Ed Web2.0 - A (Canadian) classroom

There's something different (in a good way!) happening in Mr. Fisher's classroom, in how he is using tech with his students. I stumbled across his blog and thought his classes sounded pretty interesting. Let's start at the beginning though, with some proper introductions...

A classroom blog, in action
http://mr-fisher.edublogs.org/

This is Mr. Fisher's http://mr-fisher.edublogs.org/

The post was for students, and it was about choosing blogs to track as part of their Personal Learning Network.

Are you still looking for blogs that are important to you? Blogs that are well
written, that are interesting, that are written by people that you can work
with? Remember that we will be soon sitting down together and I will be asking
you about your network. Who is in it? Why did you choose those blogs? Have you
been writing and commenting on the blogs in your network?

What a great idea! It's not just an assignment to get students to use a tool to learn it, but it asks them to go that step further and reflect on WHY they are using it, and what they are contributing. They are required to engage in a reflective process about the tool, and use higher-order thinking.

And some discussion about this type of learning
http://remoteaccess.typepad.com/remote_access/2006/10/small_pieces_ve.html

A sample of the conversation going on about this style of working in a connected classroom.

The kids need to remember URLs, passwords, and how to navigate through
different interfaces. They need to remember how to run WordPress, make a
photostream in Flickr, add blogs to their aggregator, and format a wiki.

Hmmm. Good point. Cool tools, neat ideas, but - there is the factor of the time needed to learn how to use all of these tools. Meaningful engagement with tools that effectively promote learning is not automatic. I guess that this is a good reminder, when planning to integrate a tool into the lesson, to ensure that you have budgeted enough time to allow students to become familiar with the tool. We also need to consider how we will teach students to be organised in managing and tracking their accounts across various applications, and the work that they produce. I think it is also important for students to learn that due to the evolutions in the way that we use the internet, it is becoming more common to be able to find free and open source tools online. Beyond that, there are also greater numbers of organisations that are allowing users a peak at their structure, so that users may tweak it and adapt it to their needs. I digress...

Mr. Fisher voices his concerns

What does our ed blogger have to say about this?

I worry about the number of pieces. My blogroll on my class blog has had to
evolve towards being a portal for kids to be connected to all of these pieces. I
have lists of classes and sites they can use and connect with, trying to make
things easier for them. I have consciously not worked with a single piece of
software such as Moodle because I wanted kids to see the power of collecting
resources across the web into a single environment.

So you have access to tools, a lot of them free or hosted or opensource tools, and you now need to find a way to manage all of them.

But we do pay, having to access different accounts across the web.

So there does seem to be a price, in terms of time spent learning a new interface, new shortcuts, new passwords, new places to go.

While this is what we all do as adults, I want to ensure that their focus
remains on the learning that is possible using these tools, not the frustration
of forgetting how to accomplish a specific task.

I worry about the number of small pieces we have joined together.....

Some issues surrounding learning, Web 2.0 style

I can completely empathise. And I think that this teacher is on the right track, being concerned about the learning that can sometimes be overshadowed by the mechanical aspects of the doing. This blogger raises a great point - within the education community, we need to think of how we are going to teach our students (and ourselves!) how to

1. Manage and store our 'knowledge products' efficiently, so that we have timely access to them
2. Manage accounts, user names, passwords and online identities responsibly, keeping in mind the archival aspect of the internet (think before you post!)
3. Identify, adapt or create tools that are appropriate to the task at hand
4. Ensure that you have planned time not only for the task, but for the tool (How familiar are you with the program you are using to get the job done?)
5. Be aware of and actively use the support resources available - formal and informal (Help menus, online user forums, FAQ's and so forth)

Links

http://mr-fisher.edublogs.org/

http://remoteaccess.typepad.com/remote_access/2006/08/planning_for_ne.html

http://mr-fisher.edublogs.org/2006/09/26/personal-learning-networks/

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=joseph%20h%20kerr%20school