The Internet has become a new platform for users because of its two-way communication abilities and therefore has become increasingly popular to integrate technology into the classroom. And as a teacher, I believe we are about to have the biggest discussion on education. We need to ask, how do we learn? Jeff raised the following questions about our students:
"What should they know?
What do we think they know
"What do they need to know?"
Where will this discussion take us? Already in this class, we have explored the potential of social networking, media sharing and other web 2.0 tools These are popular tools, not just for education, but popular among our students. Our students have been using web 2.o tools for a long time; writing blogs, uploading photos and videos, building personal portfolios and interacting with each other every day. They have Myspace and Facebook accounts and explore popular sites such as Wikipedia and Flickr; therefore students are already motivated to use technology. The new requirements of 21 century learning is forcing us to focus on education differently. It is forcing us to help our students learn in new ways and to show them there is a whole world to connect with.
Obama said: 'we can stop talking about how great teachers are, and start rewarding them for their greatness!
Why should we use technology in our classrooms? Best practices would embrace education that includes:
*creativity
*collaboration
*promotes student centered learning
*engages students
*learning not limited to school boundaries
*writing not limited to one-on-one communication
*helps students become familiar with technology.
Why should we use technology in our classrooms? Best practices would embrace education that includes:
*creativity
*collaboration
*promotes student centered learning
*engages students
*learning not limited to school boundaries
*writing not limited to one-on-one communication
*helps students become familiar with technology.
I'm following a lot of discussion about how to use Web 2.0 technology to help students learn and it usually comes back to co-operative learning. It is important to engage students in activities, to collect material, analyse information and process it with others, work on documents and wiki's, post comments and editing information with the help of the teacher. Students should not be left on their own but should be guided by the teacher to evaluate information and to ask the right questions. As teachers we need to find ways to use technology in our classrooms and consider the security issues and the copyright. Technology will not take away the need for teachers, instead we will need to be the center of education because our students will need our guidance more than ever and to encourage and motivate them to become better learners
The following is a link to PBS a Frontline report on "Growing Up Online."
So what should teachers be looking for? What are the answers to those thought provoking questions? The more I read about this, the more I feel that I need to keep looking further. And for now, while evaluating what works in my class, I am modeling the use of using Web 2.0 tools. I have linked a my blog from Edublog to our school's web page to start that conversation with my students' parents.
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