Week 1 - Blog Posting #2 - Learning 2.0

"The changing demographics of the student population and the more consumer/client-centered culture in today's society have provided a climate where the use of student-centered learning is thriving" (O’Neill & McMahon, 2005). But, what exactly is student-centered learning, and how do we create it in our classrooms? Student-centered learning seems to mirror the Montessori philosophy in that the learner decides what he or she wants to learn and how he or she is going to go about learning it. Today, Web 2.0 tools and Learning 2.0 are all around us. How will we incorporate it into our classrooms? We, as teachers, are failing our students who are actually surpassing us in learning with Web 2.0 tools. Teaching and learning must, therefore, become more collaborative. Teachers need to let go of the teaching methods they remember from their youth and look to the future seeing that it is a whole new ball game. It is amazing, not to mention embarrassing, that education ranked 55^th out of 55 industries in the U.S. for IT intensiveness in the workplace (Learning to Change, 2008).

So, how do we take learning to the next level? How do we create Learning 2.0 classrooms? Do we need to train teachers? Do we need funding for our schools to reach the 21^st century? Do we need to educate our school boards and secretaries of education? Yes, Yes, and YES! All of these are necessary. An inordinate amount of information is out there – for free! We need the time and resources as educators to access it. We also need to be able to access these sites from school to bring the technology to the forefront of the classroom. Could it be possible that all this technology is less expensive than photocopies, workbooks, and textbooks? I would venture to say it is possible! Each child could have a laptop, his or her portal to the world, for about $500.00. That’s less than what some schools charge as their registration fee or comprehensive fee. This is DOABLE!

I teach 4^th and 5^th grade mathematics. I am constantly thinking, “How do I make this learning 2.0?” I admit, I struggle with this and have not gotten my hands around it. RSS feeds and Twitter have helped me lately to see what’s out there. The book Web 2.0: new tools, new schools offers open source resources for me to use, such as Seeing Math, Shodor Software, and StarLogo (p. 73). Compiling and “filing’ all of the information is a somewhat daunting task. But having the information come to me through RSS feeds is a step in the right direction. I am teaching place value currently to my fourth graders. Of course, this is supposed to be a review of material learned in third grade, but many do not own the information yet. Today, I have been on iTunes and YouTube to find resources to use in my classroom to help my students understand this concept. Anyone have any additional resources???

In California, the California School Library Association is beginning a nine-week program for new teacher professional development. What a great idea! read article in The Journal

FETC virtual conference (Free) Oct. 22 click here

floyda007. (2008, May 15). Learning to Change-Changing to Learn [Video File]. Retrieved September 9, 2009, from YouTube Web site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tahTKdEUAPk

Nagel, D. (2009, September 10). CSLA launches free Web 2.0 professional development resources.THE Journal. Retrieved September 10, 2009 from http://thejournal.com/articles/2009/09/10/csla-launches-free- web-2.0-professional- development-resources.aspx?sc_lang=en

O’Neill, G. & McMahon, T. (2005). Student-centered learning: What does it mean for students and lecturers?. All Ireland Society for Higher Education Readings. Retrieved September 10, 2009, from http://www.aishe.org/readings/2005- 1/oneill-mcmahon-Tues_19th_Oct_SCL.html

Week 1 - Blog Posting #1 - Web 2.0

Time Magazine calls the use of Web 2.0 tools “a massive social experiment with no road map”. I think this is true of our use of technology today. The world is getting even more fast-paced and smaller with the creation of each new blog and wiki. The world is at our fingertips and we have no idea how far we can go, but we’re moving in every direction. Just twenty-five to thirty years ago, we would have to wait for a document to reach us via snail mail. We would have to wait for a response from someone in writing. Heck, we even wrote letters to our friends and family on paper! We actually called people many times over before being able to communicate anything. Maybe the phone line was busy; maybe the person we were trying to reach wasn’t home. Then the answering machine and “double line” helped getting in touch. Then, the brick mobile phone became available. Communication was becoming easier. So much has changed since then. We, as a global society, became accustomed to the exhilaration of instant gratification. We wanted it now – we got it NOW. I see the boom just snowballing from then on. From fax machines, scanners, and cell phones to twitters, wikis, and blogs. We are growing exponentially through sharing information!

In the “We Think” video by Charles Leadbeater posted on the assignment page, he writes, “everyone is talking at the same time”. This is so true. Years ago, you would have to surf the net for hours to find information, partly because the information was not so readily available and partly because the Internet connection was sooo s...l…o…w (or you got dropped - remember that?) Now, everyone is talking at the same time! Information is EVERYWHERE! Even the Ad Sense is getting better at pinpointing what you want to find.

What is such a shame is that there is just an abounding amount of potential in this phenomenal tool – the Internet – and we as teachers are limited with what we are allowed to access in our classrooms. Web 2.0 tools are growing by leaps and bounds and so many of our schools, especially at the elementary level, are so slow to follow the collaborative learning available that by the time they do adapt to this technology, students will confuse the time period with the Neolithic Age. Ok, well not quite so dramatic.

WE must make the change! We, who are in the classrooms, must make the change and allow administrators and school board officials to see the true benefits of using Web 2.0 in our classrooms, like Julia Sporin’s class of third graders who uses blogs to write collaborative lessons (“Collaborative Literacy”). Maybe we can conduct studies where growth in learning is reflected on standardized scores. I am ready to galvanize my classroom, my school, maybe even my community at large with Web 2.0 tools.

Boling, E., Castek, J., Zawilinski, L., Barton, K., & Nierlich, T. (2008, March). Collaborative

literacy: Blogs and Internet projects. Reading Teacher, 61(6), 504-506. Retrieved

September 10, 2009, from Education Research Complete database.

CharlesLeadbeater (2008, February 26), We Think [Video File]. Video posted to http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiP79vYsfbo

Howe, J. (2006–2007). Your web, your way. Time Magazine, 168(26), 60-63. Retrieved

September 10, 2009, from Ebsco Host.

Blog Setup

Ok, the deed is done. Another blog created! Can't wait to use this.