Gentle giants of the Savannah - not the least bit worried about the integration of Web 2.0 tools into pedagogical practice - what a life!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
I had written in my Module 10 post that I would keep this blog going and thought I would start by outlining how the little school I work at is approaching and implementing our learnings from this course.
I have to say that we have been very blessed to have the support of a wonderfully talented CEO adviser, Scott, who is really helping to generate enthusiasm amongst the staff that are participating in this course. Just in the past couple of weeks, Scott has facilitated several sessions with both teachers and students on podcasting which has allowed students from Years 1-6 to create their own podcasts on content they have been covering this term in class.
For many teachers, integrating technology can prove daunting. We worry about things going wrong - and fair enough. We worry about not being an expert on all those fabulous Web 2.0 tools out there that just keep increasing in number at such a fast rate. If that's not enough, there's the latest press that poses questions such as "Can a teacher be a good teacher without using technology" and "Are teachers who are not integrating technology doing their job?" - see David Warlick's blog 2c worth. When this isn't an area you're feeling really confident in it can all get a little overwhelming and it's easy to put it in the 'too hard basket'. Personally, I don't believe that answers to these questions are black and white. What's important is having staff who are willing to 'get their hands dirty' and explore some of the available technology. That's just one of the great things about the staff at the school I work at - they're always so prepared to give things a go and, usually, with a magnificent sense of good humour!
Next week at our staff meeting we'll be working together to match the latest International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) profiles by student age group to the Web 2.0 tools we have available to us. Then we'll be looking to see where each fits in with a digital version of Bloom's Taxonomy. The aim of the exercise is to create a starting point for integrating technology into our current school scope and sequence. Of course, this will remain a dynamic exercise as our knowledge and understanding of technology keeps evolving.
Wish us luck!
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