You can palpably feel the fear in the air... letting loose...can we really allow our students BLOGGING privledges? What if they write something inappropriate?
The fearful mentality of this group actually surprises me. I would have thought those signed up for this workshop would have been those ready to embrace this new world that we live in. As educators we must take our heads out the the sand and ensure that our students are taught to embrace this new technology "safely, ethically and effectively". It is the world they are living in. We, as educators need to make the shift.. the students are already there. Let's teach them how to be responsible online citizens.
Will Richardson states so clearly...
...every educator at least has to understand what’s happening with Web
technologies, how they are affecting much of our world, and the implications
and potentials for learning.
Kelly, I agree with you in that it is necessary that students embrace this new technology. I'm looking forward to working and learning with you this year.
ReplyDeleteSherry
Yes, you are right! You could cut
ReplyDeletethe fear with a knife! (Did people
have the same concerns with the
invention of the phone, party lines
and phone books? )
We need to be life-long learners.
We need to learn from our students
as they learn from us.
I too was surprised at the fear - my thought was "Why are you here?" I think that some background info needs to be built with teachers new to the idea of shift. Reading blogs, reading professional journals and books like Friedman's The World is Flat was essential for my shift. I think the only message that some people have received is about the dangers of social networking. This is probably the first time they have looked at this is in a different way. As I said to d. mahoney, they don't trust their kids. Sure some kids can't be trusted but for the most part many of them can.
ReplyDelete