Web2.0 & the "wow" factor

It is not surprising that, as more teachers discover tools for web2.0, they become excited at the possibilities and continue to search out new and exciting ways. This can be said for blogging, podcasting, slideshows, mindmapping, brainstorming and a host of other strategies that web2.0 tools help to facilitate. I also suggest that, as more teachers adopt these tools, they will discover networks that they did not know existed and want to explore how they can become more "connected" to other teachers.
My caution, underscored with a bit of worry, is that teachers, like all other people, will become entranced by this "wow" factor without being able to step back and reflect on how it impacts their teaching and student learning. Case in point is blogs. I see all kinds of people interested in having their students blog, sharing their work with an authentic audience. This is great, but what learning objectives are being met? How are you using this tool to enhance the student learning? Simply writing a blog post doesn't guarantee many, if anyone, will read the post as many of us who blog regularly can attest. Furthermore, even if people read, it doesn't in any way follow that they will comment.
As educators, we must be careful of the "wow" factor. There are many tools that enhance the learning that takes place in a classroom but we should reflect on how it is increasing learning when we use it. An example is the discussion on Twitter and its uses in the classroom. I have found it to be useful in my Communication Production Technology class by having students combine it with a brainstorming tool like bubbl.us, to share ideas and collaborate while doing the brainstorming. I have them in the same room but separate so that there is an "illusion" of distance. The idea is to have them explore communication methods and how they can be used in different settings. The students had some good comments about twitter and its uses in school although they weren't all useful. Most students are past the "wow" factor. Maybe we might ask them if they feel a particular tool would be beneficial or not? What do you think?

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Permalink Reply by Connie Weber on September 15, 2007 at 6:26am

Hi Kelly,

You're right about the "wow factor" and it possibly leading to frivolous or sketchy uses of technology in the classroom. Some of it we just have to get through, by trying things out, seeing how they work, and then selecting the tools that have real potential for increasing deep understanding in learning.

I find it hard to keep explorations limited; there are always new technologies, new interactive sites, new possibilities for network connections and collaborative projects. So MUCH we could be involved in. There are too many choices; "overwhelm" is always right around the corner. (Does anyone else experience this? The question becomes, how do I narrow my choices?) I'd value more time to reflect with people about which technologies best serve which particular learning goals, which particular teacher styles, in which particular assortments of students and learning situations. Well, that's what CR2.0 is about. Need to spend more time exploring what people are suggesting, in more depth---oops! Keep getting more ideas.

For me it's hard to settle, hard to choose a perfect alignment of technological tools and activities that support the deepest learning in class. I'm looking through a kaleidoscope and seeing great beauty and possibility, and then the kaleidoscope shifts; I see a new beautiful picture, qualitatively different...

Would love to hear more about your experiments with Twitter and brainstorming tools.

It's a great idea you suggested: asking the students which tools would be useful. I teach upper-elementary and have a feeling I should turn to some middle-schoolers for suggestions. They'd like the role of advising a teacher.

Thanks for the post!

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Permalink Reply by Ed Jones on September 15, 2007 at 7:22am

Kelly, the way I look at this is: I'm ho-hum about blogging etc. in the classroom, but thrilled that teachers are embracing social networking as part of their job/career. Many of us feel (you did label this philosophy ;-) ) that schools kind of missed the management/human resources / entre-intra-preneuring revolutions of the 80's and 90's. Teachers were too stuck in their classrooms with an occasional venture out to the -yawn- staff meeting or worse InService Training; the union model better served 1940's truckers and Y2K grocery clerks than it does world-class knowledge workers, and there just hasn't been the kind of innovation in Education that say Amazon brought to bookselling, blue-force-tracking brought to combat, or iTunes to the music industry.

So, its just fantastic to see what's going on here, on Classroom 2.0 and others, with teachers really sharing good techniques.

I personally feel the best things to come from the net for education are still to come. The blog fad will hopefully be a stepping stone.

Meanwhile, you hopefully have a copy of Strunk and White handy for grading the students' writing about Twitter and bubbl, are making sure many get the learning and evaluation of basic keyboard skills like right-click-save as, bold-timesnewroman12, and budget-in-Excel; and don't forget to introduce them to Charles Babbage, Countess Ada, Admiral Hopper, and a few others who tread the hard road to bring these gifts.

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Permalink Reply by Kelly Christopherson on September 15, 2007 at 8:42am

Connie & Ed,

I am excited that teachers are beginning to see that the internet, with its possibilities, opens up a world to them and their students that was unavailable not so long ago. It can be overwhelming at times as people try to navigate their lives between online and off. Networking and increasing ones knowledge of what is available can consume great amount of time.

