics
    Student Blogs
    Wikis

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.