Newsgroups and Education

To me, newsgroups seem like an innovation that was made the classroom.
Although from what I understand of Usenet I think it would be a little risky directing a class towards such an open resource. It seems like the probability of students coming across inappropriate content is too high. If there was a specific topic that the students were to research out a very restricted Usenet group could be of use and the students could assist each other in the research process. This does cause some problems when you get a student who is less than motivated and rather than contributing anything to the class group just takes the research of others. If such a resource was used guidelines would need to be put in place and the teacher would have to watch who is contributing closely.
On the other hand I think Google groups are fantastic. They are something I have used for years in my own education and have made things like group projects so much easier. Whether the group is used for discussion as a class, putting together pieces of a class project, or group work Google groups make these projects more convenient and allow the students to learn a new aspect of technology.

Digistories

It is important with any technology brought into the the classroom that GLOs continue to be addressed. It would be very easy to get so involved in the endless new products we are exposed to and start to forget some of the main things we are hired to teach. I think that digital stories provide a fantastic media which allow students to enhance their story writing abilities while learning how to use new and useful technology. I like the idea of spending 60% of the time working on the actual writing process and then 40% on the media. I can see that some students would get so excited about the process of making a digital copy of their story that they would overlook some vital story making steps. The process of editing and peer editing is made easier with digital stories. When students make paper books it is harder to go back and change pictures/pages than when making a digital copy. I think digital stories have created a great merging of technology and education. Through producing and reading digital stories students can build on their own writing skills, literary ideas, and media skills.

Response to "Is Education 1.0 Ready for Web 2.0 Students?"

I think I will leave this class in April boiling with excitement. This will be due to the great changes and possibilities the class will most likely bring to my attention. This article was perfect at introducing the reason why this class will be so engaging and necessary as we enter the classroom.

Web 2.0 is vastly different than what the world has ever been exposed to. It was exciting times when the internet became available to anyone with a hook up. Anyone, anywhere could access almost any kind of information. But with web 2.0 we have entered a whole new realm of exciting times. Now we can not only access that information but provide it.

Although the article talked mainly of post-secondary institutions, my mind was making connections to K-12 as I read. I think many teachers to day view technology (especially Facebook, Blogs, portable devices ect.) as a distraction in their classroom. As time goes on it will not only be logical, but will be necessary to turn to the newest technology as a teaching tool.

I believe that a main goal of education should be to teach students skills and competencies to help them in the real world. Students have an endless amount of resources at their fingertips. In the near future it is likely that a Social Studies class will focus less on the details of WW2 and more on teaching the skills needed to find that information.

As students and teachers foster this relationship with technology it seems ridiculous to ignore the aspects of Web 2.0. Much as teaching something helps a student achieve deeper learning, providing information to the world can assist in their learning process. Many of the schools in our area use Moodle as an online tool to connect with students, but how much quicker would a student see a teacher post if it was on Facebook, or a school blog? Sites where a student would likely visit multiple times a day.

There are some obvious restrictions to this and it will take some time to reach this level of comfort with technology. But I think that it is important, especially as young emerging teachers, that we do not shy away from the internet, specifically Web 2.0 as a teaching tool.

http://innovateonline.info/pdf/vol3_issue4/Is_Education_1.0_Ready_for_Web_2.0_Students_.pdf