Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Web 2.0 Text Chapter 5

The optional chapter I picked is on professional development. I think this is the toughest area for me and it certainly is an area that can always use improvement in general. I liked the term "Spray and Pray" in regards to workshops. Particularly where technology is concerned you spend part of a day with it, then if you don't practice it it doesn't become second nature and is lost. I've watched computer trainings occur and it often seems like herding cats. People can't log on, some people decide to surf on their own, other people get to the required step quickly, have nothing to do, and then begin sidebar discussions. In my former occupations I've written procedure manuals and conducted training sessions in various areas, so I'm particularly interested in how to do it well and make it stick!

How to seamlessly integrate technology into the classroom? Wow. If only the educators that had been around for decades weren't familiar with it, then all the brand new graduates would come in and the turnover would eventually result in an integrated system in no time. However that doesn't seem to be the case. Some newer graduates seem to slip into the "same old way" pretty easily and some of the people most willing to get integrated have been in the system awhile. I know that during the actual work day we are all too busy to sit and work on learning and practicing technology and Web 2.0. It's something I have to do on my own time.

Here's an interesting quote: After one Web PD session at our school a teacher told me that she's just "Too busy" to "add technology/web/computers" to her curriculum. Her lesson plan is already "Too full." This is a very good, positive, open-minded teacher. I think this is the biggest obstacle. If Web 2.0 is seen as additional work, not a better substitute for something else, of course educators don't have the space to add just one more thing.

The Community of Practice was an interesting concept. I don't think that it would be very successful though without a skilled facilitator to keep it on track. Sometimes I think that more isn't necessarily better. In the same way that kids get overwhelmed by the vast amount of information available, so do the educators. Sure you can find endless multitudes of resources on Magnetism. But in the end I know that I suffer information overload and return to more familiar territory. And again, there is little time to weed through it at work. For the most part it's stuff that one must commit to research on their own time.

"Without significant district and building level commitment, ongoing support, and organized efforts that reality [behavior] is not likely to change. To chart a new course, administrators must agree that the use of technology is a fundamental goal, and faculty members must participate in identifying it as a shared goal." ("Web 2.0 New Tools, New Schools" p.111.) I think the FNSBSD assigning tech people to the schools is certainly a huge step in the right direction, but I don't feel everyone identifies it as a shared goal - more as an option if they choose to take it.

We have our work cut out for us.

2 comments:

Raven About Web 2.0 Team said...

The professional development piece is huge and not a nut we are going to crack any time soon, but I am glad that you now will have tech help in the schools and you taking this class moves the building forward :-]

robert said...

I read this chapter too and I reallly agree with what you said. We have a few teachers at our school who are afraid of technology.
I also think having tech folks in our schools will help make some of this professional development stick.