I put this in philosophy because this whole idea of teachers becoming involved in online networks and using technologies makes me wonder about how this will affect their classroom approaches. As you point out Ed, teachers have tended to spend their time in their rooms, only emerging for the occasional staff meeting and inservice. Now, we are introducing them to new technologies that allows them to access and connect around the world but they still don't have to leave the room. These connections are important but their is a chance that teachers will still remain isolated from the teacher next door.

As teachers use more technologies and become more connected with the world, we need to find time for professional reflection and discussion with other teachers within the same building to help build the school community within the building while at the same time supporting teachers as they explore and connect with others on a global scale.

I agree with you Ed, that there will be greater things to come and that blogging will be a first step in a growth of the use of web tools. As an administrator who is working to help teachers to begin experiencing the possibilities of global connectiveness, I make a point of sharing with the teachers what I experience and, in time, I hope they will bring their experiences to the discussion. Like you, Connie, I see that there could be endless possibilities but I've come to realize that if all I do is look, nothing gets done (not saying that is what you do) so I have to begin putting together plans, using what I think will give students a great learning experience while being open to suggestions to improve what they are doing.

The "WOW" factor is something that I believe is a reality that we must deal with in education. As more educators use the tools, they begin to see so many possibilities that they sometimes have a hard time getting past that point, trying new things without reflecting on their successes and failures to build up their repetoire of teaching strategies using these new tools.

Thanks to each of you for your input and ideas.

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Permalink Reply by Barbara on September 15, 2007 at 12:03pm

This is an important discussion and I hope others continue to chime in and share their thoughts.My most recent post on Leadertalk danced around the same issue ( but perhaps not quite as eloquently as Kelly's post above). Three things that I think are important are the wow factor, the idea that "overwhelmed" is just around the corner , and defining our learning objectives.

I agree that technology for technology's sake is not effective but I also believe that what students need to learn has changed and that we can not met their needs without technology. For example Global collaboration requires 2.0 tools whether you use blog, forums, voicethread , skype or wikis..doesn't really matter.

I think there are two critical pieces to this puzzle...
One has to do with identifying some kind of basic tool box. This may vary from community to comunty and certainly will not remain static. From my point of view I have tried to define some basic tools and I have considered the learning curve of these tools to keep it simple for the neophytes. For me this includes, skype, s, blogs, podcasts/vcast, a reader(RSS), photo program/storage/sharing, and online WP like google docs. What do you think should be on the list? But this is only one piece.

The other critical piece is the purpose or what Kelly calls the learning experience. For me this means taking a new look at our lesson planning and our learning objectives. If those haven;t changed then the technology just becomes an expensive new way of doing old things. So how have our learning objectives changed? I stated at the beginning of this comment that I believe that what students need to learn has changed but I think we still have a ways to go in fleshing this out. In broad strokes we understand there are new literacies. We understand that knowledge is accessed differently and is growing exponentially, that the need for creativity and high level thinking are critical , that the ability to be contributors and participants in the world of knowledge not just consumers is part of our goal. We understand that global awareness and collaboration are important but how do we translate all of this into objectives for science class or literature.

So what should we be writing as our learning objectives? If we can clarify the learning the tools will be easier to identify and become transparent more quickly. The dilemma I think is that we need to help each other to identify those learning objectives.

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Permalink Reply by JoNelle on September 17, 2007 at 8:33pm

In CR20 I have said and read cautions about teaching students technology just for technology's sake.
While enjoying reading the replies here I was reminded of a parent of a 2nd grader's comment my first year out of gifted-ed and into Technology position. Finally - the position I had wanted for our school for many years! At the open house I was excitedly explaining all of the software tools that I would be teaching with to all of the 8oo students of the school, not just my 60 GT students. I happily talked about the wonderous ways using Kidspration,Inspiration, KidPix, GRaph Club, MS Office tools, etc would help students learn how to use a computer AND help them in their other subjects too. Secure in my thoughts that he would be happy for his child to be learning about and with computers, I just got the comment, "You are NOT teaching computers in here - when are you going to teach my child computers? All of these software programs- they are NOT teaching computers."
It turns out he lives comfortably and happily in his technology-design job and he thinks we need to teach computers in elementary school.
I cannot keep everyone happy, but I keep trying. I guess if we never come across difficulties, we may not be out there very far.