Group items tagged

This report presents findings from a two-year investigation of the ways in which Web 2.0 tools and social networking technologies are being used to support teaching and learning in classrooms across the United States. With funding from Intel®, the Education Development Center's Center for Children and Technology (EDC/CCT) interviewed or visited over 30 educators in 22 different schools throughout the country as they employed these tools in their classrooms in innovative ways. We also spoke with and observed a number of students in these schools. Currently, there is much discussion and excitement about Web 2.0 in education, but we still know very little about how these tools actually work in the classroom. Therefore, the goal of this research was simply to interview and observe educators and students who are experimenting with these tools in the classroom to see what uses are emerging and to explore the learning affordances of blogs, wikis, and other Web 2.0 tools.

y of online resources in one location giving students

Exploring the Tools (General) 23 Learning 2.0 Things The original Learning 2.0 Program, created for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (North Carolina). This site was created to support PLCMC's Learning 2.0 Program; a discovery learning program designed to encourage staff to explore new technologies and reward them for doing 23 Things. The site includes information on replicating the learning program for your library. 100 Free Library 2.0 Webinars and Tutorials Resources for Librarians about Online Social Networking from ALA's Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA, a division of ALA) Online Social Networking Tools: An introduction(PDF) Presentation at the New Mexico Library Association Meeting in Farmington, New Mexico, April 21, 2006. Library Technology Reports Provides library professionals with insightful elucidation, covering in-depth the technology and technological issues the library field grapples with on a daily basis in the information age. Some abstracts available online. Webtools4U2Use, "a place for K-12 school library media specialists to learn a little more about web tools that can be used to improve and enhance school library media programs and services, to see examples of how they can be used, and to share success stories and creative ideas about how to use and integrate them," created for school library media specialists by Dr. Donna Baumbach and Dr. Judy Lee, University of Central Florida. Web 2.0 & Libraries page at the YALSA Wiki

The question persists, Is Web 2.0 going to lead to School 2.0? Is it truly transformative, or just more geek lust and magic tricks for consultants to perform on stage for the applause?"

That is a question that should be directed to national and district leadership; those who establish the overarching focus educators must follow in their classrooms. If standardized testing, assessment, and a broad curriculum is the main focus of education leadership, it doesnt matter whether or not Web 2.0 has the potential to better prepare students for the 21st century workplace. Until technology is viewed as a mindtool that fosters critical thinking and the implementation of curriculum, it will be seen as being in competition with a districts primary focus, instead of supporting it.

how they are encumbered by lack of time, high accountability, bloated curriculum, aging computers, and insufficient access to technology. I hear story after story of how teachers can barely keep up with teaching as usual, let alone look for new and innovative ways to prepare students for the future.