third week: EDLD 5364 TEACHING WITH TECHNOLOGY

Final Word: passage from WEB 2.0 New Tools, New Schools (pg. 93).

" When students reflect upon not only their own thinking, but also the writing of fellow classmates, the results can be even more powerful. Technology, specifically a blog, can be used to make this process more interactive for the students."

The very act of writing or journaling by students stirs up prior knowledge and generalizations. Students, like adults, will try to make sense of their learning environment. In order to do this, students will place more emphasis on comprehending new skills, responding accurately and critically to new concepts, and will attempt to transfer learning from one situation to another. The writing/journal/blog is an extension of the student and how they are perceived. This extension prods students to be selective in their use of vocabulary and sentence structure, as well as fluent in selective in their ideas and expressions


School districts are being cautions about funding technology web 2.0 tools in schools. Entrenched district bureaucracies are not allowing districts to flourish. The funding component is always a sticking point. I was thinking the other day about a not-to-distant future in which student do not have to attend the brick and mortar school anymore. If it can be done at the workforce (where employees work at home), then surely it can be done with the schools and students. The students will be given district passwords or usernames to log on to district servers and download their assignments. The assignments will allow for collaboration with their peers within predetermined blocks of time (example: math from 12 noon to 2 pm). All the students will need (as of now) is just a high quality laptop and internet access. This set up of students working from home would save a district a lot of money in the long run. Of course teachers will still be needed to monitor and grade the online assignments (distance learning). One thing I have learned in the last two years is that it is mandatory to think outside the box in order to maximize productivity.