Just read Will Richardson's latest blog post "The Larger Lessons," which continues the discussion about tech tools being simply that...a tool that teachers should use to educate the minds of those who entered our doors. A tool. Not the curriculum. Not the reason I teach grammar, writing, vocabulary, reading. Just one of the many tools that I have at my disposal.
It’s one of the reasons that I get continually frustrated with NECC sessions and Tweets and blogs that celebrate tools without giving weight to the considerations that goes into choosing a tool in a pedagogical sense. We need more sessions on “why?’ not “how?”...
While many if not most of these lessons can be learned without technology, I think transferring those lessons into the contexts of online networks and global, cross-cultural, sometimes anonymous interactions is not necessarily fait accompli with our kids.
As a Year 2 Web 2.0 learner, I really appreciated this post. Last year I was truly overwhelmed just learning the reality of the existence of Web 2.0...I was fairly content in Web 1.0; actually, until peer Lisa Huff, no one had taken the time (or was it that no one else knew about Web 2.0 either? Maybe?) to show me, to teach me, so that I could then learn.
This year, I am still overwhelmed. I have spent several days this summer learning more tech tools. Now, as I sit here and as I talk to my fellow comrades who are also now entering the land of Web 2.0, my head and theirs now are spinning with the "why." Which tool do I use with what Framework? Which ones (besides blogs and wikis) am I the most comfortable with in showing my students? What lessons would best be enhanced with Penzu, Protopage, WikiSpaces, Webspiration?
School starts in about four weeks. Am I crazy, or do I need another workshop? A shop where we actually "work" on these very decisions. While my being crazy might be debated, the answer to this question is yes. We need another workshop. Oh, my.
Previously posted at Treasure Chest of Thoughts.
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