Challenges/Oppurtunities of Web 2.0 in classrooms.

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Permalink Reply by Mr. B on December 22, 2010 at 5:13pm

Hi Arif,

 

I have started a blog to discuss this very topic - the intersection of pedagogy and technology.

 

You can see it and some relevant blog posts here: edgeofeducation.blogspot.com

 

In the meantime, I would say the number one issue is speed and change. By the time one paradigm is absorbed and implemented, it is outdated. I have some thoughts about that, though. Some great thinkers have also weighed in, most notably the guys behind TPACK. 

 

TPACK presentation here.

 

Cheers,

 

Robert

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Permalink Reply by Arif Adnan on December 23, 2010 at 4:26am

Hi Robert,

 

Thank you for the extremely helpful link. I've just watched the video and found it very interesting and useful. I have also go through your blog. I have bookmarked your blog as one of my resources, if you don't mind. 

 

Thanks again!

 

Arif

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Permalink Reply by Colleen Young on December 23, 2010 at 12:22pm

Opportunities - it is certainly motivating for students to publish content online. I have seen that with my own students.

Collaborating together on wikis for example has taught them about working as a team.

 

See Hand it in Teaching & Publish it Teaching on  this page - a blog post that struck a chord with me (The Innovative Educator).

There may be other articles of interest here. 

 

In my own school I am aware of very different levels of IT skills in the staff - some are more worried than others. I try to show them tools that are easy to use. Wallwisher for example or Storybird.

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Rita Oates on December 24, 2010 at 8:21am

Student safety and the privacy/security of what students write and post is the issue that too many educators ignore.

Some web 2.0 tools are designed for the general public, and some are designed specifically for use in K12 settings, taking into account US laws that govern children, particular those under age 13 (the "age of consent"). If you read the terms of service of some web 2.0 tools, you will find not all tools are the same.

Some web 2.0 tools are like a sieve. Some have multiple levels of safety and control.

When the district IT staff say they don't want to have some web 2.0 tool used, find out why. They aren't just saying no. They may be protecting your student data from technical issues you are unaware of.

One example is that some sites have TRUSTe certification. That is an independent statement of child privacy of data on multiple levels. It's hard to earn and to keep. So many district IT staff look first to see whether a web 2.0 tool has TRUSTe certification. If it does, that really helps if you want to use it with your students.

Some sites have RBAC (role-based access control). This says that a teacher can do certain things, and a student can do other things and the teacher can monitor in some way. Check out RBAC in Wikipedia to get some basic knowledge, if you have never heard of it before.

Web 2.0 technologies bring many new and exciting ways to impact student learning. But knowing the difference between www.whitehouse.gov and www.whitehouse.com (as one example) or between YouTube, TeacherTube and SchoolTube, or between Glogster.com and edu.glogster.com are quite important. Teachers, as adults, need to take a leadership role to ensure that students, particularly those under age 13, are safe. Don't give the cop-out of "it's complicated and I'm just a teacher." Take a few moments to find out what the underlying impacts are or could be, and choose wisely.

If you just notice TRUSTe logo, or check out www.truste.com, you will be a more informed educator using web 2.0 tools.

Check out a brief (13 slide) tutorial on "policy management" and controls available within the free web 2.0 tools from ePals:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/39111901/Tutorial-16-ePals-Policy-Management

For detail specifically on how ePals SchoolMail provides for multiple levels of student safety, download the 19-slide tutorial at: http://www.epals.com/media/p/240770.aspx

I hope these references help with your paper!

I'm a former ed tech director from a very large school district, and also a former language arts/journalism teacher who just loves helping students have a voice and get a wider viewing audience for their work...but safely!

 

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Permalink Reply by Caroline Cerveny on December 24, 2010 at 10:28am

Rita, Thank you for your wonderful insights about Web 2.0 tools in the classroom.  Very helpful! I would agree that student safety and the privacy/security issues are very important and many educators tend to not just ignore, but are often unconscious in this area.  Arif, I'd love to see a good reflection in this area in your paper!

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